That Good Old Super Sentai SLAP

This week's Donbrothers really has me thinking about Donbrothers!Haruka's SLAP. Yes, that good old slap. The slap was a scene this week when Dragoku became blinded by rage. I find it crazy how Donbrothers!Haruka could slap someone in THAT'S NOT SPANDEX. Isn't there some protective field around that power suit or what? These suits are most likely made of special metal so I was expecting Donbrothers!Haruka to injure her hand. Nope, she got away just fine which for me is just weird. Then again how many times have we seen out-of-suit Super Sentai battles where humans punch robots? Goggle V, Bioman and Ohranger really need some explanation on their out-of-suit battles with mechanical footsoldiers. They look good but it's illogical. Donbrothers!Haruka did slap Tsubasa out of impulse in episode 11. I guess that supposedly adds layers to her character... OR NOT. The whole scene made me think of the times when slaps get inserted into Super Sentai on occasion.

I'm just thinking of how whether or not slapping another person should even be in a children's show. I guess that's why we hardly see slapping in American TV shows. Though, the more mature Power Rangers (2017) film had a scene of Jason slapping a bully. However, Mighty Morphin' just didn't try something like that such as Kimberly merely outsmarted Skull into kissing Bulk. I felt Kimberly slapping Skull could've sent a message. Though, I doubt it that kind of scene would sit well with the TV-Y7-FV ratings of America. Meanwhile, it seems Super Sentai does take some unusual liberties with some slap scenes. We've seen it in Kamen Rider a few times as well. Though, Anime just loves to slap people, right? 

The whole thing almost references many things around. Maybe, you've heard of how George Smith Patton slapped subordinates when they displeased him. Mobile Gundam had that one scene where Bright Noa would slap his subordinates into shape. Slapping someone out of hysterics is very common in Anime. It's almost like if you want to give someone a wake-up call - GIVE THEM THAT BRIGHT SLAP! In this case, I'd call it a Super Sentai slap! Though, in Turboranger, we had Daichi punching Youhei as a wake-up call in the episode where they face Belle Chime Bouma. 

My best memories of the slapping incidents in Super Sentai are in Jetman. I think Jetman is rather known for not only saving Super Sentai but for also trying to be as serious as possible. We know how Toshiki Inoue loves to be dark during the earlier days. Think about how a lot of Inoue's episodes in the Hirohisa Soda era are that serious. Jetman had several slapping incidents. Maybe, one can remember how Commander Aya slapped Jetman!Ryu to snap him out of his hysterics. Kaori slapped Jetman!Gai because the latter tried to flirt with her. Kaori also slapped Ako many times during the Diamond Jigen incident. The incident seemed to predict the number of times, Korean actress, Shin Hye Sun (who looks like Sayuri Uchida) would also get slapped MANY TIMES in K-Drama. 

Timeranger seemed not to shy away from slapping either. I think Yuuri is quite too stuck up. Personally, I don't blame it if some people prefer Time Force over Timeranger. Some of them still think Shinkenger is Yasuko Kobayashi's magnum opus. Yuuri herself had slapped several people. Yuuri slapped Honami while IN SPANDEX (a very careless move) and later slapped Tatsuya out of impulse. I think Yuuri slapping people in Timeranger is either out of anger or the other was played for laughs. I think it was funny (or not) that Yuuri slapped Tatsuya after the embrace scene. Was it that Yuuri wanted to snap Tatsuya out of something or was she just well... being the Head Bitch In Charge? It's quite different when she slapped Honami as Time Pink. Honami was doing reckless acts and NEEDED THAT SLAP.

An earlier episode of Lupinranger vs. Patranger has that slap. Keiichiro gets slapped by Tsukasa when he gets into panic mode. Personally, that scene made me want to ship them. So far, the most Mako did was to whack Ryunosuke with what she was reading. Tsukasa goes as far as to SLAP KEIICHIRO that hard that he makes an even bigger reflex. I think Tsukasa's slap truly was needed to snap Keiichiro out of his mood. I feel that Keiichiro and Tsukasa should've been a couple. Too bad that Tsukasa didn't literally snap Canalo. Instead, Tsukasa just politely turned down Canalo's offer of courtship in the Ryusoulger vs. Lupinranger vs. Patranger movie. 

I was thinking so, seriously, why the lawsuit for the slap? I tend to think that sometimes - you need to slap someone as a wake-up call. I feel that sometimes a slap is needed especially if you're dealing with an unreasonable person. I think the good old occasional Super Sentai slap is pretty much, "Come on, I'm sure you can handle more than that!"