KR Couples

[Shirayuki]

I always liked the Tsukasa and Natsumi dynamic since you could tell just how much they cared about each other IMO

 

[Go-Onger]

I still cant believe V3 never hooked up with that one girl.... they definetly liked each other alot.

 

[Igadevil]

Kazami and Junko- I think it was Igadevil who said something to the effect of this is the great untold love story of Kamen Rider and I agree actually. It seems very strongly implied in the early going of the series but it never really goes anywhere. This is something The Next would have been an opportunity to rectifiy but as usual Inoue was more concerned with his own pretentious horror movie about idol singers.

It was probably me!

To some degree I get why the writers at the time never went all the way with it, since the belief was you can give the heroes a good ending, but you can never really give them a truly happy "final" ending where they hang up the helmet, settle down, get married, etc. I think that's still the prevailing attitude now, with main Riders anyway. Secondary Riders can get married and have these lasting romantic attachments; the main guys get at best a suggestion they someday might (Ryoutarou & Wataru got to become grandaddies somehow.)

It's still a bit of a letdown though, as I think Junko has one of the more personal stakes in the plot for a Rider heroine, and she was there for the most critical scenes in episode 1 (which is why I've never bought the idea that she doesn't know Kazami is V3. When they do the whole "haha, I'm not V3!" thing at the end of 12, she's not exactly playing it like she's convinced. Ono Hizuru herself has said that's how she chose to play it with Miyauchi, that Junko suspects all along but never says anything after she sees how guilt-ridden Kazami gets in 12 over the fact that he can't return her feelings. Because he can't ever think of living normally, not while Destron still exists.)

Hirayama later mentioned in one of his books that in his opinion, if there ever came a day that V3 no longer has to fight, he would meet Junko again and they'd be a couple, so that's kind of nice. Personally I like to think Kazami is kind of dreading that eventual reunion because he'd have to explain why he drove off at the end. :laugh:

 

[MattComix]

It was probably me!

To some degree I get why the writers at the time never went all the way with it, since the belief was you can give the heroes a good ending, but you can never really give them a truly happy "final" ending where they hang up the helmet, settle down, get married, etc. I think that's still the prevailing attitude now, with main Riders anyway. Secondary Riders can get married and have these lasting romantic attachments; the main guys get at best a suggestion they someday might (Ryoutarou & Wataru got to become grandaddies somehow.)

It's still a bit of a letdown though, as I think Junko has one of the more personal stakes in the plot for a Rider heroine, and she was there for the most critical scenes in episode 1 (which is why I've never bought the idea that she doesn't know Kazami is V3. When they do the whole "haha, I'm not V3!" thing at the end of 12, she's not exactly playing it like she's convinced. Ono Hizuru herself has said that's how she chose to play it with Miyauchi, that Junko suspects all along but never says anything after she sees how guilt-ridden Kazami gets in 12 over the fact that he can't return her feelings. Because he can't ever think of living normally, not while Destron still exists.)

Hirayama later mentioned in one of his books that in his opinion, if there ever came a day that V3 no longer has to fight, he would meet Junko again and they'd be a couple, so that's kind of nice. Personally I like to think Kazami is kind of dreading that eventual reunion because he'd have to explain why he drove off at the end. :laugh:

You could probably make an interesting Kamen Rider based anthology out of reunion stories like that. I've had a Kotaro reunites with Kyoko and Kasumi story on the brain for years.

In Kazami's case I think it basically boils down to the loss of his family and feeling like that if he ever tries to have one of his own he risks having to go through that pain a second time. I think Junko would be strong enough to challenge him on that. Not in an in-sensitive way, but just more making him see that life must go on. She'd get that he's a Rider and accept what comes with that. She'd probably ask him to meet her halfway. Making him realize even a Rider needs a life outside of fighting and ultimately, a place to call home.