Police in Tokusatsu, really?

[RougeRider03]

In Tokusatsu, it goes without saying that the heroes are the only ones capable of doing anything when monsters are wreaking havoc. Normal police are essentially ineffective, except when the superheroes are the police, such as with Dekaranger and G3 from Agito. With that said, are police in Toku shows non-existent or just unused?

In Kuuga, police are used amazingly, actively engaging the monsters and fighting along side the hero. While initially seeing Kuuga as a threat, they got to know the man under the mask and fully accepting him as an ally; helping him with providing cover fire and securing combat zones. They even develop weapons to fight, even killing a few of the Groungi.

Unfortunately, that's the only real time police take an active role in combating evil, as no other Heisei series portrays police in such a way. Ringo from Wizard came close, and while told to stay away from the Phantoms because they would get themselves killed, she still had the right idea about protecting civilians.

It's even worse in Super Sentai, where the boys in blue come off as utterly incompetent. One episode of Go-onger had them arresting the team for a crime they did not commit. I was like "Really?" You arrested the people who save you on a near daily basis. Putting aside comedic purposes, anyone in super sentai knows that the heroes use their powers for good. They cannot just arrest them because they do your job better than you do. We also know that no tanks ever come out when monsters the size of skyscrapers start tearing down the abandoned wear house district.

We'll I've given my two sense, what do the rest of you think?

 

[Shynilyte]

I think so far the police haven't done anything in Gaim either.

 

[xiiliea]

I think that Toei should portray humans in a better way. The way most Super Sentais are done at the moment shows how every human except 5 or 6 give a crap about monsters attacking cities. I like the way the Ultraman series is done, that there's always an official defense organisation, and they do their best no matter what, supporting the hero(s) when they can.

 

[Scissors]

The japanese have a very negative view on the police. There have been too many cases of corruption and incompetence, and it goes way back to the Shibuya incident in the 40's.
Its not just a Heisei thing. They did it sometimes in the Showa era as well. Think about the detective in Black RX...

After having lived in Japan for some time, I have to say that I am not too amazed by their police either.
Sure they are friendly and take their job serious, but there is a lot of corruption going on, especially among the local town officers, and as a foreigner you have little or no rights if you get into trouble with a local.
During my stay in Sendai, there was a chinese exchange student who got attacked by a drunk local. The police was called, and they ended up giving the chinese guy a warning... Yeah... not racist at all.

 

[kuroihikari]

The japanese have a very negative view on the police.

Compared to the USA, probably, but I don't think it's worse than my country.

If we're going to take into consideration the amount of portrayal the police get in media. Yes, they have a preponderance of private detectives in dramas, but there are also an awful lot of cop dramas. In my country there are zero cop dramas.

 

[lazycoconut]

Police in Garo are basically just lunch for whatever Horror happens to be around this week :sweat:

The police in W were oft incompetent, but portrayed sympathetically and worked together with the heroes (as well as Accel being one ... although he was treated as a genius and allowed to do whatever he wanted, like terrorising suspects and not wearing uniform.) With Wizard, they were clearly trying to set up something with the police but it never really worked out. Kizaki was a waste of space despite the show trying to insist that he was important, and Rinko being a female character didn't get to do half as much as she could have been allowed to.

We've also had a few characters in recent years like Go-on Black or Gotou in OOO who drop out of the police temporarily to fight as heroes, but then when it's all over they go back to the force as they want to continue protecting the innocent

 

[Loghorn]

You forgot Kamen Rider W.

 

[FlameDragon]

I think so far the police haven't done anything in Gaim either.

probably because yggdrasil is the government of the city and the police work for the government, since zawame city land was bought by the yggdrasil corporation. just a theory about that.

 

[Fantasy Leader]

 

[Painted_Outlaw]

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