sentai ladies and their animal/magical creature trend

[live jetabare]

In Super sentai, a lot of series have animal motifs, with mechas or suits themed with an animal or a magical creature. I felt it would be interesting to notice that the ladies in the teams follows some trends about their creature theme:
Usually, the girls have lighter and/or less impressive animals than the guys
1) In a bunch of sentai series, the girl member (or one of the girls) of the team have the flying (bird or bird-like animal) within the team
- in dinosaurs themed series, the girls have the Pteranodon (Pteraranger in Zyuranger, and Abareyellow)
- in series when the Red member has the dragon, the pink one have the Phoenix (Changephoenix, Houou ranger in Dairanger, Goseipink)
- in Kakuranger, Tsuruhime has the crane as her animal theme

2) In others, the girls have the cutest animals or creature within the different themes: examples: Gingapink has the cat, Magipink has the fairy, Yellow Buster has the rabbit, and in a extent, Shinkenpink has the turtle and Shinkenyellow the monkey (which are cuter than the guys's lion, dragon and bear); other comment in Jetman, while the guys are all bird of prey themed, the girls have the swallow and the swan who look less dangerous; and in Gekiranger, Gekiyellow's second secondary animal mecha is a penguin (and the female mentor is penguin themed)

3) In some series, the girls will have the marine mammal or marine mammal like creature (especially series with blue water themed female ranger) examples: Blue Dolphin (Liveman), Hurricaneblue (both dolphin themed); Changemermaid and Magiblue (Mermaid themed)

4) However, some series have the girls have a badass and impressive animal motif: while big felines are usually for the guys (notably the lion), since Gaoranger, a lot of girls are themed after the badass tiger (Gaowhite, Go-on Silver (she has Jetras as her partner) and Goseiyellow (examples of guys being tiger themed include Kibaranger, Gekired, and in a way, Tigerranger (who is smilodon themed)); and Gekiyellow is themed after the cheetah (okay, the cheetah is less impressive than the guys's tiger and jaguar, but still): and Go-on yellow has a bear theme (bear being mostly a guy animal (ex: Ninjayellow, Shinkengreen)

Last comments:
- even if those animals are usually for girls, it doesn't mean guys can't be themed after them: Ohred, Magired are phoenix themed, Abarekiller is pterosaur themed, Red Buster is cheetah themed (and see above about the bear and the tiger)
- the impressive elephant is usually a girl linked secondary animal (Gaoyellow, Gekiyellow)
- in Abaranger, which has mechas that can be male or female, the impressive ankylosaur is female
- Ohranger is an interesting case, where the guys have animal mechas , but the girls have puppet like mechas (Dogu and Moai); in tune with the ancient civilisation theme of the series ( since Blue's lion is sphinx like (Egypt) and Green's taurus is linked to greek ancient civilization)
Your thoughts?

 

[lazycoconut]

I do wish they didn't keep giving the girl the "cutesy" animal/creature. Female =/= cute and nurturing. Would it really hurt to give a female Ranger a big, dangerous animal?

Some of them are pretty obvious though e.g. Tsuruhime has to have a crane because it's in her name. If you have a Blue with water-based powers it's natural for them to have a marine-based mech, etc.

 

[live jetabare]

I do wish they didn't keep giving the girl the "cutesy" animal/creature. Female =/= cute and nurturing. Would it really hurt to give a female Ranger a big, dangerous animal?

Some of them are pretty obvious though e.g. Tsuruhime has to have a crane because it's in her name. If you have a Blue with water-based powers it's natural for them to have a marine-based mech, etc.

er, lazy; have you read point 4 of my post? sentai has already done that, especially in recent series: tigers and bears are pretty impressive, big and dangerous; Gaowhite, Goseiyellow and in a way Go-onsilver are tiger themed; and Go-onyellow is bear themed; besides, the elephant, one of the biggest animals (which can be very dangerous) is usually a lady's secondary mechas; besides, I'm sure phoenix and pteranodons are pretty impressive creatures, and swans are big birds which can be pretty dangerous.

 

[lazycoconut]

er, lazy; have you read point 4 of my post? sentai has already done that, especially in recent series: tigers and bears are pretty impressive, big and dangerous; Gaowhite, Goseiyellow and in a way Go-onsilver are tiger themed; and Go-onyellow is bear themed; besides, the elephant, one of the biggest animals (which can be very dangerous) is usually a lady's secondary mechas; besides, I'm sure phoenix and pteranodons are pretty impressive creatures, and swans are big birds which can be pretty dangerous.

Yeah, I did read it, but still, as you also pointed out: a cheetah isn't quite as impressive as a tiger and jaguar. And bears still have that cuddly image cos of teddy bears.

Phoenixes are pretty gender-neutral. I have never actually seen verification of the claim that swans can break your arm; does anyone know more?

Actually, regardless of which character gets them, I do question some of Sentai's mech choices. You have a cheetah, a gorilla, and then ... a bunny? You have a team full of birds of prey and then there's a puny little owl in there. How does that work?

 

[New GL of sector 2814]

Owls are birds of prey they are actually more dangerous because you can't hear them flying at all due to their evolution and they can see through the nighttime as if it were the day.

 

[lazycoconut]

Owls are birds of prey they are actually more dangerous because you can't hear them flying at all due to their evolution and they can see through the nighttime as if it were the day.

But can it break your arm?

Googled the swans:

Is it true that a swan's wing can break your arm?

Yes, but only in exceptional cases. If a wing in full span and velocity were to hit a weak-boned person (such as a child or an elderly person) then it is theoretically possible. In reality it is almost unheard of and is never used as a form of attack as swans are a defensive bird. The only time they become aggressive is when they are protecting their nesting ground or cygnets when they will chase off intruders, be they other swans, geese or humans who get too close.

 

[live jetabare]

Yeah, I did read it, but still, as you also pointed out: a cheetah isn't quite as impressive as a tiger and jaguar.
I have never actually seen verification of the claim that swans can break your arm; does anyone know more?

Actually, regardless of which character gets them, I do question some of Sentai's mech choices. You have a cheetah, a gorilla, and then ... a bunny? You have a team full of birds of prey and then there's a puny little owl in there. How does that work?

yeah; but tiger is gender neutral as well, since both guys and girls can be tiger themed
about swans: http://www.cracked.com/article_15853_the-6-cutest-animals-that-can-still-destroy-you.html and http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/04/killer-swan-blamed-for-mans-drowning/; the dolphin is also in the first link
And the owl IS a bird of prey; besides, it's Raita (a guy) 's mecha

 

[lazycoconut]

yeah; but tiger is gender neutral as well, since both guys and girls can be tiger themed
about swans: http://www.cracked.com/article_15853_the-6-cutest-animals-that-can-still-destroy-you.html and http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/04/killer-swan-blamed-for-mans-drowning/; the dolphin is also in the first link

Yeah, I guess so. More tigers please

That dolphin link is quite disturbing. Aren't there also reports of captive dolphins committing suicide? I adore Liveman but it's hardly the cheeriest show in the world is it ... :sweat:

 

[Black Fang]

1) In a bunch of sentai series, the girl member (or one of the girls) of the team have the flying (bird or bird-like animal) within the team
- in dinosaurs themed series, the girls have the Pteranodon (Pteraranger in Zyuranger, and Abareyellow)
- in series when the Red member has the dragon, the pink one have the Phoenix (Changephoenix, Houou ranger in Dairanger, Goseipink)

Pteranodons were predators. I don't think you'd want to handle one if one was alive today. You make it sound like it was some small bird-sized animal while the men got giants for their mechas.

And a Phoenix isn't exactly a benign-looking creature either.

2) in Gekiranger, Gekiyellow's second secondary animal mecha is a penguin (and the female mentor is penguin themed)

Penguins are a stupid choice for a mecha no matter what the gender.

3) In some series, the girls will have the marine mammal or marine mammal like creature (especially series with blue water themed female ranger) examples: Blue Dolphin (Liveman), Hurricaneblue (both dolphin themed); Changemermaid and Magiblue (Mermaid themed)

Dolphins too are predators, and overall very intelligent. As for mermaids, even Harry Potter tells you they're not all just pretty things sitting on rocks.

(okay, the cheetah is less impressive than the guys's tiger and jaguar, but still): and Go-on yellow has a bear theme (bear being mostly a guy animal (ex: Ninjayellow, Shinkengreen)

Yeah, I did read it, but still, as you also pointed out: a cheetah isn't quite as impressive as a tiger and jaguar. And bears still have that cuddly image cos of teddy bears.

I dare you to go hug a wild bear and see what happens.

And a cheetah is less impressive? How? It's the fastest land animal. It may not be as strong as a lion, but that hardly puts it in the "non-dangerous/intimidating" category.

I adore Liveman but it's hardly the cheeriest show in the world is it ... :sweat:

I find it funny that you can say that and yet on the other hand you say you don't care about the writing quality in a toku because it's kid-oriented.

Anyway, if anyone wants girls with big, strong animal motifs, read Dinoman below :coolshades:

 

[live jetabare]

Pteranodons were predators. I don't think you'd want to handle one if one was alive today. You make it sound like it was some small bird-sized animal while the men got giants for their mechas.

And a Phoenix isn't exactly a benign-looking creature either.

That's exactly what I said in a post above

Dolphins too are predators, and overall very intelligent. As for mermaids, even Harry Potter tells you they're not all just pretty things sitting on rocks.

When mentioning the marine creatures, I wasn't saying that those creatures weren't impressive. I just said that dolphins and mermaids are used for sentai girls. Besides, in both series with dolphins, the blue girl is smarter than the red and yellow boys :laugh: (even if in the case of Nanami, not that much :169

And a cheetah is less impressive? How? It's the fastest land animal. It may not be as strong as a lion, but that hardly puts it in the "non-dangerous/intimidating" category.

That's why I said "but still"; that said, a cheetah is much smaller than a tiger or a jaguar, and even if cheetahs can run very fast, they have no endurance.