Shinken Pink: Shut Up Bitch, Go Fix Me a Turkey Pot Pie

[Shougo B'Stard]

Because of complaints made in another thread, a few of us are forced to move the topic here. The gist? Sexism in Tokusatsu. Yes, it's 2009, but Japan's still partying like it's 1959, and good heroines are only as good as the writers who create them. Hirohisa Soda -- created damn good heroines. Yasuko Kobayashi? Maybe at one point, but too much coffee on DenLiner caused her to create cardboard, stereotyped heroines in her latest, Shinkenger.

There was stuff I wanted to add to that other topic but...there was a tailspin and I lost any of the good points I briefly had. Let's see if the topic gets there again...

 

[KingRanger]

What? :sly::sweat:

 

[Shougo B'Stard]

I wanted to say that my problem with the Shinken heroines is that...there have been tons and tons of samurai or ninja movies or shows that have women just off in the background, or as damsels in distress, or if they are part of the action, they're incapable and have to be saved by the (male) star of the show. Or if there is a movie centered on a female ninja, four out of five times, it's a cheesecake B-flick.

And here's Shinkenger, which doesn't have to abide by any sort of historical accuracy or realism, that could have one or more strong female characters in an unconventional role, yet they're just as bad as any of those other movies. Mako could easily be in Chiaki's role -- the woman wanting to prove her worth over stiff-ass, pampered Takeru. And although the show's written by a woman, it's obvious that there's some higher-up that doesn't want much of any focus on the heroines. I can't think of another sentai that neglects their heroines in such a way. Chiaki has had 25 focus episodes -- Mako and Kotoha (even when she was shown to be a better natural fighter than Chiaki)? About four, and they were required to share the focus with each other or one of the guys. You don't get to see female samurai that often, so why are the ones in this show stuck in a stereotypical female gender role?

 

[lazycoconut]

People on the Shinkenger thread smacked me down for saying the show was almost certain to end with Mako marrying Takeru, but look at the preview for next week - it's basically canon now. I do find it a very sexist ship: Mako is the perfect little housewife (or wants to be) so she is rewarded by marrying the wealthy, handsome but not very interesting Takeru.

 

[yellow-chan]

Wow...
I can't believe you guys really went and create this thread... XD

 

[Lynxara]

And although the show's written by a woman, it's obvious that there's some higher-up that doesn't want much of any focus on the heroines.

The mysterious hand holding down the Shinkenger girls is the Hand of Bandai. They're not getting a lot of focus because, unlike Ryuunosuke or Chiaki, they don't get multiple toys based on their gear. Actually, I don't think they even made toys of their basic weapons, just their origami.

Shinkenger's writing priority this season has pretty clearly been showing off toys for a huge chunk of the show. If the girls don't have any toys to sell they'll get no camera time. That's certainly not okay, but it tends to make me think that the creative team is struggling to get to do anything with the girls at all.

The writer's gender is irrelevant. Women are as capable of sexist behavior as anyone else, especially if they feel the need to be defensive about their own life choices.

 

[Fox-Chan]

Although I am a woman, I don't watch tokusatsu for good female characters. It's for the exact same reason I don't watch anime or read manga for good female characters. Because they are so damn rare.

What I find to be funny is that the worst female characters are written by female writers.

As far as Mako and Kotoha are concerned, they're actually fairly average.

 

[lazycoconut]

The mysterious hand holding down the Shinkenger girls is the Hand of Bandai. They're not getting a lot of focus because, unlike Ryuunosuke or Chiaki, they don't get multiple toys based on their gear. Actually, I don't think they even made toys of their basic weapons, just their origami.

Shinkenger's writing priority this season has pretty clearly been showing off toys for a huge chunk of the show. If the girls don't have any toys to sell they'll get no camera time. That's certainly not okay, but it tends to make me think that the creative team is struggling to get to do anything with the girls at all.

The writer's gender is irrelevant. Women are as capable of sexist behavior as anyone else, especially if they feel the need to be defensive about their own life choices.

Mako gets more camera time than Kotoha but it is because she is the prettier of the two and the designated love interest of protagonist Takeru. She still takes a back seat to the boys just because of the lack of merchandise based on her.

 

[Lynxara]

Mako gets more camera time than Kotoha but it is because she is the prettier of the two and the designated love interest of protagonist Takeru.

Times like this I really wish I could understand how you think. Every guy I know watching Shinkenger finds Kotoha much more attractive than Mako. Hell, I find Kotoha more attractive than Mako and I don't like women that much!

I imagine Mako gets more camera time because she's assertive and will take the spotlight. The whole point of Kotoha is that she doesn't ask for the spotlight unless absolutely necessary, so she's made of little moments. That's unusual for Super Sentai but I'm basically okay with it.

You know, I am pretty sure Mako can't marry Takeru without destroying the Shiraishi clan. I would be pretty surprised if a samurai show of all things allowed that sort of lapse of internal logic for the sake of indulging a Western Main Dude x Main Girl shipping dynamic.

The Pink and Yellow clan roles clearly inherit along female lines, so an only child like Mako should be obligated to marry outside of the main five Shinkengers. She should pick a husband who joins her clan line and fathers the next Shinken Pink. That's clearly what her mother did.

Kotoha has an older sister who could presumably continue Yellow's line, so maybe she could choose to stop being Shinken Yellow and join one of the other clans. If Mako marries Takeru, though, her children will be Reds and the Pink clan line is over.

The way Japanese marriage works is that one partner joins the other partner's line, with status determining who joins who. I suppose you could have the crappy fanfic outcome of "they have a boy and a girl and the boy is Red and the girl is Pink!!" but that is not generally how samurai drama inheritance works.

EDIT: Wait, actually... Mako could logically marry Genta. His power is bizarre crazy self-taught stuff and he has no obligation to create a Shinken Gold heir. I would think anyone else, but especially Takeru, would be off-limits as a potential Shiraishi husband. (And why the hell would anyone marry Genta as opposed to a not-crazy person?)

 

[KingRanger]

I am sure ryuotaros the mod(sorry not sure about the spelling of your nick right now) will slam me for this, but this topic is all kinds of sillyness :laugh: