Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Homoerotism in Super Sentai and Power Rangers

I decided to mention a couple of cases of homoerotism or Hoyay in Super Sentai and Power Rangers. What that means is innuendo or hints at a character being same-sex orientated. I am sure there are a lot of people who pair other same-sex Rangers but these are some that seem more 'out there' than others.

Kazu/Kirinranger of Gosei Sentai Dairanger
Because he was a hairdresser and of his feminine behavior, many thought he was gay. But other than not having a female love interest (nor any type of love interest--if you count Kameo, but I don't) like his other male team members, Kazu didn't really demonstrate proof that he was attracted to men.

Yousuke and Ikkou of Hurricanger
Yousuke was Hurricane Red and Ikkou was Kabutoraijer, no one else mentioned this but if you re-watch Hurricanger carefully, there are gentle hints. I am not suggesting the characters nor the actors were actually gay or that they were written like that, but there is a underlining innuendo between the two. Ikkou had no female love interest and Yousuke's only female interest was a girl in the movie. They were rivals, but slowly their relationship blossomed as Yousuke cared and looked out for Ikkou when he got infected with a life-threatening alien bug. They later had a playful rivalry.

There have been a lot of feminine monsters and feminine villains, but it is not say that they are necessarily gay, it's just that they were feminine. Japanese producers usually do this to make their characters interesting. The majority of these feminine male monsters became female like Carranger's ZZ Zeri became the female Delisha Ennivel. Feminine villains include Gaoranger's Ura (Wild Force's Nayzor), Magiranger's Memmy (Mystic Force's Imperious--whose personality stayed in tact), and Go-Onger's Hiramechimedes (RPM's Venjix) to name a few.



Kelsey and Nancy of Lightspeed Rescue
It has been joked between fans for so many years about the episode "Riding the Edge," where there was chemistry between Kelsey the yellow ranger and Nancy the astronaut. Kelsey saved her dog and then she had to save her from a monster. Kelsey had no male romances, well Dana didn't either, but anyway she was pretty much a tomboy and fans believe it a stereotype for a lesbian. Hence there has not been a female Ranger like her ever again. I like the existence of Kelsey. Taylor of Wild Force could be considered butch, but she had a thing for Eric the Quantum Ranger.

Tyzonn and Mac (Operation Overdrive)
When Tyzonn first appeared in "Face to Face" Part 1 and 2, there was a quite hinted innuendo between the two characters Mac and Tyzonn. It no longer existed after that, but fans noticed. When Mac was later revealed to be an android, fans joked that he was reprogrammed to not have feelings for the alien Tyzonn. Tyzonn was also later revealed to have a fianceƩ.

UPDATED AUGUST 5, 2009
A lot of other ones have been brought to my attention. Some I agree with and some I don't (Hikaru for instance).

Gunpei and Hanto (Go-Onger)
I totally forgot about these guys! They were thrusted together by fate and didn't really have an established relationship until around Episode 19, that it showed Hanto's concern for Gunpei. And Hanto did cross-dress twice, but I don't believe in stereotypes, just because you crossdress, it doesn't make you gay. But the bathhouse scene in Episode 47 was curious. And also that Gunpei had shackled Hanto with handcuffs in the last episode and never took them off. Hanto was the younger one, childish and flaky but had that gun-ho spirit. He loved flirting with girls and once fell for Kegaleshia. Gunpei, on the other hand, was smart enough not to fall for women's wilds, but did fall for Saki's sister.

Ziggy and Dillon (RPM)
Even though I did not think about them being a 'bromance' before but in the episode "Brother's Keeper," Dillon was taken over by a virus and Ziggy grabs him, Dillon stops and Ziggy thinks it is because of their friendship. With Ziggy and Dillon, the bad boy and the fan boy relationship comes to mind. Ziggy certainly wants Dillon's friendship and searches for it more than Dillon would want to admit. Dillon did ask for Ziggy's freedom when he became Ranger Black, which could indicate something. And even though Ziggy does annoy him, Dillon does trust him. RPM definitely developed their relationship earlier than Hanto and Gunpei's. Actor Daniel Ewing has said in an interview with No Pink Spandex that he didn't like the pairing, and not because he is homophobic but because he would quote 'crush him.' He found a pairing with Scott or Flynn more feasible physically.


18 comments:

Anonymous said...

What about Ziggy and Dillon?

Lavender Ranger said...

I have thought about that, but Dillon is as receptive. Maybe later. We never know if he will.

Sabrina said...

I hate to be a nit-picker, but the villain from Go-Onger is Hiramekimedes. Checking with TV-Nihon and their subtitles. :D

Lavender Ranger said...

TV-Nihon tends to make mistakes, but in this case, it is a transliteration, everyone has a different take.

Anonymous said...

Not to nipick either, but if it's a female, it's fiancee (two e's) as opposed to one (for male.

Anonymous said...

What about Hikaru from Magiranger? I know he married Urara, but DAMN!

Anonymous said...

There was some insinuation of Hanto and Gunpei in Go-Onger...and lord knows the way they acted in the hot springs (or whatever its called) in Grand Prix 47 would kinda enforce that. :)

Anonymous said...

Probably a moot point, but in the prologue scene in the last Go-Onger episode, Hanto was playing around with Gunpei's handcuffs and promptly got stuck with them on.

Anonymous said...

After watching the entire Dekaranger season over three weeks (whew!) I noticed another thing that could be added:

Tetsu (DekaBreak) likes to crossdress! In fact, he does it three times!

1: In Deparakger 26, he dressed up as a woman to get into an illegal fighting club - originally, he was there with Hoji, but was recognized as a Deka, and therefore had to dress differently to get in and not be recognized.

2: In Dekaranger 45, he dressed up as Swan to help get rid of a someone that was bothering her. However, the person didn't care and still persued Tetsu.

3: In Magiranger vs. Dekaranger, he and Hikaru dressed up in drag to distract an enemy and save Ozu Urura and Jasmine.

That's kinda creepy...but then again, when you're as ambiguous as Tetsu...anything's par for the course, right?

PS: Love the blog!

Anonymous said...

There was definately more Jan/Rio and Rio/Long going on than met the eye (maybe its just me)

The latter perhaps just to wind Mele up

In the episode where they get trapped in the past and long nearly kisses rio

and I remember distinctly when jan's falling off the cliff and Mele says "He only has eyes for you"

I had to pause and rewind that one several times over XD

Lavender Ranger said...

About jan's falling off the cliff and Mele says "He only has eyes for you", that is Tv-Nihon's or whoever's translation, it is up to interpretation. Japanese is not easy to translate, she could have meant Rio was more focused on defeating him up to an obsession.

Mark said...

Didn't Vida say Nikki was hot at the end of Mystic Force?

Anonymous said...

I personally think the Hoppers in KR Kabuto were the greatest toku "bromance" of the last decade ;)

Lavender Ranger said...

About the KR Kabuto hoppers, yeah, maybe I should cover that. Like everything else, gotta cover Kamen Rider too. ha ha. :)

Anonymous said...

hello max and danny

AmandaBear said...

I know some Sentai femmelash fans that ship Jasmine and Umeko from DekaRanger because Jasmine showed no interest in guys and was closer to Umeko than any of the males in her team. xD Too bad Umeko gets with Sen. :P

Lavender Ranger said...

femslash for those who dont know is also known as Altfic. It is fan fiction relationship pairing of two female characters. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altfic

Unknown said...

Wolk and Kilt from Flashman too, they're said to be lovers.