My Sentai OTPs

Ahhh shipping. The blight of any fandom, but we all have our pairings that we like or have a soft spot for. So, here are my OTPs (One True Pairings) from Sentai.

First one, Gorou/Karen from JAKQ.

The first canon ship in Sentai. Yeah, I know Red/Pink tends to be a popular ship, but I have a reason to liking this pairing. It all started in the episode where Gorou got amnesia and, after it seems nothing was working, Karen decides to recreate the accident that cost her both her ARM and her FATHER to try and get his memory back. That's not just cool, that's what I call love. Plus, over the course of the series, I liked how we got they would switch around who would be the damsel in distress of that particular episode. Meaning there were moments where Karen was in trouble and Gorou would save her, but there were also moments where Gorou was in trouble and Karen would save him.

Second, Jou/Gou from Liveman

Seriously, these are just sooooo easy to slash. Plus, there the whole angst thing and how tragic it all is (Though they do get a happy ending... sorta). But what I really like about this ship is how their friendship isn't just something that mention once and never again (Like Yuusuke's crush on Rui) but is mention almost every time Gou comes back. Only downside to this pairing is that they scream classic Uke/Seme. Seriously, take a picture of the two together and add some blush on Gou's cheeks and you'll see.

 Third, Takeru/Kotoha from Shinkenger

Now, I'm not a huge fan of Shinkenger, but I do feel this pairing is a little overlook by a lot of fans. It seems like there's some kind of unspoken rule that if you are in Shinkenger fandom, then you have to ship Takeru/Mako, Chiaki/Kotoha, and Genta/Karou. I know Takeru/Mako is unquestionably the most popular ship in Shinkenger and a lot of people actually thought the show was actually pointing towards it, but to me, if the show was setting up anybody with anybody, it's Takeru and Kotoha. Takeru has expressed personal concern for her and only her out of the vassal Rangers (Genta aside). They've shared an episode with pretty explicit romantic tension (Which annoys me how people try to write off that episode as just showing they are just Brother and Sister) and since then they've always gone out of their way to show Kotoha worried about Takeru's feelings in Takeru-centric episodes. 

Both Takeru and Kotoha spent most of the series feeling like they were just nothing but a stand-in for the real deals and both feel more at home on the battle field than doing normal things, so I can see those two bonding over those things.

And that there's my ships.

Why TJ doesn't suck as a leader

Aww Turbo. It seems like whenever Turbo gets brought up, three things usually happen: it's either about how much it sucked, how much Justin suck, or how TJ was a terrible leader for loosing in the end. Personally, I always felt TJ takes more crap than he deserves for Chase into Space. Yes, the Turbo Rangers lost, but when you look at the situation they were in, there was no way those guys would have came out victorious in the end.

 

First off, there's the battle with Goldgoyle. It seems like a lot of fans tend to underestimate how powerful Goldgoyle was. When the Turbo Rangers first meet Goldgoyle, the first thing he does is attack them when he thought they were coming to beg him for mercy. They summon the Rescue Zords, formed the Rescue Megazord, and then they use the finisher move (the same finishing move that's destroyed various monsters in the past) and... Goldgoyle absorbs it and throws it back at them. Then he absorbs energy from the AIR and fire it back at them.

I've been people criticize TJ for not calling the Turbo Megazord sooner or trying to escape why the getting is good or even, ahem, "recklessly" blowing up the Rescue Megazord. The thing is, the Rescue Megazord was CRACKLING ENERGY, FALLING APART, and was on FIRE! TJ asked Justin to shunt power from the weapons just so it could even stand and Justin told them they had nothing. It was clear the Rescue Megazord was going to be destroyed no matter what way you look at it, so the point of blowing it up was to use it's impending destruction to their advantage. So, they did, and Goldgoyle was fine.

Next, they summon the Turbo Zords and form the Turbo Megazord. Now, I've seen people also criticize TJ for not changing tactics, but the thing is, he did. When he saw that energy attacks have no effects, he decided to use a more powerful, more evasive version of the Turbo Megazord Spinout (the same attack that destroyed lots of monsters in the past too) to drill (heh heh) into him and... he was fine. Let me repeat that, they impaled the guy and he was fine. Then, Goldgoyle destroys the Turbo Megazord. As you can see, Goldgoyle wasn't exactly a day out with Pudgy Pig. The guy was DAMN NEAR INDESTRUCTIBLE! Possibly even immortal even that he was stabbed and was fine. Them launching the Turbo RAM into his mouth was basically a last minute decision.

 

Then there's the battle at the Power Chamber. I seen TJ get crapped on for the destruction of the Power Chamber and for "Not leaving when they saw the army. Fight for another day and come up with a plan". The thing is, it's pretty pretty obvious why you'd want to destroy your enemies base... once their base is gone, they have nothing to fall back on. In war you use strategy to give your enemy nothing left to fall back on, then you strike them in the heart, their base. They were fighting to protect the base so much as they were fighting for their lives.

Plus, what on earth kinda plan could TJ have possibly come up with that would have defeated an entire army? And second of all, less say TJ and other do retreat to think of a plan, who's the say Divatox wouldn't have destroyed the Power Chamber anyway? And less say the Messenger does show up and Divatox gets called away. But here the thing, now the Turbo Rangers have no idea that Eltar has fallen or that Divatox was called away. So, TJ thinks up with plan, but he'll probably never be able to execute it since he has no idea that Divatox was called away. Or that it his powers are gone. So, the Turbo Rangers are just sitting around in Angel Grove twit-tiling their thumbs waiting for an attack that's never going to happen.

And less say the Turbo Rangers do finally realize Divatox gone and try to go to Eltar anyway? Well, chances are, they probably long since miss their chance encounter with Andros, the beloved Space Rangers never form (and before someone tries to say the Space Rangers still could be form, Andros at that time when Space started was a loner. You really think he would form a team?), and Andros is probably killed trying to find Zordon by himself.

What really grinds my gears is when I see people say "TJ suck so bad as a leader that he got demoted". No, TJ did NOT get demoted. The ex-Turbos joined Andros, not other way around. And really, does anyone actually think Andros would have really just given his personal morpher to some guy he just met? Plus, they were using Andros's ship, using his weapons, eating his artificial food, breathing his artificial air, etc.

I've also seen people say TJ lost due to lack of experience, but I don't believe that. The guy had to battle an indestructible (and possibly even immortal) monster, then the full onslaught of an entire army back-to-back. Even the most experience Rangers would have ended up in his position.

Also, you can really blame TJ for the lost of the Turbo powers since that was out of his hands what with Eltar falling and all. 

The thing is, the only reason the Turbo Rangers lost was because their final battle didn't feature some kind of Deus Ex Machina that allowed the team to turn the tides and give them victory. If you look at every final battle in Power Rangers, you'll see that one thing that allowed those teams to win. Take that away, and those other teams would have ended up the way as the Turbo Rangers. If Zordon was conveniently on the Dark Fortress, the Space Rangers would have lost and the universe would be ruled by evil. If Leo didn't remember he had a Battlizer (and the Galaxy Megazord randomly gaining the ability to fly), the Galaxy Rangers would have never been able to defeat Trakeena and the City Dome would have landed on those Terra Venturians, crushing them to death. If it was for Diabolico's vengeful spirit, Lightspeed Rescue would have ended with the team down a Ranger. If  it wasn't for Ransik deciding to turn himself in at the end, it would have taken longer for the Time Force Rangers to stop him. If it wasn't for...