Love is also a four letter word

You may recall some time back, I did a long entry about the many romantic exploits (or lack thereof) of our favorite masked heroes, eventually coming to the conclusion that, by and large, Kamen Riders have even less time for relationships than they do for far more mundane everyday tasks that don't involve punching people or breaking things. You may also recall that I purposely skipped over Kamen Rider V3, based on the complexity of that hero's relationship to his sole female helper...

...the one and only Tama Junko.

And now, the time has come to finally address the little issue of what I like to call "Tokusatsu's Cutest Couple That Never Was."

I'll be upfront about it: as the world's most verbal, and possibly only, self-confessed Shirô/Junko "shipper" (try not to laugh too much now), the relationship they shared is one of the things that I love most about Kamen Rider V3. And it's also one of the most frustating parts of the series. I love it because it's there, and yet it's so terribly underused. This may seem like small beans compared to the way female characters are handled in the newer shows, with their entire purpose hinging on plot swings (case in point: Yui/Shiori/Hiyori suddenly becoming really important later in the game, and then either staying really important to the end or just cooking for the last few episodes.) But hey, keep in mind that in the old days most female characters were around to fill up the main cast roster, occassionally do some fighting (mainly in the original series, with kickass Yuri & Mari) and mostly get captured/kidnapped/rescued by Kamen Rider (Kamen Rider X being a notable exception, and I should bring up that male characters like Taki and Tachibana get captured/kidnapped/rescued by Kamen Rider just as much, if not more often than the girls.)

Ah, but Junko is unique. As the sole female protagonist in the series, she got a bit more attention from the writers, and comes across as a far more memorable character than most. I will readily state that she's my favorite female character in a Rider series, in spite of how the writing treats her later on in the series. By this, of course, I mean how she falls by the wayside, and is just sorta "there". Granted, this is kinda understandable when you're introducing new characters left and right like Yuuki or Sakuma Gen and the like, but c'mon- does anybody even remember Gen as anything other than "Not-Taki"?

But still, Junko never quite gets to live up to her full potential, only hinted at earlier in the series. I'm talking, of course, about the romantic tension established early on from the get-go. While it isn't particularly prevalent until episodes #11~12, once those two hit, WOO BOY does it surface. I'll review those episodes in detail some day, as they're among my favorites from the early batch of V3. But to make a long story short, the bulk of the plot involves Junko learning that Kazami and V3 are one and the same, and Shirô does a lot of angsting over this fact. For her to find out that he is a cyborg is a catastrophic blow, or somethin'.

Of course, he never quite gets it through his head that Junko doesn't really give a damn, and loves him for who he is. Regrettably, this fact is lost in the mix as Destron does what Destron does best and attacks. While V3 spends a lot of time splashing around in the water with Pikeru-Shark (he's supposed to have a Pickaxe, okay? Not a Pickle), Junko gets captured by Drill-Mogura, who has developed something of an attachment to her. Okay, he was basically stalking her in his previous life as a petty thief, but whatever the case, he wants to marry her, and we get the classic "Junko becomes a Kaijin's Bride!" episode. Much hilarity ensues, and Destron pretty much breaks every law in the book when they get a scientist to do the vows.

Things are eventually wrapped up when V3 crashes the party, defeats Drill-Mogura (his partner in crime having already been defeated), and blows up everything and everyone else. And, thanks to a little Rider Logic-Defiance™, all ends well as Kazami convinces Junko he's not V3 by driving off in one direction, walking in with Tachibana from another, and having Tachibana act all "Hahaha, Kazami is V3? No way could this idiot be V3!" And Junko accept it as the truth, with some reservation. To be fair, this does lead to one of, if not the best, Shirô/Junko moment in the series. But man, after that? Whatever romantic tension they had going pretty much becomes one-sided crushing from Junko that goes unfulfilled.

Some V3 fans (and the writers) say that Junko simply became more of a "sister" type of character to Kazami's "older brother", realizing their love was not to be. I say, "Bah!", and that Junko pretty much all but admitted to loving Kazami. But, being as this is a show about guys in funny costumes hitting each other, it's somewhat sensible that they wouldn't dwell on such trivial matters. I say somewhat because, honestly, it just feels kinda unfinished to have Kazami drive off in the end and leave Junko in the dust. If only because that's what always happens, but Kamen Rider V3 was the one time when it could have, and should have, gone a little differently. Of course, that's just my inner softie talking.

I haven't even gotten to the Sugaya-done manga version of V3, and how horribly flawed the V3/Junko interaction is in that, but really, that's a whole other entry just waiting to happen. And I did promise scans of toys and stuff, so enough with the melodrama. I do want to finish by saying that, since any further official Junko appearances are pretty much kaput (aside from a possible shot in Spirits) the Shirô/Junko fans out there will just have to make due with Kamen Rider Sigma, where Junko comes back in a big way, and there *might* even be an eventual reunion. But you'll have to keep reading to find out.

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