g_uava | 🧁‼️Writing a Sentai Pairing in Different Sentai AUs: What I've Tried and Learnt (Reply)

Commentary for: "Drabble Compilation: Melto and Asuna in Different Sentai Teams"

To complete a set of Ryusoulger drabbles based on Toku100 Challenge's Prompt Set 06, I wrote about Melto and Asuna in different kinds of Sentai teams to finish five out of six 'Writer's Choice' prompts. Each drabble sequence for these prompts feature a specific Sentai AU and the use of dual perspectives with one drabble told from Melto's perspective, then the next from Asuna's perspective or in reverse order.

I had written a Sentai pairing in multiple Sentai AUs before in my Lupinranger VS Patranger story "Parallel Red Strings". It has Kairi and Keiichirou in different police teams and sticking to the same theme for each AU, which matches the theme of the pairing's original show, made the story easier to write than my Ryusoulger Sentai AU drabble sequences. Meaningfully portraying a different theme, along with a pairing's unique dynamic, while sticking to a low word limit turned out more challenging than I thought.

But in taking on the challenge, I got to think through what distinguishes the various official Super Sentai teams and the tropes that inspire the adventures in their respective shows.

Sentai teams on a scale of 'trained' and 'untrained'

One way of differentiating Sentai teams is to place them on a scale of 'trained' and 'untrained'. 'Trained' teams share a similar background and/or training for defeating their designated opponents, whereas the members of 'untrained' teams possess contrasting backgrounds and skillsets, and tend to not have undergone official training prior to the acceptance of their mission.

For the Dino-themed Sentais, Zyuranger and Ryusoulger are on the 'trained' extreme of the scale with both teams consisting of non-humans who have largely trained to protect the world and work together as a team. In contrast, Abaranger and Kyoryuger are 'untrained', for even those trained in combat skills obtained those skills before knowing of who they must fight.

In my Ryusoulger Sentai AUs, I placed Melto and Asuna in 'trained' teams like their original team. I thought that I could better explore in a one-shot without a word limit the effect of them being suddenly thrown together in an 'untrained' team, which marks a big departure from their original background as childhood friends highly familiar with each other's personality and skills.

One Sentai narrative trope for each Sentai AU

Before writing each Sentai AU, I thought about how to link a Sentai narrative trope to each AU's particular theme. Out of the various Tokusatsu franchises, Super Sentai shows have the most distinctive tropes, which can further be classified as character or narrative tropes. Character tropes are like archetypes that influence how a character is perceived, while narrative tropes are broadly devices for starting a conflict or storyline that seem to get reused in show after show.

Here are my Ryusoulger Sentai AUs and the narrative trope that each features:

Special Forces – Training with the team's giant robot.
Ancient Civilization Researchers – Special guest/one-off character of the week.
High School Art Club – Trapped in a painting. (Coincidentally, while writing these AUs, I was watching Turboranger, which features a team of high school students. Only after finishing this set of drabbles did I get to Turboranger's own 'trapped in a painting' episode.)
Kitchen Staff – Weapons upgrade.
Martial Arts Fighters – Evil Blue Ranger.

Many Super Sentai (or Power Rangers) fans would recognise these tropes, even if as far as I know, there's no resource out there that lists and labels the common ones.

Envisioning Ryusoulger as a different kind of show with pairing-centric episodes

Like most Sentai shows, Ryusoulger features episodes that centre on one member of the team. But unlike shows such as Lupinranger VS Patranger, it barely has any episodes which focus on a pair of team members. While the Ryusoulgers do pair off to carry out their plans, getting paired up seldom shows what's unique about the pairing of two particular team members.

In the case of Melto and Asuna, while it's possible to spot what's unique about their dynamics over the course of the show, there's no 'Melto and Asuna episode'. I really like imagining such an episode where pairing them up directly influences a particular conflict and its resolution, even if the my Sentai AUs about them turn out more like gen fics with barely any romantic tension.