THERE WILL BE SPOILERS BELOW so you have been warned!
Today's character is Hoji Tomasu, AKA Deka Blue from Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger.
This is Hoji, a police of the SPD. A super serious, by the book cop who always shows a perfectionist attitude and likes handling things alone. This makes him argue with Ban, the wild fireball newcomer of the team, a lot, though I know all those slash fic writers are seeing it the other way around -_-. Basically, while Ban latches on him like a hyperactive guy, Hoji is completely irritated on him and often makes snide remarks on his apparent lack of usage of logic and brains, which Hoji prefers. Ban always called him 'aibou' (partner), but Hoji's response is always "Don't call me partner!". This gets repeated so often that if Hoji has a catch phrase, that might be it.
Past
Hoji has a fairly normal past, except one past that could make him flip out, turning him into a man full of rage. This past is shared with fellow Dekaranger Jasmine/Deka Yellow. SPD had a time when there wasn't any Deka Suits (Ranger suits) and they were just developing it. Hoji and Jasmine were investigating an Alienizer named Terry-X, but their inexperience caused defeat and they were captured. Thankfully, their senior Gyoku Rou saved them, but at cost of an injury that would cost him his career, or so they thought. Still, Hoji was pretty crushed on that event, since he respected Gyoku and think he ruined his career, and one of the reasons of his dislike to Ban is that he's far the opposite of Gyoku and when he heard Ban replaces him, naturally, Hoji didn't take it well. When Terry-X reappears, Hoji completely loses his cool and his fighting style becomes erratic to the point that he was easily beaten by Terry-X. Thankfully for him, Gyoku reappears and tells him to snap out of his rage, which he did and manages to defeat Terry-X, helped by Jasmine.
Development
Over time, Hoji learns more about friendship and depending on friends, especially after the incident where an Alienizer took over his body, and saw that even on the Alienizer's body, his friends still trusted him, enabling him to reclaim his body back. And beforehand, he learnt to stop being too perfectionist, after he screwed up big time and lost his spirit, but somewhat gets his spirit back after looking at how Ban keeps on going despite his inability to do what Hoji's doing (computers). He warms up to his friends, and eventually he starts warming up to Ban, first feeling extremely crushed when Ban looked as if he's dying (Ban comes back, though)... I know, I know, yet another slash fic bait. Later in the finale, he finally returns Ban's habit and called him Partner. Ban being Ban, he just replied with Hoji's usual catch phrase. This shows how much Hoji has developed and warmed up on him, though this gets worse in the Magiranger vs Dekaranger movie whereas Ban got a new Partner and Hoji gets demoted into 'ex-Partner'. Hoji gets jealous... all right, all right! We'll stop at the slash fic bait!
While Hoji has quite the normal past, he's not without some tragedies in life. In fact, I think in Dekaranger, Hoji is the one saddled with more tragedies in life, thanks to his attachment to the law. First off, there's his friend who gave up being good and forced Hoji to personally delete him before said friend could harm more innocent people. Another tragedy of his is when he did date a woman named Teresa. In the same time he's dating him, he's undergoing a test to be accepted as a Tokkyou, the same elite unit as Tetsu. The final test to be accepted turned out to be hunting down Teresa's brother, who's actually committing a serious crime. Torn between love and duty... Hoji chose the second and deleted the brother. That event crushed him big time, he really wasn't in the mood to say "Super Cool. Perfect" for another job well done since it comes with a high mental cost. Probably afterwards, he broke up with Teresa, and he even refused to be transferred to the Tokkyou due to his mental stress (and of course, bonds with his friendship) even when they said he passed.
Traits
Portraying his sharp mind and cool nature is his expertise on computers and guns. Hoji's personal weapon is the D-Sniper, which is exactly what it says, a sniper rifle. However, most of the time, he'd use his usual gun as well as sword to fight the Alienizers.
A trait of Hoji is his overuse of English phrases. And not a well-structured one. He usually favors the words "Super Cool" and "Perfect", usually after he personally deleted an Alienizer (or seeing something extraordinary). Or sometimes, "Oh My God" or "Unbelievable". Still, his English isn't really good English, but instead... it's what you'd call 'Engrish', reading English with how you speak as a Japanese. Compare with Jiraiya from Kakuranger, who actually speaks English well (but still with Japanese accent). Then again, Hoji's actor is not American-born, so maybe that's excusable.
A less-known trait of Hoji is about him being a 'genius at hard working'. At one point, he tried to sneak on an underground fighting ring, but in process, he has to fight as an underground fighter. He was beaten hard, but after his defeat, he proceeds to train himself in the style of boxing. He trained rigorously that in several days, he's back in action and proceeds to defeat the underground champion with just boxing. While he never uses the style again, he could definitely pick it up again.
Pairing
Well, it's no doubt that after much events, people would think Hoji is a bait for yaoi fics, especially with Ban. Although I'm not into it, I could see why. Just read the Development section. His other option for pairing would be Jasmine, not only because of their shared past; Jasmine is also one of the earlier SPD members alongside Hoji; as well as, as Sean Akizuki coined (and I agree), being one of the more straightforward professional member (Sen's headstand counts him out from being straightforward, he's more of a 'weird, but truly competent' officer). Overall, that's my fave pair for Hoji too. But we'll talk about pairing later.
So there you have it, a talk about one of my favorite characters in Dekaranger. Hoji has a lot of quirks and may look like a jerk who's all "I'm better than you" at first, but he quickly warms up, and he eventually becomes one of the most admirable characters in Dekaranger.
The thing is with Hoji, I kind of figured out that I cried during the episode when he had to kill Mikene who was his ex-girlfriend Theresa's younger brother.
ReplyDeleteI kind of thought also that he is like Ryu Tendo in Jetman but far more controlled with emotions though, in fact his sad moments IMO are more tolerable than Ryu Tendo's who suffered too much in Jetman.
Hoji started off as an arrogant character who would later loosen up. I kind of thought though that he and Sky are alike in the way, they were hiding another person deep within.
ReplyDeleteYou're right about that. But I favor Sky over Hoji because he loosened up more than Hoji.
DeleteAbout Sky, I hate that other people badmouth him by typing lies about him. I wish that they'd shut the hell up about him because I like him for his uptight behavior as I also have that.
If I'm Sky and I saw all my haters, I'd mow all of them down.
Also, I don't think that Ban and Hoji are more tolerable than Jack and Sky. If you ask me, they're less tolerable because they're more offensive. After all, Jack and Sky learned their lessons, although I miss Sky's bossiness.
Besides, Jack gets on my nerves with his rebelliousness. After all, he did behave like a spoiled brat when he misused his leadership. And the people who like him for that are blind in the head.
Those people who favor Jack and bash Sky should realize that they can't go through life expecting everyone to hand everything to them on a silver platter. Instead, they should work hard if they want something.
Another reason why I like Sky as my favorite of the Earthling S.P.D. Rangers is because he's the most serious of them. And serious people are people who I can relate to. After all , Bridge gets on my nerves with his humorous behavior.
One other thing that I want to point out is that some jerk had posted that Sky ought to grow up. If you ask me, that guy (not Sky) or gal, other Sky critics, and Jack are the ones who should grow up because they can't spend their entire lives misusing their freedom and authority. Instead, they should know the meaning of hard work and not expect to be pampered like there's no tomorrow.
DeleteSky worked hard for his position. But it's a shame that Doggy didn't give it to him because of his employee's answer. If I'm that dog-like alien, I;d be so impressed with Sky's prowess that I'd give him the position of Red Ranger regardless of his answer. Besides, I favor beings who aren't as easygoing over those who are easygoing especially I'm no longer a fun lover.
But,obviously the true pairing will be Hoji and Jasmine.Just as you said that the pairing with Ban is as friends,cuz they're boys.Infact,jasmine would join Hoji as they were so closer just like Sen and Umeko.I think the one true pairing of my point of view is Hoji+jasmine=Eternal Love!
ReplyDelete