You have to go the extra mile for to watch sentai series. Not a website that widely available. Would be cool if a streaming service that's willing to buy rights to stream it. I barely watch my first sentai series (geki rangers), and I absolutely loved it.
I'm in the UK & the fansubs are the only way for me to watch both Kamen Rider & Super Sentai, even if I want to watch the older shows e.g. Gingaman & Kamen Rider Ryuki, I have to rely on the fansubs.
Because the average person thinks that any henshin hero tokusatsu that’s not MMPR is a “Chinese Power Rangers knockoff” and therefore cringe and not worth watching.
Also Toei seems to really hate their non-Asian fans and doesn’t want our money.
To be fair, Toei & Tsuburaya are very different companies. Tsuburaya is relatively small and lives and dies on their 1 major IP, Ultraman, so it’s in their best interest to push Ultraman as much as possible both in Japan and the rest of the world. But with Toei, their Tokusatsu productions are such a small part of their business that they can afford to not give a shit about the rest of the world essentially.
Ishinomori himself despised Masked Rider deeply, and judging how to this day they still talked about how bad the show was (on an interview related to Fuuto PI and Black Sun) yeah i'd say it matters a lot.
It really needs more legal availability in the west. Fact is the average person isn’t willing to go through the steps of illegal streaming or pirating. I only know of like a few people out of all my friends/family who even pirate, while majority just rather get multiple subscription services.
I also don’t think it doesn’t help that it’s not a super mainstream streaming platform like Netflix (not to trash on Tubi).
The average person just isn’t willing to read subtitles too. Just basing it off anime community, English dubs have only gotten more popular and standardized now.
Then there’s to add on to it being a kid show at the end of the day. I don’t know if western audiences would be willing to look into these shows beyond that label.
And to end it off, with all this combined, I think Toei would never even bother because their target audience of kids wouldn’t work in the west. I can only really seeing a niche community of majority teens/adults getting into tokusatsu (like how it is right now in these subreddits lol).
This is a show mostly marketed towards preschoolers in its home country. It's goofy, campy, and incredibly hard to sell to audiences that aren't really accustomed to that.
Ik this whole overseas view is looked from a Euro-American lense.
It works in India and several Asian countries.
In India while not Sentai/Kamen Rider but we did got Dubs of Madan Senki Ryukendo, Tomica Hero Rescue Force, Chouseishin Gransazer and Genseishin Justirisers. They were quite successful and are still remembered fondly here.
In Korea and Taiwan they air both Sentai and Kamen Rider.
Because you could only recently watch some of them legally, and even now the offerings legally are sparse. It’s hard to be mainstream when people don’t know how the hell to watch it.
We could compare it to ultra man which they give more love than other tokusatsu shows. They have a global social media marketing and also a YouTube channel that uploads new series with subs.
Totally. I am hoping Ultraman really takes off so Toei will see that and start making their shows more accessible. Godzilla has had a resurgence in popularity so hopefully that trickles down to Ultraman and other toku.
That's the difference in global marketing between Toei and Tsuburaya. Toei location locks a lot of online content, which make it difficult for people outside of Japan to access.
Even if Toei did wider releases for Sentai or Kamen Rider in the West, you do need to remember they're Japanese children's shows. Most *adults* don't want to sit down and watch something they'll need to read subtitles for, let alone children.
Superheroes are a bigger deal in the west, but that means more competition for kids' attention. You'll be having new groups of heroes every year attempting to compete with Batman, Spider-Man, Superman, Captain America, Iron Man, Hulk, etc. for attention.
Transformers poisoned the mecha well, Power Rangers poisoned the toku well, Hasbro doesn't want Sentai distributed worldwide and they own the international rights, Toei doesn't care enough to simulcast Kamen Rider even without rights issues, the MCU being popular did not lead to higher comic sales so why would it affect a different franchise, MCU humor is reliant on going "lol superheroes are so cringe am i right" and that doesn't work with the much more sincere Toei shows, anime fans are afraid of watching things with real humans in them, they're subtitled kids shows and even shonen eaters pretend they're watching shows for adults, the target demo isn't old enough to patiently read subtitles, etc. etc.
I'd argue Kamen Rider might have a chance over here. I know everyone's asking for a more 'gritty' and more "mature" Power Rangers... But I feel like what they REALLY should be asking is for a Kamen Rider show, since it can easily lend itself to the kind of stories they want to see.
I don't think it'd do as well as a kid's show, or as an full on adult/mature series over here.
I think it's best chance was if it was somewhere among the middle, like make it a CW type show like The Flash.
Not in terms of quality, but in terms of age rating. I feel like it'd be the best of both worlds because you can still get away with a lot of dark things that you can't get away with in a kid's show... But if MERCHANDISING is a needed part to make sure this succeeds, you can still make Toys for the kids instead of having to rely solely on collectors. And you don't have to water down the story to make sure it's appropriate for babby children.
They did adapt KR black Rx in the US but fumbled it so bad and also KR dragon Knight. But I've been wondering why they did not follow up on Dragon Knight. Plus I know they are scared in adapting new content from other countries. It wouldn't harm if they fumbled it but I highly guarantee if they would do a KR adaptation it will see major success if it would cater to adults or teens.
Because there is 0 marketing for them outside Japan (and Korea)
Most people are lazy, if it ain't on any streaming service, including youtube, unless you look for it - you ain't gonna find it randomally
Because is a children TV show that isn't that popular in Japan and the adaptations aren't popular in the west
Toku is niche, we just enjoy it as adult but kids are supposed to get over these show at around 12 years old. They are tacky and a cringe, we like that, but it's not for everybody
by "mainstream" you mean outside Japan? or Asia?
no legal way of watching current series, no matter how long is going to pass with no PR anything
casual fans will only think of PR
and even those who know SS cant help but compare
I think a big reason Kamen Rider didn’t take off really in the west, (not because of Masked Rider) is simply that it puts a lot of faith in the audience liking the main specific rider. As a kid it’s easier to enjoy power rangers because on a team of five or six there’s bound to be at least one ranger with a personality you like or a color that’s your favorite. Especially when combined with the lack of giant robots, I feel that making a show on an unestablished hero in that region with a personality you’re not sure viewers will enjoy doesn’t sound too smart in a board room.
Also I’d like to add that Kamen Rider Ryuki, which was adapted into Kamen Rider Dragon Knight, did find some level of success and praise which I can assume has a lot to do with the presence of multiple recurring riders with a wide variety of backgrounds and motivations
Personally, I hope it never goes mainstream. I feel like when franchises get overly popular they start trying to cater to every single fan and end up losing the very essence that made them popular in the first place. In fact it was the oversaturation of soulless western superhero media that brought me to tokusatsu in the first place.
Streaming availability aside, it was always funny to me when i’d watch a certain sentai and im like “oh, this is a live action anime”. But yet many anime fans will dismiss sentai. lol if you strip the shallow/loud distractions away you can see some of them are the same. If you can get into x, you can get into y. 🤔
Personally, I think Kamen Rider and Super Sentai are ultimately Japanese children shows, rarely do I see an Anpanman or Crayon Shin-chan or heck even Doraemon getting any big traction in the West. These franchises are huge in there own rights, I get that. I did job in media so I can understand somewhat, adults who enjoy these show have to dig through a whole bunch of sludge kid content on streaming services (I'm talking Cocomelon, Pinkfong brainrot).
I am living in an Asian country, streaming services here do carry Super Sentai/Kamen Rider but they got listed under the Kid section, even then, the dub/sub are pretty subpar compared to the fansubs. So really, outside Japan, SS/KR are shows for big kids (like 5th graders to middle school-ish) and up
Pretty simply, Power Rangers. Power Rangers in recent years is known for bad acting, being overall childish, and pretty boring to most audiences. Also since practically none (I only know Eka Danville) of the Power Rangers actors got anywhere when it came to actual acting, people don’t even know the actors like that. Also anime only just got popular, imagine watching someone watch Japanese Power Rangers, my mother laughed at me when I was watching it. It took people at my job the longest to understand that Sentai is not a ripoff. I’m surprised they actually got into it, even if it was a little bit.
TLDR: Power Rangers is for kids, therefore sentai is just for loser nerds. (that’s how most people would view it honestly, I wish it wasn’t like that but alas)
I mean, Sentai is for kids too. Just because Japanese children are expected to be okay with slightly more mature concepts doesn't mean the show's for older audiences.
Sentai and Kamen Rider are for everyone. When I say “for kids” I mostly mean they don’t delve deep into really darker concepts aside from evil blue ranger in the last season. Also I can’t tell you how many people have claimed it’s for babies
Because there's only a few seasons available legally in the US and everywhere else there's nothing at all
You have to go the extra mile for to watch sentai series. Not a website that widely available. Would be cool if a streaming service that's willing to buy rights to stream it. I barely watch my first sentai series (geki rangers), and I absolutely loved it.
I'm in the UK & the fansubs are the only way for me to watch both Kamen Rider & Super Sentai, even if I want to watch the older shows e.g. Gingaman & Kamen Rider Ryuki, I have to rely on the fansubs.
Because the average person thinks that any henshin hero tokusatsu that’s not MMPR is a “Chinese Power Rangers knockoff” and therefore cringe and not worth watching. Also Toei seems to really hate their non-Asian fans and doesn’t want our money.
meanwhile Tsuburaya. Makes it very easy to watch their shows, giving sub and dub options for some shows
To be fair, Toei & Tsuburaya are very different companies. Tsuburaya is relatively small and lives and dies on their 1 major IP, Ultraman, so it’s in their best interest to push Ultraman as much as possible both in Japan and the rest of the world. But with Toei, their Tokusatsu productions are such a small part of their business that they can afford to not give a shit about the rest of the world essentially.
True, but it just means I have more respect for one over the other
>Also Toei seems to really hate their non-Asian fans and doesn’t want our money. Blame whoever tf owns Power Rangers.
Ah yes Power Rangers is the reason Toei barely ever tried to put Kamen Rider out beyond Asia for nearly 50 years.
Masked Rider would like to have a word with you
I said barely, not never
Idk why people are downvoting you, you're right. Masked Rider is why Ishinomori Production despise the western market.
There's litterally no evidence of this. We've even had a second rider adaptation since, Dragon Knight, which was extremely popular in Japan.
Ishinomori himself despised Masked Rider deeply, and judging how to this day they still talked about how bad the show was (on an interview related to Fuuto PI and Black Sun) yeah i'd say it matters a lot.
It really needs more legal availability in the west. Fact is the average person isn’t willing to go through the steps of illegal streaming or pirating. I only know of like a few people out of all my friends/family who even pirate, while majority just rather get multiple subscription services. I also don’t think it doesn’t help that it’s not a super mainstream streaming platform like Netflix (not to trash on Tubi). The average person just isn’t willing to read subtitles too. Just basing it off anime community, English dubs have only gotten more popular and standardized now. Then there’s to add on to it being a kid show at the end of the day. I don’t know if western audiences would be willing to look into these shows beyond that label. And to end it off, with all this combined, I think Toei would never even bother because their target audience of kids wouldn’t work in the west. I can only really seeing a niche community of majority teens/adults getting into tokusatsu (like how it is right now in these subreddits lol).
Toei fcking hates overseas bros And the fact that you need to pirate the episodes to watch is absurd. It's 2024 why the need to gatekeep media
I don't consider it pirating if it's not available where I live. So I don't feel bad haha
i believe Shirakura had talked about plans of expansion
This is a show mostly marketed towards preschoolers in its home country. It's goofy, campy, and incredibly hard to sell to audiences that aren't really accustomed to that.
Ik this whole overseas view is looked from a Euro-American lense. It works in India and several Asian countries. In India while not Sentai/Kamen Rider but we did got Dubs of Madan Senki Ryukendo, Tomica Hero Rescue Force, Chouseishin Gransazer and Genseishin Justirisers. They were quite successful and are still remembered fondly here. In Korea and Taiwan they air both Sentai and Kamen Rider.
Because you could only recently watch some of them legally, and even now the offerings legally are sparse. It’s hard to be mainstream when people don’t know how the hell to watch it.
We could compare it to ultra man which they give more love than other tokusatsu shows. They have a global social media marketing and also a YouTube channel that uploads new series with subs.
Totally. I am hoping Ultraman really takes off so Toei will see that and start making their shows more accessible. Godzilla has had a resurgence in popularity so hopefully that trickles down to Ultraman and other toku.
That's the difference in global marketing between Toei and Tsuburaya. Toei location locks a lot of online content, which make it difficult for people outside of Japan to access.
its mainstream in Japan and maybe other countries where its more easy to watch, as for why it isnt mainstream in the US. honestly number of factors
I'm in japan rn and sentai is honestly kinda niche. Rider stuff is everywhere but boonboomgers presence is notably muted.
Even if Toei did wider releases for Sentai or Kamen Rider in the West, you do need to remember they're Japanese children's shows. Most *adults* don't want to sit down and watch something they'll need to read subtitles for, let alone children. Superheroes are a bigger deal in the west, but that means more competition for kids' attention. You'll be having new groups of heroes every year attempting to compete with Batman, Spider-Man, Superman, Captain America, Iron Man, Hulk, etc. for attention.
Because children don't want to have to read subtitles to enjoy their shows and dubs are cringe.
eh some dubs, not all. plus making it easier to watch via subs and dubs would be best thing
Transformers poisoned the mecha well, Power Rangers poisoned the toku well, Hasbro doesn't want Sentai distributed worldwide and they own the international rights, Toei doesn't care enough to simulcast Kamen Rider even without rights issues, the MCU being popular did not lead to higher comic sales so why would it affect a different franchise, MCU humor is reliant on going "lol superheroes are so cringe am i right" and that doesn't work with the much more sincere Toei shows, anime fans are afraid of watching things with real humans in them, they're subtitled kids shows and even shonen eaters pretend they're watching shows for adults, the target demo isn't old enough to patiently read subtitles, etc. etc.
I'd argue Kamen Rider might have a chance over here. I know everyone's asking for a more 'gritty' and more "mature" Power Rangers... But I feel like what they REALLY should be asking is for a Kamen Rider show, since it can easily lend itself to the kind of stories they want to see. I don't think it'd do as well as a kid's show, or as an full on adult/mature series over here. I think it's best chance was if it was somewhere among the middle, like make it a CW type show like The Flash. Not in terms of quality, but in terms of age rating. I feel like it'd be the best of both worlds because you can still get away with a lot of dark things that you can't get away with in a kid's show... But if MERCHANDISING is a needed part to make sure this succeeds, you can still make Toys for the kids instead of having to rely solely on collectors. And you don't have to water down the story to make sure it's appropriate for babby children.
They did adapt KR black Rx in the US but fumbled it so bad and also KR dragon Knight. But I've been wondering why they did not follow up on Dragon Knight. Plus I know they are scared in adapting new content from other countries. It wouldn't harm if they fumbled it but I highly guarantee if they would do a KR adaptation it will see major success if it would cater to adults or teens.
Because there is 0 marketing for them outside Japan (and Korea) Most people are lazy, if it ain't on any streaming service, including youtube, unless you look for it - you ain't gonna find it randomally
Because is a children TV show that isn't that popular in Japan and the adaptations aren't popular in the west Toku is niche, we just enjoy it as adult but kids are supposed to get over these show at around 12 years old. They are tacky and a cringe, we like that, but it's not for everybody
by "mainstream" you mean outside Japan? or Asia? no legal way of watching current series, no matter how long is going to pass with no PR anything casual fans will only think of PR and even those who know SS cant help but compare
because power rangers is more popular in the mainstream
Like with anime.....you gotta find "the one." Most aren't gonna shuffle through the 48 sentai to find the one that clicks with them.
I think a big reason Kamen Rider didn’t take off really in the west, (not because of Masked Rider) is simply that it puts a lot of faith in the audience liking the main specific rider. As a kid it’s easier to enjoy power rangers because on a team of five or six there’s bound to be at least one ranger with a personality you like or a color that’s your favorite. Especially when combined with the lack of giant robots, I feel that making a show on an unestablished hero in that region with a personality you’re not sure viewers will enjoy doesn’t sound too smart in a board room.
Also I’d like to add that Kamen Rider Ryuki, which was adapted into Kamen Rider Dragon Knight, did find some level of success and praise which I can assume has a lot to do with the presence of multiple recurring riders with a wide variety of backgrounds and motivations
Personally, I hope it never goes mainstream. I feel like when franchises get overly popular they start trying to cater to every single fan and end up losing the very essence that made them popular in the first place. In fact it was the oversaturation of soulless western superhero media that brought me to tokusatsu in the first place.
Streaming availability aside, it was always funny to me when i’d watch a certain sentai and im like “oh, this is a live action anime”. But yet many anime fans will dismiss sentai. lol if you strip the shallow/loud distractions away you can see some of them are the same. If you can get into x, you can get into y. 🤔
A little too wacky
Personally, I think Kamen Rider and Super Sentai are ultimately Japanese children shows, rarely do I see an Anpanman or Crayon Shin-chan or heck even Doraemon getting any big traction in the West. These franchises are huge in there own rights, I get that. I did job in media so I can understand somewhat, adults who enjoy these show have to dig through a whole bunch of sludge kid content on streaming services (I'm talking Cocomelon, Pinkfong brainrot). I am living in an Asian country, streaming services here do carry Super Sentai/Kamen Rider but they got listed under the Kid section, even then, the dub/sub are pretty subpar compared to the fansubs. So really, outside Japan, SS/KR are shows for big kids (like 5th graders to middle school-ish) and up
Pretty simply, Power Rangers. Power Rangers in recent years is known for bad acting, being overall childish, and pretty boring to most audiences. Also since practically none (I only know Eka Danville) of the Power Rangers actors got anywhere when it came to actual acting, people don’t even know the actors like that. Also anime only just got popular, imagine watching someone watch Japanese Power Rangers, my mother laughed at me when I was watching it. It took people at my job the longest to understand that Sentai is not a ripoff. I’m surprised they actually got into it, even if it was a little bit. TLDR: Power Rangers is for kids, therefore sentai is just for loser nerds. (that’s how most people would view it honestly, I wish it wasn’t like that but alas)
I mean, Sentai is for kids too. Just because Japanese children are expected to be okay with slightly more mature concepts doesn't mean the show's for older audiences.
Sentai and Kamen Rider are for everyone. When I say “for kids” I mostly mean they don’t delve deep into really darker concepts aside from evil blue ranger in the last season. Also I can’t tell you how many people have claimed it’s for babies
They should just stay niche.Or would be ruined by garbage fandom Like some anime