You're delusional. Super doesn't cater to Americans by any means. It literally never has. It caters to some PEOPLE more than others, but definitely not what you're insinuating. I don't know where you pulled that from but you need to put it back.

There are literally interviews where they've stated their target audience is Japanese grade school kids(always has been, by the way). Just because some of that lines up with what Americans want does not mean that they're targeting Americans.

Super has far too much whimsy to be catering to the typical "American DBZ" crowd. I've mostly seen that crowd hate it.

Dragon Ball Super was never made with western auddience in mind. Toei and Bandai pretty much made the show to help toys and cards for the Dragon Ball Heroes arcade game in Japan. That's why the Tourment of Power happened because it gives them a reason to sell more merchandise. The new SSj Forms also help to sell more toys for kids.

Dragon Ball may not be as blatant as Kamen Rider and Sentai when it comes to selling toys, but Dragon Ball Super is a merchandise driven show.

Tbh if we're going by fan reactions and live events, if they were somehow catering to anyone outside Japan (Which I doubt) it'd be Mexico.

Like witnessing those last episodes and the buzz around all those live events around Mexico? Now that was an incredible thing to hear about.

I would consider being mainstream, at least to your average person in Britain as the bulk of family-friendly toku being on TV in a normal time slot like either Doctor Who or children's slots and the adult toku just overnight or something the same as Japan and unfortunately, there probably will always be some people that ''just don't get it''. But although I can't speak for the US, I think both the UK and Japan are more just a 50/50 situation than like everyone has fast internet, whereas if you're talking about countries with fast internet I would have thought Estonia or South Korea or maybe somewhere in Scandinavia would be more of an obvious choice tbh!

If I was so delusional then explain to me why the SHF Zamasu was a US exclusive.
Explain to me why the SHF SSBKK Goku is a US exclusive, and also why the Toei decided to have american people in their staff in order to make Dragon Ball more appealing to the west?
I’m far from being delusional...

Weren't both of those P-Bandai and Bluefin only requested them to be brought over? I'm pretty sure that's how that works. And it's not 'really' exclusive either since we get it here too in the philippines with official distribution. (Pretty sure it's official distribution since there wasn't a usual shop markup when I check.)

Also, Toei Animation has other non-japanese people in their staff for Dragon Ball too, like filipinos as well. Does that mean they're appealing to us, too?

SSBKK is an event exclusive. Zamasu was an absolute baffling choice yes, but he doesn't have near the popularity that in partner Goku Black has.

Then YOU explain why it focused more on the slice of life whimsy, why it didn't lean into the acting and music most US DBZ fans are nostalgic for.

Calm down, jeez.

Aren't SHFs specifically for the adult collector side of the fandom in the first place?

OK, back on topic regarding Squid Game's impact on the US pop culture scene. I got several report on Squid Game's deep impact in the US:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvgzSKLLTl8

NBC News article: Netflix's 'Squid Game' is a sensation. Here's why it's so popular

2nd NBC News article: Netflix's 'Squid Game,' a South Korean TV thriller, is over-hyped — but still historic

And to the skeptics that think that tokusatsu can't become mainstream because it's too foreign, or American can't read subtitles. Well, let me quote one of the NBC article:

Reading and observing what I've seen for the last few years regarding foreign dramas including K-dramas. This is why I have to revisit this topic on how to get tokusatsu mainstream given the success of Squid Game, and Netflix's foreign-language content was able to disprove that Americans audiences can handle subtitles.

How can Kamen Rider, Super Sentai, and Ultraman be able to get the same success in the US that Squid Game, K-dramas, and other foreign-language drama got in the US thanks to Netflix and other distributors that specialize in foreign-language content.