And now I'm imagining Burai talking like the Tick from the 90s Fox Kids cartoon. :lolol

Gonna have to disagree here, but I really think it comes down to semantics and how you interpret the word "niche."

For me, from a marketing perspective, a niche can be thought of as something's place in the market, which is related to its target demographic. Some are bigger, some are smaller. But if something has no, no niche, no place carved out into the market, no target audience...then how can we expect there to be any demand for it? By saying they don't understand what niche Power Rangers is filling, it's asking "what type of audience is this being made for?" And that's a very very important question to be able to answer.

To define Mazinger Z's niche, you just have to ask who it would appeal to. I would say: people who enjoy classic super robot anime, can appreciate classic super robot anime tropes, people who are interested in anime history, people who like Devilman and want to see other Go Nagai works, etc. Very different niche from something like Jujutsu Kaisen.

edit: Anyways, my unpopular tokusatsu opinion is that Shin Ultraman and Shin Kamen Rider were both pretty bad. The pacing was poor and the use of CGI in the fights made them feel gimmicky. I would have much rather seen more traditional tokusatsu action, not the weird flurry of CGI fists that we got.

Then the term that should be used here is "target audience." And the answer to that is: 5-10 year olds and their parents who enjoy superhero shows first and foremost, with the toku fans and people who grew up with the show being secondary, just as it's always been.

And guess what? The show has always been both appealing and profitable in that area. Even some of the seasons that fans who are terminally online like to complain about, such as Samurai, were successful in their endeavors. Both via ratings as well as merch sales.

To say that Power Rangers has no target audience or appeals solely because Toku has slowly been growing bigger over the last few years is no different than saying other long-runners like Mazinger Z or Sailor Moon have no place because anime of their kind have become alot more common place/popular over time.

Let it be my unpopular opinion then. Speaking of Tsuburaya, I really don't think their path is all that successful. That is, it is successful in terms of winning the hearts of fans, but just dig a little deeper and information regularly emerges about the company?s financial problems. The main shows, although they sparkle with originality and are pleasing to the eye, are extended by recap episodes. And all Western collaborations/Western-oriented projects outside the fan base receive very average ratings. Okay, what I?m writing now is a lot more IMHO, but still. It seems to me that Tsuburaya does not earn anything or earns very little from his conventionally ?Western? content, because due to the unpopularity of the franchise for the bulk of the English-speaking and world audience, their Western partners in these projects take all the small profits for themselves. And that is why Toei is in no hurry to enter the international market, so as not to feed the vultures. I know it came out a little harsh, but I think someone should have noticed the kaiju in the room.

Okay, wasn't sure if I was going to comment again but we're really going into Tsupro and Toei's standings and I feel like we need to step back and consider a couple of things.

The reason Tsuburaya is reaching out as far as it does and why it makes the partnerships it does is because all they have is Ultraman. They're just a Tokusatsu production company with a couple of recognizable brands. They've had financial trouble sure, but it's clear that they're definitely bouncing back and them spreading out to the worldwide market is one of the reasons for that.

Also when talking about budget I think you also need to address the other party in the room, Bandai. Bandai's the one that gives the budgets and what they'll allow and so forth. It's probably why Ultraman can only go up to 25 episodes, and Tsuburaya when purchasing broadcast rights has to hit just above that so that's why (and also likely to account for any breaks they want to do that would be on days that might bring in less viewers). It does feel like Bandai's been opening up more though, what with the recent slew of a handful of original Kaiju made for both Blazar and Arc.

When it comes to Toei... lol, I think it's funny to think they're afraid of feeding "vultures". No, when it comes to Toei, it is so massive beyond the Tokusatsu it produces, even beyond the anime it produces, that of course they're not in a hurry to go to the west or further worldwide. It would give them more money, but it'd be such a negligible amount to them that they really don't care about making that money.

Tldr: the difference between Tsuburaya and Toei, which I think people constantly forget, is that one is purely a Tokusatsu studio while the other has their hands in a lot of pies so to speak. Which absolutely affects how they respond and handle certain things.

Yeah, you're right about that. Bandai's support aside, it's easy to forget how Tsuburaya is a studio of dedicated tokusatsu artisans while Toei is relatively a much bigger studio that also deals with anime and non-toku live-action shows and movies. Perhaps it's easy for Tsuburaya to do what they do in terms of releasing their shows because of that. However, I still do think Toei's toku department needs to consider it and do the same if they are able to or when the opportunity is there. But thank you for pointing that out.

Ok, I admit that part of my comment about Toei is wrong. But I also still insist that Tsuburaya's Western projects are not very successful. That is, the comments on "New Hero" or "Rising" outside of tokusatsu fans are not very enthusiastic. Therefore, it’s hard for me to imagine that Tsuburaya made much money from them, especially considering that the profits had to be shared with the animators and Netflix. I don't even think it worked much in terms of attracting new viewers, because kids who liked "Rising" will most likely think it's an Illumination cartoon, just like I thought "Anastasia" was a Disney cartoon when I was a kid. Of course, it's easy to check now, but how many of them will be interested enough to do it? So for Tsuburaya it's more about earning points from already existing fans. And, remembering Zi-O: Supplementary Plan, Toei, as it were, pretends to be an asshole company

I mean last I checked, Ultraman's really popular in China.

And what do we have here with our latest Kamen Rider? It seems Gavv was filmed in advanced so that they could go through China compliance laws and air it earlier there.

Feel like there's a connection there, if minor, about Ultraman's popularity and success worldwide.

I readily believe in plans to develop the Chinese market, because there is definitely an audience there, and with very clear tastes. But, given global trends, I think that the Chinese and Western media markets are now little connected, if not separated at all. So for the global community itself, I see the benefit only in the emergence of a greater variety of translations and resources.

I'm not sure what Tsubaraya's overall attitude is towards China these days, but I do know that they've been having a lot of trouble with Ultramega, the company that bought Chaiyo's infamous "rights" to Ultraman. They're still putting out media and merchandise in China and claim to be the real owners of the IP.