Introducing (and the benefit of) toku shows to your children
 

Disclaimer: This thread I created is aimed at users who are living in the US and Europe. Anyone from East and Southeast Asia may have a different cultural and parental standard on how kids watch their shows.

I stumble upon a Reddit thread about introducing Super Sentai to their children:

Reddit thread: Introducing SS to young children?

There was a lot of mixed feeling about introducing Super Sentai to their children. Judging from the posts on the Reddit thread, it looks like a lot of the posts are done by Sentai fans in Asia. I don't see any of them mentioning USA or Europe (or even Latin/South America). So this topic talk about how do we introduce our children to Toku shows (doesn't have to be from Japan, a Chinese or Korean toku shows can also applied in this same situation).

All of us on Tokunation know that toku shows are made for children, so it would make sense to introduce Super Sentai and Ultraman to our kids, right?

Well, that get a little complicated and involved knowing your child's psychology. Not all toku can appeal to children or not all toku are "child-friendly" like for example, don't show your children GARO or Kamen Rider Amazons (that include the 1974 version) since they're both targeted toward older audiences.

Case in example: I have a 7 year old niece that I introduce Ultra Seven, and Zyuranger and she fell in love with both of the show. But I can't introduce Ultraman Leo to her because I found the first half of the show to be too dark for a 7 year old to watch.

So one of my question to anyone on Tokunation that have children: How do you approach introducing toku shows to your children? How do you decide which toku is appropriate for your children to watch?

However there seem to be one benefit of having your child watching Tokusatsu shows.


It has been acknowledge for the last few years that turning on subtitles/closed caption on TVs can help boost children's literacy/reading ability. Many studies have confirmed and backed this up:

NIH research article: Video Captions Benefit Everyone

Research into Using Video Subtitles and Closed Captions to Improve Reading and Literacy Skills


TES Exclusive article: 'TV subtitles boost literacy’ - Greening

Closed Captioning Gives Literacy a Boost

Closed Captions Improve Literacy in Children

Why Gen Z Loves Closed Captioning

Let me quote the benefit of subtitled program and children's literacy:

EDIT/ADDITION (as of 12/22/2020): There are more evidences of having a foreign language TV programs with English subtitles (or any localized subtitles depend on what language you speak and read and the region you lived in) can help your children not only practice their reading, but also enhance their intercultural awareness. I'll cite these evidences here:

Voicebox UK: Why switching the subtitle on is a sure-fire way to improve child literacy

The Conversation: Why children should be watching TV with the subtitles on

And I'll quote the article from The Conversation about the effect of foreign-language shows with English subtitles on children:

See, this justifies turning on Super Sentai, Ultraman, Showa-era Godzilla, and Gamera in Japanese with English subtitles for your kids.

The one that I bolded and underlined in the quote seem to be the benefit of having your children watching toku shows whether it's Super Sentai, Ultraman, or maybe Metal Heroes. The studies doesn't say if foreign-language program with English subtitle can help, but I can say this: my 7 year old niece is the example and reason why it maybe a smart idea to give your kids a toku show with English subtitle. The English subtitle with a non-English spoken audio can add challenge to your child's reading skill.

So Toku shows (and/or any foreign-language children shows) can be beneficial for children's reading, the fact that the spoken audio is not English and relying on subtitle can make the show not only entertaining, but think of them as a "live-action" book. Children Japanese anime with English subtitle can do the same effect, entertaining but also add challenges.

Also for anyone living in Brazil or in non-English speaking European countries, here's another benefit of English subtitles if you are studying English as a 2nd language:

If you're living in Brazil and you know somebody that is practicing English, and need a tool to help them with their English reading. Well toku like Juspion, Zyuranger, etc.... may come in handy. Oh speaking of Juspion (beside being the most well-known toku in Brazil), it will get a English subtitled blu-ray release in the US/North America. And Region A blu-ray can worked in both US and Brazil (in other word, all of Latin/South America). So if you want to help your kid or somebody in Brazil practice their English reading skill, an English-subtitled Juspion is really benefical for that reason.

But back on topic, if you want to help your children with their reading skill or give them a challenge in reading, a English subtitled tokusatsu show can really do wonder. As I said, my 7 year old niece watched Ultra Seven and Zyuranger with English subtitled and well she can handled any foreign-language show I can give to her. I also showed Zyuranger to her friends and her cousins that are the same age as her and they liked Zyuranger a lot, and I didn't show them Power Ranger. My 7 year old niece along with her cousins/friends all watched Zyuranger with English subtitle. I'm planning to diversify the foreign-language programs for my niece. I don't limited to toku and Japanese anime, no she'll watch a Children Korean drama on Amazon Prime, and maybe a live-action Italian-language children TV show on Netflix.

So my 2nd set of questions for all of you on Tokunation that have been reading this thread: Do you agree with the studies about subtitle and children's literacy? Are you more likely to give your children a toku show because of the studies and evidence English subtitle can help your child's reading skill?


My last question: Which toku show do you deem "child-friendly"?

I considered Zyuranger, Ultra Seven to be good for children. Are there any other Toku (the one with English subtitle) that you think are good for kids to watch and practice their reading.

To me, sometimes I think Toku shows isn't suitable for kids even though some Toku shows are meant for kids. There are a lot of good things that kids can learn, like teamwork is important, we should learn to forgive, etc. But I notice that Toku shows always use violence when the one that doing bad things is a monster. I know, they're monsters and most of them are trying to destroy the world so it's fine to use violence no matter what bad things they do. But I'm afraid kids might get things wrong. First, I'm afraid kids might use violent to whoever they don't like without trying to think another way to solve their problems. Second, kids will think that the actions and the weapons are cool, I'm afraid that kids will try to demonstrate it because they think whatever the heroes do are right and they wanted to be like them. I think that's a bad thing for them and also dangerous. Because of this I always try to avoid them to watch this kind of shows until they understand what they shouldn't do and what they should.

Many have broached this matter regarding P.R. a thousand times over! I've since realized that while Tokusatsu tends to operate under different censorship guidelines in Japan, the same arguments might still apply.

I do believe that some Toku shows are too extreme for kids and many should wait before seeing the more serious material, but not all Toku (including but not limited to P.R.) falls under a "one-size-fits-all" banner!

I also recommend the "Ultimate Visual History" for P.R., more specifically Pages 17 & 38.

I apologize for the low-quality.

As I said, that will depend on your kid's psychology. If you bother to read my post, I said it that my 7 year old niece had no problem watching Zyuranger and Ultra Seven.

My niece and her friends are smart enough to know that the characters are fictional and don't imitate whatever they saw. I don't know what up with your kids, but you realize not all young kid think that way.

So I understand it's your opinion, but could you elaborate why would you think all kids shouldn't watch tokusatsu since my niece and her friends are proof that toku don't screw up kid's mind or their reality.

You don't have to apologize for the low quality. The picture attachment you uploaded are in clear and pristine condition.

Also I'm aware of Power Ranger drawing parent backlash, but that's in the past. I'm talking about today. Now because of streaming websites, DVDs, and blu-ray are advanced technology compared to what the 90's and Power Ranger had back then, and now because of original content from Japan getting subtitled release (ie: like in the case of Super Sentai getting release by Shout! Factory, and Juspion getting release in the US for the first time) along with foreign-language children program getting subtitled stream/release, and the fact that studies have now acknowledged that subtitles and closed caption can help increase children's reading/literary skill.

That's why this topic is created for, to have a debate about if introducing our children to tokusatsu show is good and beneficial for them when it comes to enhance their reading skill. Also to see how do we approach introducing these shows to our children.

As I said, my 7 year old niece and her friends had no problem watching Zyuranger with English subtitles.

Picture attachment: my 7 year old niece and her friends watching Zyuranger on TV.

Oh, I was talking about kids who still don't understand what's right and what's wrong like preschool kids since Toku shows like Power Rangers and Super Sentai are meant for them. There are kids that's smart enough to understand so maybe it's safe for them, but there are also kids who don't. It's not that kids shouldn't watch Toku shows, I think it's safer to let them watch Toku shows when they're old enough to understand or at least under their parent's guide.

I remember showing a 9 year-old kid once a violent scene from Kamen Rider Amazons (the one where Omega was killing all those Ant Amazons) and he just shrugged it off and said he'd seen worse. Not that it would help this thread, but just pointing out that all kids are different and can tolerate different amounts of gore.

Personally though, the fact that he said he'd seen worse disturbs me.

Kids will not demonstrate things if you teach them not to do it. When MMPR was airing back when I was 3 years old back in 1994, all of the kids would pretend to be Power Rangers at the playground and no one got hurt because they know that they would get in trouble if they hurt someone. Kids are smarter than people give them credit for if you teach them what is right and wrong at an early age.

I doubt he has been on the dark web. If not, you have video games and movies that are more graphic than Amazon. Not sure about kids these days, but I do remember kids in the 90s (at least in my local area) like violent stuff like Mortal Kombat and Scream. They knew it was fake and they would be locked up if they kill someone.

As I said, not all kids mental and psychology function the same way.

My advice to any current or future parent on Tokunation: pre-screen the show/content before you showed it to your children. Judge and determine the content in each children show you're going to show to them. Not every children show will be "clean" or "child-friendly" or child appropriate, I mean for example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4H6ZmeF2Heg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFBkQ3syqRg

Yeah, do whatever they talked about in the video look appropriate for your children? Just because it's a kid show doesn't mean it won't be 100% appropriate to all of them.

I agree with Guyver Spawn, I've seen worse stuff then in any kid toku shows. But the thing that baffle me is that a R-rated movie or a M-rated video game franchise get a kid toy. And no, I'm not making this up. I'm fine with Mario, Sonic the Hedgehog, or Pokemon having children toys, but a M-rated video game franchise like Halo, Call of Duty, Gears of War having toy aimed at little children. No way, that undermine ESRB's rating and policy regarding mature content on video game.

My principle: if a kid can't played a M-rated video game, then these same kid shouldn't play any children toy based on that M-rated video game franchise. Meaning if you don't want your kids to play Call of Duty or Gears of War video game, then don't buy the children toys based on those video game.

I should also clarified that regarding kids watching tokusatsu shows, I would prefer kids 7-10 to be watching those shows. Pre-school age up to age 5 shouldn't watch them because they can't read subtitles. According to several experts on child development, children should develop their reading skill at age 5 and start giving them subtitle/closed caption on TV at either 7 or 8 years old. At that age, that's where I would start giving kids toku shows and/or any foreign-language children shows with English subtitle. I'll attached a chart explaining the age and reading development.

Here are some more information about children and reading:

Should my young child already be reading?

early child reading

I say 7 or 8 is a good age to get your kid into Toku if they know how to read subs by then. Den-O or Foruze are fun choices for younger kids while Kuuga and Agito feel more up to the pre-teen audience (10-12).

If you live in a bad area, kids have seen way worse than what's on TV. I did live in Compton as a kid for a couple of years and I saw some mess up shit. Real world stuff is worse if you ask me.

I remember my mom leaving me at home as a kid to watch my new VCD of Kuuga. I also had a Growing Form Kuuga toy I just bought.

I watched the Spider Grongi kill like fifty police officers and I turned out pretty alright. Ah, I miss my childhood.

OK, thanks to Toei's new YT channel for Toku worldwide/global fans. It looks beside Metal Heroes, and the usual Toei's "hero/superhero" toku show. They do have some children toku shows that may appeal to your 7-9 years old demographic, and if they don't mind the old school look (1 of them from the 70's, and another one from the 80's, another one from what I assume from early to mid 90's).

If you're one of those parents (or know any parents) that are not comfortable with the violence found in Super Sentai, Kamen Rider, Metal Heroes, or you just want a different toku show for the kids, I think these will work as a good alternative.

I'll list the children toku shows from Toei's global Toku YT channel:

KAMITAMAN: This show seem like it was made for little kids. No foul language, no scary monsters, little kids are the main characters, no violence, goofy slapstick humor

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnQ1_fFxANY&t=50s

Guruguru Medaman: This is an older toku show so make sure your kids are OK with watching something older. Again, main character is kid, no foul language, "ghost" are not too scary, child-friendly slapstick humor:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bp2Da29qhY

Robotack: this I assume is from the early to mid 90's (this thing used a very early primitive CGI in one scene). The human character are children, robot characters designed are childish in nature, and I assume there's no use of foul language, and violence is well rather childish and no it's not on the level of Super Sentai. So this show is definitely designed for child audiences:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U20orHIujkE

There are plenty more child toku shows on their YT channel. I need to watch them to see if they're child friendly. I hope these help for any parents that want kids to watch toku and at the same time find something different beside Super Sentai, Kamen Rider, Ultraman, or Metal Heroes.

A "bridge" between a common tokusatsu predicated on action and an atypical tokusatsu with less action would be the "Rescue Heroes" subset to Metal Heroes.

Produced during a time when tokusatsu apparently got a bad rap, it was more focused on rescue and arrest operations.

Winspector, Solbrain, Exceedraft are part of the "trilogy".

That's not to say that danger doesn't occur, as some scenes might be too much, but battles aren't as common.

Thanks for the info, didn't know about that. I have a question regarding the part I bold highlighted: What do you mean during a time when toku got a bad rap? Was there an incident of kids in Japan injuring themselves, or a number of children in Japan died from imitating action from toku shows?

Also, I found couple of other children friendly toku shows from Toei's new YT channel:

Pettonton: obviously inspired by Spielberg's E.T, and one YT user compared the monster character to Sesame Street. Yes, children are the main human character, humor seem childish.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2UBimGbBPc&t=282s

Robocon: Opening song sound childish, robot characters design definitely made for children, main human characters are children.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkP57rAYals

I also got chance to watch Robot 8-chan and that's also made for children. So yeah, those shows from Toei's YT channel I mentioned above are made for children. So if your kids have a good reading level, go ahead and give this to them.

If I had to guess about tokusatsu getting a bad rap, it was probably good old moral guardians in action. Parents and pther adults concerned that they're children are being shown improper things on television. Just a guess

The main reason I added "bad rap" is because of what was said in a completely different thread: http://www.tokunation.com/showthread...spector&page=5

User Sunred posted this in 2017: "Here is one that is from the metal heroes:
- It is most likely the reason Winspector did not follow the typical good guy defeats bad guy formula and was set as a special rescue team is because there was a serial killing in Saitama at the time and anime and toku were the subject of criticism regarding fictional violence."

A year later in 2018, I asked the followiing: "- If there was criticism, why wasn't Sentai as affected? Winspector would've been around '89 roughly, which was about the same time as Turboranger.

- Rescue Heroes would only last about three shows. Did the criticism start to waver a bit for them to return to the older format? Did the decline in Rescue Heroes factor into that decision?

- Given that the rescue theme was an answer to real-life events, was Toei marginally shocked at the popular response to Winspector?"

User Sunred responded: "Purely speculation but my guess with sentai is that for Turboranger they probably had no choice but to follow the schedule and wrap up production ASAP and just plow through the remainder of the filming without trying to further provoking the media and people in general. Which kinda makes me wonder maybe that is the reason they setup Fiveman as a team of superheroes who are school teachers and also were a family to give a more positive image of super sentai teams as guardians and that they value family and all that positivity. Again, this is just purely speculation.

As for the rescue police wavering last I checked it seems it was just the decline of interest at the time Exceedraft aired. I guess people were tired of the same old. Solbrain probably gets a pass because it is in a way somewhat of a sequel to Winspector narrative-wise whereas Exceedraft had less of a connection with the first two shows.

As for Winspector being popular, probably because they seemingly were more popular than Fiveman that year. Giga streamer roleplay toy was also a popular item that year too from what I gathered. There is also that the metal hero department had less to work with since they blew most of their budget on Jiban the previous year so them managing to make what they did was quite the feat."

Oh, now I know what you're talking about and I just suddenly recall something: Tsutomu Miyazaki aka "the otaku killer". Yeah, I remember this case, this infamous serial killer cause a moral panic in Japan and a backlash against anime and manga. I didn't know tokusatsu was also a victim of the backlash. I just thought Toei wanted to take a different direction. But looking at the year Winspector, Solbrain, and Exceedraft came out (Winspector came out a year after Miyazaki's reign of terror). Yeah I can see why those 3 Metal Heroes differ from other, so it wasn't a Toei's change in direction, it was a victim of a moral backlash against violent media.

So I found more evidence that your kids can benefit from watching subtitled tokusatsu shows (or any foreign language kids shows) with English subtitles. I just amended my opening post to include this addition. So here is the addition I added and mended.