Toei Company International Expansion Deadline Article
 

Came across this article on Reddit:

International Disruptors: Toei President & CEO Fumio Yoshimura Unpacks Japanese Studio?s $2BN Global Expansion Strategy

The most relevant quote regarding tokusatsu properties:

"Also in the works is a superhero character developed for international markets--Toei's first new superhero character in over 50 years.

'We also want to look at how we can expand our existing tokusatsu special effects franchises--Kamen Rider, Super Sentai and Power Rangers--this has always been Toei's forte and we're hoping to expand these properties,' Yoshimura says."

Other details:
- Toei wants to expand internationally due to Japan's declining population/shrinking market
- They want 50% of revenue to come from international products by 2033
- Many of these new productions will be original dramas inspired by the success of Shogun
- Toei is also investing in upgrading their studios
- Toei will partner with Chinese studios to create content for the Chinese market
- Toei is not involved in the Disney+ Power Rangers reboot

Toei realizing they need to actually do something if they want to expand the market?
That dropping 2 episodes of a show won't suddenly make cash instantly start flowing in?

They are learning.

Well, that's really cool. Of course, the tokusatsu boom is unlikely to happen again, but it would be great if someone joined to the Riders and Sentai. Even if the character doesn't work out, he can be added later in various crossovers.

Judging by Kabutaсk's special, this collaboration will be in the style of: "we give you the rights to our characters, and everything else is your concern." But, perhaps, for fans this is even a plus, because it gives the opportunity to see a different approach.

I find this hilarious after they killed all of the free international promotion they were getting on Youtube :lolol

That they directly mention Power Rangers is interesting to me. Not just that they don't have anything to do with the Disney+ proposal, but that they want to expand it in their own way.

It's unlikely, but it makes me hopeful that they'll just buy the master license off of Hasbro and run the franchise themselves.

Oh yeah! At the very least, it's very interesting to see what will happen to PR under Toei's leadership.

Interesting.

Honestly I'm just hoping for official subs for more Rider/Sentai shows.

Same here. And for once, pay attention to what Tsuburaya is doing. I won't rule out contractual obligations that may be out of Toei's control, like limits to their methods of distribution (which is a possibility), but if Toei is legit serious about international expansion they need to REALLY put in the effort and know that they might have to comply and let go of some of their old methods. And for God's sake, they need to make all the episodes of their previous shows available on Youtube. Not just the first few episodes.

Japanese dubs of Power Rangers aren't anything new, but I'm flashing back to Dino Force Brave, which was a collaborative effort between Toei and South Korea to cash in on the popularity of Power Rangers Dino Force (the South Korean dub of Kyoryuger).

They talk of pushing Sentai globally, but it's something of a known fact that Power Rangers has slightly greater brand recognition than Sentai.

Could they do something like a spinoff of Power Rangers for the international distribution market? A Toei-produced "sequel" to Lost Galaxy or S.P.D. or RPM in the same manner as Dino Force Brave/Kyoryuger Brave? It's not the most farfetched thing one can conceive of, and it would allow them to go in a different direction than the Disney+ thing while capitalizing on the Power Rangers brand without violating their overall approach to Sentai. They might even recycle such elements for Sentai, thereby creating new villains and battles for sequels to Gingaman, or Dekaranger, or Go-Onger.

Just a thought.

Or Toei could simply outsource international distribution to an intermediary company (such as, but not necessarily, a Chinese one) and see what happens.

I think a lot of their international expansion efforts for tokusatsu will be directed towards other SEA countries, but it would be nice if it also meant more stuff for the rest of the world too. Even just improving streaming and physical media offerings would be appreciated.

I'm honestly not sure what to feel after hearing that they're only deciding to expand because of Japan's shrinking population/consumer base, but, hey, official stuff for us. Yipee.

Speaking of official news: are we sure this isn't a belated April Fool's joke?

https://x.com/KamenRider_EN/status/1907840562620936324

I don't think it is

I think an official Zeztz sub might be in the works

So does this mean Toei wants to push Super Sentai in North America completely divorced from Power Rangers?

The article highlights a push into Chinese and North American markets.

Oh the link is dead. Here's a new one.

https://boundingintocomics.com/anime...lation-crisis/

I think I just messed up pasting it, but it should work now. But thanks for the mirror.

Perhaps.

A key part of this whole story is that Hasbro still has the international rights to Power Rangers (excluding Asia).

https://ukiyaseed.weebly.com/ukiyase...xpansion-plans

But Hasbro isn't interested in anything other than selling toys. So ideally, everyone can come to an agreement if they agree to share.

How many times has Toei try to do something like this?

For something of this much emphasis I think it's a first almost. I mean, the closest I could think of is when they dabbled with Toei Tokusatsu World on youtube and Dino Force/Kyoryuger Brave. I was gonna say Bima but that was Indonesia's MNC Media collaborating with Ishinomori Productions, and not Toei according to what I googled.

I feel like we have a decent shot this time given they bothered to create an official twitter for the global account.

https://x.com/KamenRider_EN/status/1907840562620936324

Oh ok, you're welcome

I hope this means we get more Digimon content brought to North America.

I think that everything planned will definitely not work, but something will definitely work out. Another thing is that if Toei does not radically renew its management, after the first successes they will declare: "This is enough" and again enter the relaxed, habitual mode of content production.