[mdo7]

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.

Subtitles can help improve/increase a child's literacy skill

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:

Quote:

Subtitles and captions help children with word identification, meaning, acquisition, and retention.

Reading subtitles is motivating to reading.

Subtitles and captions can help children establish a systematic link between the written word and the spoken word.

Pre-readers, by becoming familiar with subtitles and captions, will have familiar signposts when they begin reading print-based material.

Subtitles and captions have been related to higher comprehension skills when compared to viewers watching the same media without them.

Children who have a positive experience in reading will want to read; reading subtitles and captions provides such an experience.

Reading is a skill that requires practice, and practice in reading subtitles and captions is practice with authentic text.

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:

Quote:

Learning other languages

Watching foreign language films and television programmes with subtitles in their first language is a motivating way to support children as they begin learning other languages. Research shows that children can learn vocabulary and improve their proficiency in other languages incidentally, just by watching subtitled foreign language films and television programmes. Subtitles can also help them learn another language intentionally, as part of a course of study.

Watching subtitled foreign language films, television programmes and videos also has the key potential to improve children’s intercultural awareness. Internationally sourced programmes on British television for children are largely drawn from the US and research shows that children’s viewing is dominated by American content. As a result, children in the UK do not have much access to content produced in non-anglophone countries, at least not on their television screens.

Giving children greater access to high-quality, educational media content in other languages would give them opportunities to learn about the lives of children in other cultures and to identify with children who speak languages other than theirs.

Boosting children’s exposure to subtitled foreign language films and television programmes would be a simple, inexpensive way to promote their learning of other languages. Encouraging children to learn other languages is of crucial importance in the UK at the moment, given the decline in language learning over the past 20 years.

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:

Quote:

Subtitles and captions can be very beneficial to those learning English as a Second 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.