[Yellow Ranger]

Personally I think it's too late to not have Kamen Rider associated with Power Rangers to westerners simply because PR has been a part of mainstream pop culture in America for over 20 years.

The best chance for Rider to have been adapted as a more "mature" alternative to PR would have been mid-late 90s/early 2000s in my opinion.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarsHottentot

Okay, I'm 45, a life long nerd and can tell you that your use of the word "always" is so fast and loose it just about skidded off your post and crashed into the "MORE NEW POSTS" box! Anime and manga were a popular thing among hardcore nerds until the late 80's when shows like Voltron, Tranzor Z, Thundercats and Silverhawks (American funded, Japanese designed) made the American style of action cartoon quaint and, soon enough, extinct.

But it still wasn't until fairly recently (late 90's / 2000's) that genuine anime and, to a lesser extent, manga became mainstream. Granted, not knowing your age, that very well may be the entirety of your "always" but, in truth, that wasn't always the case. I remember kids complaining that manga and anime looked "cartoony" and that "everyone looks like a girl" right up until Fist of the North Star, AKIRA, DBZ and hentai (Urotsukodoji, mostly) made people get over that stuff.

So non-PRangers tokusatsu just needs it's DBZ.

Debatably it's already had it's DBZ: Godzilla

[Matrixbeast]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yellow Ranger

Debatably it's already had it's DBZ: Godzilla

I would disagree. Godzilla was never a big hit in the west. It was successful, but it was never the gateway for Toku that DBZ basically was for anime.

[Powerman293]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matrixbeast

I would disagree. Godzilla was never a big hit in the west. It was successful, but it was never the gateway for Toku that DBZ basically was for anime.

Yeah. The mainstream Godzilla movies here are different from their original form so even that isn't really the same.

[Fish Sandwich]

Man, my casual mention of Toei not caring about bringing Kamen Rider overseas really turned into quite the conversation.

Anyway, Toku has its DBZ. It's called Power Rangers. Stereotyping has always been a problem for Anime too. After Speed Racer, it was bad dubbing, after DBZ it was mindless action and people grunting for 22 minute chunks. The more things change, you know?

[DecadeW Climax]

Remember when RPM had its underground popularity? I feel like if Gaim or maybe Blade came over that would happen. "That really good knockoff Power Rangers that's like an anime!"

[MarsHottentot]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

Anyway, Toku has its DBZ. It's called Power Rangers.

I just wanna point out:

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarsHottentot

So non-PRangers tokusatsu just needs it's DBZ.

Buuut

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yellow Ranger

Personally I think it's too late to not have Kamen Rider associated with Power Rangers to westerners simply because PR has been a part of mainstream pop culture in America for over 20 years.

The best chance for Rider to have been adapted as a more "mature" alternative to PR would have been mid-late 90s/early 2000s in my opinion.

You're both probably right on the Power Rangers point. It's been around for going on a quarter century, multiple generations were weened on it - there's no getting around it - the franchise IS the definition of henshin heroes / tokusatsu in America.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yellow Ranger

Debatably it's already had it's DBZ: Godzilla

I should have used the term "henshin heroes" - they're not interchangeable, though we often treat them as so.

[Kamen Rider Lucha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MarsHottentot

You're both probably right on the Power Rangers point. It's been around for going on a quarter century, multiple generations were weened on it - there's no getting around it - the franchise IS the definition of henshin heroes / tokusatsu in America.

In our little bubble of toku fandom, we fail to take into account how off-putting mainstream audiences find tokusatsu aesthetics. The elements we find charming are almost universally seen as cheap, silly, and garish to people with no love for the medium.

We may be enamored by rubber-suited monsters whose mouths don't move when they talk, heroes who fight with plastic toy weapons, battles that take place in exterior locations completely devoid of extras, editing that employs rapid and unexplained location changes, miniature sets made of cardboard, and CGI straight out of a cable show from the 90s... but the average viewer, who has no familiarity with or affinity for the budgetary shortcuts this medium utilizes, sees all of the elements we cherish as flaws.

This aesthetic distaste, paired the amount of Japanese cultural knowledge required to decipher what's going on in these stories, creates a nigh impenetrable membrane around tokusatsu that repels casual, mainstream, non-Japanese, adult viewers.

For these reasons, I don't think Toei/Tsuburaya-style tokusatsu can ever rise beyond its status as a niche obsession in the States. That niche may have a higher occupancy threshold than we see now, but it's my belief that this style of tokusatsu will never be mainstream in America, certainly not enough to justify placement on a major broadcast or cable network.

[Koh]

Hey do you guys think a Kamen Rider series in the same vein as Ultraman Nexus work?

I mean like the main rider's powers passed between multiple characters over the course of the show.

[Switchblade]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Koh

Hey do you guys think a Kamen Rider series in the same vein as Ultraman Nexus work?

I mean like the main rider's powers passed between multiple characters over the course of the show.

So, Faiz?

[XW1n5t0nX]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Switchblade

So, Faiz?

Faiz in space. Make it Toei.