What I Think Of Kyuranger Having An American Input


From the Den of Geek it's revealed that Kyuranger will have an American input. Here's what's being said from the same site:

The American side of production has hardly ever had a say with Toei, the producers of Sentai in Japan, in what the newest Super Sentai season would contain. That has now changed. Bandai America, the stateside arm of Bandai of Japan, has had a direct influence in the creation of the newest Sentai season, Uchu Sentai Kyuranger.

In the past, the American production didn't have much of a say with what Toei does. They were just given the rights to use the costumes and fight footage and it was up to the American production crew to make them work. I guess it didn't matter much to Toei because they were getting paid for both the use of costumes, licenses and profit shares. Whether Power Rangers succeeds or fails the American party must pay the royalty fees as part of the contractual agreement. 

Greg Mitchell, former senior director for marketing in Bandai America also stated, 

"We got brought in pretty early on and got to hear what the creative pitch for the show was, which was a space zodiac cosmos type of thing which we get excited about. (Bandai America) got to help at the conceptual stage to think about what could the zords be, what could the weaponry be, what would be the Ranger Key or Dino Charger?"

What's also cited by Mitchell is that Power Rangers' competition is not only Marvel (under Disney where storylines are getting derailed for no good reason) but also the new Star Wars series (also under Disney). With the arrival of "The Force Awakens" showed last December 17, 2015 (which was the year of Ninninger and next year the year of Zyuohger which has space bounty hunters for enemies) I guess that's why Kyuranger is space-themed. If you remember Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers also premiered on the same year that the first Jurassic Park movie appeared in the United States. I guess this is all part of the marketing gimmick.

The closing words of Den of Geek are as follows:

This is a bold new direction for both Sentai and Power Rangers. If the American side of production has even a small say in what’s to come, it could mean stronger entries in both franchises to come.


There's always been a lot of competition within Japanese pop culture. For Super Sentai and Kamen Rider there has been a lot of competition in Japan and it's not just Tokusatsu created by other Japanese companies but also the long running Pokemon franchise which airs at the same timeslot as Super Hero Time. There may also be some taste fatigue after Gokaiger which may contribute to the lower ratings since Go-Busters up to Zyuohger where it's said that it hit a new level of low. I believe this is the era where the old spark is running out and a new spark is needed for the Super Sentai series. A few changes may not be enough and maybe, just maybe this is going to be a drastic change that may give a new spark for Super Sentai. 

When it comes to innovation sometimes you need to see what doesn't work anymore and keep in mind that next year may either be better or worse depending on how things are managed or who's in charge of production. Not everything new will be easily received (ex. lack of compatibility can happen in newer stuff or new video game releases still need updates to fix certain glitches) or will immediately be better as some new stuff still need to be improved before real progress happens. It also involves an exchange of ideas between cultures. Remember that a lot of Japanese products are born from non-Japanese influence and a lot of stuff non-Japanese get to enjoy are a result of Japanese influence.

Having an American input may actually be helpful for Super Sentai. Toei used some American influences to create some of its properties like Jiban and Janperson are both based on the Robocop franchise, Winspector and Kamen Rider Drive have some ideas from Automan and Knight Rider , Kamen Rider Kuuga may have based the Grongi on the Yaujta from the Predator series, Kamen Rider Kiva and Kamen Rider Ghost may be indirectly inspired by Danny Phantom, and Dekaranger has some episodes based on American movies (Rocky series, Armageddon, Die Hard) to name a few. So I don't see any reason why an American input couldn't work in making the necessary changes to keep Super Sentai or Tokusatsu in general (Toei's or not) alive and kicking for a new generation of fans. 

What are your thoughts on Kyuranger as a Super Sentai having an American input? Would that be good or would that be bad for Super Sentai's new direction? 

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