Various Gimmicks in Super Sentai for Demographics

In Super Sentai, while primarily it's a child's market but somehow it does also tries to capture other audiences like the older male and the older female audiences.  Here are some of the gimmicks I thought was used to do so:

For children:


Cute items.  Fiveman had tried with the Fiveman dolls which I think wasn't very well-received by the older bracket since I thought they got corny when I grew older.  But cute items do try to appeal to the children.  Go-onger did also go as far as to make the mecha look like the one from Cars while giving the show a very wacky plot.


Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger was basically very child-focused with a lot of child of the week scenarios.  In fact, Bandora's infliction of harm on children and the Zyurangers saving them was pretty much an appeal to the younger audience.  Zyuranger had a lot of colorful costumes, cooler looking mecha and some crazy humor aside from the children of the week.


In Gosei Sentai Dairanger, Kou's appearance was probably intended to be a gimmick that turned out rather well considering he's been very well written though it wasn't attempted again.  The late Noboru Sugimara's like for children was probably a reason why he was even conceived in a darker, edgier show than Zyuranger.


Toning down seriousness in exchange for comedy gold.  Carranger is one show that's really funny.  I guess this was done as a means to get a newer generation of children.  Then again, it seems almost every Super Sentai leaves me with some funny scenes even in a serious season like Jetman or Dairanger. =P


Making mecha that makes a lot of toys.  Gaoranger started the multi-mecha fad which I initially didn't like but I grew to love it and accept it.  But thinking of which, I think it's basically aimed at children for toy sales with the cute to badass designs that appeared after Gaoranger as well.

For the male market:


Loads and loads of action.  Men are usually fans of action shows though there are also females to appreciate them.


I don't know if eye candy has anything to do with this one, it's too iffy for me to even write it in here about eye candy because I don't think that the women were chosen for their beauty but for their acting.  Like Rin Takanashi's beauty is nothing compared to her non-physical assets such as her acting. Then again, eye candies tend to suck people in and I'm in that list.

For the female market:


The role of women heroes would appeal to the female market.  So maybe they're not the strongest in the physical sense there are but they are what I'd call the ones who usually pull men out of tough situations by being able to think where most men can't (except for rare cases of airheads) like when they are the ones who keep the team together while men can think less, they tend to think more and are the team heart who without which, I wouldn't imagine a Sentai team at all.  These women aren't damsels in distress alone but damsels in distress who can turn the tables with their wits when everything else fails.

For the older audience:


For teenagers, I guess Super Sentai decided to try not only adding teenagers into some of the teams of otherwise a team of adults but even had went as far as to create teams of teenagers with attitude in Turboranger and Megaranger.  These can give teenagers some heroes to relate to as well.  In my opinion, Super Sentai managed to execute the teenagers with attitude stories better than that of Power Rangers' own execution.


The adding of more serious, deeper themes.  Changeman, Flashman, Liveman, Jetman, Dairanger, Gingaman, Gogo V and Timeranger are ALL pretty dark series.  Some of them may even include character deaths of heroes and more dramatic plots like rivalries aren't just for rivalries sake, some of them even have a deeper meaning like Ryu's rivalry with Radiguet and Ryou's rivalry with Shaddam.  Some of them can even go as far as even showing broken dreams and bittersweet endings too like Gai Yuki's demise which I wasn't able to accept for so many years.