Response on the early episodes of the newest Super Sentai, Goseiger, has me thinking.
I have three nieces. One’s ten, one’s seven, and one’s two.
I’m making little toku collections on memory sticks for the elder two– TV Nihon subs, since they’re what I grab. They’re two smart cookies who watch the subs on anime– one of the ways they learned to read.
My eldest, E… she’s gonna get the Shinkenger/ Den-o Collection. She’s the one constantly stealing her mom’s Sandman and Lone Wolf and Cub and then looking stuff up so she gets them better. This is the little girl who called me up to ask what seppuku was, and didn’t miss a beat when she realized “Oh, so cutting off their head is being nice…”. Think she’ll do fine, though I’m going to wait to introduce her to Ryuki.
A, her little sister, is getting Ryukendo and Go-On. Because damn, will they suit her humor. Plus, they don’t… push certain things that I’ve seen A react badly to.
The youngest, I’ll wait a bit.
Now, when deciding this, I came to a very interesting realization.
Toei, Bandai, We’ve, Tommy, and the other companies envoled in the aforementioned shows…
My Nieces are not a consideration when they make these things.
Never mind being out of the target age demographic (and sadly, probably gender), we’re on the other side of the world! It’s not like they count in any ratings metric that’s reported to the producers. Yasuko Kobayashi did not sit at her keyboard thinking about whether or not an eight year girl old somewhere in Canada would get the right impression from Kotoha in Shinkenger.
Further:
I am not a consideration when they make these things.
I don’t need to elaborate. I’m pushing thirty. Even if I was Japanese, I’m not who this is targeted at.
But that can be taken further. The Super Sentai and Kamen Rider franchise feature a new storyline and universe every year.
Shinkenger and its preceding Sentai Go-Onger appeal to very different parts of my brain. They satisfy two very different tastes. Go-on is goofy, silly fun. Shinkenger is a samurai drama set in modern times. Very different shows, despite the share concepts and tropes.
Which leads me to two take aways.
Any toku fan regardless of age in North America has to recognize a periphery audience. Me, my nieces, the generally awesome folks troping on TV Tropes… we’re not the target.
More than that, even in the target demos of these silly shows we watch, there’s different tastes. Some overlap, plenty of X is better than Y… and some of my crappy 90% is gonna be someone else’s 10% that rocks.
Goseiger… it’s not to my taste, so far. But it’s doing what it is pretty darn good. I’ll probably ship it over for A when it’s done if it maintains quality.
And that’s fine. It’s part of being a toku fan.
