What's Wrong With GoBusters?

[toni2212]

Damn....No wonder I can't find any on the Internet.

Thanks btw Loghorn.

Hiromu seems more suited as a Green (Chiaki, and other Green) maybe? Yes he is likable, but lacks the charisma of a Red (referred by Akagi) where you can feel the team is united under his leadership. Being a 'Genius' doesn't guarantee you can become a great Red.:O_O:

 

[Goty]

Hiromu's actor just doesn't have enough of a presence. His personality isn't particular interesting either. He's the serious blunt guy. The characters keep telling us that and it only comes up with the story needs him to be blunt. Like the recent episode where Hiromu is just being a jerk to nakamura.

Although I like Hiromu, I do think his personality and even presence don't really suit a red ranger. Since his special ability is super speed, I think it would've been better if he were a bit brash, confident, and even likes to joke good-naturely, and very charismatic. Both Marvelous and Takeru do have the kind of presence that make them quite suitable for a leadership position, and some may say that Alata also suffers a bit of an image problem as a red, although compared to Hiromu he is much more pleasant to be around.

I think we're used to two types of common Reds: the natural, charismatic leader and the one who doesn't really act as a leader but is a strong influence to the others. Hiromu doesn't have any of those characteristics, so the whole character composition - from casting to personality - seems like a different but weird choice for a Red.
It doesn't help that he is a prodigy who never seems to struggle (unless there's a chicken), so i find it very hard to root for him.

 

[FieryRed]

I think we're used to two types of common Reds: the natural, charismatic leader and the one who doesn't really act as a leader but is a strong influence to the others. Hiromu doesn't have any of those characteristics, so the whole character composition - from casting to personality - seems like a different but weird choice for a Red.
It doesn't help that he is a prodigy who never seems to struggle (unless there's a chicken), so i find it very hard to root for him.

Personally, I think Hiromu could've been the kind of strong influence for the rest of the team, after he had told the Commander that he intends to rescue the people who were teleported to hyperspace 13 years ago. From that point on, he could've tried to inspire the other Go-busters and motivate them when the chips were down, but it just seemed like they decided instead of making him a person in a leadership position, they were more interested in antics like having him offend other people with his blunt personality, or get cheap laughs like whenever he became frozen due to a chicken.

 

[Toku Prime]

all this discussions about the target audience for Sentai regarding Go-Busters makes me really thinking what is the average rating for Akibaranger, seems it runs at the same year with Go-Buster albeit a different time slot and day.

Anyone can help?

I don't think the ratings for Akibaranger exists, due to it being an unofficial sentai series & that it was aired by satellite.

From what I have read there are 6 TV channels that dominate in Japan, sharing 90% of the viewership at any time with all the other channels fighting over the remaining 10%. Akibaranger was on one of these other channels. Much like Garo, it follows a model used often by anime, where it airs late at night (when airspace is cheap but viewing figures are very low, even with TV recording devices taken into account) and relys on merchandising and DVD sales to make it's money back. Basically Akibaranger would likely have gotten microscopic ratings, but it's aimed at a niche that are likely to spend much more on the merch, which is how it's success will be measured.

 

[Goty]

Akibaranger aired on two cable channels, actually: BS Asahi and Tokyo MX. But i don't remember ever seeing ratings for cable in Japan.

 

[lazycoconut]

i disagree
Hiromu looks too young and boyish for a Red and as we all know traditional fans mostly dont like this. Takeru and Marvelous looked like adults and were far tougher looking and that is why they were popular.
maybe if Ryuji was Red Buster then i could believe she was trying to appeal to the hardcore fanbase.

I'm not sure that's true of Japanese fans. English-speaking fans tend to strongly dislike Reds that they think are immature or look young, but as people mentioned earlier, Alata's actor has a strong fanbase in Japan and that's partly because of his Sentai role.

Ryuji has had a lot of focus and is more heavily involved in the plot than Hiromu - he has the strongest connection to Masato and has developed rivalries with both the Vaglass avatars. It seems like he's being set up to take down Escape even with the recent hint that she was created from Hiromu's mother not his. I couldn't blame viewers for being confused as to why Ryuji isn't the Red

 

[Araki]

I'm not sure that's true of Japanese fans. English-speaking fans tend to strongly dislike Reds that they think are immature or look young, but as people mentioned earlier, Alata's actor has a strong fanbase in Japan and that's partly because of his Sentai role.

Yudai Chiba had fan girls prior to Goseiger but that is not the group of people we were discussing.
i was talking about hardcore traditional fans and if the producer was trying to please them.

 

[lazycoconut]

Yudai Chiba had fan girls prior to Goseiger but that is not the group of people we were discussing.
i was talking about hardcore traditional fans and if the producer was trying to please them.

Who are we talking about in terms of traditional fans? Twenty to thirty-something otaku, or people even older than that who would have been around for the '70s and '80s Sentai? Is there any evidence as to what kind of heroes they like?

 

[Araki]

Who are we talking about in terms of traditional fans?

fans like us, but Japanese
Lynxara said the producer messed up because she was trying to please them with this cast
and i disagreed because i think Hiromu doesnt have the profile they expect from the Red, that would be someone more akin to Ryuji

 

[The 2nd Evil]

I don't think kids are tired of Sentai and I don't think Sentai is in as bad of shape as people make out -- Go-busters is a dud. I don't think chief producer Takebe's heart is in it, and I don't think Kobayashi is motivated enough -- Toei finally let loose their grip of Inoue, it's time to give Kobayashi a rest, too.

As much as I've been loving Go-Busters, and am a fan of Kabayashi's work in general, I think this is a good point.

She's been going pretty much non stop since Den-O in 2007, hasn't she? You've got the Den-O movies she's written, Shinkenger from Feb '09 - Feb '10, OOO from Sept. '10 - Sept '11, and on Go-Busters from Feb '12.

Loosening the vice grip on the episodes written probably couldn't hurt, after writing 45 of Den-O's 49, 42 of Shinkenger's 49, OOO, she "only" wrote 38 of the 48, I'm not sure how many of Go-Busters she's done, but I think odds are the numbers are in her favor.

Maybe a year or two off would be good for her to recharge. I don't know how she does it, as it is. Unless she has coffee pumped directly into her veins.