I'm starting to think that Toei might be making these shows for foreigners moreso than their own people. I've been on here long enough to know a lot of the classic arguments, but does anyone else think that Toei watches some of the things we say and takes them the wrong way, or a little too seriously? Like when people kept saying that Bandai clearly wanted to make cheaper or simpler toys for children to understand, or when everyone was making fun of them for having female actresses that were weirdly young, or when everyone wanted them to be more original with the henshin device designs (& we suddenly got a burgerphone morpher & a flashlight), etc, etc?
Nice video, but it was addressing how ANIME is made, not Tokusatsu.
Regardless, the fact is that Japanese entertainment studios are definitely targeting Japanese audiences first. Think of it this way: Anime might try to give its characters various hair colors, different skin colors, and international heritages. However, most of the jokes, puns, and many other story materials were made in a way that Japanese audiences would understand it better/faster than Western audiences (even today, there are times when American companies have trouble translating the show, and either make an awkward translation choice or work around it). To put it in perspective, think about most American movies. We don't mind sharing those movies with the world, but the puns and jokes are made in a way that most English-speakers would understand, the stories are usually set in America or some place similar, the stories are written with American sensibilities for what qualifies as a good story, etc. America really is the primary audience that gets targeted first for American movies. America and Japan often bank of secondary audiences, as in the world wide/international audiences, but the companies at large usually know what's going to bring in the most profit and what's not.
Even if Toei/Bandai was thinking about it's second-hand audience when it comes to Tokusatsu, I'm not sure what the point would be. We're easily the smallest market for that specific thing. Anime is way more successful and has a wider audience range by comparison (Wouldn't be surprised if there are still some people who think Anime and cartoons are all the same thing). The most we tend to get is Power Rangers and the occasional Godzilla movie; and Power Rangers hardly counts since new toy molds are made for the Power Rangers toy line anyways. I seriously doubt there are too many adults showing Super Sentai to their kids and/or buying Figuarts for them. Keep in mind, Shout Factory releasing Super Sentai DVD boxsets is still a fairly recent thing; a few years ago it was a pipe dream that no one could have ever predicted. So there is still a HUGE number of Americans and westerners that are blissfully unaware of Super Sentai's existence.
And if I may add, I might be imagining things, but it often seems like the Japanese themselves are more critical of their fictional media than we westerners are. They are able to pick it apart more heavily and spot the plot holes pretty fast. There's still a lot of western casuals and elitists who are afraid to criticize anything Japanese because it comes from a different country, which (to them) means that we as foreigners are too dumb to fully understand it. I honestly don't believe any of that. Anime and Tokusatsu are all made by humans, and no matter what country or culture you come from, anyone can make a bad story or something that just doesn't connect with audiences like they hoped. If I had to guess, the people making Tokusatsu probably just got in a creative rut or got tired of the complaints of their domestic audience, and decided it was easier to make something fun rather than try to make a masterpiece of fiction every time. But that's just my speculation.