Could Toei dump Sentai?

[Dr Kain]

Nope. If Toei stops airing Sentai, I stop supporting Toei entirely.

Yes, their Sentai series are hit or miss recently. In fact, it seems like every other series is usually terrible (which is why I am worried about Gobusters), but if I had to choose between Sentai and Kamen Rider, I would still choose Sentai. As much as I love Black, Kiva, Blade, Ryuki, I will always pick KakuRanger, DaiRanger, GekiRanger, Gokaiger, AbaRanger, GoGoV, and CarRanger before it if it came down to deciding between the two series.

 

[Tom Constantine]

Quote from the main site:

So take it up with whoever translated that article

That wasn't part of the original article, that was me writing an opinion on it, I thought that was quite clear.

I think some people are misguided as to just how much money Super Sentai and Kamen Rider makes. Toei is reinventing elements of Sentai with Go-Busters which is only natural after a giant anniversary series.

 

[RaiDK]

Yes, I will agree that Sentai has gotten stale (really don't understand how a lot of people can stomach the newer ones, but to each his own I guess) to the point where Toei may need to give it a rest for awhile, rethink their priorities, and pick it back up 5-10 years down the road

Biggest difference between Sentai and Kamen Rider IMO. The break Kamen Rider had means that it could come back and reinvent itself as a more relevant show.

Super Sentai on the other hand is doing the exact same thing it did 35 years ago. Except with more terrible CGI.

 

[lazycoconut]

Biggest difference between Sentai and Kamen Rider IMO. The break Kamen Rider had means that it could come back and reinvent itself as a more relevant show.

Super Sentai on the other hand is doing the exact same thing it did 35 years ago. Except with more terrible CGI.

They are trying to make Go-Busters different, but it may not last. Kamen Rider tried to "reinvent" the franchise with W and since then, with a few tweaks to the format, it's gone on just the same as ever

However, Toei doesn't care about quality. No one does except English-speaking fanboys. All kids want to see is explosions, robots and superheroes, so as long as that's there, then there is no reason to try and make the show "fresh" or "relevant" yada yada. It does what it does and still sells toys, so the franchise is successful even if the shows aren't works of artistic genius

 

[Clocktower]

The series is essentially a giant toy commercial. It doesn't need to have fantastic ratings as long as it's selling the products, which it's doing very well. Sure, theoretically if the show started doing really badly, I could see them perhaps maybe making shorter seasons or even axing it all together eventually, but as long as they're making money from toys (and Power Rangers) it's in their best interests to keep it going.

There's nothing to indicate that it'll stop any time soon, slightly lower ratings mean nothing.

 

[lazycoconut]

Gokaiger has had the third lowest ratings of all time, after Ohranger and Carranger. That's a pretty poor result, but since it's sold a bunch of toys, Sentai should be safe for now. Toei was happy with Shinkenger getting 5.9% average in the ratings and I'm sure Kobayashi can bump them up a bit for Go-Busters.

 

[Black Fang]

Toei doesn't care about quality. No one does except English-speaking fanboys. All kids want to see is explosions, robots and superheroes, so as long as that's there, then there is no reason to try and make the show "fresh" or "relevant" yada yada. It does what it does and still sells toys, so the franchise is successful even if the shows aren't works of artistic genius

Someone should inform Tsuburaya of this.

 

[lazycoconut]

When profits are high, there's less incentive to risk that by making something that's different but may not sell toys. For every W or Jetman that tried to be different and was a hit, there's a Kiva or Gekiranger that tried to be different and was a flop

 

[MattComix]

Despite what some want to believe, it is not invulnerable and they can't take quality completely for granted. It's been near the chopping block before and it could be again. Toy sales or not they still have a basic obligation to put out a successful tv show if they want to keep it on the air. However, it would take the shows bombing real hard consistently over an extended period.

 

[lazycoconut]

No, Sentai isn't invulnerable, and that's why it's harder to take risks for the sake of quality when the current shows are selling well. You can still pull in child viewers without a brilliantly written story, as long as there's plenty of spectacle

People complain about everything since Gekiranger being formulaic, which is partly because Gekiranger tried to be different and was a commercial and ratings failure. The late '80s-early '90s Sentai were made at a time when the franchise was at risk of ending, so staff felt free to be creative with it in the hope of saving Sentai and because they wanted each show to be good in case it was the last. That's why those shows took risks - not because "everything was better in the past."