Welcome to Gaia! ::

You know, that was a great idea you had about Toei making free (subbed) episodes of their past tokusatsu shows available on their site and or channel. It would be nice to be able to watch all 84 episodes of Himitsu Sentai Goranger accurately subbed and not have to search all over the internet for the subbed second episode. If Toei did this, I would be all for it.

Well, we're in agreement that Toei have every right to protect their IP. Youtube is a global website that, undoubtedly, people in Japan will be using. You could probably presume that a part of their copyright claims stem from the possibility that not doing so may harm domestic releases of the DVDs.

Unfortunately, an additional impact of this protection of IP in their own country is that it hits those of us in the West who love the product. Since we're not even really the ones being catered for, they probably couldn't give a s**t that we're without it.

As well as that, they already sell the rights to their shows [for the Sentai anyway] to Disney or whatever so that they can make complete bastardized adaptations of the source and provide us with toys that for the most part are completely substandard.

I won't deny that I would freakin' LOVE to be able to walk into a major high street outlet and be able to find something like a Kamen Rider Blade or Gaoranger boxset. I would love it if I could find an official boxset complete with english subtitles. I would love it if they put official episodes online for stream... but the reality is that they probably won't.

I don't know what motive fansub groups have outside of being able to share their love of Tokusatsu with a wider audience. Unfortunately, Toei's motive to do something like this would be financial and they probably don't see financial sense in doing it. If we consider something like Power Rangers, we're already going to be screwed from the get go.

Would older generations of sentai be able to generate revenues that exceed whatever costs have to go into the project? I really don't think so even if there is a considerable demand. I just don't think there is enough money to be made.

Would current generations of sentai be able to do it? Again, I honestly don't think that it would generate enough. It would be freakin' amazing if the revenues provided significant profit for Toei but I'm just not convinced.

So yeah, I hope all of this crap that I've just posted makes some degree of sense for an opinion. I really would like something like this to happen so we can enjoy Tokusatsu legally... but I just can't see it making fiscal sense.

Business is a b***h. I hate it because it deprives me of the one thing I want.

Oh, by the way. I did enjoy your video. I really hope that it inspires Toei to do something productive for its Western fans.

@Captain Bravo
I agree with basically everything you said. But what Toei has to realize is that the rest of the world would more then likely bring a profit. There's no harm in trying, the fact of the matter is they (Toei) are not.

Also thanks for the props. 3nodding

@Saicosis7: Wait a minute. Toei has contracts with subbing companies like TV-Nihon? Source?

Alright, fair enough.

Which companies specifically?

It does?

Might explain a few things. But you'll forgive if I find that hard to believe.

Now, I could be wrong, but TV-Nihon isn't in any sort of talks with Toei, at least not legally.

However Toei doesn't bother them since they keep the marker or whatever you wanna call it for the channel in Japan that the show was broadcast on, and they're one of the more adamant groups about constantly pointing out that they don't make money for their subs, they don't sell their subs, and actually encourage their viewers to support Toei's stuff when it comes to America in whatever form.

Like I said, I could be wrong.

Also the whole reason that Super Sentai and Kamen Rider get taken off of sites like Youtube and rarely off of sites like Megavideo, is because the uploaders don't post any sort of disclaimer when they upload the video, which then infringes on copyright laws. With Megavideo, it makes no difference since you can only watch an hours worth without having to buy a subscription.