Well I remembered the time I watched Tokusatsu as a child and well, bad dubs (UGH, I now pretend I never saw them to avoid my head from splitting) of Bioman, Maskman, Turboranger, Fiveman, Jetman, Shaider, Gavan, Jiban and Janperson. Years later, I never dreamed of watching fan subs. As I would say I can be pretty unfriendly to change. Having watched Bioman first, I didn't immediately embrace Maskman having a secondary robo (and years later, I would know of Flashman's existence). Later on, I started to think that Super Sentai was having too much mecha, it should have ended in Timeranger but later, I started to rewatch them all over after reading a few episode synopsis' from Jillun's Sentai Hub.
Then I started having issues with Tokusatsu. I started reading of how Kamen Rider was "dead" starting with Kuuga (but I'm glad I decided to rewatch Kamen Rider after some time), I started to find some of the clips unimpressive, read how Super Sentai's tones have mellowed down... and I was pretty much the action enthusiast. I mean, even when I started watching Dairanger raw on Youtube before, I would admit that after watching most Sentai, I felt the action was lacking. I even started to complain about multi-gattai and everything. So I thought I need a break but ended up watching any PR season aired after a short while.
One of the reasons why I started to "abandon" Tokusatsu was not only because of age but because of the entrance of F4. Meteor Garden started airing (but badly dubbed) and at first, I thought F4 was Japanese until I saw their music video of "Can't Lose You". I just wanted to reconnect with my Chinese roots. So I wondered why they even copied the Anime hairstyle to start with?! I learned Meteor Garden was a localization of Hana Yori Dango.
Well 5566 also came and my favorite series of theirs was Westside Story. I would admit I watched Twin Sisters, Dolphin Bay, Lavender, Orange Country, and Chinese Ghost Story (my first Wuxia series). Westside Story for me was an Anime-like Chinese drama and I soon developed more interest in live adaptations and localization of Anime than Anime itself. Like, I developed the habit of not watching Anime unless it was adapted first. Sounds like a Super Sentai/Power Rangers fan who may choose not to watch Sentai without a PR version. During this time, I remembered having that crush on Tammy Chen, Penny Lin and Barbie Xu. So I decided to go neutral on Tokusatsu during that moment because... I really thought Tokusatsu was past its prime.
Although I'll admit I'm again caught red-handed. For a time, when I heard of people talking about Power Rangers, I referred them to sites that talked about Super Sentai telling them of how the two came to be. Fortunately I got over my Sentai snob state and I'm glad they weren't Powtards. In a away, open minded Power Rangers fans (save for one who chooses the season with a hotter girl)... I began to surf again and started to discover some newer hot girls. Okay I did still have my hots on Kimberly the most but... Nanami, Ranru and Jasmine sort of gave me a stupid reason to come back to watching Super Sentai... which took me some time before I eventually watched Heisei era Kamen Rider.
Beyond the pretty girls, I thought some Super Sentai seasons were still fun to watch. For example, I started to watch Dekaranger online but raw. Maybe it was only because I wanted to "educate" Power Rangers fans on Super Sentai. Even if I was already liking Chinese entertainment more, I just couldn't get rid of Japanese entertainment off my head. After all, Super Sentai, Power Rangers and Kamen Rider (though I only saw Black and Black RX) couldn't become old shames for me. Deep within, I figured out I still had a soft spot for Tokusatsu in spite of all the things I initially disliked. Even if I may have gone neutral with Ultraman or the Choshinsei series from Toho... but I cannot deny that I still had still have a soft spot for some Tokusatsu genres or series after all.
Tokusatsu has always been part of my childhood. I dont mind the poor dubbing, my only problem was those channels that showed it did not finish their runs. I also believe tokusatsu had past its primed bcoz the last remaining genres such Super Sentai, Ultra series and Kamen Riders were mostly poorly written nowadays and just selling its merchandise, hyping good looking characters that cant even kick that high. Seishin series (except Justirizers which is acceptable) were disastrous in terms of stories. And yes perhaps another reason why Tokusatsu is on the decline is the boom of Jadoramas and Korean dramas.
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