While we crowdfund our own Tokusatsu (Rider Real) let us explain the genre. Tokusatsu literally translated means special (特) filming (撮), otherwise translated as special effects. Broadly the term is used to define a genre which encompasses a lot, most notably heroes like Kamen Rider and Super Sentai (Power Rangers), and also Tokusatsu Giant Monsters and Robots of series like Ultraman and Godzilla.



Moonlight Mask,月光仮面 Courtesy: Wikicommons

In the earliest days, Tokusatsu shows like Gekkou Kamen (Moonlight Mask) would use simple filming techniques like stopping a camera, moving something out of frame and filming again to make that something ‘disappear’ . That was Tokusatsu then. Now CG reigns supreme. With CG it seems that anything is possible and effects are ubiquitous across all genres. Does this make every film using CG and special effects a Tokusatsu?



Answer: No



From Godzilla to Power Rangers, and from Batman live action to Giant Robo, there is (in this writer’s heart of hearts) a feeling that real “Tokusatsu” makes you feel. How about you? Let’s get interactive.



Top: Pacific Rim, Courtesy: Flickr Domenico. Bottom: Adam West Batman, Courtesy: Wikicommons



Is Pacific Rim a Tokusatsu? Is Batman the 1960’s show starring Adam West? What about Christopher Nolan Batman? How about Michael Bay Transformers? (It has special effects and giant robots.)

How about Inception? (Which has special effects.)

Answering “yes” to some while answering “no” to others may raise some questions. For me the Adam West Batman is a Tokusatsu but I don’t feel like Christopher Nolan’s is. How can that be!? I’m not entirely sure.

In the end Tokusatsu is defined by each individual viewer. What is Tokusatsu to you? Maybe it has to be Japanese. Maybe it has to involve a suited human, use non-CG filming techniques for effect, or have a level of campiness. For me Tokusatsu has come to represent complexity in simplicity (both in narrative and presentation) while drawing on campiness from the earliest Tokusatsu shows.

Godzilla Production Shot, ゴジラ、Courtesy: Wikicommons



As I binged on Tokusatsu and Anime like Kamen Rider Agito and Fist of the North Star my senior year in University I relaxed into theses alternate realities. One a post apocalyptic thunder-dome and the other a place where strangely Egyptian monsters punched an amnesia afflicted hero from a house into a industrial parking lot (note style of tokusatsu location change). Both struck me and consumed me for the reason described in our last post: they were pure. Particularly the later. Like a new style of music, at first I had scoffed at tokusatsu shows. They seemed ridiculous and unengageable. But I slowly found myself enchanted by their simplicity. 70’s, 80’s, 90s’, and 2000’s all delivered different styles built on the same foundation, Tokusatsu heroes fighting for good. Fighting for justice.

Enjoying these shows in excess I began to imagined my own hero. As I lay listening to snores of my roommate, images of Tokusatsu lingered in my mind as I went to sleep. My creative mind took over more and more. I wondered how these fantastic yet simple stories could inspire something a little more Real. Please click to find learn more about our project!

