What Is Toku

A magazine collection of all well-known tokusatsu heroes as well as Godzilla in 1991
A magazine collection of all well-known tokusatsu heroes as well as Godzilla in 1991 (RepublicVictoria)

Tokusatsu refers to a Japanese media style that focuses on practical effects used in Japanese live-action media. These include explosions, transformation into suited forms, and filming in scaled models of cities, invoking the feeling that the heroes and enemies are way bigger than their environment [1]. There are three big franchise series in Japan under this genre: Ultraman, a show with an alien hero fighting kaiju (giant monsters) or other aliens [2]; Super Sentai, which is adapted into the West as Power Rangers, a team of heroes fighting against enemies that may turn into kaiju; and Kamen Rider, a show that started as an insect-themed hero that fights for justice, thus the nickname “karate bugmen” by the fanbase, but nowadays explores various themes, just like its sister franchise Super Sentai. There are some other series, like Godzilla, a giant monster that rampages through the series, causing destruction in its wake. Finally, Garo [3] is a wolf-themed series with heroes fighting against demonic manifestations called “Horrors.” Right now, I’m having fun watching Kamen Rider as I watched it as a teen—specifically, Kamen Rider OOO. I rewatched the series during the pandemic and have watched more Kamen Rider series ever since. I also watched two seasons of Super Sentai: Avataro Sentai Donbrothers and my favorite, Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger. Those are pretty good watches as well. Right now, I’m following Kamen Rider Gavv, where the protagonist belongs to an alien race called Granutes, protecting humans from his siblings’ company, Stomach Inc., which harvests humans as spices for their addicting Dark Treats sold to Granutes. It’s a good watch. Don’t get fooled by the candy aesthetic because it’s darker inside.

Anyway, that’s all for now. Thanks for reading this! Also, watch out for more tokusatsu posts in this blog in the future!

References

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSG9F7L41tM
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultraman
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garo_(TV_series)
[4] https://tokusatsu.fandom.com/wiki/Tokusatsu