Mar 19

Tokusatsu 101 Lesson 1

Related tags: Kamen Rider, Toku, Tokusatsu Written by: Barim

Right, so I dropped this scary word in my Kamen Rider post, Tokusatstu… Without even backing it up, I even linked to an explanation for an anime staple, the Tsundere. But why not Tokusatsu, or Toku in short? Because Toku is a genre in it’s own right and very wide and varied.

Literally, Tokusatsu means special effects in Japanese, but that isn’t the end of it. Like many Japanese words have become the names of genres that don’t really fit or are misused in English, so has Toku come to identify itself with two main sub genres:

“Giant Monsters” and “Masked Heroes”

Giant Monsters mainly refers to the Godzilla series of films and spin-offs. Tiny plastic toys that through special effects were made to look giant-sized. Special effects improved and improved and many different things were used to create the illusion of gigantic monsters. Needless to say, CGI is very popular nowadays.

The Masked Hero sub-genre has basically become a staple of Japan to the outside world as well. Ultraman started the trend and many fellow heroes soon followed. Shotaro Ishinomori then created two of the greatest franchises still running to this day. The first, Kamen Rider, a man who henshins into a bug themed superhero fighting the evil shocker organization with his mighty Rider Kick and the (Super) Sentai series, about a squadron of heroes in fruity colored suits who protect Japan from evil.

Now, these are the basics fundamentals. I’ll go further into Kamen Rider, Sentai in further lessons. American(ized) Toku will also come by and then either your mind will be blown or you’ll hate me for ruining something you considered the epitome of American…

For now, let me give you some video’s to get in the Toku mood.

101 lesson 2 will focus solely on Kamen Rider, so better shout with the song and practice your kick.