I like Tokusatsu for the story telling, action, characters, acting, visuals, and the lessons they share but my love for toku also comes from behind the scenes the suit actors, the costume designers, the miniter sets, the creativity, the team work, the freedom to make what you want, toku has everything I could ever want in a show or in a movie.
The main draw of Tokusatsu to me (and this applies to most if not all my favorite pieces of fictional media) is that most of the content that comes from the genre is on paper so ridiculous however most of the time it works. A doctor using video game cartridges to defeat virus monsters, a group of spandex superheroes using mystic car energy to battle an alien biker gang, another group of (totally not) spandex superheroes holding off a computer virus with equipment that looks like it was modeled after Pixar's Cars, and a giant alien made up of light fighting Godzilla-esc Kaiju. As I said before on paper all of these ideas may sound dumb even for a toy commercial kid's show, yet there all portrayed in a way where it just works and is able to tell really engaging stories with compelling characters and drama(or even comedy as one of the shows I mentioned above is a comedy), and to top it off has really good messages for not just kids but a lot of adults. I believe that everyone has a season of tokusatsu that appeals to them, and anyone can get into it
Personally, it came down to these points: -The practical effects and the utter love they distill (to the point of giving the monsters name, backstories, etc.), which I have a love for since I always enjoyed B movies. -The fact that it's a beloved genre on its own, and a very important outlet for fantasy/sf productions in Japan (which were very limited given the state of the industry in the postwar years), then exported to the whole Asian continent. As an example, GARO is basically Japan's outlet for Gothic/Adult fantasy "The Crow" style. -Tokusatsu provides a window to the childhood memories and values of lots of countries in this world (from Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand or Vietnam to China, Korea, Japan, etc.), as well as for their national creativity and tastes. -Sure, digital effects and such are bad for today's standards, but this is the case with amazing SF productions of the time (2002's "Returner") all around the world. Only these last 10 years or so has sotware improved to the point of making full-fledged indie cinema possible. And being so, they often compensate it with amazing camera work or set design. Creativity shines through. -Of course, the link with the formulaic plots and acting of anime, as these two worlds evolved at the same time and reinforcing each other. Higly influential franchises like Sailor Moon are basically a part of this genre when you dissect them. And of course if you ever get close to the so called "otaku culture" of Akihabara (the Densha Otoko or Hideako Anno type of fans), it is a must.
I think my love for tokusatsu stems from actually watching power rangers and having ultraman and kamen rider toys given to me from family without really knowing too much about the actual shows. It wasn't until a few years ago where I found out that powerrangers was a adaptation of super sentai and that kamen rider was part of the same company. I then gave kamen rider a chance I fell in love with the ridiculous cgi and gimmicks, but have to give credit to the fantastic out of the box thinking and story telling. Tokusatsu definitely gives me a chance to just sit back and expect the unexpected. Fantastic video!
I watch Tokusatsu as it feels like live action anime. I like that there's more practical effects yes there's CGI but overall there's more practical effects involved and I just love Japan too
For me it's definitely because of that sense of finality and flexibility that you mentioned. There can be 50 different versions of Peter Parker but there will always be only one Yuusuke Godai. Yes, there's several versions of Kuuga, but "THE Kuuga" will always be the TV series character brought to life by director Shigenori Takatera and actor Joe Odagiri in the year 2000. I loved Ultraman Nexus because of its gritty and mature tone. I equally loved Ultraman Max for it's wacky and adventurous premise. I also loved Ultraman Mebius' kid-friendly, feel-good tales of friendship.
Technically you could still factor in the Kuuga from Decade as a different interpretation(I know I know different character but still), although it's kinda like going from Ryan Drummond's portrayal of Sonic The Hedgehog immediately to Rodger Craig Smith's version of the same character
I love tokusatsu because it's the merging of five things I love (practical effects, kung fu movies, anime, super heroes and pulp scifi) and fuse them into one. To me it's pure unadulterated entertainment. A man in a biker helmet and plastic armor dropkicking a dinosaur might sound insufferably stupid to you but to me, it's glorious! There's also the 'fuck it, just do it's mentality that I love about it. In western fiction, there always has to be an explanation for everything. "Oh, dynamite man has his powers because he was bitten by a radioactive stick of dynamite and he powers are based on...." And I just wanna scream shut the hell up. I love how you can have a bug man with a motorcycle karate fighting a jellyfish with a mace talkig about existentialism and it's just like, yeah, this is happening. Also, I have to stare that I don't notice this form of guilt of insecurity among other Toku fandoms from other non English speaking fandoms. French fans proudly talk about bioman, Brazilian fans talking about juspion and changeman and I notice they don't have the same sense of shame or over explaining. It only happens in the English speaking fandom. I think we all know why.
Honestly, I just grew up with some of them or the Americanized version thereof. It is something I can feel nostalgia with and just enjoy going back to or experiencing a new one. I am literally picking it back up in my 30's after so long of just growing up with things like Godzilla and Power Rangers. I later in my growing life of the other things especially after finding Kamen Rider and getting back into it with Amazons. Like you said it kind of caters to everyone.
I'm currently watching Garo: Makai Senki after getting back into it and I noticed that the suits they use for the Horrors don't really look like suits. They look like they actually exist. I noticed the same thing when I watched Gamera 3. I like that (for lack of a better way of phrasing) sense of realism that was put into it and by that I mean they created the suits to look like they could actually exist in our world and I find that it adds to the atmosphere of the show.
For me it's probably the way japan handles superheroes? it's different from how the west does it and i guess that just hooked me on the other spectrum i don't really like Godzilla but i do enjoy Ultraman so maybe i just need a hero in my life ..hmm this is a really good question
@Highsea okay I only needed to watch a little bit of this to understand where you were going with this discussion and I feel the EXACT same way but only as a dedicated fan of Power Rangers knowing that JDF committed suicide made me realize I'm not as dedicated to the franchise as I used to be so then I turned to Kamen Rider and now I am a big fan of the what fans call 2nd gen the Heisei Era (Kuuga - Zi-O)
Because tokusatsu was my first taste of Japanese pop culture. Ultraman was my first appointment viewing super hero show as a kid,followed by The Space Giants/Magma Taishi and Spectreman. For film it was of course Godzilla and Gamera,with Yog,Monster From Space/Space Amoeba and The Green Slime(not entirely Japanese-no Japanese characters appear in that film but it was a joint Japanese and Italian film)and the more depressing and obscure Prophecies of Nostradamus/Catastrophe 1999. It was the late 70s and uhf was like cable for poor families or families who chose not to get cable for other reasons. Syndicated channels were like the Wild West ,playing slightly censored and weird movies in filler time slots and tokusatsu was well represented in these time slots. Hell,my only taste of Giant Robo was a compilation film and my young mind was NOT blown. Unicorn? Janky looking kaiju? I switched channels before even seeing Giant Robo,lol.
Wow, youtube really pushes me to watch western tokusatsu fans. For me, I tend to describe tokysatsu as a good blend of epic, cringe & funny. When I say funny, I don't mean the plot is a comedy. I mean the designs or the looks are silly or goofy. The values taught are also simple & effective. So it is fun to watch. But yes, my turn offs of modern tokusatsu is how they increasingly looks like toys. It is nice to hear from someone who got into the genre late like you. I basically grew up watching them.
I love Toku thanks to Garo. I had contact with it since childhood with Power Rangers and Dragon Knight. But Garo really brought me into it with its world and story. Garo The Animation was my entry into it and since then became my favorite franchise.
@@TheHighsea It was a good entry if I may say so. I did try Chapter of the Black Wolf beforehand, but the CGI scared me off lol. But thanks to Garo The Animation it was the interest that needed more.
I had a full on Beetleborgs Christmas as a child. I had power rangers, knights of tir na nog, and kamen rider action figures. I hadn't watched much of these shows but the armor designs bring me so much joy.
Why tokusatsu? Why do I enjoy (and have enjoyed) Classic Doctor Who for decades? Yet another instance in which low-budget and technical limitations can't fully realize what the story demands in a convincing manner, but they still go for it anyway, no matter how ridiculous the final result may look. Ropey SPFX are part of the charm, as is a certain rough "underproduced" quality which, in many ways, gives the action onscreen a greater verisimilitude with regard to the real world than many a big budget film. (At the risk of being crass: look at realtime footage of the recent collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. Now, imagine what that collapse would look like in a Hollywood movie enhanced with CGI and the collapsed slowed down for dramatic effect. Which version looks more toku - the real world or the hypothetical Hollywood version?) Toku's ability to juxtapose the melodramatic with the goofy is why it's fun.
interesting video and well thought out take. My response to the question is pretty different..... I watch tokusatsu (almost exclusively at this point), because it's the best quality. Best storytelling. Best action. Best imagination! Best directing (a very main factor) Best FX (because creative FX are most important to me). Best music.....best art design... (ever seen a non-toku director trying to make something toku-like? You get something like Ultraman Powered. 'Nuff said) To me, Japan has perfected science fiction, fantasy, superhero, horror etc genres in film. And perfected filmmaking in general. I think it's mostly due to the cultural approach to visuals and storytelling. Compare manga to western comics. No relation. Japanese art and folklore is already primed to be a perfect match for filmmaking. There is more energy, professionalism and creativity put into an average episode of any toku show than there is an entire series of Hollywood stuff. Hollywood is stagnate and boring. (wasn't always that bad) Even the typical Hollywood movie colour pallette is washed out and may as well be black and white. Also, in the East in general (esp Japan) there is a real focus on fantastical creatures and ideas. They take center stage. In the West everything is more subdued and 'pragmatic', to the point its not imaginative at all. Those are my thoughts. I think if someone is sensititve to storytelling and filmmaking art, they will often gravitate towards tokusatsu because of its excellent mix of qualitiies.
Honestly, there are some really shit seasons 😂. It's kinda the same with any media I watch. Even if my tastes changed when I discovered anime. Tokusatsu kinda remained up there for me. Lows like Ghost and Ninninger for me almost made me drop toku entirely. Ex-Aid kinda brought me back. I know it's childish but I was a teen back then😂. There's always something new, talking about the stories or the suits, community is also nice with sharing all these new seasons updates and it's something special to me. I finally got into Ultraman again with Gaia and tbh, thanks to all the recent things Tsuburaya has been doing in the Western world, it's become very easy to see seasons which were once never available. Although I enjoyed recent Ultra to a certain extent, showa Ultra... Especially 7, is insane in its intricacies and writing. I've been for a while been interested in the credits of the shows, whether it's recent seasons for all Toku I keep up with or even certain older seasons. I just find it fascinating in that way too. Just a lot makes me interested in Toku and it keeps showing me new stuff honestly
I would, maybe somewhere down the future. Also, there's a cool Ultraman related channel known as Meek Ale, recommend checking him out, does various topics👌
for me I think the biggest reason why we love tokusatsu is we have this inner child in us that dreams to be a hero deep down inside
I like Tokusatsu for the story telling, action, characters, acting, visuals, and the lessons they share but my love for toku also comes from behind the scenes the suit actors, the costume designers, the miniter sets, the creativity, the team work, the freedom to make what you want, toku has everything I could ever want in a show or in a movie.
You can FEEL the effort of the creators when watching tokusatsu
👍 ex-actly!
mhm
The main draw of Tokusatsu to me (and this applies to most if not all my favorite pieces of fictional media) is that most of the content that comes from the genre is on paper so ridiculous however most of the time it works. A doctor using video game cartridges to defeat virus monsters, a group of spandex superheroes using mystic car energy to battle an alien biker gang, another group of (totally not) spandex superheroes holding off a computer virus with equipment that looks like it was modeled after Pixar's Cars, and a giant alien made up of light fighting Godzilla-esc Kaiju. As I said before on paper all of these ideas may sound dumb even for a toy commercial kid's show, yet there all portrayed in a way where it just works and is able to tell really engaging stories with compelling characters and drama(or even comedy as one of the shows I mentioned above is a comedy), and to top it off has really good messages for not just kids but a lot of adults. I believe that everyone has a season of tokusatsu that appeals to them, and anyone can get into it
Personally, it came down to these points:
-The practical effects and the utter love they distill (to the point of giving the monsters name, backstories, etc.), which I have a love for since I always enjoyed B movies.
-The fact that it's a beloved genre on its own, and a very important outlet for fantasy/sf productions in Japan (which were very limited given the state of the industry in the postwar years), then exported to the whole Asian continent. As an example, GARO is basically Japan's outlet for Gothic/Adult fantasy "The Crow" style.
-Tokusatsu provides a window to the childhood memories and values of lots of countries in this world (from Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand or Vietnam to China, Korea, Japan, etc.), as well as for their national creativity and tastes.
-Sure, digital effects and such are bad for today's standards, but this is the case with amazing SF productions of the time (2002's "Returner") all around the world. Only these last 10 years or so has sotware improved to the point of making full-fledged indie cinema possible. And being so, they often compensate it with amazing camera work or set design. Creativity shines through.
-Of course, the link with the formulaic plots and acting of anime, as these two worlds evolved at the same time and reinforcing each other. Higly influential franchises like Sailor Moon are basically a part of this genre when you dissect them. And of course if you ever get close to the so called "otaku culture" of Akihabara (the Densha Otoko or Hideako Anno type of fans), it is a must.
I like it because it speaks to me.
It’s always been there, it’s always interested me, and it has inspired me.
That is why I watch it.
Excellent comment!
@@TheHighsea thank you! May I ask, do you prefer darker or lighter themed Tokusatsu shows in general?
@@tokuwriter2872 Lighter
I think my love for tokusatsu stems from actually watching power rangers and having ultraman and kamen rider toys given to me from family without really knowing too much about the actual shows. It wasn't until a few years ago where I found out that powerrangers was a adaptation of super sentai and that kamen rider was part of the same company. I then gave kamen rider a chance I fell in love with the ridiculous cgi and gimmicks, but have to give credit to the fantastic out of the box thinking and story telling. Tokusatsu definitely gives me a chance to just sit back and expect the unexpected.
Fantastic video!
I watch Tokusatsu as it feels like live action anime. I like that there's more practical effects yes there's CGI but overall there's more practical effects involved and I just love Japan too
I just watch it for the henshin jingles
😂 you would :)
For me it's definitely because of that sense of finality and flexibility that you mentioned.
There can be 50 different versions of Peter Parker but there will always be only one Yuusuke Godai.
Yes, there's several versions of Kuuga, but "THE Kuuga" will always be the TV series character brought to life by director Shigenori Takatera and actor Joe Odagiri in the year 2000.
I loved Ultraman Nexus because of its gritty and mature tone. I equally loved Ultraman Max for it's wacky and adventurous premise. I also loved Ultraman Mebius' kid-friendly, feel-good tales of friendship.
I hate Kuuga
Technically you could still factor in the Kuuga from Decade as a different interpretation(I know I know different character but still), although it's kinda like going from Ryan Drummond's portrayal of Sonic The Hedgehog immediately to Rodger Craig Smith's version of the same character
I love tokusatsu because it's the merging of five things I love (practical effects, kung fu movies, anime, super heroes and pulp scifi) and fuse them into one. To me it's pure unadulterated entertainment. A man in a biker helmet and plastic armor dropkicking a dinosaur might sound insufferably stupid to you but to me, it's glorious!
There's also the 'fuck it, just do it's mentality that I love about it. In western fiction, there always has to be an explanation for everything. "Oh, dynamite man has his powers because he was bitten by a radioactive stick of dynamite and he powers are based on...." And I just wanna scream shut the hell up. I love how you can have a bug man with a motorcycle karate fighting a jellyfish with a mace talkig about existentialism and it's just like, yeah, this is happening.
Also, I have to stare that I don't notice this form of guilt of insecurity among other Toku fandoms from other non English speaking fandoms. French fans proudly talk about bioman, Brazilian fans talking about juspion and changeman and I notice they don't have the same sense of shame or over explaining. It only happens in the English speaking fandom. I think we all know why.
Honestly, I just grew up with some of them or the Americanized version thereof. It is something I can feel nostalgia with and just enjoy going back to or experiencing a new one. I am literally picking it back up in my 30's after so long of just growing up with things like Godzilla and Power Rangers. I later in my growing life of the other things especially after finding Kamen Rider and getting back into it with Amazons. Like you said it kind of caters to everyone.
I'm currently watching Garo: Makai Senki after getting back into it and I noticed that the suits they use for the Horrors don't really look like suits. They look like they actually exist. I noticed the same thing when I watched Gamera 3. I like that (for lack of a better way of phrasing) sense of realism that was put into it and by that I mean they created the suits to look like they could actually exist in our world and I find that it adds to the atmosphere of the show.
very nice. I would also have accepted "because it's awesome. *End Video"
Crap, now I need to delete it and re-do it!!!
For me it's probably the way japan handles superheroes? it's different from how the west does it and i guess that just hooked me
on the other spectrum i don't really like Godzilla but i do enjoy Ultraman so maybe i just need a hero in my life ..hmm this is a really good question
Every heroic godzilla ever: am I a joke to you?
@Highsea okay I only needed to watch a little bit of this to understand where you were going with this discussion and I feel the EXACT same way but only as a dedicated fan of Power Rangers knowing that JDF committed suicide made me realize I'm not as dedicated to the franchise as I used to be so then I turned to Kamen Rider and now I am a big fan of the what fans call 2nd gen the Heisei Era (Kuuga - Zi-O)
Because tokusatsu was my first taste of Japanese pop culture. Ultraman was my first appointment viewing super hero show as a kid,followed by The Space Giants/Magma Taishi and Spectreman. For film it was of course Godzilla and Gamera,with Yog,Monster From Space/Space Amoeba and The Green Slime(not entirely Japanese-no Japanese characters appear in that film but it was a joint Japanese and Italian film)and the more depressing and obscure Prophecies of Nostradamus/Catastrophe 1999. It was the late 70s and uhf was like cable for poor families or families who chose not to get cable for other reasons. Syndicated channels were like the Wild West ,playing slightly censored and weird movies in filler time slots and tokusatsu was well represented in these time slots. Hell,my only taste of Giant Robo was a compilation film and my young mind was NOT blown. Unicorn? Janky looking kaiju? I switched channels before even seeing Giant Robo,lol.
Wow, youtube really pushes me to watch western tokusatsu fans.
For me, I tend to describe tokysatsu as a good blend of epic, cringe & funny. When I say funny, I don't mean the plot is a comedy. I mean the designs or the looks are silly or goofy. The values taught are also simple & effective. So it is fun to watch. But yes, my turn offs of modern tokusatsu is how they increasingly looks like toys.
It is nice to hear from someone who got into the genre late like you. I basically grew up watching them.
I like it for the storylines. Even when something goes wrong we know how to make up for it
I love Toku thanks to Garo.
I had contact with it since childhood with Power Rangers and Dragon Knight.
But Garo really brought me into it with its world and story. Garo The Animation was my entry into it and since then became my favorite franchise.
I wasn’t actively watching Tokusatsu when I saw Garo the animation. I loved it and I think it’s a large part of why I started going deeper.
@@TheHighsea
It was a good entry if I may say so. I did try Chapter of the Black Wolf beforehand, but the CGI scared me off lol. But thanks to Garo The Animation it was the interest that needed more.
I had a full on Beetleborgs Christmas as a child. I had power rangers, knights of tir na nog, and kamen rider action figures. I hadn't watched much of these shows but the armor designs bring me so much joy.
I watch toku because EVERYTHING that is not an independent film here in the west feels the same
Thank god for Japan!!! Lol
I’m good with “because I like it.” as a reason. (But that wouldn’t make a good video. 😂)
In the end I think I’m good with that too
I watch tokusatsu because I’m a fan for the Kamen Rider suits and story and its not woke.
Fantastic take!
Why tokusatsu? Why do I enjoy (and have enjoyed) Classic Doctor Who for decades? Yet another instance in which low-budget and technical limitations can't fully realize what the story demands in a convincing manner, but they still go for it anyway, no matter how ridiculous the final result may look.
Ropey SPFX are part of the charm, as is a certain rough "underproduced" quality which, in many ways, gives the action onscreen a greater verisimilitude with regard to the real world than many a big budget film. (At the risk of being crass: look at realtime footage of the recent collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. Now, imagine what that collapse would look like in a Hollywood movie enhanced with CGI and the collapsed slowed down for dramatic effect. Which version looks more toku - the real world or the hypothetical Hollywood version?)
Toku's ability to juxtapose the melodramatic with the goofy is why it's fun.
Whew, hitting a bit close to home. I live a few miles from the bridge.
Absolutely agree.
We got lost in Dundalk for a bit while visiting a friend in Baltimore back in '88 when our DC-based driver took the wrong ramp off that very bridge.
It's fun
interesting video and well thought out take.
My response to the question is pretty different.....
I watch tokusatsu (almost exclusively at this point), because it's the best quality.
Best storytelling. Best action. Best imagination!
Best directing (a very main factor) Best FX (because creative FX are most important to me).
Best music.....best art design...
(ever seen a non-toku director trying to make something toku-like? You get something like Ultraman Powered. 'Nuff said)
To me, Japan has perfected science fiction, fantasy, superhero, horror etc genres in film.
And perfected filmmaking in general.
I think it's mostly due to the cultural approach to visuals and storytelling.
Compare manga to western comics. No relation.
Japanese art and folklore is already primed to be a perfect match for filmmaking.
There is more energy, professionalism and creativity put into an average episode of any toku show than there is an entire series of Hollywood stuff.
Hollywood is stagnate and boring. (wasn't always that bad)
Even the typical Hollywood movie colour pallette is washed out and may as well be black and white.
Also, in the East in general (esp Japan) there is a real focus on fantastical creatures and ideas. They take center stage.
In the West everything is more subdued and 'pragmatic', to the point its not imaginative at all.
Those are my thoughts.
I think if someone is sensititve to storytelling and filmmaking art, they will often gravitate towards tokusatsu because of its excellent mix of qualitiies.
Honestly, there are some really shit seasons 😂. It's kinda the same with any media I watch. Even if my tastes changed when I discovered anime. Tokusatsu kinda remained up there for me. Lows like Ghost and Ninninger for me almost made me drop toku entirely. Ex-Aid kinda brought me back. I know it's childish but I was a teen back then😂. There's always something new, talking about the stories or the suits, community is also nice with sharing all these new seasons updates and it's something special to me. I finally got into Ultraman again with Gaia and tbh, thanks to all the recent things Tsuburaya has been doing in the Western world, it's become very easy to see seasons which were once never available. Although I enjoyed recent Ultra to a certain extent, showa Ultra... Especially 7, is insane in its intricacies and writing. I've been for a while been interested in the credits of the shows, whether it's recent seasons for all Toku I keep up with or even certain older seasons. I just find it fascinating in that way too. Just a lot makes me interested in Toku and it keeps showing me new stuff honestly
This is a great answer! You should make some videos about it
I would, maybe somewhere down the future. Also, there's a cool Ultraman related channel known as Meek Ale, recommend checking him out, does various topics👌
Thanks! I followed him
@@usamasiddiqui8235 Ghost and Ninninger dosen't get it's Low , Lows like Build for me almost made me drop toku entirely.
@@TheHighsea X vs Faiz meme: whats wrong? if you don't fight you die!
me: intense ryuki moments
I watch it because I ran out of anime lmaoo
😂😂😂
XDDD
Damn, ya'll really need 8 minutes to say "coz its dope" :)
😂
I gonna take you up on that and actually make a video on Toku
Yes! Please do that