Tokusatsu

[GeneChing]

I was raised on tokusatsu, and I don't just mean Ultraman and Giant Robot. I was more into Kikaida and Rainbow Seven. There's this new wave of tokusatsu satire that's really intriguing me now, like Miike's Zebraman. Anyone seen it?

More to the point, anyone seen Dai-Nipponjin (Big Man Japan)?

[GeneChing]

more fighters should wear miniskirts.

Akina Minami to appear in new 'Kamen Rider' movie
Monday 09th March, 05:18 AM JST

TOKYO —
Akina Minami will appear in the film “Kamen Rider Deno & Decade” as a mini-skirted fighter. The new film is set in the Muromachi period in the 15th century, with Kamen Rider battling assorted monsters.

Minami, whose character is an archer, said, “I have been interested in archery for a long time. So I’m very happy to try it. My biggest challenge was the language. Since the time period of the film is different from now, the dialect is also different and difficult to master.”

The film will be released nationwide from May 1.

[SimonM]

I like archery.

[Lucas]

I like miniskirts.

[Shaolinlueb]

i like japanese gilrs in mini skirts shooting bows and arrows, then turning into super powered bug monsters that kill aliens.

sounds like something the japanese would do. win

gene

never been a fan of kamen rider, but i did like power rangers when i was younger. i loved ultra man. check out hakaider . this is based off a villian from the Kikaider series.

i have a couple of miiki movies but never saw zeebraman.

you ever hear of kaiju big battle? it started in boston around 2000/2001 i believe.

[GeneChing]

Matt Mullins: The New KAMEN RIDER by Dr. Craig Reid

[Zenshiite]

Trailer

Looks interesting. Nice Kaiju spoof.

[GeneChing]

Not a good review, but I still want to see this...

Review: 'Big Man Japan'
G. Allen Johnson, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, May 29, 2009

SNOOZING VIEWER LMAN4
Comedy. Starring Hitoshi Matsumoto, Riki Takeuchi, Ua. Directed by Matsumoto. (PG-13. 103 minutes. At the Opera Plaza in San Francisco and the Shattuck in Berkeley.)

The concept of the comedy "Big Man Japan" is simple enough - superheroes are people too, with pets, messy houses and failed relationships.

But the film written, directed and starring stand-up comic Hitoshi Matsumoto has, like most superheroes, a tragic flaw: It isn't funny.

In fact, it's quite dull. Most of the movie consists of Daisato (Matsumoto) sitting - yes, sitting; hardly visually interesting - at desks, restaurant tables and park benches talking about his life and his alter-ego. It's done in mockumentary style, with an unseen filmmaker asking questions, and Daisato occasionally going, "turn the camera off."

It's now time, folks, to stop making mockumentaries. What a tired approach.

Anyway, when monsters attack Tokyo, Daisato takes a huge jolt of electricity, swells to enormous skyscraper-size and becomes the title character, a bizarre, tattooed, shock-haired hero who looks amusingly like a cross between a sumo wrestler and that funny-haired guy of Kid 'n Play.

His agent sells advertising space on his expanding chest, and tells him when he fights, "don't cross your arms so much; the sponsors don't like it."

The monsters are ridiculous riffs on the old Toho monsters of the '60s; Matsumoto's creations are creatures such as the Staring Monster, with an enormous eye used as a weapon; and the Stink Monster, and we'll leave that to your imagination.

The effects are cheap and cheesy, like it was made by a sixth-grader on a Mac, and in some quarters that would be a compliment.

It's possible that some of the humor just doesn't translate, but nevertheless the fact remains: "Big Man Japan" has about 15 minutes worth of monster mashing and 90 minutes of lousy mockumentary navel-gazing, never a good thing.

-- Advisory: Gross, disfigured, slimy computer-generated monsters.

[Zenshiite]

I'll wait until I can get it on DVD... like most things. It costs too much to go see movies these days.

[GeneChing]

Enter to win BIG MAN JAPAN on DVD. Contest ends 6:00 p.m. PST on 10/13/09. Good luck everyone!

[TenTigers]

I thought tokusatsu was a breaded porkchop...

[GeneChing]

Hilarious trailer for ‘Machi Action’ featuring Bolin Chen
January 15, 2013
by Kaptain A

Heeee! This looks really cute. I see many conflicting comments of this production. Initially, some say it’s a rip-off of Kamen Rider, but now that they’ve read the plot, it’s more of a parody/tribute to Toku superheroes, focusing on the life of an actor after his superhero show is axed due to low ratings. Watch as Bolin Chen unveils his superhero charisma on the big screen! The film is also highly anticipated because of writer and director, Giddens Ko, who was in charge of last year’s surprise hit You’re the Apple of My Eye.

【變身－－全新變身版】正式預告...Machi Action

Enter to win BIG MAN JAPAN on DVD. Contest ends 6:00 p.m. PST on 10/13/09. Good luck everyone!

I just realized I never posted a link to our winners of this contest here. My bad. Here it is. Better late than never.

[GeneChing]

I was a huge Tokusatsu fan growing up. Still am actually so these new anime versions of Ultraman don't quite do it for me. Although I must confess that I really enjoyed the new Godzilla animes (I should review those on the forum some day).

Being Asian, the only role models on TV that were my race were Mr. Sulu, tokusatsu characters like Ultraman and of course, Kung Fu movies. Much of my family is in Hawaii so when growing up, I visited often. There was a whole expanded world of tokusatsu there because Hawaii imported a lot of Japanese TV. So I was more of a fan of Ultra-Seven and the extended Ultra family because it was cooler. But truly, it was all about Kikaider for me. There was a live-action reboot of that a few years ago, but I still have yet to see that.

[GeneChing]

Is Ultraman still Tokusatsu when it's anime?

[GeneChing]

JAN 09 2020
Shozo Uehara, writer of Ultraman and Japanese Spider-Man, passes away
By BrianM in Television



Super Sentai fans, there is sad news coming from Japan. Legendary tokusatsu writer Shozo Uehara has passed away due to complications with liver cancer. He was 82.

Uehara is best remembered as the main writer for Ultraman and one of the original writers on Ultra Q, the series that preceded Ultraman. He was later contracted by Toei Productions and created his first Super Sentai series, Himitsu Sentai Goranger (known as Five Rangers in the West).

Shozo Uehara was born in Okinawa, Naha, an island in the far south of Japan on February 6, 1932. His family survived World War II after fleeing a Japanese occupied Taiwan in 1944. They returned home only to find it had been destroyed in air raids and drifted in the seas for two weeks before reaching the Kagoshima Prefecture. Uehara’s family would eventually return to Naha, Japan in 1946.

Uehara joined Tsuburaya Productions after graduating from Chuo University after his work was discovered by the company heads who read his writings about the war in Okinawan dramas. He would make his debut as lead writer for Ultra Q in the series’ 21st episode. From that point, he worked as lead writer for the fourth Ultraman series, The Return of Ultraman. Uehara joined Toei Productions in 1973 and created the Super Sentai series “Himitsu Sentai Goranger“, which likely served as inspiration for Saban’s Power Rangers franchise. He also led the writing team for the tokusatsu Spider-Man series (which is rumored to be featured in the second Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse film). He has also worked in several anime series including Dororon Enma-kun, Fist of the North Star, and Space Pirate Captain Harlock.

Shozo Uehara passed away January 2 and his death was made public after private services were held by his family. Uehara’s inspiration lives on in Saban’s Power Rangers franchise and Netflix’s Ultraman series.

Himitsu Sentai Goranger opening

continued next post