The Tokusatsu Thread

[Octarine]

Go-Bus 8:

This episode was 50% Ryuji kicking ass and 50% Enter being even more gloriously camp than usual. Guaranteed success.

One thing I'm loving about Go-Busters so far is the variety in shooting locations. It's totally surreal seeing a place as normal as a hardware store in toku; it reminds me of that one episode of Power Rangers Samurai a month or so ago where there was an original fight scene shot in the suburbs. It's amazing how refreshing that is.

And yeah, Go-Buster King isn't getting much to do outside of stock footage, but at least its one attack was actually put to an interesting use in this episode. I'm just ecstatic that we're still seeing the individual Buster Machines do things in every episode, even if it's just standing around and getting shot at for ten minutes.

Akiba 2:

Is it just me, or is the CG for the Itashar Robo shockingly good? Like, it's still not fantastic or anything, but it certainly blows the Power Dizer out of the water. The mech actually looks pretty cool, too, despite its intentional goofiness: I have very little interest in toku toys for the most part, but I'd gladly shell out for this one. If there even is a toy yet; I have no idea.

Between the voice thing in this episode and the blatant But you can't have a girl blue and yellow on the same team! callout last week, I'm gonna put my tinfoil hat on and guess that Yellow's actually a transsexual. Not too likely, but I think it'd be worth it just to read the cries of betrayal from all of the horndogs on HJU.

...and it looks like team-ups with official rangers are going to be a thing now, complete with weird Final Attack Ride weapons. C'mon pre-Gao...

Edited April 18, 2012 by Octarine

[Scott]

I honestly didn't know this forum had a Tokusatsu thread!

I grew up with Power Rangers, Beetle Borgs, VR Troopers and Masked Rider! When I first seen all the Super Sentai designs, I was amazed at how many Saban skipped and such. But I haven't watched any of the Original Kamen Rider, Super Sentai or Metal Heroes and honsetly I have no intent! But the genre itself is amazing!

I also had a video of the Tokusatsu Spiderman when I was younger and I personally find Guyver: Dark Hero to be my favourite Tokusatsu (out of the ones I've seen) whereas I hold Power Rangers close to my heart with heavy nostalgia.

[Ekaje]

Akiba

Considering how crazy this show is, I wouldn't be that surprised if they pulled something like that. I just wonder how they'll end this thing. They could go actually doing something heroic somehow that makes them lose their delusions, have them go full out delusional and go to animeland while in comas, or they could just do something out of the blue like being sued by Toei.

And the show is hilarious so far. It just works so well as both a Sentai parody (Consistent power levels? In Sentai, the very concept doesn't exist!), and the story of three losers pretending to be superheroes.

Edited April 18, 2012 by Ekaje

[Octarine]

New Go-Busters-related scans:

On a scale of 1 to identical, how much like Kamen Rider IXA does Beet Buster's buddyroid look?

Beet Buster (Beet is the gold one, right? I'm pretty sure) definitely looks great, but based on the blurry pictures we've already seen I think I'm going to end up liking Stag Buster more. He's just so much sleeker.

Go-Bus 9:

Go-Busters was great again this week. Even though it was clearly filler, I'm glad it still had some connection to previous episodes in the form of the sub-Megazords based on last week's not-really-fought Megazord. It was nice to see the giant fight resolved without Go-Buster King, too.

There's been some discussion about whether Yoko should have been able to just leap to the top of the building, but if that's your biggest concern in a Sentai show then I don't think there's much to worry about.

Not much to say about this week's Fourze. It was great, for sure, but in a completely predictable way. Cosmic States is even cooler than I imagined, though; I can't wait to see what kind of wacky switch combos we'll get in the future.

[Ekaje]

GoBuster 9

It was also nice just to see Usada being a smug rabbit. It was funny how he just went along with the two guys, and he was even humming.

And I wasn't too bothered by Yoko not using her powers, though that's probably just a result of them being really underused. They really haven't had it be important yet other than a few scenes of her jumping above mooks.

One thing did come out of Fourze other than Cosmic. Tachibana is almost certainly Kengo's dad, since he sent the Gate Switch, knew about Cosmic's power, and knew about the writing on the side of the base.

EDIT::

Akiba 3

The madness continues. Nobuo was hilarious, freaking out over his "future girlfriend", and going on a drunken nerdrage at Mitsuki over proper naming of Boukengers (I can't decide whether him getting laughed at becasue of him flailing in the street is funny or painful).

But the second delusion, good lord, that was all kinds of crazy. Nobuo fell for the same trick three times in a row (I think with some of the same footage each time too), and got sexually assulted by the moster, while Yellow freaked out about it because she's into yaoi. And then on top of that, the fight was actually pretty cool after Boukenred showed up.

I can only imagine how insane this show is going to get, but I know I'm going to be sad when the story of these three crazy people is over.

Edited April 26, 2012 by Ekaje

[Ekaje]

Double posting, but the raw for Movie War MEGAMAX is out now, which means OT should have subs out in about a week. I just skipped around a bit since while I wanted to see some of the action, I don't want to completely spoil it, but it looks really nice.

Edited May 11, 2012 by Ekaje

[Echidna Adventurer CC14]

I loves me some toku! I'm more into the American adaptations, though. Power Rangers is one of my most loved franchises and I eagerly await what each new incarnation brings to the table. (Especially the PR exclusive elements like the Battlizers, Titanium Ranger and the Elephant, Bat, and Shark Spirit Rangers. LOVE those suits! ) I'm also a big fan of Beetleborgs and Kamen Rider Dragon Knight.

Also, for anyone who hasn't heard the news yet, the first seven seasons of Power Rangers (MMPR S1, MMPR S2, MMPR S3, Zeo, Turbo, In Space, and Lost Galaxy) are headed to DVD in July in one 40 disc mega set! I know what's going on the Christmas list THIS year!

Also, if S Factor's zone names are any indication, I'm a huge Beetleborgs fan. Back in the day that was my show.

Flabberiffic!

[Octarine]

Ugh. I'm about three weeks behind on everything I watch because of internet issues, but... uh, it all sounds really good. With, like, the Fanroid, and the Leo Zodiarts, and a mom episode... it actually is really cool that Rica Matsumoto's in that. Wanna watch.

I was kind of indifferent to Megamax around the time it first came out (I think that was when we finally got our hands on 199 Heroes, right?), but by now I'm just happy to see a toku movie that doesn't have a billion suits in it. ShoPhil are always awesome as well, and I'm even pretty excited to see the OOO cast again. Bring it on.

I'm still only a mild Power Rangers fan, but I'd be happy to support the series on DVD if I see it around. It's been a really long time since I've seen a lot of the early seasons and I adore behind-the-scenes stuff. And hey, the price certainly seems right.

[Aquaslash]

Akiba was wild last week. I didn't think the show would be capable of that kind of mood whiplash, but lo an behold. Also looking forward to this week's Busters just to see Yoko out of suit. Though I'm saddened that they've been starting to pour on the stock footage lately. Guess it can't be helped.

Meanwhile in the states, Shogun Spear is an amazing thing. I'm going to so pissed off if Jayden doesn't get out of that zord and either club some mooks with that thing, or hurl it through a MotW or something. They're totally squandering the Shogun Mode by keeping it cooped up in the zord cockpits.

[Ekaje]

I'm a little disapointed the transformations have started being stock (though they had been using it for a bit, like Hiromu transforming on the bike, pretty much all of Gobuster King), but I'm okay as long as they keep doing the good mech battles.

And about MEGAMAX, it does kinda have more suits than it needs. The Showa Riders aren't really needed, but it's nice that they keep up the continuity established in that early episode of Fourze, and it's cool seeing their moves from the old shows done with the new effects. Plus there's a new version of the Seven Riders song from Stronger. The action in general is really nice too, especially with the use of the character's abilities. I think that in this movie alone Eiji used OOO's powers better than everything else he's been in.

Oh, and Gao Soul Forever! just recently finished subbing Sun Vulcan.

EDIT:

Also, it's pretty nice that PR is getting DVD releases. I hope they do the later seasons too, since I only really like the very early seasons of PR for 90s goofiness and silly

and RPM for being good nowadays. Edited May 12, 2012 by Ekaje

[Aquaslash]

Shogun Blue was literally on screen for 3 seconds. What a total waste

[Octarine]

How does that even justify the cost of the suits? Are kids really going to run out and buy the toy if it barely appears on the show and it doesn't do anything? Well... any more kids than would have bought it as a toy-only powerup?

...and speaking of kids, I wonder how many have totally forgotten about this show over the course of all these multi-month hiatuses. I know I probably would have as a six-year-old. It's pretty hilarious to see Samurai spread so thin when next door on Nicktoons they're showing the mid-2000s seasons in marathons.

Edited May 13, 2012 by Octarine

[Ekaje]

I don't know if that's been happening, but I know my six-year old younger brother is still watching Samurai and the Dino Thunder reruns.

EDIT:

Fourze 35

Wonder if Cosmic's constant reliance on bonds between the KRC will lead to more character focus arcs. Also makes me hope that either in the ending or in the movie, Cosmic gets supercharged by Gen's friendship with all of AGHS.

It's also nice that with ZA HOLE being focused, along with Libra's eye, they're making it so that most of the enemies will be Horoscopes from here on out, rather than Cosmic suddenly have to spend two episodes to beat a regular Zodiart because no consistent power levels.

Akiba 6

The stage/TV show gimmick for the fights was really funny, as well as continued paroding of aspects of Sentai/general toku fights.

And wait what this show is actually going to have a plot beyond the crew being deluded.

Gobusters 12

The first half of the episode didn't really interest me that much, people look similar, body double, yadda yadda yadda. Action was still nice though, and it was funny how instead of trying to figure out which Ace was real, they just shot them both until the fake lost its shape.

And the english in the email and the chat on the stream was funny too.

"Cawaiiiiii 8-)"

"gr8! very exciting KungFu"

EDIT: Sort of related. As part of their No More Heroes 2 Let's Play, ChipCheezum and Ironicus have been making videos of them watching hilariously bad/weird anime. They have however, done two of these that were not actually anime, the first being the first Ultraman, and most recently, Japanese Spider-Man. Both are very funny.

http://chipandironicus.com/games/nmh2/30.html -Spiderman

http://chipandironicus.com/games/nmh2/20.html-Ultraman

Also some people in the thread made some nice .gifs of spiderman.

Edited May 19, 2012 by Ekaje

[Ekaje]

Bump for the release of MEGAMAX subs.

http://over-ti.me/re...e-war-mega-max/

This was easily the best Movie War so far (though that isn't exactly hard, since both of the others had the not-W Rider's segment be terrible/nonsensical). The Fourze/OOO segments has some issues with pacing, but that's less the writer's fault and more the format forcing two seperate on one overarching storyline in one and a half hours.

OOO: The beginning annoyed me a little bit with the Births getting beaten to the point of seeming like comedy relief, but that was quickly made up for with Eiji then fighting Poseidon with better skills than he had in the entierity of OOO. The fight in the cafe was nice too, and I liked the difference between Eiji and Ankh, with the former damaging the cafe incidentally, while the latter used it as part of his style. The last fight was a little underwhelming, since it amounted to CGI then Aqua/TaJaDor finisher. It was nice to see the cast again too.

Fourze: Really good. Everyone in the KRC had nice little moments throughout (I thought Tomako's "Amazoooon"ing was funny). Nadeshiko's fighting style was a bit overly girly for me, since she had previously shown not knowing anything about how people are supposed to act at that point, but it was worth it to see her suddenly go from that to snapping a Dustard's neck. It was nice to see Elek and Fire again after they've been overshadowed by Magnet and Cosmic in the series, and Rocket States was cool too (on that note, it's been seen filmed with again, so unless it was for the HBV or something, it'll likely appear in the series or the movie).

MEGAMAX: Foundation X cannot catch a break. Either their men run off to do their own thing, or they have the bad luck to just happen upon and anger Riders on the road.

I really liked the W-OOO-Fourze interaction before the fighting. Especially Shotarou suddenly warming up to Gentarou when he mentioned fighting to stop people's tears. The theme song fights were very well done, showing off each of their abilites. The Showa riders were uneeded fluff for the sake of continuity/MEGAMAX being part of the 40th anniversary year, but I liked seeing their finishers with modern effects.

Despite some noticeable CG, the last fights were well done, and Super TaToBa looked much better in motion than it did when we first saw it, and I liked how Gen's love for a pile of space goo allowed him to absorb the Galaxy King's power to supercharge Rocket States.

Edited May 21, 2012 by Ekaje

[Octarine]

The showa Riders were pretty pointless, but I did at least like how they tied them in with the school festival. They all got a line or two as well, which is more than I can say for any of their other recent movie appearances. Their presence was entirely justified by Amazon's little "...friend!" after they met Gen, anyway. You can take a man out of the jungle...

It was great to see them able to hold their own against the clones of the modern villains, anyway. It was fairly stupid that they just blundered into the Foundation X base and were all taken out at once, though. Poor guys just can't catch a break, Riders 1 and 2 in particular: If I had to spend 40 years pretending to be brainwashed and my reward was being turned into a toy, I think I'd give up on the whole hero of justice racket.

...I'll write more things later. Movie was pretty good, though.

Edited May 21, 2012 by Octarine

[Ekaje]

Gobuster 15

Beet and Stag are pretty neat. I like their transformation (though Beet was able to be transformed the first two times without J for some reason, probably just because they wanted to save Stag for the proper fight at the end), I liked the "fighting for the spotlight" thing they have going (though I'd prefer if it was more like trying to one up each other in combat rather than "J stands in front of him a lot, then gets shoved out of the way"), and their theme was pretty nice.

And I guess for now they'll be a group that's against Vagras, but at the same time, will be taking the Enetron for their own ends (like presumably using it to get out of hyperspace in the first place). Wonder if the machines they're using next episode are taken from the stolen designs, though they are probably made from stolen-stolen Enetron.

Edited June 8, 2012 by Ekaje

[Octarine]

Hey there, oft-neglected thread that maybe four people post in! Didja miss me?

In absence of actual new episodes of Bugmans and French Goggle Boy and Friends for reasons of a (still) spotty internet connection, I've finally gotten around to watching Ultraman Nexus, since I've had that stowed away for a while. It's kind of really good so far.

It's grim and not really for kids, but in an ambitious way rather than an exploitative one. I mean, the bleak colour palette and silly Satanic names on the evil Ultras can be a bit much at times, but for the most part it seems like the creators wanted to take the Ultraman concept and really explore the implications of some of the things that are usually glossed over. Being the host to Ultraman is mentally and physically taxing (and really weird), monster attacks have real casualties and the Night Raiders have honest-to-god flaws to contend with. And also really big rifles, because I guess the producers were huge Aliens fans.

It's also sort of slow... sort of. Monsters take a handful of episodes to defeat each, but the serial nature of the plots makes it constantly feel like things are happening, and the monsters can usually pull enough new tricks out of their sleeves over time to keep things fresh. Maybe the formula will get old eventually, but as things are now I'm pleasantly surprised. I'm liking this a lot more than Mebius, and I'm the sort of person who normally prefers lighthearted goofiness to grimdark grim darkness. Check it out if you're bored, y'all.

...but skip Ultraman the Next, the movie that's sort of a prequel to Nexus. It's pretty boring, it doesn't have a whole lot to do with Nexus at all (at least as far as I've gotten), and the Ultraman suit is really wretched. It's kind of like if Hiramechimedes had a baby with Shin Kamen Rider. Ew.

[Ekaje]

Since I had been gone for a bit, I just now got around to watching Akibaranger eps 10-12, and wow.

Akagi, faced with a set of Sentai tropes sending him off from the team, realizes he is in a TV show,and then with everyone else begins a struggle against their "god", the show's creator, in an effort to stop the ending.

And episode 12 was just great, as the crew couldn't help but try to cover their ears and try to ignore the cliches being shoved at them to force them to the end, and even when it seemed that they could start a long battle with Dr. Z, he gets rewritten in front of them in order to force a final giant robot fight where they counter by destroying their own machine, only for Yellow to defeat Delu Knight's machine by tossing a can at him. And then they think they've won in the end, starting a new battle with Malshina, not realizing until "the end" beings to roll down that they are actually unwittingly setting up the ending themselves. And then they attack the ending sign, only for Hatte Suburo to come out and smash the camera or something.

They say next episode is like a clip show, but it's presented in the form of a DVD sent to them to go over to see "what they had done wrong". So who knows what will happen.

Edited June 26, 2012 by Ekaje

[Yoko/葉子]

I'm new to tokusatsu (except Power Rangers), I keep seeing Ultraman trailers; is it a series that has a gray tone?

[Octarine]

That really depends on the individual series. If you want super grim, I can wholeheartedly recommend Nexus. If you're looking for something more lighthearted, Mebius, Max and Cosmos have you covered. The nineties series seem to be more middle-of-the road.

...I assume the trailers you've been seeing have been for the Zero movies, though, which I know pretty much zilch about. They seem to be continuations of Mebius' universe (and consequently the original Ultra continuity), so I imagine they're roughly in line with that series tonally. The little I've heard makes them seem like big dumb fun, which is usually what you want from giant spandex mans.

Edited June 26, 2012 by Octarine

[Ekaje]

The name "Kamen Rider Wizard" came out a little bit ago, and now we have pictures.

The suit looks nice, though it looks a lot better from the angle than the front. Glad the belt is less bulky again. And I suppose his gimmick has to do with the rings he's wearing and using touching/slapping his belt to use them.

[Octarine]

I really like this design; it's like a weird mish-mash of elements from Den-O, V3 and Hibiki, but it works. The non-ridiculously-huge belt is nice too, and any henshin hero with a cape gets instant points from me.

From his poses in those photos, it seems like we might be in for another Tendou/Tsukasa-like asshole Rider, which I'd actually be pretty cool with. That's not my favourite character type or anything, but arrogant swagger tends to suit flashy toku fights very well (see: everything the Gokaigers ever did), and it'd just be pleasant to have a break from all these nice guys.

[Ekaje]

And a scan of Fourze's movie form has popped up as well, and it's it's certainly something.

I guess it's some mix of Meteor and some new switch that's like a super Cosmic Switch. I don't think it looks terrible for two suits mashed together, but I think I'd like it better if they had done something a little different with the body,

EDIT:

More Wizard

I really like that he has a loop to keep his rings in, so they won't just appear/disappear out of nowhere.

Yep, presses belt to activate rings. Can't tell if his weapons are summoned with them though. I can spot another hand scanner on his gun, so he'll either be combining abilities with weapons, using it to start finishers, or both. And since the ring with his face on it is much different from the ability rings, I think that will be the one used to transform, and others like that will activate form changes.

EDIT2:

Someone translated some of the text. Most of it is things you can tell from the pictures, but the weapons are actually one sword/gun.

Wizard fights using the magic power of the rings!

>There were many Wizard Rings created, each having their own magic ability in them. We will now go over what kinds of rings there are and what magic they produce!

>With the ''BIG'' ring, he can make his arm huge!

>(using this rings magic he can increase the size of a part of his body.)

>He can create copies of himself using the ''COPY'' ring

>(using this ring's magic he can produce many copies of himself.)

>His weapon is the Wizar-swordgun!

>Its a crazy weapon that can change between a sword and a gun in an instant!

>Henshin Belt Wizardriver

>He unleashes the power of the rings by laying his ring equipped hand over the hand shaped module on his belt.

Edited June 26, 2012 by Ekaje

[Yoko/葉子]

That really depends on the individual series. If you want super grim, I can wholeheartedly recommend Nexus. If you're looking for something more lighthearted, Mebius, Max and Cosmos have you covered. The nineties series seem to be more middle-of-the road.

...I assume the trailers you've been seeing have been for the Zero movies, though, which I know pretty much zilch about. They seem to be continuations of Mebius' universe (and consequently the original Ultra continuity), so I imagine they're roughly in line with that series tonally. The little I've heard makes them seem like big dumb fun, which is usually what you want from giant spandex mans.

I like gray tones or rediculous monsters that are funny. Why would I want a dark series when life is rough as it is?

[Octarine]

There's something about that screenshot of the copied Wizards with their hands on their hips that's completely hilarious. It's like they're getting ready to do a highland dance.

And a scan of Fourze's movie form has popped up as well, and it's it's certainly something.

I guess it's some mix of Meteor and some new switch that's like a super Cosmic Switch. I don't think it looks terrible for two suits mashed together, but I think I'd like it better if they had done something a little different with the body,

Ew. I don't actually mind the colours involved, but they're distributed really badly. It looks like a lazy palette swap from a video game or something.