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Tokusatsu

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The sentai subgenre of tokusatsu features easily recognizable "rangers".

Tokusatsu (特撮) is a Japanese loanword which originally meant both "special effects" in general and more specifically, a genre of live-action Japanese entertainment, encompassing many subgenres of film and television; however, in non-Japanese languages, it only refers to the second definition. Tokusatsu generally has science fiction, fantasy, or horror themes, but this is not always the case. The most popular types of tokusatsu entertainment are superhero serials (the Kamen Rider and Metal Heroes series), kaiju and mecha dramas (the Giant Robo and Godzilla series), or combinations of the previous (the Ultraman and Super Sentai series).

The term "tokusatsu" is a contraction of the Japanese phrase "tokushu satsuei" (特殊撮影), meaning "special photography". In production, the special effects director is given the title of "tokushu gijutsu" (特殊技術), Japanese for "special techniques" or "tokusatsu kantoku" (特撮監督), which is Japanese for "special effects director", the title usually used by English language productions.

Tokusatsu is one of the most popular and representative forms of Japanese entertainment, along with anime and manga, although it is not as widely known in non-Asian countries.

History

Tokusatsu has its most distant origins in early Japanese theater, specifically kabuki, with its action and fight scenes, and bunraku, which utilized some of the earliest forms of special effects, specifically puppetry. Modern tokusatsu, however, did not begin to take shape until the early 1950s, with the conceptual and creative birth of Godzilla, one of the most famous kaiju (giant monsters) of all time.

The driving forces behind 1954's Godzilla were special effects artist Eiji Tsuburaya and director Ishiro Honda. Tsuburaya, inspired by the American film King Kong, formulated many of the techniques that would become staples of the genre, such as so-called suitmation — the use of a human actor in a costume to play a giant monster — combined with the use of miniatures and scaled-down city sets. Godzilla forever changed the landscape of Japanese science fiction & fantasy, and cinema, by creating a uniquely Japanese vision in a genre typically dominated by American cinema.[1]

Godzilla kickstarted the kaiju genre in Japan, which remained extremely popular for several decades, with characters such as the aforementioned Godzilla, Gamera, and King Ghidorah leading the market.[2] However, in 1957, the first film serial featuring the superhero character Super Giant was released, signaling a shift in popularity that favored masked heroes over giant monsters. Along with the anime Astro Boy (Tetsuwan Atom), the Super Giant serials had a profound effect on the world of tokusatsu. The following year, in 1958, Moonlight Mask (Gekko Kamen) premiered, the first of numerous televised superhero dramas that would make up one of the most popular tokusatsu subgenres.[3]

Techniques

Tokusatsu is defined by its use of special effects and characterized by certain techniques. The most prominent in the genre is suitmation by which a monster is animated by placing an actor in a suit. Puppets, animatronics, and mechanical replicas may also be used in miniature. Also integrated into production is computer generated imagery (CGI) and stop-motion techniques. Computer effects may be used for optical effects such as ray beams, missiles, falling debris and explosions.

Suitmation technology

Main article: Suitmation

Suitmation (スーツメーション, Sūtsumēshon) is the term used in Japan to describe the process in tokusatsu movies & television programs used to portray a monster using suit acting. It is not known exactly where the term originated from; the term may have been used to differentiate the suit work from Ray Harryhausen's celebrated dynamation (stop-motion) technique. At the least, it was used to promote the Godzilla suit from The Return of Godzilla.

Franchises and productions

Template:List to prose (section)

Summary of tokusatsu series

Similar productions

Non-traditional tokusatsu productions

Non-traditional tokusatsu films and television programs may not use the conventional special effects or may not star human actors. Suitmation is characteristic of tokusatsu; however, some productions may use stop-motion instead to animate its monsters (e.g. Majin Hunter Mitsurugi (1973)). "Puppet shows" may use traditional tokusatsu techniques, but are cast with puppets or marionettes (e.g. Uchuusen Silica (1960), Ginga Shonen Tai (1963) and Kuchuu Toshi 008 (1969); Go Nagai's X Bomber (1980)). Some tokusatsu may employ animation in addition to its live-action components (e.g. Tsuburaya Productions' Dinosaur Expedition Team Bornfree (1976) and Dinosaur War Aizenborg (1977); Pro-Wrestling Star Aztekaiser (1976)).

Japanese fan films

As popular culture fandom in Japan grew in the 1980s, a fan-based group called Daicon Film (now called Gainax) was created by Hideaki Anno, Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, Takami Akai, and Shinji Higuchi. Besides anime sequences, they also produced a series of tokusatsu shorts parodying monster movies and superhero shows which has gained much media coverage. These productions include Patriotic Squadron Dai-Nippon (1983), Swift Hero Noutenki (1982), Return of Ultraman (1983) and The Eight-Headed Giant Serpent Strikes Back (1985).

In the turn of the new millennium, comedian Shinpei Hayashiya produced a number of tokusatsu fan films. These include include Godzilla Vs. Seadora and Gamera 4: Truth (2004). In 2005, he completed his upcoming first original effort, Deep Sea Beast Reigo.

Tokusatsu-influenced productions outside Japan

Tokusatsu technique has been replicated outside of Japan due to the popularity of Godzilla films. In 1961, England made its own Godzilla-style film, Gorgo, which used the same suitmation technique as the Godzilla films. That same year, Saga Studios in Denmark made another Godzilla-style giant monster film, Reptilicus. This film's monster was brought to life using a marionette on a miniature set. In 1967, South Korea produced its own kaiju movie titled Taekoesu Yonggary. In 1975, Shaw Brothers produced a superhero film called The Super Inframan, based on the huge success of Ultraman and Kamen Rider there. The film starred Danny Lee in the title role. Although there were several other similar superhero productions in Hong Kong, The Super Inframan is the first. With help from Japanese SPFX artists under Sadamasa Arikawa, they also produced a Japanese-styled monster movie, The Mighty Peking Man, in 1977. In 2001, Buki X-1 Productions, a French fan-based production company, produced its own series, Jushi Sentai France Five (now called Shin Kenjushi France Five), a tribute to Toei's long running Super Sentai series. In 2004, Peter Tatara (with his company Experimental Amateur Hero Productions) produced a low-budget superhero video series called Johnny Robo, which is a tribute/deconstruction/parody of Kamen Rider and the Henshin Hero genre. The low-budget television series Kaiju Big Battel directly parodies kaiju and Kyodai Hero films and series by immersing their own costumed characters in professional wrestling matches among cardboard buildings.

Adaptations

Godzilla, King of the Monsters! was first dubbed into English in 1956 (the sole addition to the movie was American actor Raymond Burr) and Ultraman gained popularity when it too was dubbed for American audiences in the 1960s.

The primary influx of tokusatsu adaptations came in the 1990s, starting in 1993 with Saban Entertainment's purchase of footage from Toei's sixteenth installment of their long-running Super Sentai series, Kyouryuu Sentai Zyuranger to become Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and start the popular Power Rangers franchise. An adaptation of footage from Choujinki Metalder, Jikuu Senshi Spielban, and Uchuu Keiji Shaider, several series in the Metal Heroes series, became VR Troopers in 1994. This was followed by an adaptation of the ninth series in the Kamen Rider, Kamen Rider BLACK RX, into Saban's Masked Rider. In 1996 and 1997, Juukou B-Fighter and its sequel B-Fighter Kabuto became Big Bad Beetleborgs and its sequel Beetleborgs Metallix. DiC Entertainment, in 1994, purchased the footage for Denkou Choujin Gridman to become Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad. Most recently, there are plans to adapt the twelfth Kamen Rider series, Kamen Rider Ryuki, into Kamen Rider Dragon Knight.

American production companies also had a hand in creating what are termed by fans as "American Tokusatsu." The syndicated series Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters from Beverly Hills was a low budget attempt at competing with the Power Rangers. Saban's The Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog was an original production by Saban to emulate their own Power Rangers series. The syndicated Big Wolf on Campus and Nickelodeon's Animorphs are also described as "American Tokusatsu" due to the techniques they employed.

Criticism

References

  • Martinez, Dolores P. The Worlds of Japanese Popular Culture: Gender, Shifting Boundaries, and Global Cultures. ISBN 0521637295
  • Allison, Anne. Millennial Monsters: Japanese Toys and the Global Imagination. ISBN 0520245652
  • Grays, Kevin. Welcome to the Wonderful World of Japanese Fantasy (Markalite Vol. 1, Summer 1990, Kaiju Productions/Pacific Rim Publishing)
  • Yoshida, Makoto & Ikeda, Noriyoshi and Ragone, August. The Making of "Godzilla Vs. Biollante" - They Call it "Tokusatsu" (Markalite Vol. 1, Summer 1990, Kaiju Productions/Pacific Rim Publishing)
  • Godziszewski, Ed. The Making of Godzilla (G-FAN #12, November/December 1994, Daikaiju Enterprises)
  • Ryfle, Steve. Japan's Favorite Mon-Star: The Unauthorized Biography of Godzilla. ECW Press, 1999. ISBN 1-55022-348-8.
  • Craig, Timothy J. Japan Pop!: Inside the World of Japanese Popular Culture ISBN 0765605600

Footnotes

  1. ^ Allison, Millenial Monsters, pp. 47-8.
  2. ^ Greenberger, Robert, Meet Godzilla. ISBN 1404202692
  3. ^ Craig, p. 262
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