#Ultraman has a very interesting dub | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

screentunes · 6 months

Note

Hi! I've been interested in tokusatsu shows for a while now, but I don't know which to start with, or how to watch them.

Could you help me?

GRINS SO WIDE summarized quick answer: where to start: my go-to answer is kamen rider ryuki, it's my absolute favorite and you can find it for free on tubi :-) tubi is a streaming service only available in the us, so if you don't live there you'd have to use a vpn to use it (that's what i do!) how to watch: tubi has a few other titles from kamen rider, sentai and ultraman, so feel free to look around if any others interest you! tsuburaya also has an official youtube channel with a bunch of content, icnluding the currently airing season with subs in multiple languages and an english dub! there's a lot of shows with no official international releases, for which you'd have to use.. other means

if interested, there's a longer (very long... sorry), more detailed answer under the cut!

as for where to start, it's completely up to you! :-) look around and if a show catches your interest, go for it! in kamen rider and super sentai at least, the shows are self-contained and separate from each other so you can jump in with any show you want at all!

some reccs of mine for the big three are as follow:

kamen rider: my personal favorite so far of the big three :-) the seasons can vary a lot in tone and setting, pretty much the only consistent thing is that there's a guy with a bike. oftentimes the guy looks like a bug. sometimes there's even more than one (!!) guy with a bike

for kamen rider, i recommend:

kamen rider ryuki: my absolute favorite tokusatsu show, and one of my favorite shows period!!! it's the 2002 installment of kamen rider. in this series, a silly journalist guy happens to discover a mysterious card deck while investigating for a story. with this, he accidentally becomes involved in a conflict between kamen riders. as the series advances, the reasons for this conflict become more clear out of the shows i've watched, this is one of the heavier ones in tone. however, it's also really funny. the show jumps from grim conflict to looney toones sitcom situations and then back again and its so awesome this was actually the show i began with, and it kickstarted my interest in tokusatsu!! i don't want to say much so as to not give anything away, but there's compelling, unforgettable characters that are so so dear to me, a pulling story with unfolding mysteries, and beautiful suit design!

some other shows i can mention are kamen rider fourze (show from 2011, generally much lighter in tone, very funny and sweet, space-themed kamen rider show about a delinquent-esque highschooler who wants to become friends with everyone) and kamen rider w (i think this one is commonly recommended to beginners! it's very fun, it's about a pair of young detectives who investigate mysteries and fight monsters. the main trio from this show are so dear to me). there's also a bunch of other shows i loved like ooo and kuuga (my second favorite!) but if i started listing them all out we'd be here all day...! if you wanted to start from the currently airing season, gotchard is on episode 16 right now. it's been cute so far!

super sentai: this is the series power ranger adaptations are made out of! there's a team of color-color coded heroes fighting villains and they have a giant robot etc etc

for super sentai, i started with kikai sentai zenkaiger! very cute and silly show, made me laugh out loud multiple times :-) a guy and his robot buddies hang out and have sooooo much fun

another recommendation would be tokumei sentai gobusters! probably one of the most solid tokus i've watched. it's a techy-themed season which is a plus for me :-) i heart computers. this one has a smaller core team than the usual sentai show, composed of three members. the characters are great and the antagonists are unforgettable!

i also loved toqger and i've had a lot of fun with gokaiger so far :-)

ultraman: ... i know far less about this one SORRY. there's a giant alien guy who fights giant monsters. lots of creatures in this one. peace and love on earth and also the entire universe...!!! like i said, i'm less knowledgeable about this one but from what i've seen the special effects tend to be breathtaking! miniature sets the world...

so far, the only ultraman show i've watched is ultraman orb, it was very nice! with around 20 episodes, it's shorter than the other shows i've recommended, which average 50 episodes

the currently airing ultraman show is ultraman blazar, which... i've unfortunately fallen back on a little! i have no idea if it's still airing or if it finished HELP. anyway i've loved it so far! there's a nice, slow-pace feel to it, gorgeous effects, and very memorable episodes! it's available worldwide on youtube for free, with an english dub and subtitles in multiple languages!! getting to watch it live is suchhh a nice experience there's also plenty of shows outside of those three franchises, but i'm not knowledgeable about them and i don't have reccs for those! i definitely want to venture out at some point.. i hope this helped! again, these are just some general reccs of shows i've liked! look around and see if any show catches your interest :-) if you have a certain tone, setting, etc etc in mind and want more specific recommendations i can also help with that!! thank you for letting me ramble about toku for a while ^__^

#i'm not a toku expert just a guy who has been watching shows for like 1 year so if i'm saying anything wrong im so sorry LOL i did my best #thank you again for the ask!! if anyone else has recs feel free to comment or smth #anyway. watch kr ryuki my final message. Goodby

13 notes · View notes

chipsncookies · 10 months

Note

ngl I am kinda looking forward to the Ultraman guy thoughts compilation and a brief summary about him. You talking about Ultraman definitely sparked my curiousity. I saw Ultraman briefly mentioned in a few manga when I was young so I was aware of it before but now I'm getting curious but I'll wait a bit more. I don't even know where to start.

The results have been compiled here! Please take a look!

For you guys who want to know who this character is, he's Ultraman Blazar from the latest Ultraman series! He is a warrior of light who's taken the duty of protecting humanity from kaiju and alien attacks 💪

If you're unfamiliar with the Ultraman series, it's a science fiction tokusatsu, meaning they use live action special effects. Commenters who mentioned kamen rider and power rangers/super sentai got it close since those are also tokusatsu. Fans of one usually enjoy the others too.

Like i said, the basic premise is ultraman, an extraterrestrial being comes to earth to defend humans from kaiju or aliens. They usually disguise as humans when not fighting, or they have a human host who can call them out when the earth is in danger. When the time comes, they transform into Ultraman.

This series is very old, it started in 1960s. So it has so many entries, where fans have grouped them by the era they were released (showa ultramans, heisei, reiwa etc). Some of the entries are in similar continuity, while others not.

I grew up watching some of the series so I'm already familiar with it, but I've been out of the loop for years and just got back into it, and im already confused, so i understand how you feel when you said you don't know where to start.

However, I think if you're curious and want to start watching, it doesn't hurt to watch the original series, Ultraman. It's available on YouTube. The effects might look outdated (it was the 1960s after all) but a lot of fans think the story holds up to this day. It has 39 episodes. It's the foundation of the series, and many plot beats & kaijus/aliens that appear in it will reappear/remixed in later series, so if you watch this you'll recognise them.

If it's too long, you can watch Shin Ultraman, the movie that came out last year. It's based on the Ultraman series i mentioned above but condensed into 2 hours. I haven't watched it myself but fans seem to like it and i heard it did well in theatres. The only downside(?) is the ultraman and kaijus are cgi so you're missing the tokusatsu experience. If this is your preference that's great but this is the only entry that uses fully cgi ultraman

I mentioned these first because they're a fresh start of the ultraman experience. Other series especially recent ones tend to feature other ultras/characters as fanservice, and I don't want to overwhelm you, but if you're interested there's nothing wrong with checking them out. A lot of them are available on the official YouTube channel with subs and some with dubs unofficial means also available

I'm currently watching Ultraman Blazar, it only has 5 episodes as of now but I'm really enjoying it a lot. In my biased opinion i find the story so far enjoyable for adults and children.* Also I think the visuals are some of the best in recent entries.

*I forgot to tell, ultraman is a series directed to kids, so it can be silly goofy at times and heavy on the toy selling, but some entries can be more dark/mature than others. Shin ultraman is more mature for example.

So yeah!! Ultraman is a really old series and it has become a pop culture in Japan and many places in the world (but somehow not america?) i think if you watch this you'll start seeing its influence on other shows (yes, including pokemon!). If you're curious about other ultraman you can take a look at the list of ultraman here and see if there's any you like. This series is big so it can be overwhelming but I'm sure you will find something you like! I hope you'll enjoy it! 🫶🫶🫶💖💖

Edit:

#asks #ultraman #ultraman blazar

7 notes · View notes

harukakitous · 3 years

Text

To say that I’m excited would be an understatement...not only do we get our main actor for Zenkaiger, we got the voice actors as well! If you’re a fan of Toku and anime, get your seatbelts and strap in, because your minds will be blown.

(what a cutie am i right?)

Kiita Kogamine (so no, not the actor who played Kusaka in Kiramager) will be playing Kaito Goshikida/ZenKaiser. He’s 20 years old and has watched all of the series from Gaoranger to Magiranger (overachiever lol). A cute dude and a friggin’ MODEL (seriously he is so pretty in editorials). Quite the popular dude from the get-go compared to the Kiramager guys, so it’ll be interesting to see where his popularity leads from here. As for Kaito, I really like the energy he gives him so far. It’s not much, but it’s definitely a positive - not overbearing - go-getter energy.

Now that we got our human lead out of the way, let’s get to the voice actors…

(dandy~)

Shintaro Asanuma will be voicing Juran (or Zyuran)/ZenkaiZyuran (or Juran), the red Kikanoid based on Zyuranger’s Daizyujin. A renaissance man in the flesh, being a popular seiyuu, scriptwriter, director, actor, copywriter, and designer. While well-known for franchises such as A3! And Hypnosis Mic, he’s also known for his roles in Ace of Diamond and Beelzebub. While he’s had roles in Ultraman and Sentai before as a villain, this will be his first time taking on one of the heroes in Toku. Fun fact, he’s the oldest of the voice cast at 45 (being born in ‘76), which is rather fitting seeing that he voices the oldest ranger. (Yeah, he doesn’t look like it I know.) I was honestly very surprised when I heard him as Juran, he sounds completely different from his usual roles! Asanuma has such an insane range, it honestly blows my mind every time I hear it.

(seriously, what a cutie)

Yuki Kaji will be voicing Gaon/ZenkaiGaon, the yellow Kikanoid based on Gaoranger’s GaoKing. If you’ve been in the anime fandom for a bit, you most definitely know his name. A HUGE, and I mean HUGE name in the anime industry, he’s also a narrator, fashion designer, and most recently Youtuber. Known for his roles in Attack on Titan, The Seven Deadly Sins, High School DxD, and a bunch more, he’s kind of a really big deal. Excluding a dub role in Kamen Rider Dragon Knight, this will be his first Toku role. He’s also married to Ayana Takatatsu, the voice actress for Goche Ru Medou in LuPat. On a very dawww moment, he stated on his Twitter that he’s been a long time fan of the franchise and it was his dream to become a Sentai hero. (He also likes reds lol) Gaon honestly reminds me of Melodias, just a bit lower-pitched and obviously unpervy. Kaji is always amazing so I expected nothing less.

(so pretty!)

Yume Miyamoto takes on Magine/ZenkaiMagine, the pink Kikanoid based on Magiranger’s MagiKing. A rising star in the anime industry, she’s been in the entertainment industry for 20 years, being a child actress back in the day. She’s primarily known for her roles in SSSS.Gridman, GJ Club, Akashic Records, etc. but she’s starting to rise through the ranks at such a young age (being a mere 3 years older than our lead). Despite her long career, she had never made any appearances in any of the Toku franchises until Zenkaiger. Magine is so cute! Her voice is surprisingly deeper than I thought, but it’s honestly still very very cute lol

(onore you handsome man!)

Takuya Sato voices Vroon/ZenkaiVroon, the blue Kikanoid who’s based on Boukenger’s DaiBouken. A short, but muscular glasses wearer who’s primarily a voice actor with quite the suave voice. Known for his roles in Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, Cardfight Vanguard, and Moriarty the Patriot, you can also find in the wildly popular franchise Idolish7 (which I’m a casual fan of). You may also know him rather infamously as Yuri Ayato, one of the main dudes of Yarichin B Club (who is shamelessly proud of this role). Like Miyamoto, this will be Sato’s first time on a Toku series. A Tokusatsu fan as well, he said on a recent blog post that he’s elated to be part of such an iconic franchise and hopes to do his best as a voice actor as his height prevented him from being a full-time actor. (He’s 166 cm, so around 5’5”) Vroon is basically more akin to his nerdy roles, glasses and all. His voice just fits so well lol

Now onto the supporting characters!

(minna no idol. i’m not kidding)

Ikue Sakakibara will be playing Kaito’s grandmother Yatsude Goshikida. A relatively big star back in the day, she was a former idol that switched over to hosting and acting on TV after she got married and had children.

(she looks like that friendly grandma down the street lol)

Lenna Hardt will be voicing the Geartiinger. Narrator for Momoiro Clover, Japanese mixed-martial arts, and voice actor in various games and anime. If you’re wondering, she’s fully bilingual in English and Japanese.

As far as we know, that’s basically all for now. No cast reveals for the villains or other supporting characters so far, which is interesting considering Toei loves to reveal practically everyone during the press conference. We’ll more than likely be getting news for that in the near-future once it gets closer to the air date. Hopefully this ends up pretty good! I was really surprised at this cast lineup, but damn can’t say that I’m disappointed. To a new Sentai!

#kikai sentai zenkaiger #zenkaiger #super sentai #tokusatsu #so like....KAJI IN SENTAI #this all feels like a bigass fever dream #still feels like it at some points #anyways i'm excited!#ultraman dyna's dong the op which is fun #then we got a 95 year old veteran doing the ost which is even more insane #dang it's going to go full out

48 notes · View notes

cartermarcian · 4 years

Text

4Kids Korner - Season 2 - Episode 3

I'm a bit late this week because I got caught up with work and school-related dread, but now I'm back to bring you more 4Kids products! This week we have an epic trifepic: Winx Club Magazine Issue one - the castle, Kirby Right Back at Ya - Ice Kirby (DVDouble-Shot) and Kirby Right Back at Ya - Kirby Comes to Cappy Town!

Let's start by getting the smallest one out of the way. Here's Kirby Right Back at Ya - Ice Kirby (2005)

There's something I oddly like about DVDouble-Shot. Starting In 2005, the DVDouble-Shot line was introduced featuring two-Episode DVDs of 4Kids most profitable shows as a way of promoting 4Kids TV. As for the consumer, the main selling point is that you could buy them for a low price, collect and possibly trade them with your friends, kind of like Pokémon cards. I like the idea of one kid saying to the other on the playground, "hey, wanna trade your Ninja Turtles for my YuGiOh?" How successful they were, I have no idea, but they're fun and easy to review on this show. Given their small portion size, practically every DVDouble-Shot is the same. This one had the episodes "The Chill Factor" and "DeDeDe's Snow Job," in accordance with the ice theme of the disc. It also features assorted promos for then-current and upcoming 4Kids shows identical to those seen in the 4Kids TV September demo disc (which I will hopefully review some time in the future.) Before we move on, though there's one little thing I want to point out about the box art. You can't see it in the photos I've provided, but the ice monster on the cover is far more pixelated than Kirby, if you look closely at it, so it appears to me that they lifted it right out of the episode and placed it on the cover. I guess that's just what happens when no official art of a character exists for your graphic designers to use...

Now that we have that one out of the way, let's talk about the stars of today's episode, which actually turned out to have much more historical value than most of the other stuff in my collection. So say hello to the Winx Club Magazine Premiere Issue, The Castle (2005)

This is a very special addition to my collection not only because it's part of what I consider to be 4Kids' absolute peak year, but since the book was presumably printed in January of 2005, it means this was one of the first pieces of of merchandise to feature the now-famous 4Kids TV logo. Heck it might have even been printed before then. As for the book itself, it's quite cute as it features everything an 8-11 year old girl wanting to be a hip and trendy 2000s teenager could want, and contains surprisingly few ads for Winx Club merch. And even more adorable, is the publisher's attempts to fit that description using words like "slammin'" in sentences. I call it a magazine, but it's really more dedicated to the comic included, "The Castle," which I would have read, but I needed to get some sleep the day I read it, so I skimmed the book's numerous activities, instead. But for those still interested, the comic is a retelling of Bloom's enrollment in Alfea, with original art that's pretty accurate to the actual show. But the book's real allure is the activities. Like the free trading card you'll see in the photo above. It even comes with a full-page description of what a trading card game is, making reference to YuGiOh in the process, which I thought was funny since 4Kids owned that, and also because it heavily implies that only boys play YuGiOh when the show itself has many female duelists. After that, you have a faux interview with Bloom taken from the perspective of a fellow Alfea Student. What I remember most clearly about that, is that Bloom says she listens to top 40's, which made me think "man, she's got some trash music taste," even though I, myself have said on multiple occasions off of tumblr that I listen to basically everything. Also included on the magazine are a paper fortune-telling toy, a best friend diary which includes a "secret crush" slot to fill in, a page for writing down predictions about the reader's future, and even a personality test which assigns your traits to a type of flower, as suggested by Flora on the page. The funny thing about this is that one question asks for the reader's favorite kind of movie, and one of the options is "anime everything," which I thought was funny since anime was just starting to get big at that time in America, and the online anime community was just starting to grow. Finally, on the last page, probably the most creative of all, is a step-by-step slumber party plan by Musa, which details inviting everyone over, having them show up dressed as their favorite popstar (like Brittany Spears, for example) and bring their favorite CD from said popstar, then taking turns playing them and talking about them. It sounds quite fun, and it made me smile imagining all the little kids who tried this. That's exactly what I think is awesome about children's entertainment: it makes them happy and builds their imagination. So that's the Winx Club Magazine, a really good buy, but I must admit they used the same art of the girls more than once on a few occasions, and also wrote in a plot hole in the interview with Bloom, where she says she discovered her powers as a child, but in the show she unlocks them at her current age when saving Stella from the first monsters of the series. So it may have a couple flukes, but still quite enjoyable.

And last, but never least, it's time for Kirby Right Back at Ya: Kirby Comes to Dream Land (2002)

This one is also historically significant for two reasons. One is that it was the very first release of one of the more famous non-Pokémon/YuGiOh shows 4Kids had to offer, but it also played a part in promoting the very launch of the Fox Box, as you'll see on the box art. This disc may only have the first three episodes of the show, but it super makes up for it with a plethora of special features, more than any of the DVDs I currently own, and that they strangely enough don't tell you about on the box. And speaking of the box, though you might not see it, the episode descriptions on the back are written entirely in comic sans. Yeah, it's clear to see 4Kids wasn't quite as sharp as they would be in the next few years... and the DVD menus are also written entirely in this font. But that doesn't take away from the outstanding value. much like the Fright to the Finish DVD, this one's special features are split between two menus. For this one, there's "More Kirby" and "Added Attractions," which is the far superior one, but more on that in a minute. The More Kirby menu features a character gallary telling you about the main cast, set to music from the show. Then there's "Kirbyoke," which is there to teach the kids the words to the theme song. And finally, we have a preview for the next DVD in the series, which at that point hadn't a proper name, so Mike Pollock's voice just refers to it as "Kirby Right Back at Ya Volume 2." Then, in the "Added Attractions" menu, we have a promo for Cubix - Robots for Everyone's first DVD release, a short promo for the newly-launched FoxBox.TV website, and the star of this review by far, "What's Inside The Fox Box?!" This incredible 14 minute long promo (which you can find on Youtube, by the way,) previews every single show in the Fox Box's initial lineup as a way of hyping up the network for it's September 2002 launch. Well, kind of... You see, 4Kids made multi-minute promos for their own productions, complete with plot synopses by Mike Pollock and others and theme songs for the shows. Meanwhile, Stargate Infinity, a third-party show, only got a promo featuring still images of the main cast, a paper-thin explanation of the plot and no opening, all clocking in at under a minute. So, yeah, pretty lame move on 4Kids part, but at least we get to see HD footage of 4Kids lost Ultraman Tiga dub. Ultimately, it's a really fun promo from 4Kids' very beginnings as a dedicated children's entertainment company, even though it uses some uncut clips of guns in Fighting Foodons since the dub wasn't finished at that point. One last thing to point out: the promo for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (which hadn't even started production at the time,) features an unused theme song demo for the series which also made it's way onto the illusive Fox Box CD. So there you have it, one of the DVDs that started it all. Thanks for reading about it, as well as my other items this week. I will be back with more next week, so hang in there, and I'll see you all next time. Take care!

#4Kids #4Kids TV #4Kids Anime #4Kids Dub #4Kids Entertainment #Kirby #Kirby Right Back at Ya #Kirby of the Stars #Winx Club #Books #Fox Box #DVDs #Cartoons

11 notes · View notes

animenostalgia · 4 years

Text

Hello, friends!

I know that right now is kind of a scary time for many, so I wanted to take a moment to make a post of free resources that you could utilize to try relax & take you mind off of things if you’re having trouble finding ways to spend your time while you’re stuck at home! (Please note: since I’m in North America, most of these are most likely limited to America & Canada, but may work in other regions. If you have any suggestions for things outside of North America, please drop me a line and I’ll see if I can include them in this post!) This is going to be a fairly long post, so please bare with me!

Free, Legal anime you can watch!

No money for paid streaming subscriptions? No problem! I have a Master Post of free & legal old-school anime you can watch from various resources around the internet! Many of these places like Pluto TV & Tubi TV have PS4, tablet, and phone apps you can download as well, so you can watch them on your TV or on your preferred devices. Pluto TV also just recently launched a channel JUST for classic tokusatsu shows Ultraman and Kamen Rider, so definitely check that out if that interests you!! Viz.com also has a nice variety of anime to watch, old and new, including classic Sailor Moon!

Currently on Youtube, there’s some great free & legal anime you can watch as well, including the official English dub of Moomin, the official English dub of Anne of Green Gables, all of Revolutionary Girl Utena subbed or dubbed, all of Slayers & Slayers Next, Mashin Hero Wataru, Ghost in the Shell, and Sailor Moon R: The Movie dubbed! Many of these channels offer even more free & legal anime, so check out their playlists if you have time!

Free, Legal anime music to stream!

If you’re in the mood to listen to some official anime music soundtracks, then AniPlaylist is a HUGE help! With this website, you can look up what official anime soundtracks have been added to Spotify--not only that, but you can see what is available specifically by country! Links to the music will open directly in Spotify, and you can make your own anime playlists with your favorites with your Spotify account! Some of my favorites: Maison Ikkoku, Yu Yu Hakusho, Escaflowne, Kiki’s Delivery Service, and a HUGE selection from the Gundam franchise! There’s thousands of titles available, and it’s constantly updating, so you’ll find lots to chose from!

Free, Legal manga to read!

Looking for some manga? If you have a library card, you may have access to Hoopla--a free, online digital library of ebooks, audio books, music, and streaming media! While their manga selection is limited, you can read a few classic manga there free with your library card, including the classic 60s Batman Manga, Blade of the Imortal, and Lone Wolf & Cub.

You can also read select chapters of official Shueshia manga for free on Manga Plus (which is actually available in many countries, and in some cases multiple languages!), free first volumes to read at Manga Planet (may I suggest the classic Toward The Terra?), and free chapters/volumes at Comic Walker (in Japanese and English!), including Gundam The Origin! Website Yatta-Tatchi has a great comprehensive list of manga sites and what they offer as well if you’re looking for free vs purchase options, so check it out!

More anime/manga related goodies to check out!

If you’ve grown a little bored with the usual stuff, here’s a few misc. things you can try out! Avane has scans of vintage Sailor Moon & Utena anime coloring books that are easy to print up and color!

If you enjoy cooking, website YumPenguinSnacks is a site dedicated to replicating recipes from anime!

Anime Music Quiz is a site where you can basically play “Name That Tune” with anime songs! Challenge yourself, or play with friends online to see who can name the most!

If you want to read some great articles related to older anime fandom & otaku culture, there’s some great stuff online in Zimmerit’s archives!

And of course, if you like podcasts, you can always catch up with episodes of The Anime Nostalgia Podcast here! If you’re already caught up, might I recommend checking out a few lesser-known podcasts, such as CLAMPcast in Wonderland (where the hosts read through CLAMP’s entire manga catalog, starting from the very beginning...and they create recipes for CLAMP-themed drinks!), and Zannen Canada (a Canadian anime podcast, which periodically discusses the history of shows and fandom as released in Canada--which is often VERY different than how it was in America!)

I hope this post gives you a few new things to try out, and helps you take your mind off of stressful stuff for a little while! I spent a while gathering all of these resources, so if you found this useful you can always say thanks by tipping me a virtual coffee at my ko-fi account here! Take care, friends!

#The Anime Nostalgia podcast #free resources #links out #long post #anime & manga #offical sites #boredom killers

49 notes · View notes

aion-rsa · 4 years

Text

Tokusatsu Streaming Guide: Where to Watch Kamen Rider, Ultraman, and More

https://ift.tt/2VR6eGr

Ten years ago a fan of Tokusatsu (Japanese special effects shows, mostly superheroes) could have never imagined the access we’d have to these programs today. Back then official releases of anything outside of the American adaptations, particularly Power Rangers, seemed like a far off dream. However in the past few years especially there’s been a slow trickle of Toku shows becoming available to stream in North America.

In the last few months though that trickle became a waterfall as several new services have quickly become mainstays, finally allowing Toku fandom to finally enjoy their favorite shows legally. This also allows more casual fans a chance to experience these shows for the first time and that’s who this guide is mostly for. If you’re curious about the wider world of Tokusatsu and need a place to start, this guide should cover your bases for the many kinds of Toku series out there.

Just as a note, we are only discussing shows that are legally available. This also isn’t a comprehensive list. Many of the streaming services mentioned below have multiple Toku series available, we’re just picking a small sample. With that in mind, let’s dive into this ocean of Toku, shall we?

Kamen Rider (1971)

Available on TokuSHOUTsu (Shout Factory TV/tubi/Pluto)

The release that shocked and delighted Toku fans, the original series in the long running Kamen Rider franchise may be old but that doesn’t detract from its enjoyment. This is Toku in its purest form. Incredible fights, trippy special effects, bizarre monsters, and a strikingly bleak backstory for the main character.

Hongo Takeshi is kidnapped by the evil Shocker and transformed against his will into a cyborg. Worrying if his humanity is intact, Hongo still fights for justice as Kamen Rider. It may seem simplistic in our modern age of superheroes but there’s something enduringly appealing about Hongo’s quest to stop evil despite the wrongs that were inflicted on him.

Plus, come on, you can’t beat those trumpets that come in for damn near every music number. Highly recommend if you’re down for old school heroics or just want to enjoy some trippy 70’s TV.

Zyuranger (1992)

Available on TokuSHOUTsu (Shout Factory TV/tubi/Pluto)

Many people reading this are no doubt aware of Power Rangers, especially the original Mighty Morphin series. If you want to rock your world, you gotta check out the Super Sentai series Zyuranger. It’s as far from MMPR as you can imagine, with a team of dinosaur-evolved humans from 170 million years ago brought into the present day.

Power Rangers and How It Adapted From Super Sentai

By Shamus Kelley

TokuSHOUTsu: Kamen Rider, Ultraman, and Super Sentai Coming to Streaming

By Shamus Kelley

The differences between it and MMPR will be the main draw for most and as you watch the series you’ll be impressed just how much the producers of Power Rangers were able to take this footage and remold it for America.

Ultraman Mebius

Available on TOKU

You can’t do a list about Tokusatsu without giving love to one of the big three, Ultraman. While the franchise’s original series sadly isn’t streaming (but you’ll be able to soon), you can’t go wrong with the 40th anniversary season Ultraman Mebius. Following the adventures of the rookie Mebius, the Ultra comes to Earth and joins up with the attack team (hilariously out of context) named GUYS. Mebius, GUYS, and even a few characters from past Ultraman series, fight off giant monsters attacking Earth.

The Challenge of Bringing Ultraman to America

By Shamus Kelley

Comics

Marvel Reveals Ultraman Details

By Shamus Kelley

Both a great introduction for new fans and rewarding for long time Ultra fans, Mebius is a fantastic show to jump headfirst into the hero that’s larger than life.

Garo

Available on HiDive

If you want something off the beaten path of the big three Tokusatsu franchises, Garo might be right up your alley. Feeling a bit darker than other Toku (and not just because much of the action taking place at night or in darker spaces), the series follows Makai Knight Kouga Saezima attempting to protect humanity against the evil “Horrors.” Along the way though he encounters Kaoru, who is set to die in 100 days, and he sets out to try and save her.

Everything from the look of the series to the designs of the Garo suit feel different from Sentai, Kamen Rider, and Ultraman and if you aren’t feeling the more traditional vibe of those series Garo might be right up your alley. It’s also the first in a very long and surprising franchise so if you like it, there’s a lot more to get into.

Space Sheriff Gavan

Available on Toei Tokusatsu World Official

The first of the not as often remembered Metal Heroes franchise (although some of the series in it were adapted into VR Troopers and Beetleborgs), Gavan stands out for just how wild it is from the jump. Sure there’s the story about Don Horror (wonder if he’s a bad guy!) trying to destroy Earth and Retsu Ichijouji (Gavan) being sent out to stop him but that’s all icing on the cake.

American Tokusatsu Shows: VR Troopers

By Shamus Kelley

American Tokusatsu Shows: Big Bad Beetleborgs

By Shamus Kelley

Metal Heroes have a reputation for bonkers visuals along with great action and Gavan delivers in spades. From the opening seconds of the first episode we’re greeted with Gavan standing atop a robot dragon standing against a gloriously lush background of outer space. Lead actor Kenji Ohba is also stunning in his action scenes and he puts even the superheroes of today to shame with just how good he is in these hand-to-hand fights.

Love action? Love weirdness? Want to be cool and not go with the obvious choices? Gavan might be for you!

Android Kikaider

Available on Toei Tokusatsu World

An absolute smash hit in Hawaii that’s still talked about to this day, Kikaider is more classic ’70s Toku action if Kamen Rider wasn’t enough for you. Following the heroics of robot Jiro against the (obviously) evil DARK, the main draw of the series is not just the delightfully over the top action but also the compelling conflict between Kikaider and evil robot Hakaider.

We should also mention that while the first two episodes of all series on Toei Tokusatsu World are subtitled, further episodes that will be uploaded won’t have them and it’s being left up to fans to subtitle the rest. Even without subtitles though, Kikaider’s action should more than keep your attention.

Dynaman (Night Flight Dub)

Available on Night Flight Plus

Easily the strangest entry on this list, Night Flight’s Dynaman isn’t just the seventh entry in the Super Sentai series. Oh no, it’s a little known dub of the show that aired on USA Network’s Night Flight program in the ’80s. It’s a gag dub through and through and mostly relies on pop culture jokes and (and we’re being generous here) outdated humor.

Still, it’s a peek into one of the earliest examples of Toku being brought to America on a large scale. For that alone it’s worth checking out, especially for those interested in the history of Toku in America and exploring the “what if” of imagining this getting popular instead of Power Rangers.

Gridman The Hyper Agent

Available on TOKU

Bold proclamation to make, but Gridman has the absolute best design of any Tokusatsu hero ever. It takes what worked well enough for Ultraman but added extra detail in all the right places to create a truly iconic look for a hero.

Gridman follows three hip computer kids (Naoto, Ippei, and Yuka) whose videogame superhero is taken over by the interdimensional Gridman who then combines with Naoto. The computer hero fights against the digital monsters of the evil Kahn Digifer in some of the best looking fights of all the series we’ve mentioned. Some shows might have better action overall but the look of the computerized world of Gridman can’t be beat.

American Tokusatsu Shows: Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad

By Shamus Kelley

SSSS. GRIDMAN Episode 1 Review: Awakening

By Shamus Kelley

The show may look familiar to some American fans as its footage was used in Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad. Gridaman also experienced a revival in the form of the SSSS.GRIDMAN anime, which redid some of the concepts of the original series with a few easter eggs to Syber-Squad for very hardcore fans.

Special Rescue Exceedraft

Available on Toei Tokusatsu World Official

Look, I’m going to be real with you. I’ve only seen the first two episodes of Exceedraft. I have no idea if the whole series is good. What I can tell you though is that the first episode is straight up the most batshit wild episode of any Toku I’ve ever seen. It’s like if someone took the plot of Speed and said:

“Aha, let’s do this but condense it down to 20 minutes, add in some shiny superheroes, and make it way more intense.” Also, the title of the episode is “The Kindergarten Bus of Death.” Just watch it. If you watch nothing else on this list, watch this episode. It’s Toku on, well, speed and it’s fantastic.

Jetman

Available on TokuSHOUTsu (Shout Factory TV/tubi/Pluto)

What if Super Sentai, but a soap opera? It’s not that Tokusatsu had never had soap opera elements before or after this series, but Jetman took that idea to a level that’s still being talked about today. When Red Ranger Ryuu’s partner is killed in an attack by the (say it with us now) evil Vyram, the powerful “Birdonic Waves” are unleashed on four unsuspecting civilians. Ryuu recruits them and they become the Jetman team.

With strong characterization from the start, Jetman stands out by jumping into the romance between team members as Ryuu struggles with his growing attraction to White Ranger Kaori. It’s standard soap opera stuff, with a love triangle thrown in for good measure (which would have been better if Kaori was given more agency), but if you love those tropes then Jetman might be the series for you.

As we said earlier, this is only a small sampling of some of the shows available on streaming sites in North America. What are some of your favorite Tokusatsu series that are available to watch and which ones do you hope are picked up in the future?

The post Tokusatsu Streaming Guide: Where to Watch Kamen Rider, Ultraman, and More appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/323lmEt

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

1 note · View note

thekaijudude · 4 years

Text

An Important Revelation in the NGC website

I decided to investigate more as the silhouette we received recently just seems to be Taiga's brother instead of just simply an upgrade form, so I did some digging

So what I found was that looking at the official website for NGC, here's who we have accounted for in the VA list:

Ultraman Taiga: 寺島拓篤 Terashima Takuma

Ultraman Titus: 日野聡 Hino Satoshi

Ultraman Fuma: 葉山翔太 Hayama Shōta

Ultraman Toregia: 内田雄馬 Uchida Yūma

Ultrawoman Grigio: 其原有沙Sonohara Arisa

Ultraman Taro: 石丸博也 Ishimaru Hiroya

Note that 森川智之Morikawa Toshiyuki remains unaccounted for here?

In the earlier version, it was widely pointed out that he was the VA listed for Powered

But then we saw that the Ultra listing was removed entirely and was replaced with just the VA names

So I searched more about Morikawa Toshiyuki's previous work and he was the dub voice for Kai, Powered's host

So there's two possibilities here, either Powered is the surprise character or Reiga, presumably Taiga's brother is

So let's weigh the possibilities here:

Powered:

As I pointed out before, 2020 is Powered's 25th Anniversary

Morikawa Toshiyuki was the dub voice for Powered's host

But we have no idea how is he gonna fit into the story other than being a passing appearance

Reiga, Taiga's Brother:

Design for silhouette is way too basic for it to be an upgrade form for Taiga or a fusion

Yet design is very similar to Taiga's

Has plenty of reasons to be involved with NGC

Mirrors the importance and respect TsuPro has more for Taro than Seven

But it would immensely complicate the whole Taiga narrative, but it was already mishyped by TsuPro as they mischaracterized both him and Toregia as each other's arch nemesis, which was greatly mishyped

Not to mention that the Taiga series synopsis didn't really characterize the series properly in the first place

Truth be told, I honestly have no idea, due to the fact that I don't really trust TsuPro as they've been proven to mischaracterize many instances especially in recent memory

U can literally make an argument for Powered as hell yeah, he's just gonna have a passing appearance, so what? Suck it up

Or Reiga, but this just means that the narrative would just include Reiga as well as Taiga, or just Reiga alone after NGC (which is more unlikely)

But the reason I'm quite hesitant about that is although it's definitely possible and would make a much more interesting narrative, I just don't know whether TsuPro is capable enough to manage such a unique but nonetheless daunting dynamic

But surely, the latter possibility is definitely the better one

And I still find it very curious that we don't see Grigio in the trailer either, because of that, I suspect that either Powered or Reiga would have to be in contact with her in order for them to join the other New Gen in the movie as well

This and the fact that we have an odd silhouette tease, lack of any NGC Catalog leaks, Grimude being MIA and the silhouette having such a simple design all seems to point towards the latter possibility

#ultraman #ultraman taiga

3 notes · View notes

posthumanwanderings · 5 years

Photo

while I was on the train to Nakano Broadway to collect more Heisei era Godzilla toys, I thought I’d make a personal list of the best to worst Godzilla films (up until Godzilla 2000 cause that’s around the time I stopped caring, I’ll try again tho) since the new Godzilla film is around the corner and maybe some of you are interested in giving the Big G’s archive a shot (you can delete this caption too if you just like the pic! and yes Morrigan counts as a kaiju, a beautiful one at that)

1. Terror of Mechagodzilla - last of the Showa era, ending with one of Godzilla’s most deadly foes. and I love how fucking big Titanosaurus is, god damn. the cyborg girl was cool too, loved her arc and how she controls both monsters.

2. Godzilla Vs. Mothra (90′s) - Mothra’s Heisei debut, and looking more dazzling than ever and also alongside her evil twin Battra. the fight in Yokohama (after its real life modern expansion when Japan’s economy was at its best) was a nice fresh setting for the climax. this one perfectly balances campyness and just a good kaiju film altogether. 3. Ghidorah: The Three Headed Monster - Ghidorah, besides Mothra and Mechagodzilla is probably the next most recognizable kaiju even to nonfans. One of the best moments in Godzilla history is when Mothra desparately tries to convince Godzilla and Rodan to team up against an even bigger menace, then they can get back to their typical kaiju businesses. 4. Godzilla Vs. Destroyah - like how T.O.M. ended the Showa era with a bang, this is the one that ended the 85-95 era with a monster that really beats the shit out of zilla who is already on the cusp of exploding like a nuclear reactor... it ties together the very first Godzilla movie too for plus points. for those looking for a more serious, borderline horror movie kaiju experience. 5. Godzilla Vs. Mothra (60′s) - yup two Mothra movies in the top 5. Mothra fights with Godzilla are always so tense, since Mothra being a giant graceful butterfly appears so delicate against big boi Godzilla, plus her kids are under his threat as well. and on top of that Godzilla moves and fights like a drunkard the whole time. 6. Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzilla (70′s) - Godzilla faces his robot clone for the first time who has one of the largest movesets of any other kaiju, a true force to be reckoned with. instead of Mothra being summoned by an ancient race, we have King Caesar, a stone guardian puppy dog lion to team up with zilla against the bigger baddie. fun fact: this was filmed right after Japan gained back Okinawa from America since WWII, and makes once again another fresh setting.

7. Godzilla 1985 - I’ll be honest, the lone Godzilla movies with no other kaiju weren’t the top of my interest especially being an ADHD kid, but from a film perspective this is shot really well, the miniature city set had a nice upgrade since T.O.M. from a decade before, and I love the laser beam special effects from the upgraded Japanese Defense Force in this.

8. Godzilla Vs. King Ghidorah (90′s) - Not to be confused with the other 5ish Ghidorah encounters, this was the Heisei debut of the 3 headed monster mixed into a time travel plot since movies like Terminator were all the rage in the early 90′s. The tie in plot about WWII had more to be desired and felt very nationalist, but as a kaiju film the special effects were top notch especially with Mecha Ghidorah.

9. Destroy All Monsters - the ULTIMATE Showa era kaiju crossover fest has just about every giant monster Toho made up until the point because why not? It’s another typical story about mysterious aliens mind controlling kaiju to destroy Earth, but this time when they say Earth (and not just Tokyo) they mean it. Plenty of things get destroyed, nice big battle at the end, only thing lacking is they gave Baragon and Varan 3 seconds of screen time and they both are some of the coolest looking kaiju there are out there. big shame

10. Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzilla (90′s) - in this Heisei take on MechaG, his role goes from super deadly alien robot menace to kinda still deadly robot guardian built by the EDF. he looks cool but just seems more weak compared to the more sinister alien engineered one. Rodan makes a long awaited return and basically has a custody battle with Godzilla over a mysterious kaiju egg. no spoilers

11. Godzilla Vs. Hedorah - probably the scariest Godzilla movie with Destroyah placed next. he fights an alien pollution monster who has been taking big rips from factory smoke stacks only making him bigger every time. Japan’s take on an environmental awareness film and I see nothing wrong with it one bit.

12. Godzilla Vs. Biolante - zilla sees another type of counterpart to himself, this time essentially a ‘PlantZilla’ after a scientist thought it might be a good idea to merge Godzilla cells with a plant for some reason. the story is a bit odd, but this remains in middle ground territory because it debuts Miki Saegusa, the super adorable psychic girl who appears in every 90′s film afterwards and the special effects of Biolante in final form are sick.it also has a disco version of the zilla theme for some reason.

13. Godzilla: King of The Monsters - someone would bash me big time for having this any lower on the list, but this is the one that started it all, grimly filmed in black & white a decade after the end of WWII. fans know this already but it’s the atomic bombs themselves which devastated Japan that influenced the idea for Godzilla, a force of mutated nature that lashes back on humanity for making really bad decisions. I like this and all but it lacks zero charm or kaiju style ‘fun’ but for good reason, since it was meant to be more of a horror flick.

14. Godzilla Vs. Gigan - for those that do want the campiness, this is one of the best the series has to offer along with a couple more below. Godzilla’s ol pal Anguirus returns for his last Showa effort as they team up against space monsters Gigan (who is edgy af) and once again Ghidorah (who sadly has been fighting on his own the whole time while other monsters always team up to bash him). being in the 70′s, it’s got shades of James Bond / spy films in it and the fashion is on point. we get to hear Godzilla talk for the only time ever too.

15. Godzilla Vs. Megalon - probably out camps #14 for several reasons: this entire time there have been an ancient race of humans living below the Earth who feel enough is enough between pollution and expansion of society and finally unleash their protector, a giant cockroach monster with drills for arms to destroy just Japan all modern civilization (where was he during Hedorah’s visit tho?). 2nd reason is there’s copycat Ultraman who also looks like Jack Nicholson, then there’s the edgy middle-school bully like relationship between Megalon and Gigan and then lastly the infamous Godzilla dropkick you might’ve seen in GIF form, if not well here you go:

16. Godzilla Vs. Monster Zero - probably the 1st 90% campy zilla flick because of the Godzilla victory dance alone, but this was also because as time went by more kids cared about the movies and not the original target audience of war torn adults. the aliens (at least in the dub version) speak super monotone even when they are being huge bad asses, and we get to see G and his on-and-off lover buddy team up again but this time IN #&$%#% SPACE. the setting on Planet X was real cool to see as a kid, but sadly we haven’t seen any kaiju fighting back in space ever since. the NES Godzilla game fixes that itch.

17. Son of Godzilla - well I’ve only ever seen this movie twice, which means it maybe just isn’t that good, even for G fans. it debuts, of course, the son of Godzilla who looks like a cross between the Cookie Monster and Michelin Man. I’ll give this movie credit for distancing zilla away from the city setting in replace with his tropical home territory in Monster Island which only gets glimpses in the other films. the ending shot is real sweet too.

18. Godzilla Vs. SpaceGodzilla - back to spaciness, we do see one last alien monster come to Japan in the 2nd to last 90′s Godzilla movie, appropriately called SpaceGodzilla. while he lacks agility (when not flying on his giant meth crystal) he makes up for it with telekinesis and other long range attacks. the story / acting / mostly everything is pretty so-so and we all know deep inside the only reasons to watch it still are the scenes with baby Godzilla stepping on land mines and more Miki Saegusa wardrobe changes, but the final battle in a crystal filled Fukuoka is really awesome.

19. Godzilla’s Revenge - wow well I just noticed I put 3 baby zilla focused movies all in a row near the very bottom of the list, my bad. this one takes the cake tho for pure cringe. but it’s better than the last 3 so it can’t be super terrible, right? once again no spoilers but the only thing that bumps this stock footage filled movie more up then from being the worst of all time are the super silly fight scenes against baby Godzilla’s bully Gabara. you know Godzilla has to do it to em.

20. Godzilla Vs. The Sea Monster - even tho the former movie just reviewed uses stock footage of almost all the fight scenes of this one, it is somehow worst than #19 because it focuses way too much on a 60′s party cruise, and Godzilla gets a lil King Kong-ish during a scene with the love interest of the movie, and the giant lobster monster with no lasers / projectile claws just doesn’t seem as threatening as all the previous monsters zilla has fought since.

21. Godzilla Vs. King Kong - I’ll admit, I never liked King Kong and probably never will, and because he moves faster than Godzilla they had to use non-slowed down footage to make the monsters fight like kids on a playground slapping each other, and just looks weird. real talk, Godzilla would beat the shit out of Kong with a single radioactive blast and the movie would end right there. but that’s not the ending we got.. let’s start a patreon to rewrite the movie we all wanted.

22. Godzilla Raids Again - alright we finally made it, thee very worst Godzilla movie of all time according to the loser typing this. why? because it went against everything the first Godzilla movie represented, but like... suddenly, since it’s the sequel to the movie and the big G was never meant to return after, which luckily wasn’t the case. it’s superrrr campy but on the acting side, and the fights with newcomer Anguirus are super sped up even more than the Kong fights, and just seems tacky overall in a non-funny way. the suit for Anguirus is honestly one of the coolest kaijus ever tho, and they made little changes to him every time he came back cause it was just that good.

anyways, thanks for coming to my TED Talk. if I were to recommend just 3 Godzilla movies to someone who has never seen them before to represent each side of the series, I’d pick Terror of MechaGodzilla for the serious pick, Ghidorah The Three Headed Monster for the balance / kaiju fest pick, and Godzilla Vs. Megalon for the most campy and fun one overall. hope this big list can help those who are curious! next up: Godzilla game reviews :)

#feel free to delete caption #godzilla #kaiju #long post #japan #tokusatsu #review #text #had to show some love to a big part of my childhood #mothra

29 notes · View notes

himitsusentaiblog · 5 years

Text

The Background of ULTRASEVEN

In the mid-1960s, Tsuburaya Productions were riding high with the success of their 1966 series Ultra Q and Ultraman.

TBS (Tokyo Broadcasting System) and their sponsor Takeda Pharmaceuticals were overjoyed with the rating. They were so thrilled they wanted another cours (the 12 episodes blocks that make up what we would call a season on Japanese TV) for Ultraman. However, Tsuburaya Pro thought they had done everything they could with that series and wanted to end it with 39 episodes. So, it was decided that Tsuburaya would produce a new series for late in 1967. However, that would leave a sizable gap between the end of Ultraman and whatever Tsuburaya came up with next.

To fill this gap, TBS and Takeda contacted Toei Studio to create a science fiction series. They also wanted to keep the Ultra name fresh in the public’s mind so they had the series called Captain Ultra.

This pulpy, Sci-Fi show loosely based on Edmond Hamilton’s Captain Future, gave Tsuburaya the time to come up with a new series.

The writers and staff had various ideas. Eiji Tsuburaya himself wanted a series that was something like a cross between Thunderbirds with its collection of fantastic vehicles and Lost in Space with its science fiction adventure. Lost in Space (released as Space Family Robinson) had become a ratings success on Japanese TV at the time.

Eiji’s son Haime wanted another series like Ultraman, with a harder science fiction edge. There were other idea such as Lost in Space with giant monsters, a time travel themed series focusing on a time patrol and even and idea for a pure fantasy series with fairy tale elements!

In the end, the two Tsuburayas’ ideas were merged and fleshed out into this new series, originally proposed to be called The Ultra Garrison. However, their initial treatment involving Astronauts serving as a defense against alien invaders, was considered too similar to Toho’s movie Battle in Outer Space (宇宙大戦争) so the writers took another go at the idea and decided to add a superhero like Ultraman.

Being that this was still in the middle of the Giant Monster Boom of the 1960s’, it was decided that kaiju would play a key role in the production as they had in the two previous series. The Earth Defense Force angle was kept at TBS’ suggestion and expanded to become the Terrestrial Defense Force of which the heroes of The Ultra Garrison were just one small part.

Then came the hero, a new alien who would take the name of Dan and come to Earth in search of his human Mother (his Father being from Space) and accidentally becoming a hero of the planet. This version was called Ultra Eye. It was during this version that the decision was made that Dan would use monsters her could summon from capsules to help battle the monster of the week. Originally they were all going to be recycled kaiju from Ultra Q and Ultraman but that was dropped when production began in favor of new monsters.

On a side note, these capsules and their monsters are the direct inspiration for the Capsule Corporation in the Dragonball franchise and the monsters contained inside of small items concept that would become Pokemon.

The idea of a half-alien would be dropped and the name changed by the time the series went into production with Dan being an alien who has taken human form. The show would be renamed into Ultraseven.

They just needed a design for their alien hero. Head designed Tohru Narita wanted sort of Mayan theme for the hero and designed him this. The original concepts were interesting but not quite what Tsuburaya was looking for.

Narita also originally wanted the character to be blue to help visually differentiate it even more from Ultraman but blue would interfere with the blue screens used to special effects shots and render parts of the their hero transparent with the backgrounds showing through so he was forced to go back to Red. He also added Ultraseven’s headlamp because he was not happy with how his original design for Ultraman had had the color timer added before production began and he felt that addition ruined the look of the suit. So, he built in a color-timer type device to keep the look he wanted for the suit itself.

With all of that worked out, production began and Ultraseven was on his way to the Japanese airwaves!

Ok, now that I have the background out of the way, I will begin reviewing the episodes themselves starting with the first one sometime this weekend. I hope you all enjoy this look at a very special series.

I was actually first exposed to Ultraseven thanks to the TNT dub (known as the Cinar dub for the Canadian production studio that made it) that ran in the 1990s as Ultra 7.

youtube

This dub wasn’t entirely faithful (for example Anne Yuri was renamed to Donna) and it was often very tongue in cheek but it was a lot of fun. I still have fond memories of taping episodes and I still have a few on VHS. Sadly, this dub is unavailable now as TNT lost the rights to it and had to return all of their materials and masters back to Tsuburaya once the contract ended.

Oh and if you want to follow along with my every episode look at the series the tag I am going to be using is #SevenWatch.

#Ultraseven #SevenWatch #Background #Tsuburaya Productions #Ultra Heroes #1960s

63 notes · View notes

des-shinta · 6 years

Text

Access Flash! On Gridman and it’s new anime.

So Tsuburaya Productions recently branched out into the realm of anime with this collaboration with Studio Trigger. And for those who haven’t been following, it’s with a series you 90′s kids might recognize.

The name Tsuburaya should need no introduction if you’re in the Tokusatsu or giant monster(Kaiju) Fandoms, but for those unfamiliar; Eiji Tsuburaya is the special effects wizard responsible for all the effects in the original Godzilla. A Life-long fan of scale models and recreating the world in realistic miniature, he is in many respects considered the Japanese Counterpart of Legendary filmmaker Ray Harryhausen. In example of his amazing talent and attention to detail, he was consigned during world war Two to make propaganda films of the Japanese military winning in engagements across the pacific and the productions for the time were paid so much attention to detail that no-one at the time was able to tell that they were fakes. He got a lot of flack for that after the war ended, and was barred from filmmaking in Japan for several years.

His company, Tsuburaya Productions has carried that fortitude for effects and quality storytelling with it throughout the decades. Since 1966, their primary product has been the “Ultra Series” Franchise, Primarily focused in The titular Ultraman of the entry, and their adventures.

The franchise focuses on benevolent Giants from the M78 Nebula (though some originate from elsewhere as there’s actually an Ultra-multiverse) who act as troubleshooters for random giant monster calamities; bonding to specified hosts (or on occasion take human form themselves) to conserve their own powers while away from their own homeland; allowing the chosen humans to utilize their powers to defend their home and what’s precious to them. The downside of the Ultra’s is that in planetary environments they can only use their immense powers for approximately 3 Minutes before they need to rest, as their powers are garnered from light energy given off by stars, who’s rays aren’t intense enough to sustain them in-atmosphere.

The currently running series, Ultraman R/B is actually really good, and has a lot to say on the subject of caustic fans who miss the point of the merits of a series due to only caring about the action/spectacle of a fight and adherence to Tropes, and not understanding what a hero may actually be fighting For. While that might initially read poorly to some people as it attacking fandom (as a certain other current toku series does every week)--and that not helped by words from the Head of Tsuburaya from before R/B debuted--it’s more focused in social commentary refuting the Idea that the genre is message-less nonsense, and wants people to actually put thought into what being a true “Ally of Justice” means; Doing the right thing. Links to 3 Relevant twitter threads discussing this: 1. 2. 3. For the interested, R/B is currently being fansubbed by the group Color timer, as Tsuburaya has not had luck in getting it officially distributed as of yet. Crunchyroll, who’d previously been getting the import library, has recently begun dropping Ultra series left-and-right in favor of other licenses, with the only ones remaining being ones they originally subbed. If you’d like some older Recommendations, Ultraseven (available from Shout Factory) is considered the best overall series, And has multiple sequels with the adventures of Seven’s Son Zero (trying to list all of Ultraman Zero’s appearances is ridiculous, as he’s mainly been the star of a long collection of movie’s), and then 2017′s Ultraman Geed (available on Crunchyroll, the movie for the series also from MCS fansubs), focused in turn on the Son/Clone of Zero’s Greatest enemy Ultraman Belial which then had Zero act as a secondary protagonist part of that series’ Ensemble. Tsuburaya however has been having something of a hard time the last several years. The chinese Company Chaiyo, using falsified documents, laid claim to many of the showa-era (pre-1989) ultraman series and all Distribution rights to All of The related content of the franchise from Tsuburaya, preventing them from making money internationally while Chaiyo flexed those rights themselves to make them an immense sum of money. The litigation and lawsuits basically bankrupted the company as Chaiyo argued under the technicality of having a proper authentication of their document from one of Tsuburaya’s sons that the agreement was a foregone conclusion; requiring Tsuburaya productions have an in-part buyout from company Namco Bandai to continue running.

This is why recent ultra Series (Ginga, Victory, X, Orb, Geed, R/B), have ended up being awash with collectibles; Bandai over-merchandises every thing they can get their hands on. Previously the merch licenses resided with Takara/Tomy (transformers, zoids), and were a LOT more restrained as while Tsuburaya Pro Knew merchandising was important to the longevity of a series as an additional revenue source...the storytelling of the series would come first. with series before this, most of the toyetic items came in the form of scale models and figures of both the title ultra’s, some roleplay items, and an assortment of assist vehicles and jets the normie humans would use in battle to support the main protagonist against the situations of the week. That monetary support however helped, and in a newer lawsuit Tsuburaya won through and prevented Chaiyo from screwing with the company again...however, the legal distribution rights for their own assets are still in legal limbo, as the latest case only allowed them to claim Dominance over north-American distribution. which while still a significant market is still small in comparison to the rest of the world; especially with the stigma these live-actions show have in the US. to the non-converted. Really, I think that’s part of the reason why they ended up pushing a new entry of a series that Chaiyo had NOT previously been able to touch at all.

Denkou Choujin (Lightning superman, though the title is localized as Hyper Agent) Gridman was a 39-episode Tokusatsu series that ran in 1993, and more recently was imported and subtitled to completion by the US Premium channel TOKU.

It followed the adventures of Naoto Sho and his friends Yuka and Ippei as they, after encountering the titular Gridman inside of a video game they’d been developing on a kitbash computer (Junk), must assist him in defending the computer realm from the attacks of Khan Digifer (subtitles writing it as ‘Digipher’).

Yes, we know he looks like the shredder from TMNT. Both Gridman and Khan originate from the “Hyper world”, a realm comparable to cyberspace where all entities exist as living data (*cough*Digimon*Cough*), and thus can manipulate less complex data to their own ends. With Khan’s goal being the destruction/conquest of the computer world, which would allow him to transcend digital limitations and begin his conquest of the real world, ala Code Lyoko XANA means of devastating anything electrically powered which could lead to bad ends for those involved (like, say, screwing with a nuclear power plants regulation systems).

PLOT. POINT.

Khan’s efforts are Assisted by Takeshi Todo, A classmate of Naoto and Co who is an introverted social outcast and Victim of bullying; though Khan’s manipulations have turned him into a selfish, petty man. Khan uses him to create the series’ monsters-of-the-week by Takeshi programming them into a homebrew game similar to the one Naoto found Gridman in, with Khan’s incentive for doing so being to allow Takeshi some catharsis from the awful things that have happened to him in his life, oblivious/not caring towards the entities deeper machinations as making homebrew monsters in his game was how he’d previously endeavored to vent his frustrations in a healthy manner...that Khan has just taken to the opposite extreme. Though the show makes clear that Takeshi is fully an Indoctrinated thrall of Khan’s power to even allow him those indulgences so he can’t see the outstretched carrot is naught but a Stick.

To Fight Khan’s attacks, Naoto uses the transformation trinket the “Accessor” brace to Digitize himself and fuse with Gridman, With the transformation cry “ACCESS FLASH!” allowing his body to be turned to data and fuse with Gridman to upgrade his capabilities. Yuka and Ippei likewise assisting them with the programming and transmission of weapons and vehicles/robots that add additional arsenal to Gridman’s counterattacks.

And unlike Previous tsuburaya productions, Gridman was the first to have these assist robots...actually be able to combine with the core hero.

Now, you 90′s kids in the audience might be thinking, “Hey, this all looks familiar” And you’re right. Because the series got imported in 1994.

In response to the rise of Power Rangers Adapting the Japanese super sentai series, there was in turn an attempt to make bank on...basically doing the same thing.

Saban made SEVERAL adaptations of other tokusatsu series from toei’s library; Making VR Troopers and Beetleborgs from Toei’s “Metal heroes’ franchise”, and Saban’s masked rider from the Kamen Rider series “Black RX”. They did not do as well as Power Rangers, primarily because they repeated many of the same mistakes MMPR made but grew out of, and lacked quality storytelling to really keep people invested. While VR Troopers and Beetleborgs To this Day have their merits and defenders...well, the only thing Worse than Saban’s Masked Rider that Saban has made, is Power Rangers (Super)Megaforce...Though some argue That Samurai, Dino Charge and Ninja Steel are very close as well. But THAT is where We Find DIC in all this.

DIC entertainment Was a Company active in the late 80′s, 90′s and 2000′s most known now-a-days for being the original distributors for Sailor moon and it’s awful original Dub, and producers for Inspector Gadget, The Real Ghostbusters, the 90′s Sonic Cartoons, the 90′s Carmen Sandiago series, and Alienators: Evolution Continues. Those were their “good” Productions, most of the rest of their library was schlock and terrible both at the time and looked back on in hindsight.

Stargate fans do Not talk about Stargate Infinity.

But in the Power Rangers craze, DIC made two contributions to this in an attempt to cash in on the Hype. The first...is the infamously awful tattooed Teenage alien Fighters from Beverly Hills.

A Transparent ripoff if there ever was one, while many of the PR-clones of the era are accused of being ripoffs, ALL of them with exception with this show ultimately did their own things. TTAFfBH though? No. On every level it’s an awful, obvious knockoff, and only True Power Rangers Ripoff. Not-so for the series we (in the round-about way I’ve taken) should actually be discussing:

Yeah...Ironically, that name was decided on to avoid hedging in on Power Ranger’s naming conventions, SSSS was originally going to be imported as PowerBoy. No, seriously. it ended up doing the opposite, but the intention was to have no relation.

The series...actually did a lot of things right. Co-Produced with Tsuburaya, SSSS was pretty much a direct adaptation, with the plots of the week being adjusted to an Americanized setting. culture and subplots...just with the standard campiness expected of a DIC production...and even less of a budget than Power Rangers at the time had.

A Teenage basement band calling themselves Team Samurai (though why they called themselves that escapes me, I’ve yet to get the show on DVD so am working on memories from 1994/1995 and clips on youtube), end up involved in stopping that attacks of cyberspace monsters after their lead guitarist Sam Collins (Played by Matthew Lawrence, later the sidekick to Will Friedle when he would join the cast of Boy Meets World) somehow gets zapped into his computer and endowed with the powers of Gridman’s counterpart Servo, who then take up the duty of stopping the machinations of the Escaped military AI program KiloKahn (voiced by the ever-awesome Tim Curry. Seriously) and his Human servant Malcom Frink (basically just takeshi’s character again) as their various attacks upon any devices connected to electricity can end-up having real-world consequences...Just as they did in the original gridman series. Astoundingly, SSSS ran Longer than Gridman did, totaling in at 53 episodes; padded out with creative re-cutting of battle-footage alongside getting some test footage for a Gridman sequel that...unfortunately never got made. It was rumored that had SSSS done better a full sequel Starring a character named Gridman Sigma would’ve been greenlit to provide more footage and story for adaptation...but sadly by 1995 and the show’s end, much of the PR Ameri-toku craze had ended, and Gridman/SSSS became a backburner to history. ...at least, until 2015

youtube

Co-Produced by Studio Trigger, Denkou Choujin Gridman: boys invent great hero was an animated short for the japan Animator expo. taking place 22 years after the original series (and the opening several minutes acting as a recap of it), Former villain Takeshi Todo seeks his own redemption for his past actions when Khan (or potentially a successor) re-emerges with more power; Takeshi taking the form of the blue-bodied Gridman Sigma to engage in battle with Digital kaiju that now appear to be manifesting within the real world with intentions to rewrite reality. Again, PLOT POINT. ...which thus leaves us with 2018′s recently released SSSS Gridman.

High school Freshman Yuta Hibiki awakens one Day Sans his memories, and begins to see illusions of Giant monsters in the skyline. Finding Gridman within a Junk computer at his friend Rikka’s Home, he sets out to uncover the mystery of his lost memories, why these monsters are appearing, and what it means for his world as the kaiju begin emerging into the real world, forcing him to fight in the real world as the new Gridman. The series is written by Keiichi Hasegawa, who over the years has written more content for Tsuburaya than any other person; Writing on Utlraman Tiga, Dyna, Gaia, Cosmos, Nexus, Mebius, Ultraseven X, and Most of the Ultraman zero content. He has also worked on Kamen Rider’s W, Fourze and Drive, The Big O, and Zoids Chaotic Century and new Century Zero. the series is being directed by Akira amemiya, previous on the series inferno Cop Already, if you’re aware of the backstory of Gridman, a few things pop out at you. First off:

The Kaiju apperaing as phantoms before they fully emerging intro reality? While also echoing enemies in Digimon and Rockman.exe, This is the same thing that was showcased in the ‘boys invent great hero’ short and was the endgame the heroes were trying to stop in the original series. Thus, the same inference: Khan’s successor--

--(called Alexis・Kerib) has succeeded in transcending the limitations of digital existence and now is seeking to conquer and Destroy the real world.

Kerib has set himself up as a benevolent ‘genie’ to the social outcast and kaiju Fangirl Akane Shinjo, and is then proceeding to do the same thing Khan himself did with Takeshi; use her and her social issues to create his minions and monsters, realize them in the real world and devastate it while incidentally dealing with her real-life antagonists. This all conveyed through Studio trigger’s excellent visual storytelling, when Akane heads home to find it empty, and her room’s floor populated with an insane amount of bagged garbage; something no-one with actual parents in their lives would let happen. A pseudo-social outcast with no-one to turn to; no parents in their lives to give nurture and comfort, seeking companionship through the internet as a source for what can’t be found in real-life so they can be happy, only to be manipulated by a predator for the vulnerable?

All we’re missing is a marred-up desk and suicidal thoughts to make her a Yandere version of Chigusa “Atoli” Kusaka from .hack//G.U. Still time to do that, too. I honestly feel like there’s a Lot more to say on this character and the nuances to her portrayal thus-far that makes her character and actions work in a far better light than those who endlessly try to excuse other utterly-irredeemable people who bear similarities in their backstory. it’s clear she’s just lashing out and kerib--like Khan--creating an environment and unhinged mental state where she thinks any slight can be wished out of existence to make her empty life better. And people lashing out? They can be reasoned with, talked down and reformed. Not-so with those who would, with clear thought turn others into victims and steal from them their own lives; those who are truly abusive in their conduct towards others for petty reasons or only received retaliation in response to their own awful conduct. And yet the reverse is often shown to be true; the irredeemable given the chances they’d wasted before and the consequences of their actions ignored or handwaved to not be applicable, while people like Akane and Takeshi are left in the dark to suffer and be punished to start the cycle anew. However...this time there’s a twist to the kaiju attacks.

The people who died in the kaiju attacks...Die Retroactively. Whatever Kerib is doing, it allows him and Akane to in limited way rewrite reality. in the First/Second Episode, it’s revealed that The volleyball team at Hibiki’s high school were killed in the first attack, but it was noted when Hibiki and Rikka went to school the next day that not only was the school undamaged from the previous night’s attack, no-one remembered the girls that were on the team, or a team for the sport even existing. The best way I can describe the phenomena, since Kerib is appearing to manipulate the world as if it were one gigantic computer, is The kaiju metaphorically clicked on the folder containing all information on the volleyball team, and dragged it to the recycling bin; deleting their existence as the team, and killing off the girls part of it at the point the team would’ve been formed.

And even as hibiki is the newest person to take on the identity of Gridman--

--The battles at best are ones that will only prevent more people from Dying. As we’re only two episodes into the series right now, it’s unknown if any other bystanders caught in the crossfire are also being erased, or if it’s only focused on the targets Akane points out. We just don’t know at this point. What we do know is this series is not supposed to have a direct connection to the original, but because so much of SSSS Gridman is based upon the worst case scenario from the original, that could mean anything at this point; even the posibility that reality itself has been rewritten and is the cause of hibiki’s amnesia.

As a Studio trigger anime series though, there are some things that fans have been pointing out. First off, the names of the volleyball team victims are an amusing collection of homages: Tonkawa Sakiru > Tonka and Cy-kill Toiko > ToyCo Kena-chan > Kenner Doi Hako > Toybox (Hako means box) Takara Nana > TAKARA and Seven (Nana means seven) Cy-Kill was a Gobot from Tonka’s gobots series that was absorbed by Takara and transformers respectively. ToyCo is a toys and collectibles retailer, as Was Toybox. Kenner/Playmates was the US toy liscenser for SSSS toyline in the 90′s, and Takara...well, is Takara. the animation of course, is full-on Expected studio Trigger gar in it’s homages as well

Feel the Obari Pose! Expect the Obari Pose! Love the Obari Pose! “you know, when they do that, it makes it look as if they have a giant Di-” IGNORE THE OBARI POSE!

but the well goes far deeper, my friends.

This is SSSSGridman’s character designer. Just...look at that desk. I spot 5 power ranger/super sentai mechs (Kyoryujin/DC megazord hidden on the top right), gaogaigar, The box for Brave exkaiser, Gurren Lagann, a 3rd-party Optimus Primal, and Shattered Glass Megatron. that last one is kind of important, as the director, Akira amemiya, is a Huge fan of shattered glass transformers.

Shattered glass, for those not in the know, is basically the transformers mirror universe originally created for the transformers convention botcon. it’s a Universe where the autobots are the bad guys and Decepticons the good guys. For more info, I will leave a link to Chris McFeely’s transformers: the basics video on the subject. Watch him, it’s good stuff. Now why is that relevant? Every character in this show is based on a transformers design or color-scheme. Most Significantly those from shattered glass. Akane? Shattered glass Optimus Prime

Hibiki, Rikka, and Sho (who’s knowledgable on kaiju and Ultra series tropes) are cliffjumper (Classics-verse autobot who jumped into shatted glass), SG Sideswipe, and SG megatron.

The autobot Matrix

SG Starscream and Soundwave/ravage.

aaand just a few more for you all.

These four are based on the movie-verse Dinobots, and are gridman’s support programs turned into human beings. the one on the top left whose name is Samurai Calibur (yes seriously) turns into Gridman’s sword the Gridman calibur. The other three turn into the support mechs showcased below. oh, and for the checkback? Sakiru Tonkawa from the volleyball team:

But it doesn’t end there.

The jet booster and drill cannon Combinations:

yes, seriously. The heavy arms configuration as well is a common practice seen with partial-combiner robo’s as well, particularly with those lacking certain combination limbs, particularly those part of the scramble city play gimmick these robot configurations are also homage-ing with the limbs and legs being swap-able. And as all the support arms are based on Dinobots:

“Me grimlock have Anchor arms: now am Jerk and everybody loves me!”

So yeah, to wrap things up, SSSS Gridman is Tsuburaya’s revival of a 90′s gem in an era where a lot of similarly-themed series exist and have done what it has since this series ( Digimon, .hack, Rockman.exe, Code Lyoko just to name a few), but is bringing it back with a fresh transformers-toned coat of paint for a new generation and original storytelling based on the worst-case scenario of the original series, and thus-far it is absolutely glorious, and I hope is able to follow through ‘cause I just generally love series in this little subgenre.

And I will leave you with 3 things: First and second, The Anime’s opening mashed up with Gridman and SSSS openings (link and Link) and lastly an Image of hibiki’s English VA roleplaying with the original series’ toy sword while recording his voiceover:

SSSS Gridman is available from Funimation.

#gridman #tsuburaya #Ultraman #tokusatsu #anime #studio trigger #SSSS #superhuman samurai syber squad #Transformers #shattered glass #Keiichi hasegawa #.hack #Digimon #rockman.exe

109 notes · View notes

iristial · 6 years

Text

Ultraman Ramble #5: Fire And Water Don’t Always Clash - Ultraman R/B Episode 1

The only other Ultraman series I had ever watched was one that apparently aired at the same time as Kamen Rider Wizard, though my interest wasn’t as piqued. Thankfully it means that I had zero expectations upon entering the Ultraman R/B world; as in, I’m not comparing it to any predecessors and can enjoy it as it is. And let me say, this is good. Seriously – is 2017~2018 some golden age for tokusatsu?

At first I thought the monster fight that appeared in the first five minutes was a “final battle” the heroes were facing and the series would lead up to it, but luckily it turned out to be a “recap” of how they got to that point. If it had been the former, I’d end up forgetting that plot point as the season goes on and I get immersed in the current flow of events

THE OP IS SUPER GOOD WHY ARE THE OPS SO GOOD LATELY CAUSE SOONER OR LATER THIS ONE IS GOING ONTO MY PLAYLIST LIKE “BE THE ONE”

So the Ultraman heroes are the Minato brothers – Katsumi and Isami – who reflect their colour motifs by being exact opposites. Katsumi is the dutiful older son who assists his father in their t-shirt store (I actually liked this because usually tokusatsu + characters running stores = something popular or unique like detective agencies). Isami is the smart oddball second son who pulls an all-nighter and is willing to pursue the results of his data even when the earth is shaking around him.

The contrast between the brothers is great! Usually Katsumi would be the character who is good at everything or is too nice for his own good, while Isami would either be someone who rejects the possibility of Kaiju attacks (because as tokusatsu goes, the scientific folk disapprove of supernatural entities) or has the spirit but no brains and is secretly envious of his brother. Instead it’s Katsumi who doesn’t really believe in the origins of Ayaka and Isami is intelligent, reckless and believes whole-heartedly in the legends. This is somehow making up a good balance

Katsumi’s visuals remind me of Terui Ryu/this guy I can’t recall and Isami’s visuals reminds me of Gentarou

The first t-shirt proposal reminded me of Gentarou’s post-transformation call

WHOA your mother’s been gone for fifteen years???? I have a gut feeling she’s alive but wow, that is a long time and the Minato family head is still loyal to her ain’t that sweet

THE COMEDIC TIMING IS GOLDEN

Katsumi thinks about their mother…and just when he reached the peak of sentimentality Isami SLAPS HIM RIGHT IN THE FACE BECAUSE OF A MOSQUITO I BURST OUT LAUGHING SUPER HARD AND REWATCHED THAT SCENE FIVE TIMES PFFFFT

Isami insisting on pursuing the source of the disruption because “he is a scientist” and the very moment he turns to look at the Kaiju, he smiles and goes “yeah let’s run” OTL THAT DECISION WAS SO EASILY ACCEPTED

I think Katsumi is an athlete of sorts because he’s seen jogging in the morning (a toku sign for the athletic) and his attacks as an Ultraman remind me of a baseball player. He even runs faster than Isami, who – as per the traits distributed to the eager and reckless type like him – should be the one running ahead instead of grabbing a bicycle and has his brother yelling at him about how this even benefits anyone

The transformations give me the impression of a fusion between Super Sentai and Kamen Rider. You have them using belt-like devices with transformation trinkets and they turn into megazord size warriors

But all these special effects keep reminding me of washing machines. I’m dubbing them the Laundromat Brothers

So they transform like pros but attack like amateurs – FINALLY THEY MADE THE FIRST FIGHT REALISTIC TO A CERTAIN EXTENT

Isami tries a flying kick but he misses by so much, keeps accidentally landing hits on Katsumi ranging from roasting him with flames to kicking him square in the spine, and both of them proceed to argue about the whole deal and turn to look…at the Kaiju XD LOL THIS DUDE JUST VENTURED UP TO THEM

So Katsumi gets energy balls while Isami gets jet stream-like attacks neato

I really like how they can switch their elements/crystals

Katsumi’s cat ears!!!!

THEY BOILED THE KAIJU TO DEATH/OUT OF TRANSFORMATION THAT IS SUPER GRUESOME OMG HOW IS THIS NOT CENSORED

Their younger sister is Asahi, who is so cute like a toku fairy and I can just feel that she isn’t your run-of-the-mill annoying younger sister awwwww

She gives them both of them a candy each and they don’t even do that brotherly thing of teasing her – they just join her and Isami tries to get more sweets T^T at first I was bummered by how Asahi was related to them (usually main girl isn’t related to the heroes in tokusatsu and I got so used to that to a point where I rarely don’t ship the main girl with someone) but now I wouldn’t have it any other way, I live for this sibling relationship

Katsumi and Isami get along super well – yay Hamada brother style fist bump rituals! – and fight just as well

I think this is the pinnacle of a great sibling relationship - also Katsumi and Isami remind me of Sento and Ryuuga XD Brothers to the end!

I already know Ultra Orb Dark Black Black Black is a bad guy so it’s amusing seeing how hammy he gets in that pure white suit he’s got

Also kudos for him wearing pink XD

#14shyx #ultraman #ultraman r/b #ultraman r/b episode 1 #ultraman ramble #w o w this was super good i'm definitely watching the rest #i have a feeling zi-o might not stick to me as long so it'll be good to have another toku to watch alongside lupato #both brothers are super cool i don't know who's my favourite

3 notes · View notes

machulie · 2 years

Text

Mobile Suit Gundam pt. 2

Yeah I loved seeing more about this world and war from this angle that Mobile Suit Gundam presents. I honestly love watching this anime especially because of its retro style. It really brings me back to when I was younger in China watching localized dubs of popular anime like ultraman, astro boy, or even detective conan. Some of my fondest memories involve me and my brothers watching these television shows on weekends and debating the story and who our favorite characters were. It just is a nice and refreshing art style from the sharp contrast of the most recent fight in the Demon Slayer Entertainment district Arc which was, BEAUTIFUL HOLY CRAP. My eyes were being treated to a five star restaurant and I personally think the manga of Demon Slayer was mid but this was HYPE.

Anyway so back to the story, I really love how this anime presents war and the effects it has on others. Much like my past post I would love to reiterate how difficult it is to see a side as good/evil. It seems like (for the most part) both sides seem to be justified and fighting for a good cause. The insightful look into how war changes people and their perspectives is also very apparent in these episodes. We see our main character Amuro become vengeful and full of rage to attack and hurt people around him if they are on the “Zeon Side.” There is a very distinct difference between Amuro when he first began to operate the suit and was hesitant to shoot others, versus now he where he acts more like a Han Solo. (haha get it cus he shoots first… Okay imma leave now) The article we read was also very interesting. When it describes how the death of one may spur others to rise up, it also refutes this by saying that this could result in more and more needless death. When everyone keeps on fighting for their losses it becomes a mentality of staying in the war because we’ve lost so much and what would it all have been for if we quit now. I feel like this may have been reminiscent of Japan during World War II and it is also seen in the anime as well!

0 notes

monarchofficial · 7 years

Note

um!! what show would you recommend for someone who is interested in kaiju things but doesnt know where to start?

Some kaiju movies and series that are great for beginners:

The 1954 original Godzilla (available on blu-ray, DVD, and streaming/rental from Amazon, iTunes & YouTube. Also try your local library, they might have it too.) The original is a must watch and a very good entry point. The entire Showa Godzilla Series (1954-1975) is perfect for new viewers. You can basically watch any of them at any point. The only one that’s an outlier is Godzilla’s Revenge, so maybe save that one for when you’re more familiar with the series.

Gamera: Guardian of the Universe (available in the US on blu-ray and DVD in the Gamera Trilogy pack.) The first film in the Heisei Gamera Series is the most gripping and exciting of them all, an absolute gem. One of my favorite movies of all time.

The original 1966 Ultraman (available on DVD.) A total classic, it’s the origin of all those amazing toku superheroes on TV. Very fun and easy to watch.

If you want to just watch something free right now without having to buy a DVD, Crunchyroll has 9 complete Ultraman shows. I recommend starting with either Ultraman Max or Ultraman X. X is my favorite of the two, but Max is a little safer for beginners.

Also free: my friend Red Menace has some English dub reconstructions you can download or stream that are pretty amazing. I recommend Ghidrah the Three Headed Monster and Monster Zero for beginners.

Thanks for the question! Enjoy!

#Godzilla #kaiju #ask #anon #Gamera #Ultraman

57 notes · View notes

empty-dream · 7 years

Text

Me watching Fate/Apocrypha ep 11

Atalanta the smug cat nee-san

“I’m not gonna hurt you. Not me, anyway.” Atalanta are you trying to be Kiritsugu 2.0?

Hurt? More like, NUKE.

Spartacus hulking out

Atalanta be like “You know what? One last touch and all is well and you’re ready to go!” then shoot just one arrow out of spite.

Atalanta: “It’s your problem now” Jeanne: “Wait what?” Atalanta: “Atalanta signing out. Bye. TTYL. Peace out, holy maiden whatever!”

Spartacus is basically the best worst masochist ever.

He’s like a damn cat getting distracted by whatever moving lights and goes pursuing it

Granted, it ain’t THE best fight in the whole series but I feel really disappointed Balmung vs Clarent Blood Arthur doesn’t get more screentime....

Sieg!Fried’s biceps O_O

Mordred: “HOW ARE YOU FUCKING ALIVE I BLASTED YOU WITH THE POWER OF DADDY ISSUES AND MY DADDY IS FUCKING STRONG AND SHITTY YOU ARE AN INSULT TO MY SHITTY DADDY”

Does Mordred love or hate her dad? Don’t waste any time deciding when the real answer is both and see it’s fucked up.

Discount Saber? Discount Saber??!! Are you fucking serious that’s a hilarious trash talk!

Another continuation of Bitchface Karna vs Uncle Vlad

Why is there a very strange sound effect like evil bubble sound effect when Vlad’s spearhead clash directly with Karna’s???

I get the feel like Karna vs Vlad is Fate/Apocrypha equivalent to Westley vs Inigo from The Princess Bride except haughtier and a tad bit crueler.

dID KARNA JUST SMILE A BIT?!!

Karna you should ask Artoria that ‘do it for love of your country or for king’s responsibility?’ she will have existential crisis.

Why should he be scared of fighting a whole country alone when he has a spear that can kill A GOD?

Vlad: “You have fallen... INTO MY TRAP!”

And then Karna stylishly becomes a pincushion. Stylishly, mind you.

Um I still don’t know if explaining your power to the enemy is a wise move Vlad..

Wow flying snake-like spears

Karna be like “I’m the son of sun God. Hot And Burns Everything.”

He looks like a kamen rider.

Vlad, cornered and excited: “Interesting”

Darnic be judging them so hard like “These stupid heroes with their stupid chivalry bravados”

Spartacus loves rebellion so much I want to give him a copy of Madoka Rebellion story

Did I tell you Spartacus is the best worst masochist ever?

Shakespeare is still at it again

Shakespeare: “Behold. A great fucked up thing created by me fucking things up”

Semiramis I know your noble phantasm is glorious af but not everyone have anti gravity giant ancient fortress

I’ve got a question: Why Spartacus looks way paler than his comrades? Not paler as in human skin, but you know, as in a fucking rock you see on the road.

Tbh I am not even fazed if Shakespeare turns out liking to get off at citing his own works.

“MY FIST IS LOVE. ACCEPT MY LOVE.” Holy shit this sounds like what an abusive person would say.

Spartacus I thought you were a masochist why are you turning into a sadist

Jeanne running be like “NOPE THANKS I’VE GOT PLENTY OF LOVE MYSELF”

Seriously he’s distracted by some bright light moving in the distance. What is he? A cat?

Geez Mordred do you hear what your own cakehole says? Are you pretty sure you just hate your dad?

HAHA SIEG!FRIED's CHEST IS GLOWING ON AND OFF THAT IS SOME ULTRAMAN SHIT

Wait but for as long as I remember everytime I watched Ultraman as a kid the hero always runs out of energy and that jewel goes “TING TONG TING TONG”

Sieg!Fried = Ultraman holy shit I just cracked the conspiracy theory

So Higashide’s original idea was to have Sieg!Fried glitters on the chest area but scrapped it and now it’s back and oN SCREEN

Spartacus is indeed the originator of Hit them when they gloat

No Mordred that’s a fucking terrible idea to slice him in half not everything is solved by slicing!

Wow I just realized Spartacus swallowed form facing off Mordred is a bit like Gilles swallowed form facing off Artoria back in Fate/Zero wow

Jeanne: “I didn’t face Vlad and his entire squad to get you out of this war for this”

Astolfo acts like the student who defends his friend when they cause huge fuck up and faces a raging teacher which is Jeanne

Well for a majority of time, Astolfo is kinda a child so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Um I don’t get why he’s saying that? If he was a Ruler? Fuck that even as a Rider he ain’t gonna leave Sieg. And sure as hell Jeanne won’t leave him too. Is Astolfo thinking Jeanne will leave Sieg? On what ground?? It ain’t really like Astolfo???

Though I aspire to grin right after spitting arguments like he does

There is an entire concept deeper than the ocean at the words “I won’t let a hero like you to harm innocent people”

Tvtropes dubs Luminosite Eternelle as a child's “I block your everything” imagination but without the imagination part and that’s the best description I’ve ever seen about it

Oh look a deformed rogue servant facing off against another golden lady with golden weapon and golden light

Power of love vs Power of imagination

Sieg looking at Ruler tanking a nuke: ❤

Wow that’s some game breaker shield alright

I’d behave exactly like Astolfo if I was on that condition too

Back at Uncle Vlad commanding spike snakes to stab the literal hottie Bitchface Karna

Karna: GYOKAKU NO JUTSU!! Me: WRONG ANIME!!!

You ever seen that meme about everyone making crazy ass face when pulling gyokaku no jutsu but not the graceful Itachi? Yeah Karna is also fucking graceful too

Slicing fire with the tip of the sword. #justvladthings

Vlad is probably the only person who doesn’t like being saved by the bell

You want a Holy Grail? STEAL IT OF COURSE. FROM ABOVE. ALIEN STYLE. #justredfactionthing

Ain’t fighting the holy grail war if you steal it. -Shirou Kotomine at some point

Yeah this is not the only hardship you’ve faced in a century Darnic but is there even any hardship that resembles ‘ancient babylonian fortress kidnaps your holy grail a la UFO’??

PANIC! AT THE YGGDMILLENNIA

Eveybody’s busy but not Celenike she doesn’t give a flying fuck.

The only thing I like about Celenike is her hairstyle. That’s my daily hairstyle. First time I see it I be like oh cool a character with my hairstyle and then she turns out to be sadist pedo witch and I’m like NOPE

Wait a minute why are you not showing Caules :(( Is it because he isn’t a master anymore :((( ?? He’s still crying isn’t he???? :((((

Darnic: V E R Y A N G R Y M O D E

Jeanne: “I’m still angry. So after this I’ll lecture the fuck out of you.” Sieg: “Um okay. I’ll be waiting.” Jeanne: ❤

There is something really funny about Vlad, the de facto captain and royalty, running around a la spy on enemies lair.

Not shown: 5 minutes of Scooby Doo doors chase between Black Faction and the AKA Team

Karna: “I was rude before but since it’s not yet 10 minutes and we meet again, I don’t have to apologize, right?”

“I will make sure to impale you this time.” UMM VLAD

HAHA Avicebron holds that gem with the Sailor Moon pose I can’t unsee it

IN THE NAME OF GOLEM I WILL PUNISH YOU

Achilles: “WHAT did you just throw me?! You’re an Archer!” Chiron: “Boy, nowadays the class Archer means nothing about archery”

OOOO KARNA HOLY SHIT THAT WAS SOME SAVAGE BURNNNN funny that he’s polite about it and 99.99% sure he doesn’t even mean to burn

Hanging Garden of Babylon is just too op

I bet Darnic puts “Professional asskisser” as skill and/or job on his resume

Vlad: “Don’t make me use Legend of Dracula” Darnic: “dOn’T MaKE mE USe LeGeND oF dRaCUlA”

There is something a bit satisfying with Sieg’s command spells and that bright background and the title Eternal Radiance (obviously referring to Jeanne)

But I still wonder what is the essence of changing the title template like I know it means Sieg is finally Sieg!Fried. So what?

Gotta be honest: I love hearing that main battle soundtrack again. Absence in one/two episodes is enough.

I’ve always loved the idea of Luminosite Eternelle but the utilization is always so simple like I thought flag waving will be more involved

NEXT: Being Lancer is suffering indeed.

#hi i'm sorry i'm dead this week #fate apocrypha #random saying #fate apocomment

15 notes · View notes