Favorite Tokusatu

[Marmax80]

I'm wanting to really dive back into Tokusatsu, but I'll admit I haven't been keeping up. What are your favorites?

 

[adamthekaiju]

My favorite is Kamen Rider and Garo. Garo, you can start from the first series, where common rider...depends what your tolerance is for older media is. I always tell people to start with Kamen Rider Faiz.

 

[Srmistarious]

My favorite is Kamen Rider and Garo. Garo, you can start from the first series, where common rider...depends what your tolerance is for older media is. I always tell people to start with Kamen Rider Faiz.

555: standing by complete.

My favorites are Garo makaisenki (the 2nd season) because we get to see how the makai knights and priests/priestess operate and how that whole society functions in more detail, the Zero mini series neither of them are great but he is a fun character to watch go on adventures, Garo vanishing line(an anime) but it is so good i just can't not mentioned it and finally the movies that introduce me to Keita Amemiya Hakaider, Kamen rider ZO and Zeiram, all worth a watch.

 

[RageBurner]

I'd say Kamen Rider and Jiban for me, though KR fell from grace pretty hard on my book when it got around the likes of Ghost and Wizard. Current KR I honestly refuse to watch unless it's not the usual fare.

 

[elieeee6]

Really like the original Garo.The first half of Kabato is probably my favorite piece of Toku. Honestly controversial opinion but I actually really dig Lupat. And if it counts Dino Thunder or rpm

 

[VampireLord1024]

Mine would be Ultraseven and maybe the 1966 Ultraman, though Ultraman Z & Ultraman Blazar were also pretty good. I thought Kamen Rider Wizard was good when I watched it mid Summer last year.

 

[gaming memories97]

For tokusatsu PS1 is best era
Both Kamen Rider, Super Sentai, etc.

Ps2 just remains for kamen rider

 

[CrydersMakesMeJump]

Metalder is really gold for 80s toku. Decently shortish too .

 

[Karnik]

I take this topic to mention the legendary Super Tokusatsu Taisen 2001 for psx; I think I'm one of the few on planet Earth to have completed it (metal path) on real hardware, after several headaches and nervous breakdowns: an extremely difficult game towards the end, with an unfortunately incomprehensible plot. Stunning and unforgettable BGMs too.
In this game my favorite characters are the 2 Kikaider, Giant Robot, Kamen Rider Black and Luciferd (metal hero).

The most famous tokusatsu character in my country (Italy), seen during childhood in the eighties, is the legendary Megaloman, followed by Ultralion, both little known outside my country.

 

[BigTony]

Kamen Rider no contest. Favorite rider is tough either Black or Keva

 

[adamthekaiju]

I think Kamen Rider is a great place to start. Reiwa wise, Kamen Rider Zero One is an insta classic and Kingohger is pretty good too.

 

[RetroLaw]

Garo ! (for adults though)

Hard to choose when it comes to Kamen Riders, I would say Gaim, OOO and Ryuki.

When it comes to Sentai my favorites are Shinkenger, Timeranger and Go-Busters. Kakuranger and Jetman are also highly recommended.

Cutie Honey the Live is super good, but it's pretty dark like Garo. It was aired at the same time in the Midnight Action Drama slot.

Shibuya15 / Sh15uya is great and I guess counts as toku ? Is short and sweet (12 episodes)

Someone mentionned Metaldear, it's quite a unique Metal Hero toku, and it's damn great.

 

[Gorse]

Where are you people watching these shows? Are subtitled versions available on a streaming service or something, or do you actually own physical DVDs of them? I'd quite like to watch Akibaranger, but I have zero idea of where I could.

 

[RageBurner]

Someone mentionned Metaldear, it's quite a unique Metal Hero toku, and it's damn great.

That's true, Metalder goes completely against the grain, and it's great for it. Got nipped early back in the day for daring to be different, but rightly gained a cult following these days.

 

[RetroLaw]

Where are you people watching these shows? Are subtitled versions available on a streaming service or something, or do you actually own physical DVDs of them? I'd quite like to watch Akibaranger, but I have zero idea of where I could.

Depends on the country, I know some like Dairanger were released on DVD in the US, maybe Timeranger too ?

For a lot of it, I don't think there are a lot on legal streaming plateforms, I think Kamen Rider Amazon is on .. amazon, and also a few movies there.

Wingman, a toku tribute manga by Katsura (Zetman, which is also heavy tokusatsu like, Video Girl Ai..) is currently airing in Japan and I think it was streaming on a legal platform too.

By the way, one of the two Guyver movies was really good, don't remember which one, but the not so good one is still fine in all its cheesyness glory.

 

[adamthekaiju]

Garo ! (for adults though)

Hard to choose when it comes to Kamen Riders, I would say Gaim, OOO and Ryuki.

When it comes to Sentai my favorites are Shinkenger, Timeranger and Go-Busters. Kakuranger and Jetman are also highly recommended.

Cutie Honey the Live is super good, but it's pretty dark like Garo. It was aired at the same time in the Midnight Action Drama slot.

Shibuya15 / Sh15uya is great and I guess counts as toku ? Is short and sweet (12 episodes)

Someone mentionned Metaldear, it's quite a unique Metal Hero toku, and it's damn great.

I see you are a person of culture.

Post automatically merged: Friday at 1:02 AM

Where are you people watching these shows? Are subtitled versions available on a streaming service or something, or do you actually own physical DVDs of them? I'd quite like to watch Akibaranger, but I have zero idea of where I could.

you can find a few toku groups on some social media platforms. Some even have the whole series for members to stream.

 

[Stingy Perry]

Kamen Rider Black it was my first kamen rider it’s a series too bad Saban ruined it’s version of rx.

 

[RetroLaw]

Kamen Rider Black it was my first kamen rider it’s a series too bad Saban ruined it’s version of rx.

Reading that made me remember I haven't watched Ryuki's us adaptation Dragon Knight, I heard it was nice.

 

[Ikagura]

I used to watch several series as a kid (thanks to torrent sites and parents into them) until I kinda lose interest because I thought it was just for kids when I was a teen.

Until I (re)discovered the series and started to finally watch Jetman entirely (followed a bit soon after by TimeRanger that I've seen most of but only in Japanese with 0 sub).

I also ended up watching Kuuga, Agito and even Changeman (as it had a good backstory as well). I didn't watch Bioman despite how popular it was.

I think my favourites are still Kuuga and Agito because these shows were quite borderline more like a drama with toku elements than purely being tokus.

Sadly I didn't like that Saban's PR was the only way to watch tokus legally in the west after Jetman and how post-Decade Heisei slowly became more "toy commercial-like" and a bit more childish (I can accept that for Super Sentais but I've always felt that KR was for a slightly older audience and while it was still for kids to sell toys it was also showing some darker elements).

 

[RetroLaw]

I used to watch toku shows when I was a kid and these shows could be nightmare fuel.
I'll never forget Oblar's introduction episode in Liveman.
Adults beating up kids in Gavan was pretty hardcore too.

But Shaider was creepy AF. The group he fought felt more like a cult than a space criminal empire.
The Dark Santa episode was something else.

I think we could talk about toku creepyness for hours, I remember someone calling Sentais before 2000 "horror sentais".

I agree.

 

[Ikagura]

Kuuga and Agito had some creepy moments (well, less in Agito) and Faiz had some but it was when they toned it down (maybe new laws or something).

The original KR had some strange moments in the early episodes.

I wish I had more time to watch these series and I wouldn't mind if someone made lists of "non filler" episodes for each series so I could watch less than 45+.

 

[RetroLaw]

Kuuga and Agito had some creepy moments (well, less in Agito) and Faiz had some but it was when they toned it down (maybe new laws or something).

Faiz was dark AF,

Spoiler: faiz 2 dark

deuteragonist kills cousin and ex girlfriend (two different characters though ) then commits suicide by jumping from a buiding and lands in the middle of a crowded street. His friend is bullied, dies, her parents don't even care, then kills her bullies. And we're not even 10 episodes in

 

[Ikagura]

Faiz was dark AF

I'll keep it to myself and watch it before I get spoiled.

I just hope I won't get less impressed because of Agito and Kuuga.

I am not asking tokus to be mature or for adults but I appreciate that they don't keep the "it's for kids = we don't have to make efforts" mindset nor making them only glorified toy commercials that are 20 minutes long.

 

[RetroLaw]

I'll keep it to myself and watch it before I get spoiled.

I just hope I won't get less impressed because of Agito and Kuuga.

I am not asking tokus to be mature or for adults but I appreciate that they don't keep the "it's for kids = we don't have to make efforts" mindset nor making them only glorified toy commercials that are 20 minutes long.

That's something I love about tokus, the whole point of these shows is to sell toys, yet they actually write stories that are good for both children and adults IMO.

Faiz is...let's say, special ? I have kind of a love / hate relationship with the show.

It seems that it was quite popular in Japan (from what I 've heard, not 100% sure about that).

The writer of the show also wrote a light novel which was... quite insane, as if he put in there the things he couldn't put in a kids show.

 

[Marmax80]

Considering writing a tokutalk article every few weeks, don't know about engagement tho