Zone Fighter is honestly... not worth the time. It was just too bland and not enough silly. Sure some of the monsters were silly, but the episodes and villains were not impressive. It's very obvious without Godzilla's endorsement this show would not be remembered by anyone.

Maybe I shouldn't admit this, but I don't think I've actually seen a Godzilla film! It is rare for me to watch something that's not henshin hero anyway though, but I at least know to likely avoid the 1998 Hollywood film! :lol

Looks like the official Ultraman channel is uploading the first episode of the original Gridman, so guess I'll be watching that!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyBwMlrQbf4

Gridman is an awesome show that I highly recommend to everyone, so this is pretty exciting. It's never a mind-blowingly amazing series, but it's consistently rock solid hero tokusatsu that nails the fundamentals while bringing some digital creativity to the action and a good touch of levity to the drama. Watch it and realize it's way more than just a cool theme song.

Gridman the Hyper Agent Episode 1

https://i.imgur.com/ax2buBV.png


So, uh, first of all; should this... be here? Should I be posting in the Ultraman thread instead? Because despite how similar Ultra series tend to keep their settings and visuals; if you'd told me this was another Ultra show I wouldn't really have thought twice about it. Stylistically it's quite similar between the 'host' and the rise and the Kaiju battles; and I wouldn't be too surprised if this was Tsubaraya's attempt to 'revive' Ultraman for a cool, hip, computer age audience after it's been off the air for a bit. It even seems to get counted officially in toylines and such and of course it's even on the Ultraman channel right now which is how I'm watching it?


But whatever the case is with definitions and all that malarkey, that was fun. Nothing mind-blowing, perhaps, but definitely something I enjoyed! Something that struck me right from the opening that just continues when we got to the Kaiju action (which started slightly earlier than halfway in!) is just how elaborate and different the set design is. It's one of those things that, with the context of this being the 80s and this being a new Toku show rather than a big-name one; just has me impressed thinking of all the work and budget that had to go into this to completely construct a technological city-like location for Kaiju battles the likes of which had never been seen before. That one episode of Kamen Rider Black where he goes inside the computer has nothing on this, I'm seriously impressed right from the get-go! This had to have taken some passion!

Talking of this elaborate cyber world though, boy, is this show's logic from frame 1 completely wrapped up in an extremely 80s perception of how computers work. Just, the entire thing about the computer world is so funny in ways that hit the exact right beats for me. It's wonderfully quaint and a great sign of the times. Something I do really like unironically is how at the end their pieced-together computer literally cannot handle how obviously intensive the Gridman battles are and so can only keep him there for a few minutes (Gee I Wonder Whose Youtube Channel This Is On) and straight up starts exploding! I genuinely don't know how they're gonna piece it together next episode!!

I'm getting quiiiiite a few moments of deja vu since I've previously watched the recent Gridman anime, too. It's very interesting going back and seeing what elements said anime took, which ones they changed around, how characters adapted; all that sort of stuff. I think like with my Kuuga realisations in OOO I'm going to be enjoying spotting these little incidental things as I watch! Honestly, while watching I actually felt like maybe I should do a rewatch of that anime after this series ends!!


Lots of scattered thoughts here, and hardly an overview or anything to piece it together in sight... buuuut that's mostly because I don't want to spoil anything. This is an old show from a completely different culture and continent to most people who use this board, and unlike your Heisei Riders or your New Gen Ultras it's not exactly something you can rely on a lot of people having seen; so I'm worried about saying too much even though at its core this is a goofy showa toku with no serialised plot in sight. But as-is, I'm enjoying it; and I think Fish's assessment earlier of "Not mind-blowingly amazing but still very solid, fun and creative" is very accurate to the experience I had. Go ahead and give it a shot!

I really should get around to watching OG Gridman someday. I'm only familiar with it via the US adaptation, Syber-Squad(and the aforementioned anime). Maybe I'll finally get around to binging it all once all of it is up on the official YT channel.

I believe that like the Ultraman episodes they put up, these episodes will only be available for 2 weeks at a time -- so not really something that's easy to binge through the youtube channel.

Damn. Gonna have to do it via my usual sources then. Juggling too much toku atm. halp.

Oh trust me, I absolutely know the feeling

I hate that I can't avoid doing a "well, actually" to say this, but I genuinely find it hilarious that Gridman's depiction of then-high technology is apparently so hopelessly retro that you've mistaken this Heisei show from '93 for something out of the tail end of the decade before that. :lol

Good to know you're enjoying it so far, though! And hopefully the subs don't devolve rapidly in the coming weeks...!

At some point the 80s and the 90s just meld together into some amorphous blob in my head. They're the same thing :lol

Oof sorry to rain on that parade but someone found out that the subs on Youtube are the same as the ones TokuHD stole and will most likely later become bootlegs
https://mobile.twitter.com/ptoadstoo...36854704525315

Started Gridman for the first time last week and currently on its second episode today and I'm already really liking what I see so far. Wanted to check the series out at some point due to the fact that I used to watch its US counterpart as a kid and my brother used to collect the toys. Might even check out the anime reboot somewhere down the line.

I simply have to adore a show where the main villain announces his existence and intentions to the world through a fucking fax machine

https://i.imgur.com/9tr9tiB.jpg

This episode was really fun by the way. Something I'm enjoying a lot about this show is how incredibly optimistic it is about how advancing technology like computers and phones can enrich and even save lives; it's a real contrast to how a lot of shows like this - at least in my limited western experience - would be completely doom and gloom about it all and how video games and phones distract you from homework and turn you into zombies or whatever.

Not that either approach is completely correct or wrong, of course; there's upsides and downsides to everything and we're definitely starting to see downsides in how technology is used in our era, but putting aside a small lack of nuance in the fun 80s kids show where their knowledge of how computers work is "shove more switchboards in there and it'll be better", it's nice to have a show like this that acknowledges the benefits of what seems like a scary changing world.

SSSS Gridman is HIGHLY recommended.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMVH...rollCollection

Kahn Digifer is just adorably quaint all around, and it's honestly one of my favorite things about Gridman. So many other toku villains get sword-wielding dark knights or big rock monster dudes to be their right hand man as they watch schemes unfold from their elaborate lairs... and then here comes Kahn Digifer hanging out on a CRT monitor all day letting his plans hinge entirely on one ill-socialized dorky middle schooler's MS Paint drawings; it's incredible. :lol

Redman on Youtube. The rumors were true: He is the real monster!

Since they're now subbed for free on YouTube, I decided now would be a good time to get into the live action side of the GARO franchise with the first two episodes of the first season.

And yeah, I can see the appeal. The action is smooth, the atmosphere is dark, and the first two episodes in general definitely know how to build intrigue. And as someone who got introduced to the franchise via the anime, they actually made me appreciate said anime even more for just how much they paid attention to how this universe works.

Hope they put up more episodes soon, because I'm definitely gonna ride this 'till the end.

So, I’ve been working on watching something for a little over a year, and just finished to kick off 2021! I have now seen all of the Showa era Godzilla films!

Honestly, before watching it I kind of suspected the amount of Godzilla fans who consider the first film their favorite was the result of some kind of misguided nostalgia. I was very wrong, because that movie is fantastic and stylish even to this day, and was easily my favorite among the Showa films. I loved the horror elements, the great human drama, almost everything was just on-point. I’d recommend it even to people who aren’t toku fans!

I got some good kicks out of some of the later films too though. Sometimes in a so-bad-its good way (All Monsters Attack and Godzilla vs. Megalon) and sometimes in a just GOOD way (both of the Mechagodzilla films). It was also a really cool study in how Japanese cinema changed over time. I’m hoping to get my hands on some of the Heisei films to see how they compare in the future along with some of Toho’s other old monster films like Rodan. Great fun all around!

Watched a few more episodes of Gridman and I have also been on a serious binge watch of Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad (its US counterpart) for the last couple of days because well, why not? :D

Syber-Squad is alot of fun. Hope you enjoy it! Lunchlady is the best.

Recently started Garo on YouTube, awaiting more episodes. My only real introduction to Garo was Versus Road, which I enjoyed well enough, and from the two episodes already out, I'm definitely excited to see more. Though I'm also interested in some of the shows on the Toei Tokusatsu World, like Kikaider, Space Sheriff Sharivan, Akumaizer 3, and finally see Shin Kamen Rider.

Thanks. I'm seriously enjoying it so far. Mrs. Starkey is a great supporting character. I've also taken a liking towards Amp and Tim Curry is just plain awesome as Kilokhan. Mal-Kahn-Tent and Que Sera Servo are probably my favorite episodes of the show so far. Looking forward to watching more.

Wait... Tim Curry is the American Kahn Digifer!?

Yeah have no idea how they got him on board.

Yep and it is the one of the best aspects of the show! :D

I don't know if people consider it Toku, but China has recently been having a renaissance of Wuxia live action dramas which make use of some pretty snazzy visual effects and stuntwork.

There are a lot of good ones out there for free on official youtube channels, but one I've been watching recently is The King's Avatar which is available on Netflix. This one is more of an Isekai, as it is about eSports and all the "fights" take place in a video game. It gives me good Toku vibes because the main characters have a central base of operations and theres lots of teamwork, betrayal, and hiding behind a mask.

Just recently watched Satria Heroes: Revenge of Darkness on Netflix. It was an interesting experience to see an Indonesian Tokusatsu, though I kind of regret not watching the series first, as there are some things that don't quite add up in the context of the film. But overall, I enjoyed it, planning to watch Shin Kamen Rider this week.

Yeah I remember back in the days going, "Wait, isn't that the hotel manager from Home Alone 2?!".:lolol
And Sam Collins/Servo is played by Matthew Lawrence, who was Robin Williams's character Daniel's son Chris in Mrs. Doubtfire and Jack from Boy Meets World. Speaking of which I wonder if Matthew Lawrence is aware of SSSS Gridman the anime.

Cybercop is now fully subbed, I wanted to do a thread for it but with battling cancer I don't know if I have any time.

Anyways it was a pretty surprisingly decent show. Kinda sad that it had a very low budget but I really love it, especially when you can tell the show was clearly influenced by Robocop. Can we say it's a full circle though? I mean Gavan inspired Robocop, and Robocop inspires Cybercop, but Cybercop is not Toei.

Yeah, whether the show was good or bad I think it is a good example of VCR filming and what could or could not be done circa 1988. Andro Melos previously used VCR to film their stuff too but Cybercop was more ambitious and even filmed exterior shots as well with it which probably was not that common for its time with toku. We gotta remember that this show was up against Liveman and Kamen Rider Black RX at the time who were still using film to shoot their shows and I think for that alone Cybercop deserves some respect for venturing into new methods of tokusatsu production.

Watched a few more episodes of Gridman and I just realized that I am now a little than halfway through the series already. If I keep it up, it shouldn't be too long until I'm finished with it.

Well, I can finally speak on this thread, having watched two “other” Tokusatsu series’ first episodes

Kamen Tenshi Rosetta: The premise is pretty good and it’s got a good leading lady and a genuinely creepy monster design. But I can’t help but think we should’ve got a prequel about the exploits of Pharoan.

Voicelugger: Honestly, the first episode is just hysterical. I love the concept of having VAs playing the leads as basically exaggerated versions of themselves. Akiko is my new favourite red warrior.

I remember there was an episode along the way where various toku alumni at that time made a cameo/guest appearance in one particular episode. Forgive me for not remembering exactly which episode but it is noticable. One thing for sure was that Hiroshi Tsuchida who played Saizo/Ninja Blue in Kakuranger was part of that ensemble. And this show I recall being one of Ishinomori's contributions to the genre during the 90s before passing away.

Does anyone know what this is?

https://youtu.be/6QJOHYRF4lk

It turned up in my YouTube recommendations. I have no desire to watch it, but not knowing what it is will bug me.

Triple Fighter.
Haven't seen the show, though I believe it's one of Tsuburaya's other Superhero shows that didn't quite take off. That said, what little footage I know of this show seems very similar to Kamen Rider.

Thanks. It certainly looks like a TV show.

No problem. Been trying to learn Japanese, so all I had to do was read the title, Katagana's not a problem, Hiragana, I mix up some of the characters at times, Kanji, I know a few. Either way, I've seen openings for a few of the other non-Ultraman shows, so I can recognize some of them, despite their obscurity.

I actually did try to translate it myself since I knew it was all katakana. I got it down, but never made the connection that it was a phonetic spelling of English words.