Personally, I think it'd definitely be for a whole lot of people though! I've insisted since that show first aired that one of the most beautiful things about it is how the story it's telling isn't specifically about tokusatsu. It's really a show about what it feels like to have any sort of passion in your life for some seemingly silly thing that legitimately means a ton to you, even when the people around you couldn't care less about it. It's an immensely charming and human show that I maintain any kind of nerd would get something out of, but for tokusatsu fans in particular, I mean, I'd basically consider it mandatory viewing. Which is just my bias talking, of course! I'm sure it just won't click for some people, but man, did it ever click with me. Even years later, I still fondly think back on Tokusatsu GaGaGa all the time.

I am now more than halfway through the sixth and final disc of the Gridman Blu-Ray set. Currently at the show's final two episodes. I should be able the finish the series tomorrow, if not today. Can't believe I'm already close in finishing the original Gridman series already. I'm considering re-watching Metalder next.

In Progress:
Dogengers
Metalder
Tokusatsu GaGaGa

On Deck:
High School Heroes
Chousoku Parahero Gundeen

Completed:
Gridman
Legend Hero

Space Sheriff Gavan (Episode 02)

3 1st episode premieres for me at the start of their franchise runs each.

Gavan is yet another new series for me.

It seems like you're always watching shows and playing games. How do you have so much time? How often do you finish them?

I hope this doesn't come off as condescending, I'm just genuinely curious.

Well most of the episodes run 25 minutes each.

So I've been getting caught up on Toku shows this week.

I watch the Ranger episodes on DVD due to being looked out by Hasbro and I stream the rest VIA the new Toku channel.

For games I play save point to save point. Short spurts. I'm not a long winded gamer.

Eventually after I finish the Ranger shows I'll need to catch the other Toku shows at some point. I don't watch TV any more much. So I've been catching up Toku shows. I start each line from week 1.

I just barely have the time/motivation to watch more than an episode or two per day, so it's kind of impressive how much ground you cover :lol

At 25 minutes each the Toku shows are rather short.

Also it depends on the game. Fighting games proper are short. It's leveling everybody up that slows it down.

That's the prob with Final Fantasy games. You need to be strong enough. That slows it down.

TL;DR: Toei Spider-Man is legit good and anyone who calls themselves a Spider-Man and/or Toku fan should watch it.

With the release of the Berndadelta Subs(shoutout to Androzani for making me aware of them), I've been spending the past month (re)watching Toei/Japanese Spider-Man with two friends of mine. I had previously seen it over a decade ago back when a bunch of bootleg subs were dumped on YouTube, and with all the attention that the show has continued to generate in recent years, I really wanted to give it another go. Was the show as legit fun and good as I remembered from way back when, or was it simply carried by all of the memes that people had made about it in recent years? I announced my intent to find out, and two friends of mine were ready to come along for the ride.

And let me tell you, if you think all the random screencaps and out of context gif sets are all that this show has to offer, then you don't know what you're missing. I was honestly surprised at just how good alot of the show's' storytelling and characterization was. I am in no way being ironic when I say that the main character, Takuya Yamashiro, has become one of my favorite Spider-Men. Sure, the show in many ways is wildly different than your "typical" Spider-Man affair(Spidey pilots a giant robot named Leopardon!), but, even more surprisingly, the core theme of "With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility" is still very much an active part of the show, while also often talking about the nature of revenge and its advantages and disadvantages.

And even aside from the storytelling aspects, for a show made in the late 70s, I was surprised at not only just how well the practical effects held up to this day, but also just how fantastic the stunt coordination and action sequences were choreographed. There's alot of stuff here that you just don't see anymore, which, while understandable in some regards(climbing up Tokyo Tower with zero safety nets is totally a great idea!), is also a great shame, because the practical effects make everything feel all the more real; Something I've also praised Power Rangers for in the past.

My friends and I had a thoroughly fun time watching it together, and for me personally, I feel like one of the best ways to highlight alot of what the show has to offer is to in turn highlight my personal favorite episode of the show. That episode being...

Episode 21:

Spoilers ahead!

Right off the bat, I just wanna say that whoever wrote the titles for the episodes of Toei Spider-Man better have gotten a raise. When you're writing titles as consistently metal as "I Saw Snake Woman's Tears in the Flames of Hell" you just gotta get some sort of recognition for that, you know?

The theme song is pretty great too. Has a nice tune to it and the lyrics flow rather nicely. Though I will say that I think whoever wrote the song got an entirely different sort of script than what the show would eventually become, because the lyrics, cool as they are, do not really reflect the show itself at all.

Getting into the episode itself, well...


Oh don't worry, it's just a training dummy! Though it does immediately signal that we're in for a real treat with this episode.

The set-up? The Iron Cross Army(evil space Nazis who Spider-Man fights) has gotten really sick of Spider-Man ruining all of their plans, so they instead resolve in this episode to just straight up kill him directly. Amazoness, the second-in-command, trains an elite squad of military men whom she calls "Exterminators" to fill the web-head with lead(head), with the monster of the week, Tank Buffalo, at the helm.

Their training session is cut short though when Amazoness discovers Tsuda, a spy for Interpol, not even bothering to hide himself while transmitting a message to headquarters. And thus, the man must flee into the jungle, with the Iron Cross Army hot on his heels.

Meanwhile.


Takuya and his kinda-sorta girlfriend Hitomi are at the local United Nations Youth Art Contest, admiring the various drawings and paintings done by the contestants. This particular piece was made by the only Japanese entrant in the contest: A little boy who lost his mother in a car accident, and his father isn't around anymore either. The painting is a call for an end to war, in the hopes of bringing about unity and peace across nations. To emphasize this, all the contestants in the art show will be taking their works internationally, with America planned as the first flight out later that day.

And this small scene, with Takuya and Hitomi exchanging pleasantries with the young painter, sets the tone and stage for the entire rest of the episode, but I'll get more into that later.

Upon returning home, Takuya gets a message from Interpol(Spider-Man works with them in this story). His mission? To go and rescue Tsuda, who's still lost in the forest. Without hesitation, Takuya puts on his Spider Protector(the Spider Suit), and hops into his flying car, Spider Machine GP-7, to take down more Iron Cross Army goons and rescue the secret agent. It can't penetrate the thick trees though, so Spider-Man has to continue on foot.


I have no doubt that insurance companies do not miss these days.

Spider-Man's a bit too late though because Tsuda gets captured. And this guy is a firggen champ because despite getting beaten with rifles, dragged across gravel, and getting shot at, the guy refuses to break, and continues to hold out hope that he can see his son once this is all over(and I bet you can guess who that is, right?).

Not to be outdone though, Spider-Man makes his coolest entrance ever by knocking out two soldiers and stealing their grenades.


Spidey and Tsuda make their escape, but unfortunately it's not gonna be easy, especially since Tsuda gets shot in the leg, requiring that they both hide out for awhile. It's here that Tsuda reveals to the wall crawler why he's putting himself in such danger: Revenge.

A year ago, Tsuda's' wife was killed by Amazoness, who ran his wife over. A scene shown in surprisingly graphic detail by comparison to today, by the way. Without hesitation, Tsuda began to hunt Amazoness down, abandoning his son, Hisao, without a word. At first, Tsuda is resigned to die, saying that he feels his mission is now complete since Spider-Man is there to stop Amazoness. Besides, Hisao must surely hate Tsuda after Tsuda left Hisao in the care of Tsuda's' brother, right?

Spider-Man reassures Tsuda though. Saying that Tsuda can't die yet, as not only has Hisao become an accomplished painter, but Hisao is still waiting for his dad to come home. But, with the upcoming flight to America, time is running out. Tsuda takes Spider-Man's' words to heart, and gains the determination to keep on living until he can see his son again.

With that, it's back to the action, which has been great all throughout the episode, by the way. First, pretty much all of Spidey's' powers are on display. There's the typical stuff like wall crawling and web swinging, but did you know that the Toei Spider-Man also has powers such as a healing factor, enhanced hearing, the ability to talk to spiders, x-ray vision, and night vision? The only ones not showcased are the talking to spiders and the night vision.

And besides that, the fights with mooks are well done, the pyrotechnics are exciting, and all around the episode is basically an entire action movie crunched down into 20 minutes. They even have their own "get to the chopper" moment!


Whatever the web-head's' stuntman was paid, it wasn't enough.

Anyway, despite being able to hijack a train, the duo's' escape is cut short by Tank Buffalo, who engages Spider-Man immediately. Things then escalate to, well, I'm sure you can guess.


And man, can I just say how firggen cool Leopardon is? Not only does it(and by extension, Marveller) have a really awesome design, but the show does a really great job at selling just how "super" this super robot really is. The thing is basically invincible! It takes basically no damage in any fight it gets in, and always makes quick work of whatever foe it's facing.

Now while that might sound boring, I wanna highlight a couple things. First, this was THE Toku Super Robot. It was thanks to the success of Leopardon that Sentai would make use of mecha going forward. And second, as the first, its use really highlights just how unique Leopardon is in terms of usage and story philosophy. You see, not only do the quick skirmishes work to really sell just how powerful Leopardon is, but here, in this show, enemies typically only get big when they've essentially already lost, and rather than their giant modes being portrayed as some sort of upgrade, as is the case with alot of modern Sentai/Power Rangers, it is instead portrayed as the villain being on its last legs; Making a desperate attempt at staying in the fight and taking Spider-Man down. Heck, some episodes don't even feature the giant monster fights! I found it really cool to experience, personally.

With the battle won, Spider-Man and Tsuda race to the airport to find Hisao, but as it turns out, they're too late. Hisao's' plane is in the process of taking off, and while Tsuda calls out to his son, Tsuda's' words go unheard, and Hisao's' plane takes off for America.

And then, in scene that is incredibly well done, Tsuda succumbs to his injuries, dying without his son ever knowing anything.


My friends called foul on this ending, but I personally found it to be really well done and a rather poignant way to end the story. This entire episode has been about the dangers of conflict and war, with the way it tears people apart, both physically and emotionally at the forefront. The Iron Cross Army's' war on Earth is affecting tons of people; Not just via taking their physical life away, but tearing apart the connected lives of family and people's' emotions as well. They're a real threat, and both the action of the episode as well as the arc Tsuda has in his obsession with getting revenge for his wife serve to highlight such. Vengeance is indeed a powerful motivator, but if you're not careful, it can very easily consume you, and further separate you from the things that are important in life.

Toei's Spider-Man is alot of things. It's a tale about revenge. It's an action packed superhero show. It's a show which helped shape the very foundation of Super Sentai. And it's a show that hits on what is, to me, the very essence of Spider-Man: A superhuman who is still, very much, human. Sure, there's a handful of fantastical elements, a couple episodes fall flat, and show itself has a solid dose of camp to it, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't totally sucked into it whenever I was watching. I had a great time!

In the end, if you're a fan of Toku, or a fan of Spider-Man(or both!), you should definitely check it out.

I give Japanese Spider-Man an overall rating of 5/6. It's amazing.

One thing I remember is hearing rumours that the Leopardon suit was apparently stolen after a few episodes, hence why it never takes a hit (they had to resort to stock footage). But since I said “rumour”, I’ll explain that another one is that the fights are fairly basic because Toei had no idea how to stage a giant battle. Which doesn’t hold up entirely, given the existence of Giant Robo and Kamen Rider Stronger having had a giant monster as the final boss.

I need to get around to watching this gem.

Thinking about it, given the reputation the show has around the internet, I suppose it is only fair that I share my favorite out of context moment.

https://i.imgur.com/J2JZ32Q.gif

Really, if recent internet history has proven anything, it's that the amount of meme material a live-action Spider-Man generates only demonstrates how much of a legitimate impact they made on people. You can disagree if you want, but I'll just miss the part where that's my problem!

But yeah, this is definitely one of those shows I really need to get around to at some point. It's always felt to me like a series that has a really underappreciated, very genuinely important legacy, and it's cool that lately, it seems like more people are becoming aware of that.

(Also! One of the many half-formed ideas I had for a thread after Kuuga? Watching this show, but writing all the posts about it in the style of Stan Lee narration. But it only took a little bit of further thinking to realize how much work that would actually be to do authentically. For one thing, I'd have to take like a whole history course about 50's/60's pop culture figures and celebrities just to make sure I don't run out of outdated references when I'm making quips. I could only get away with talking about how Takuya ate his Wheaties this morning so many times before I need to change the tune, you know?) :lol

Either way, it really did end up working out for them in the end. Though I will say that if the suit really was stolen, then they atleast put in the effort to recreate Leopardon's' weaponry.

For sure! I highly recommend it!

Not sure if you did it on purpose, but thank you for referencing my favorite Spider-Man movie.

Yeah. The documentary that Disney+ did for the show felt really genuine, and I hope it helped to spread the word on just how great this show actually is.

Not gonna lie, that sounds like an amazing idea. Die's the local comics guy, maybe he could help? Haha. Regardless, I do hope that you check it out one day. Very much worth the time, I feel.

IMO Spider-Man is the greatest and most loved super hero of all time. And Toei's Supaidāman just adds to that lineage.

I love that show! I fondly remember first watching an episode a week in 2009 on the Marvel website :lol

I've been slowly working my way through Toei Spider-Man with the subs on YouTube, and have been impressed over and over again how true Takuya's Spider-Man feels to the spirit of Peter Parker Spider-Man. It's far from being a nameslap for a new market. I've heard Stan Lee himself was a fan, and approved of it as a proper adaptation of Spider-Man too

I like to believe that's because TOEI's Spider-Man takes a lot of inspiration from Kamen Rider too, and that heroic spirit is pretty universal across all these bug-themed superheroes ^_^

Definitely. Toei Spider-Man is a very unique entry in the franchise, but it still grabs at the core of what Spider-Man is about while also adding its own spin and themes to things. Takuya is a great Spider-Man.

Looks like Toei’s Spider-Man is another Toku series I might have to check out somewhere down the line.

When did OG Gridman get added to Shout Factory’s library because I saw it playing on their Twitch channel (Tokushoutsu) while I was browsing through for something to watch?!

A few months ago, give or take. Also on Tubi.

Inexplicably, I started watching GARO, more specifically the first series.

That is an excellent decision. Enjoy.

It was my birthday today, which meant I could pick whatever I wanted to watch at dinner. I picked out the kaiji movie Death Kappa! I have to be honest here people, that was just... godly. Every aspect of it was just... meticulously crafted to be as insane and surreal as possible, just the top tier of parody. I can't even describe this, words fail me. Everyone needs to see this movie.

Happy Birthday!

I need to get around to finishing that series. I enjoyed what little I've seen of it, and was under the assumption they were uploading them on the Official YouTube Channel, but then stopped. I'll get there.

Been curious on that one, and despite what I've heard from some people, so long as I get to see men in goofy costumes stomp on cities and beat the stuffing out of each other, that's all the reason I need to see a movie.

Also:

Attachment 61801

Decided to watch more Garo today and I'm already up to episode 11.

I'm now up to episode 20 of the first Garo series. I think I'm going to finish this series before heading back to watching Kamen Rider Black. I seriously ended up enjoying Garo far more than I thought and I should be able to finish it in a couple of days. I'm also planning to watch Kiba: The Dark Knight Gaiden movie in between episodes 23 and 24.

I'm now down to the final two episodes of the first Garo series (I also watched Kiba: The Dark Knight spin-off movie just yesterday) and it looks like I have another addition to my top favorite Toku series of all time list along with Gridman, Metalder, and at least my (current) top three favorite seasons of Super Sentai and Kamen Rider and possibly Ultraman Tiga as well. Of course, it is subject to change once I watched more Toku shows including a very decent amount of Ultraman seasons, a good chunk of the Kamen Rider franchise, and even some minor smattering of Metal Heroes, etc.

For something different, I decided to re-watch Choujinki Metalder.

Metalder is great. I really should rewatch it myself sometime. It's been forever.

It definitely is. Metalder is effectively one of the only non-Sentai, Rider, or even Ultraman series that's on my top favorite Toku shows of all time list albeit now joined by Gridman and the first season Garo.

Eleven episodes into my re-watch of Metalder and I'm still loving it.

I'm now up to episode 23 of Metalder. Only 16 episodes to go after this.

Currently up to episode 31 of Metalder. I should be able to finish my re-watch of the series sometime this week and continue right where I left off on Kamen Rider Black RX since I'm already at that show's halfway point. I'm also considering to start watching Spielban for the first time very soon.

Currently watching the final two episodes of Choujinki Metalder.

So here I am, with the surprise that I?ve finished not one, but TWO Metal Heroes shows today. So, I?m here to give my two cents on both of them.

The first of the two is Uchuu Keiji Shaider, the finale of the trilogy that went through Gavan and Sharivan. This one will be short, the show is great, it doesn?t really make any real missteps, the plot is interesting, if sparse and it has a fairly great female lead in the form of Annie, who is essentially the real hero of the show (given that she gets the bulk of actions scenes and a surprising amount of focus episodes for a side character). And the plots have some delightfully quirky evil schemes that make the show a hoot to talk about.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...2/IMG_0652.jpg

If the picture isn?t enough of an indication, then the second show I?ve finished is Jukou B-Fighter, a show about insect themed heroes fighting evil, though any similarities you think you can draw with Kamen Rider stop there. The rest of the show is drastically different. Here, the heroes actually draw their power from the insects of planet Earth to fight against the evil Jamahl, who seek to capture the mythical St. Papillia, an immortal butterfly creature who appears when planets are on the verge of death to revive them. While this motive isn?t revealed until episode 40, and the actual final scheme isn?t initiated until episode 46, the show doesn?t really need to have relied on it earlier, given that it provides a few unique plots not just for Metal Heroes (the fact the heroes actually have a ?Morpher?, rather than putting on a suit) but for Toku in general (one episode has Jamahl recruiting humans to serve as mercenaries working for them). And now, we come to my personal highlight of the show.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...4/IMG_0603.jpg

Black Beet. An evil counterpart introduced halfway through when Gaohm (the show?s big bad) realises that ?In order to crush a bug, I need a bug?. Rather than go for the obvious route of making him a monster, they make it clear from the outset that he?s a guy in a suit, similar to the B-Fighters. The mystery around who is actually in the suit, while fairly obvious based on both contextual clues (one of the longhorn beetles that create him bites Takuya and any pain that his unmasked alias Shadow feels is felt by Takuya and vice versa), it ultimately does have a satisfying payoff, as it is he that finally brings St. Papillia to Earth, it is he that figures out Gaohm?s real intentions and true personality (while Jera also works it out, Gigaro never does and Schwartz goes crazy and stops caring). And notably, he sets up an emotional crisis for Takuya that isn?t simply resolved at the end of the episode, and instead takes up a fairly lengthy arc. And notably, in spite of his name, he ends up being the lighter shade of black to Gaohm, who isn?t made sympathetic despite the two having the same motives. It?s even Black Beet who serves as the final boss? of the main story. As for the actual show?

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...4/IMG_0686.jpg

The last two episodes are essentially a two-parter that?s comparatively lower stakes (whereas Gaohm seeks to cause extinction of all life on Earth, this two-parter?s villain simply seeks to be a Goddess of Evil) and features a team up with the previous two seasons, Janperson and Blue SWAT. The show manages to make a stable dynamic between all three shows and gives the big bads from said previous shows (Bill Goldy and Queen) a fairly decent threat level. Though as said earlier, it?s not connected to the main plot, and Jun?ichi Miyashita (the head writer) had nothing to do with it, the plot instead being handled by a minor writer by the name of Yasuko Kobayashi (gee, I wonder what happened to her). While many familiar with her later body of work assume she was the head writer, the truth is she only wrote one filler episode near the start of the show (about a robot who threatens to explode if he isn?t given what he wants).

So overall, both shows are definitely worth your time and high on my list. I?d give Shaider a 7/10 and B-Fighter a 9/10.

As someone who is about to start watching B-Fighter I was curious about how B-Fighter Kabuto relates to it.
Is Kabuto a sister series or a straight up sequel?

It’s a sequel.