Are these Toku?
 

Does Voltron? count as a kind of animated Toku? I know it was based on two different anime we botched into one pile of almagimated awesome. But if it does count, then it needs an appreciation thread.

Not only did it introduce american audiances to the Japanese tradition of giant combining mecha, it also introduced alot of us to anime.

And does Sailor Moon count as Toku? They transformed like Toku, they had powers like Toku. So... are they are not?

Hmmm... I wouldn't consider it as Toku, maybe Toku-inspired. mainly because it's:

1. an anime rather than live-action
2. they don't really transform to get into their suits
3. they don't really have hand to hand combat with their villains
4. doesn't really follow the MOTW pattern

Well, Voltron is a Super Robot style anime, I would say. Just one that uses some of the tropes from the Super Sentai. So I guess you could say it was "tokusatsu inspired" as Tamashii says.

Same with Sailor Moon, although that would be more of a "Magical Girl" show than anything else.

What defines tokusatsu is "live action" and "special effects." They certainly have the "special effects," but being animated just sort of nips it in the bud.

According to Wikipedia:

I guess Voltron and Sailor Moon wouldn't count, then. Sailor Moon is likely classified under "Magical Girl", but I guess we could classify it and our Toku shows under the "Henshin Hero" banner.

I agree with ljacone, Voltron is likely Super Robot Anime as well, which Super Sentai overlaps with a bit.

Meh I say xD -waves the Voltron-Toku Banner high anyway-

Over on HJU, there was a argument that determined Magical Girl shows were Toku...

That's one for Sailor Moon!

Says the man who likes Goseiger ;) I kid I kid :D

-flails- And there's nothing wrong with Goseiger either! -huffhuffhuff-

Not sure how anything which is animated can be considered tokusatsu, honestly. It's part and parcel of the genre.

I wasn't a part of it, I just saw parts of the argument :lol

Animated stuff can not be toku. That's just the way it is.

isnt Precure considered Toku by alot of people?

There was a Sailor Moon live-action series. That certainly qualifies as toku, but the anime not so much.

Not that it has anything to do with this thread per se, but that definition is a rather limited one as tokusatsu really encompasses so much more than just super hero programs. In fact I'd say that super heroes make up quite a small part of what is considered tokusatsu.

Being live action is a prerequisite for something to be Tokusatsu. So while the live action Sailor Moon is indeed tokusatsu, any animated incarnation is not.

I think it was over Pre-Cure, actually...

All the same though, Precure is animated and has no live action incarnation, thus it is not Tokusatsu.

The live-action part is kind of important to something being toku. Literally, anyway.

Brave Command Dagwon desperately wanted to be an anime tokusatsu. They even made some ads with real life costumes.

Precure isn't toku, it just has nice fight sequences someitimes that people liken to sentai or Rider.

Anyway no, anime isn't toku.

Japan considers Star Trek Toku though; because, SFX.

The new "Aquabats" thing is definitely very tokusatsu inspired from what I've seen of it, but yeah.

By the same token, Doctor Who is considered tokusatsu for the same reason as Star Trek!

Cartoons =/= Tokusatsu

I wouldn't categorize Doctor Who or Star Trek as toku either. There aren't any "super-hero" elements in it. Doctor Who maybe, but I'd purely leave it as being pure Sci-Fi. Godzilla even is a hero for Earth I'd say.

^ This


Don't confuse "Henshin Heroes" with Tokusatsu. Tokusatsu is ANY live action sci-fi, fantasy or horror film. Animated works can't be Tokusatsu. A good example, Smallville in Japan is labeled as Tokusatsu. Toku is not limited to transforming super heroes. Pick up a NewType: The Live magazine and you'll understand a lot better. :)

You said the magic word. SFX, as in special effects, is exactly what makes tokusatsu tokusatsu.

Yes, and so does Roger Rabbit, MacGyver, and pretty much all superhero films. Heck, even Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends can count.

However, much like the use of the word anime in English, tokusatsu here refers to only Japanese made SFX media, not all of them. And like anime, the lines are blured when we have an American Toku section. That's part of the confusion and getting off topic.

Bottom line, anything that has no live-action can ever be consider Toku.

PS While I do not know what exact genre Sailor Moon, GoLion/Voltron, Gatchman, and Super Sentai (and Precure, I guess. I refuse to watch it) would all fall under, I know it's something team based. However, they all fall under different genres first and only one of them is Toku.

There is no requirement for superhero elements in tokusatsu, though. The first "modern" tokusatsu was Gojira, and there are no superheroics in that film -- only a monster against the military and scientific minds of a nation. The daikaiju eiga didn't have a truly heroic monster until 1962 (King Kong, from King Kong vs Godzilla), although I suppose you could argue for Mothra in 1961 (sympathetic if nothing else).

Moonlight Mask would introduce the superhero aspect of a tokusatsu show in 1957, but the concept didn't really skyrocket until 1966 with Ultraman (itself a followup to the non-superheroic Ultra Q). Kamen Rider, Spiderman, what would eventually become the Super Sentai, the Metal Heroes, and others from various other studios helped create what we generally think of as tokusatsu nowadays, but its not limited to that.

I was on a podcast with several guys once, and I mentioned that while I did not watch much anime I was a big fan of tokusatsu. Another guy on the show asked what that was, and someone immediately said "Oh that's Power Rangers." So when I corrected the guy and explained the whole "live action special effects" aspect, he was dumbfounded. Reminded me of the arguments I used to have back in junior high and high school (which was tantamount to "VR Troopersis not a sentai show!" or "Masked Rider is not a sentai show!"). :)

Eh? I know animated works aren't toku. All I said was the live-action Sailor Moon series is definitely toku.

Yeah your right, didn't mean to confuse you.

Robot, no robot, henshin, no henshin, for boys, for girls or adults only, none of these matters.

Tokusatsu is a filming catergory based on how it is made; it has nothing to do with the content.
It is paralleled to animated show/animation/anime.
Since anime is the "Japanese term for animation", you can understand Tokusatsu as the "Japanese term for live action".

So when there is a title/brand (Rider, Sailor Moon, Transformers etc.), it can be filmed as either animation OR tokusatsu.

Yes, Dagwon is filled with nods to tokusatsu (majorly Ultraman and Sentai). However, toku has a huge cultural influence in Japan, giving these references in an anime isn't a rare thing. It's been done long ago.
They DID make real costumes, for live promotions and commercial shorts
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4GrnPMA_8E
So this commercial short is catergorized as TOKU, while the major TV-series is still delivered as an animation show...

Same case with Skullman(2007), they have the prequel episode done as TOKU, while the rest of the show is animation.

Gah, I stand corrected :D