How would a toku isekai series work?
 

Hello everyone. It's your resident Gashat freak.

Between hours of studying, playing Mario Kart 8 and generally just being bored of quarantine, I turned my attention to what is possibly one of the most popular and made-fun-of genres in the Japanese otaku industry: the isekai genre. After hours of diving into isekai series (spoilers: you read one you can pretty much guess what will happen to most other series), I had an epiphany:

Why on earth does tokusatsu not have an isekai series?

I mean, we already have everything else: mecha, monsters, horror, superheroes, romance, etc.

So what do you guys think? How would an isekai series work within the tokusatsu genre?

Does Ryuki count? :D

I imagine it would work exactly like Garo Versus Road.

I think the big challenge to a toku isekai would be the costume and locations. Like, for something in the real world (or close enough to it), you can just dress the characters in actual clothes and film in real places, but the further removed from that you get, the more you have to spend on creating fantasy costumes and either building fantasy sets or finding locations that look like the fantasy world (or probably a mix of both).

It's definitely still possible, but because isekai is so oversaturated right now and has such a stigma of being derivative wish-fulfillment trash, I can understand why toku producers would be reluctant to sink time, money and work into a series that could easily flop.

Oh, but it's still a cool idea to think about! I don't mean to discourage anyone, I was just trying to answer the "why hasn't this happened yet?" question.

Personally isekai has wasted potential. Most of the time it's a predictable formula:

1.)A person (usually a guy) gets reincarnated by being summoned or hit by a truck. They are usually reincarnated into some sort of fantasy medieval Europe-esque world with Japanese elements in it.

2.)Told they are destined to fight an evil demon king or something. Or they go on a quest or adventure and along the way create modern-day items that will wow the pants off people around them.

3.)Get awesome powers. Sometimes its too awesome and they become too OP.

4.)Form a harem or pseudo-harem (this happens way too often)

5.)Get discriminated by rich assholes only to screw them over later.

5.)The story never ends. Until it actually ends.

Although there have been clever twists, I do believe the isekai genre for the most part (not as a whole, there are redeeming series) is still wasted potential.

Actually, part of my reason of taking up a writing course in university is to try and virtually reinvent the isekai genre.

Makes sense. Japan has some tough-ass filming license laws.

My question is are we dropping a tokusatsu hero into a new world or are we just dropping our normal everyday protagonist into a tokusatsu world and seeing them react?

Anything you wish, I guess?
I dunno, this is just an experimental thought.

Having a Kamen Rider or the like in a fantasy setting would be interesting especially if it was a Showa era cyborg instead of the person who happens to have the belt. Might worth it just to see a dragon get Rider Kicked.

Or go the other way, drop in protag, make them the primary rider and then go for a reconstruction of certain Kamen Rider trends.

Toei would probably be so hyped if you gave them an excuse to film an entire series on the Edo set.

The issue with this would be that for a variety of reasons, most Toku series are set in urban locations. Even some of the more fantastical ones that try something different like Magiranger or Hibiki or Kyuranger end up sticking to modern Tokyo for at least a very large chunk of it.

Though the funny thing is, this also means that 'Isekai' type situations do happen a fair bit -- in movies. There's countless Rider and Sentai movies that have our heroes transported to an alternate universe for a jaunt, and I think it's in those you could really see the potential for this type of story.

I do agree with you saying that toku has dabbled a bit in the isekai concept in the past.

The thing is though that isekai means 'different world'. It's just that there's been too many isekais taking place in a medieval Europe-like location or fantasy land. There's no rule stating that an isekai series has to take place in a similar location like that. Hell, I found an isekai series where a guy got reincarnated into some sort of sci-fi space age realm! (I forgot the name of it.) There's no rule saying that isekai can't take place within an urban-like realm.

This is why I say that the isekai is wasting its potential.

It has happened. It literally started airing last week.

Something I just thought of, after reading the wiki page for "Isekai" (I'm not much of an anime fan, boo me if you want) is that you could probably get a good Rider series out of a reverse-Isekai. Have our main Rider pulled forwards in time at the moment of his victory against some evil foe, to the modern day, where it's making a resurgence, or maybe some new foe is striking again, or maybe someone wants to revive the past. Have his prerequisite group of friends be the only people who believe he's really the hero of legend (who the world thinks died fighting years ago, only, ya know, to come back in their hour of need). Have the secondary be someone who inherited his power - a descendent, maybe, which pens up tonne of rider-level angst about him leaving everyone he knew in the past, or maybe the hope he'll oen day be able to return. Antagonist Rider who shows up in Quarter 2? Uses a modern upgrade of whatever gives our hero his power, obviously proclaiming it to be better despite how lame Bandai makes the toy compared to the main belt.

What's the main theme, you may ask? Tradition vs Modernity. What traditions should we keep, what needs to go for society to move on, do we even need traditions anymore, how much should we look to the past for guidance, versus what should we strive to move onto. Can our "naive" main Rider survive in a modern world, painted in shades of grey? (Of course they can). Can their totally-not-Kotaro-Nogami descendent secondary Rider learn that their past can help them, and isn't to be ashamed of?

All I need is for Bandai to ask me to right in 20 different merch plugs and I've basically got a series plan for them.

I'm surprised an Iseaki theme Kamen Rider or Sentai show has not happen given how popular the genre is. I think a digital world type of setting would be cool.

This. Versus Road has some cool visuals, but right now the plot about is as bog standard Isekai as it gets.

Thank you, Google, for allowing me to understand what the hell an isekai is :lol

I wondered if Digimon counted as that type of thing! TBH the first episode of Zyuohger did remind me of the original Digimon, but then the rest of the show took place in the human world so that probably doesn't count. It would probably be easier to do in Kamen Rider than Sentai due to Sentai generally having to take place in modern-day Japan. I would like a full time travel sentai but it's unlikely for the same reason.

I agree, it would make more sense if they receive powers from a science fantasy world than send someone there.

Isn't Kamen Rider Decade basically an Iseki series?

Not really. In a standard isekai the "world is a video game" elements are a major part of the world-building. Ex-Aid would probably be the closest, but it only used the game format to transition to stock filming locations, not as the main setting.

- Switchblade, who doesn't watch - or even especially like - anime, yet knows way too much about the isekai genre.

What about truck-kun and the reincarnation type isekais?

That does sound really cool! Almost like if Chaser or Ankh or one of the other characters who were there at the start of their season's conflict was the main Rider instead of a supporting character. There's an idea I've been toying with for a while, I call it Kamen Rider Stone, that's kinda like that with the main Rider being a warrior from an ancient civilization.

You could also use a similar idea for a 'normal' isekai, with a Rider from the present getting sent to a future where their enemy is either rising again or has already conquered the world, kinda like Samurai Jack. I know Zi-O did some episodes where they went to bad futures, but that's a concept you could hang a whole series on.

Random Idea for Kamen Rider Stone there are riders named Bronze and Iron for the other ages and possibly Industrial and Digital.

It would be interesting to have one where the suits were connected to the new world somehow.

Imagine a Kamen Rider isekai where the new world is a post-apocalyptic Earth that isn't hospitable to humans (outside of special safe zones with artificial atmospheres or something), the hero is someone preserved from the modern day and awakened by survivors, and their Rider system was originally developed as advanced protective gear, with the different forms being a way to adapt to different environments. Oh, and maybe the monsters are animals or humans that were mutated by going outside the safe zones without protection.

The main theme could be balancing cynicism and idealism: You need to acknowledge how harsh the world is now, while still believing that a better future is worth fighting for.

Is more likely to have a isekai-like tokusatsu in US than in Japan.

An American who fantasize about being Japanese. Boom :P

Why not ? there's many fantasy tv shows setting into a fantastical world.

Opening the door to some extreme uses of Engrish I feel

Maybe they could receive the powers from a isekai-like planet.

It's always bothered how much isekai writers insist on sticking to a fantasy setting- AND NOTHING ELSE

I can't be the only one that genuinely wants to see a sci-fi isekai

They do exist. I just forgot the names of those.

Yeah, especially because a significant number of isekai involve the protagonist not just going to a fantasy world, but specifically the world of a video game, so it's odd that they haven't at explored other common game genres at the minimum. The closest I can think of to scifi isekai are Dr. Stone, Futurama and parts of TRON, all of which technically fit but don't really feel like what you'd expect from a scifi isekai. Mmmaybe you could say Knights & Magic is one too since it has mecha, but the rest of the world is fantasy themed so personally I wouldn't count it.

Exactly! Though mecha in in a fantasy setting isnt anything new- escaflowne and rayearth come to mind (and surprise they're also isekai)

The closest examples of sci-fi isekai I could find were these anime:
1. Re:creators- though that falls more into a science fantasy reverse isekai (though now that that I think about it- they never did explain how characters were getting pulled into the real world
2. Revisions- though that was more of a time travel alternate future story
3. I guess the original digimon adventure kinda counts?