Welcome to Tokusatsu Gesundheit, where we follow long-running franchises into some dark places. Few long-runner installments are darker than 1992’s horror-tinged take on the Kamen Rider franchise, Shin Kamen Rider: Prologue. Plot Rundown Young motorcycle racer Shin Kazamatsuri dreams, in the first person, of brutal murders being carried out by a horrifying grasshopper creature. As…
Welcome to Tokusatsu Gesundheit, where even American monsters are seen through a Japanese lens. Today, in honor of the Halloween season, we’re watching the 1965 Toho/UPA coproduction Frankenstein Conquers The World. Plot Rundown In the waning days of World War II, the still-beating heart of Frankenstein’s Monster is given to the Japanese army by the…
Welcome to Tokusatsu Gesundheit, where practical effects are king and rubber suits work best. Today, we’re watching the 1966 Japanese/American co-production, King Kong Escapes. Plot Rundown When his mining robot, Mechanikong, fails in obtaining the highly radioactive Element X, the evil Dr. Who (no relation) sets his sights on kidnapping the real thing – King…
Welcome to Tokusatsu Gesundheit, where today we’re taking a trip across the Yellow Sea from our usual fare to watch the Chinese Kung-Fu Tokusatsu, Super Inframan! Plot Rundown Demon Princess Elzebub frees herself and her monster army from the core of the Earth after millions of years spent dormant. She delivers humanity an ultimatum –…
Welcome to Tokusatsu Gesundheit, where we’re looking at a slightly different kind of Tokusatsu today. Gatchaman is the big (for Japan) budget adaptation of a classic anime (which was brought over to the U.S.A. as Battle of the Planets (70s), G-Force (80s), and Eagle Riders (90s)), which heavily influenced Super Sentai and as such bears…
Welcome to Tokusatsu Gesundheit, where Shotaro Ishinomori is as respected as Stan The Man. Today’s subject is the gritty movie reboot of one of his classic creations, 2014’s Kikaider Reboot. Plot Rundown Newly orphaned siblings Mitsuko and Masaru Kohmyoji are attacked by the government agency that employed their late father – the ominously named Project:…
Welcome to Tokusatsu Gesundheit, where your author continues to be busier than expected! This week, we’re talking about the Power Rangers season that wasn’t, 2012’s Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters! Plot Rundown Three young heroes are recruited by Japan’s Energy Management Center to be become the Go-Busters, defenders of the wondrous clean energy source Enetron from the…
Welcome to Tokusatsu Gesundheit, where your intrepid author was a bit busier than he expected to be this week. As such, we’re going to discuss the 1961 kaiju classic, Mothra! Plot Rundown A joint Japanese/Rolisican (stand-in for the U.S.A.) expedition to a mysterious island and atomic bomb test site in the South Pacific discovers a…
Welcome to Tokusatsu Gesundheit, where men in rubber suits beat CGI every time! In celebration of this week’s Rifftrax Live: Mothra (Thursday at 8 PM), we’re watching Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (abbreviated as “GMK”). Plot Rundown Godzilla, not seen since 1954, returns from the dead to menace Japan once more!…
Welcome to Tokusatsu Gesundheit, where Eiji Tsuburaya is as esteemed as Ray Harryhausen. Today, we’re talking about Tsuburaya’s second most enduring creation, 1967’s Ultraman! Plot Rundown Science Patrol pilot Shin Hayata’s jet is blown out of the sky by an alien red light while investigating an alien blue light. Luckily for him, that red light…