What is and isn't Tokusatsu

     Tokusatsu is something that any fan can identify with so much as a look. The problem is, each person tends to identify different things as Tokusatsu. The most glaring of these disagreements regards the American adaptations of Super Sentai and other Japanese Tokusatsu series. A conflict was then created about what qualifies something to be a Tokusatsu and what qualifies something to be a rip off. Surprisingly this is not an easy question to answer. While I don't know if this is the definitive answer I have come up with an answer I am happy with.

     The first place to look would be the strict dictionary definition of Tokusatsu. The Japanese word Tokusatsu (特撮) translates to Special effects. This word actually comes from the phrase "Tokushu Satsuei" (特殊撮影) which means special photography. Other translations of Tokusatsu label it as "special filming". Using these definitions and meanings, Tokusatsu is a filming technique that utilizes special effects and techniques. The problem here is that definition can be a bit too broad. For technical consideration and research this is the the defintion that one should absolutely go with since it is the most accurate. Unfortunately  audiences have made certain parts of Tokusatsu into recognizable tropes. Most now consider Tokusatsu specifically Super Sentai, Kamen Rider and similar forms of media. Public opinion and perception are too impactful to ignore. With this it is strange to note that on the most broad of definitions, Thomas the Tank Engine is a Tokusatsu. I can't tell if that's very wrong of very right, but I digress.

     Oddly enough this argument has some parallels to a similar argument that other fans have. Does Avatar: The Last Airbender qualify as an anime? I decided to look into this debate and found some interesting parallels and a huge part of my answer to the Toku question. The two sides argue as follows: It is an anime due to it's unique style reflecting the anime style or it's not an anime because it is not from Japan. That should sound very familiar if you replace Avatar with Power Rangers. I decided to work around this Toku problem by finding my answer to this anime problem first. 

     Much like Toku not everything is anime. While anime is just a catch-all term for animation from Japan, there is a definitive look and style to anime. One Piece is an anime, but something like Johnny Bravo is not despite them both being animations. Again this drew me to the regional argument. I was tempted to say that anime can only come from Japan. I decided to look a bit deeper and found that anime DOES have a style. This style can and has been replicated around the world. I view the anime style as a style of exaggeration. In anime something is exaggerated to ridiculous proportions. Be it physical feature, plot points, scenarios, something is exaggerated. It is where the the "big anime eyes" trope came from. from there I deduced that Avatar is not an anime on the whole. Some episodes certainly utilize the style, but the show is much too grounded and realistic. Too much care was put into making this show believable in just about every aspect. hardly anything was exaggerated. With that in mind I knew where to go With Tokusatsu

     When I view Tokusatsu as a style, as oppose to a genre, the door closes a bit. The tokusatsu style prioritizes practical special effects with grandiose heroes and monsters. Spefically, Tokusatsu utilizes suitmation over just about every other form of special effect. Unfortunately I ran into a snag not from the shows, but from some movies. There are movies that are regarded as Tokusatsu by fans and, more specifically, the creators that put a huge hole in the style theory. The two most prominent and my eyes are The great Yokai War which uses a plethera of CGI and green screen effects with very little suitmation and Shin Godzilla which uses HEAVY CGI and motion capture techniques. This discouraged me a bit but allowed the door to open up a tad bit. 

     From this point I back-peddled a bit and started to view Tokusatsu as a genre defined by style and not a style or genre specifically. A lot of things started to click. With the existence of darker Tokusatsu movies it made sense to view Tokusatsu as a genre of it's own that can pair with any other genre. It honestly has paired with just about every other genre. Any fan of Japanese Tokusatsu can point out instances of Horror, adventure, comedy, action and romance among other genres and sub-genres within various shows and movies. This became the basic answer for Tokusatu that I am most happy with. Tokusatsu is a genre defined by a style that uses special effects, usually practical effects and suitmation with some CGI workarounds and enhancements. 

     That definition came with one last obstacle. The "not from Japan, not a toku" argument that riddles Tokusatsu forums and discussions. Quite frankly, that is okay to believe but too many people take it very selectively. If Power Rangers is not a Tokusatsu, then neither is Inframan or Kyouruger Brave. One being an original from Hong Kong and the other being a spin-off from Korea. Both of these things are widely considered to be Tokusatsu so the regional card is off the table. This opens the door back up to a lot of things. 

     Much like Godzilla, monster movies from around the world are Tokusatsu because of the style in which they were filmed. Reptilicus and Gorgo can be considered Tokusatsu due to the heavy use of practical effects. This also pulls older monster movies, like King Kong and Beast From 20,000 fathoms into question. I don't consider them Toku since they were made long before the syle had found it's identity, but it is warranted of a discussion. On the flip side of that it does mean that every Godzilla film is not a Tokusatsu. There is not an argument that the Godzilla anime is not a Tokusatsu by any means. This also warrants that Tokusatsu is not tied to a specific franchise but, again, is a genre defined by style.

     Now what most people may not like is, with this definition shows like Power Ranger, VR Troopers, etc ARE Tokusatsu. Not for any astounding reason, rather by adapting the shows and utilizing the same effects they are simply Tokusatsu by proxy lol. Granted in recent years, Power Rangers has been filming their own stuff more and more. The important distinction here is that GENRE DOES NOT DICTATE QUALITY. People are free to not like a lot of the shows from America for their silly behavior. A bad Tokusatsu is still a Tokusatsu. Plus it makes no sense to say Power Rangers is not Tokusatsu and Godzilla: King of the monsters is when the exact same thing, re-filming and cutting certain parts, was done in both FYI.

     Tokusatsu is a medium that people respect but bicker and gripe about so many of the little nuances that it gets tiring. I came up with this answer because it makes the most sense to me. I cannot say this is the strict end all definition for what we should define as Toku. The only thing I think fans should do when discussing this, is keep an open mind about would could be considered Toku. I'm the Kaiju Kidd signing off.

Kamen Rider Zi-O thoughts and predictions

     It seems the Heisei era just does not want to quit! between 2 Heisei generations movies, an upcoming third that was announced and now a new anniversary rider to close out 20  years of Heisei riders. Despite the overload I can't help but be excited for whats to come. Kamen Rider Zi-o is may prove to be an interesting edition to the Kamen Rider Mythos. Without a doubt some interesting things have spawned from the promos and pictures we have so far.
     Kamen Rider Zi-O is a time based Kamen Rider who can harness the power of all of the Legendary Riders that existed in the Heisei era. Every main Rider from Kuuga to Build is on the table. The man in the suit is a young man named Sougo Tokiwa. All we know about him at this juncture is that he is an 18 year old who appears to be the protege of Sento Kiryu (Kamen Rider Build). One description we are given about him states he is "an ambitious young man with dreams of being a king". Forgive the pun, but time will tell exactly how ambitous this character is and how accurate of a description that is of him.
     The design of Zi-O and really all of the characters and forms we have seen are all very unique. I honestly never thought that a watch or a clock was a theme I could get behind aesthetically, but the sleek Rolex design is very cool. I'm not even a fan of the color pink and even those highlights on the suit look cool. The only gripe I have with any of the designs is the belt. I love the design of the belt and the Henshin motion is very simple and unique, but the digital text on the middle just seem a tad distracting to me. I am not too worried about it though. I initially had this problem with Drive, and that turned out to be one of my favorite Riders to date.
     Despite the cool designs, it is strange to consider this series an anniversary series. Not that the series itself is nothing to base its anniversary on, rather because the next Rider series will fall in place for the 50th anniversary of the whole show. Really every series should stand on it's own and all this really proves is that there is going to be a LOT of Kamen Rider crossover movies in the next 2 to 3 years. Though it also raises a possible option for the series after Zi-o.
     One theory I have is that this Rider series will span the course of two years. The main run of Zi-O will of course focus on the Heisei Riders and next year we could expand to focus on all of the other Riders in this vast mythos. We could even get a focus on the other Rider, Kamen Rider Geiz. There have been rumors of the series running out of steam so this could be a good opportunity to focus on anniversaries and things that are already there while also taking that little extra time to think up some great riders for the future. Either way I am sure the older Riders will make an appearance alongside Zi-O, be that in the form of a movie or a continuing series.
     It is also fun to play around with the role of Decade in this series. Decade was another anniversary Rider and could well be at odds with Zi-O. What if Narutaki returns and tries to ally with Zi-O to stop Decade or even turn against Zi-O as the real threat. Truth is it is hard to make predictions about this show since it carries so many possibilities and we don't know to what extent it will be influenced by past characters and how many will even show up.
     I am wholly excited to watch this series and see where it goes. The designs are original and the story looks like it could be off the wall crazy. Maybe this will be the season when we finally get some resolution with Ankh and Eiji? Who knows! Either way, this is the Kaiju Kidd, timing out.

Some Ramblings About Subtitles

 

 (found this from a Deviantart user named Dopepope and had to use it. Check him out)

     As someone who enjoys watching Tokusatsu I tend to look at subtitles a lot. It's even gotten to a point where it's hard for me to watch some dubbed media. With that, I started finding little things here and there that bug me when used or misused in subtitles. Now I am not a translator and do not have a tight grasp on the Japanese language. The people who make these subtitles have a tough job that I don't know if I could ever do. Even then, I still see things that bug me or just feel a tad sloppy. I started thinking about what bugs me the most in subtitles and I came up with 3 rules that I honestly believe should be taken into consideration when making subtitles.

1) There are certain things that should not be translated (names, titles, sound effects and made up words)

     While not the thing that bugs me the most, I do see this broken more often than not. I simply don't understand why people insist on say, Dinosaur Squad Abaranger when the show is called Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger. There is no reason to change the name of a show when the show never refers to itself by that translation. I understand the argument for this being that it is easier to understand for newcomers who don't speak Japanese. Again, the problem is show never refers to itself like that. In Japan they refer to American shows and movies by their American name. Japanese citizens went to go see Pacific Rim, not Taiheiyō En or Kantaiheiyō chiiki or whatever the translation is. We should treat their shows with the same respect.
     The same goes for made up words. If the word is meant to convey a sound effect or was made up, there is nothing there to translate. Just convey the word to the audience. One of the most prominent examples that has been on my mind is the word Gaburincho. The word is not a real word. It derives meaning from Japanese and Latin roots to roughly mean "to bite strongly". That translation was never used for Gaburincho. One that was used was even more confusing. I recall seeing people translating it to "Chompa Chomp". I wish I could provide a screenshot of what I saw, and I sincerely hope I am remembering it wrong. Either way, there is not reason to translate fake words. Especially if those words are translated into fake meanings.

2) Even if a word's meaning is widely known (baka, sempai, etc) translating is still necessary

     I'll admit this is more of a way for me to say I forgive certain slip ups. I have seen people translate baka to idiot and people leave it as "Baka!". The more I think about it, it is because I pretty much know what these words mean by default. I still say those words should be translated. The outliers that I am less forgiving of, kind of relate back to the first rule. Honorifics should be translated. Most people don't know the subtle differences between all of the honorifics in Japan so it is only reasonable for a subtitle to say things like "big sister", "little brother" or "grandma" instead of the traditional honorifics. One shortcut people use is to use the word in the subtitles then display the meaning somewhere on the screen, which only really creates clutter. Either way, these honorifics do fall into sort of a gray area since most people who watch Tokusatsu and anime tend to already know what they mean or can tell given certain context clues. I just believe as a good rule of thumb, they should be translated.

3) Only Translate, try to interpret as little as possible

     While this sounds counter-productive I truly believe that the words and actions of characters should be enough to carry a scene forward. A translator should not ever try to convey what they think the meaning of a scene is. A translator should simply translate what is being said with as little interpretation as possible. This rule is rarely broken and, as I understand it, is an ironclad rule of being a translator. This is a great thing but there are little slip ups now and again that I can't help but notice. The most glaring kind of covers all three of the rules. When somebody uses an honorific, or calls them Senpai or something else, DO NOT TRANSLATE TO THE PERSON'S NAME. I see this way way way too much and it makes no sense. I am putting a picture of the first episode of Dairanger to the right. The girl is calling out "Oniichan" after being dragged away but the translation displays "Ryou" being the characters name. By this early in the show we know who Ryou is, we know from Ryou who Yumi is, so why shouldn't we also try to establish some sort of chracter connection? The show seems to be trying to do that. When Yumi shouts "Ryou" mulitiple times I know this person means something to her. When Yumi shouts "Oniichan" I start to understand how he is important to her, if that makes any sense.

     Admittedly all of these are small gripes and pet peeves and maybe I am overthinking a lot of these. Some of these things may not bug most people and that is fine. This was really just a way for me to gripe about what I think subtitles should be doing. Either way, I will continue to enjoy these shows and most people should too. Try not to be like me and let little subtitle quirks bug you so much. This is the Kaiju Kidd signing off.