Boomer rants about Tokusatsu
2023-03-08
As much as I tried to get into modern tokusatsu, it just ain’t it. Kids these days are eating too much sugar. These are quick thoughts on Kamen Rider and Ultraman, Sentai Rangers are irrelevant and I will not talk about them.
I think Den-O was the tipping point when they really started playing with levelling/transformations, or the general power creep of spectacle. Sure Faiz, the rider that I grew up watching had more gear gimmicks than the previous Heisei predecessors but that's not the focus here. Karen Rider is a TV show first and foremost, and I think the 2000-2005 era was the peak of the franchise in terms of storytelling. Contrary to Ultraman, which I’ll get into later, Kamen Rider’s maturity swinged from cheap B tier action film starting from the OG Showa Riders, leading up right around the first Heisei Riders; Kuuga when it turned gritty, perhaps excessively so considering it being a childrens’ show (there were attempts are gritty adaptations with Amazon, but they were kinda weird idk) which continues onto Den-O. I think it was around here when it started to cheapen its story in subsequent releases. I must defend myself that I'm not an uninformed boomer that sees the 2000s era with rose tinted glasses because I definitely gave opportunity for Gaim to impress me, a relatively new and well received entry but one is lying through their teeth if they said the way the narrative quality is the comparable to the 2000s. There are flashes of that mature nuance, but it's only a shadow of its former self. Take Faiz, a refreshingly competent show that does indulge in gadget gimmicks, is ultimately not afraid of portraying the surprisingly tasteful horrors of the Riders universe. The antagonists and protagonists swindle back and forth between good and evil, and even to the very end it stays obscure. I think the grounded human drama is what edges Karen Riders over Ultraman, which has a different quality to it.
At a quick glance, it’s obvious the series emphasizes merchandise more and more, the visual designs of the riders scream the direction of the franchise (Ex-Aid is a B-Daman-ass warcrime), which Ultraman has difficulty exploiting since their merch revolves around monster plushies whereas Riders have an arsenal of weapons and gear (not to say that Ultraman doesn’t have gear but it’s mostly the supernatural powers and pro wrestling that’s the main appeal). I can give these things a pass, but I cannot excuse how boring the modern formula of riders are, especially when celebrities and comedian cameos start getting involved. That’s how entertainment really cheapens itself. It runs parallel to Ultraman, which hasn’t had the same evolution as Riders but I feel the end result is similar, albeit not as severe.
The charm of classic monsters in Ultraman is the practical design and groundedness, the callback to nature. Take Neronga, it’s not flashy, rather fleshy and ugly, but that makes the monster all the more terrifying and believable despite the fantastical elements of invisibility and electricity. Ultraman always touched on the environmental allegories of human vs nature. But things take a shift, not as distinctly as Kamen Riders, but a gradual emphasis on the “cool” rather than “believable”. The many iterations of classic monsters keep adding motifs too much like a human designed it, not nature. As much as I respect Hideaki Anno, the monster designs in Shin Ultraman was disappointing, especially after Shin Godzilla’s fantastic, debatably best iteration in design within the entire franchise. Ultraman started humbly as a new show that was oddly creepy for a kids movie, not quite self aware and gritty as Karen Rider, but a bizarre otherworldly world that has an essence of an occult film. Look before the series started and looking into Ultra Q, Cicada Humans really have the charm of classic horror films, an uncanny, history-grounded footage-feel. Such weirdness was translated beautifully into Evangelion through an array of homages, but could the same be done with recent sterelized entries in the series? My feelings on Ultraman is mixed, it has strong callbacks to the OG through multi person battles but there’s a limit on how much storytelling can be done with voiceless giant aliens. Ultraman never did try to have that nuanced of a story which is fine, I’m mostly disappointed in the death of such charming monster designs.
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(The hardest pic ever to come out of Ultraman)
The state of Tokusatsu is…whatever. I don’t think it’s terribly offensive other than visual stimulation overload and the usual desperate attempts at bringing in new fans through different avenues of celebrity cameos, and the loss of status as THE show for kids amidst rising popularity in other entertainment like Kimetsu, but it’s mostly franchise fatigue at this point. There’s plenty to tokusatsu to watch, but if I were you, I'd start at Faiz and OG Ultraman, the recent entries arn't worth your time.