All posts by Aldo The Fox

Tokuzl has the series available to watch.

I am liking it so far, the references to toku are restricted to just Toei shows since they are backing the project, which is mildly disappointing because Ultraman is part of Kenta’s love of Toku in the manga (though the transformation time limit and Spiral Cutter inspired by Ultraseven are intact so they aren’t completely gone). Metal Heroes gets a lot of love, which makes sense since the original source material came out when it was brand new and Katsura-san is still a huge fan.

Black RX gets mentioned as inspiration for the development of Kenta’s Wingman attacks, an alteration to the source material since the manga came out 6 years prior. I constantly pause the episodes looking at all the toys and posters, a good bit catering to the creator’s love for classic 1980s toku while a few others are a nod to director Koichi Sakamoto’s involvement in toku through Power Rangers and Sentai.

Rider does get some shoutouts, especially Kamen Rider 1 since we all know who’s the father of the lead so naturally they had to point that out, not complaining because I got a stupid fanboy grin out of it.

We continue our rundown of the year’s events with Toei. This will be a busy year for the company, since they are priming to bring bits of Kamen Rider to North America and continue the anniversary celebration of Kamen Rider’s 50th birthday and Super Sentai’s 45th ( at least until April in Sentai’s case)

But while it is a long shot, the youngest of the Toei trinity is having milestone as well that may receive a celebration. 2022 is the 40th anniversary of the Metal Heroes and its first series, Space Sheriff Gavan!

But onto the list:

• Donbrothers debuts, the Legend of Momotaro with a Super Sentai twist, in March.

• Kamen Rider Black Sun premieres in Japanese movie theaters

• Delicious Party♡Pretty Cure is the new companion series to the live action Super Hero Time block, and will likely stream on Crunchyroll a week after it premieres.

• Speaking of Magical Girls, Sailor Moon is turning 30 this year on March 7th.

• Futo P.I., the sequel to the beloved Kamen Rider W, gets the animated treatment and will be simulcasting on Funimation this summer.

• Kamen Rider Zero-One gets some serious love in the USA, with a Blu-Ray from Shout! Factory as well as an original comic book series! The media company teased a Blu-Ray of the original 1971 show being possible at SDCC last year if sales are good!

• More limited release stream events from Toei Tokusatsu World of Kamen Rider films

• Home video licensing company Media Blasters surprised everyone by rising from its metaphorical grave and announcing the 1990s Rider movies are coming to Blu-Ray as well as a possible re-release of KR: The First and a first time release of its sequel The Next.

• Teases of the next Kamen Rider in late summer as well as Revice’s summer film, double billed with a Donbrothers summer movie.

• With Toei’s blessing, Sony and Marvel are celebrating Spider-Man’s 60th birthday by calling in all the Spider-People in the two part film event, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. (Yes, [[Takuya Yamashiro|HE]] is in it)

• Another Kamen Rider Movie War/Generations film to close out the year.

• A few V-Cinemas and Hyper Battles, standard stuff.

• Zyuranger celebrates its 30th anniversary, presumably at Power Morphicon (provided it doesn’t get canceled a third time) in August.

• Super Sentai returns to S.H. Figuarts after a seven year hiatus.

• On the American side of things, the Power Rangers are set to battle Godzilla in a crossover comic event!

• Stuff at SDCC? Maybe? *shrugs*

• The Kuuga manga will be published in the US

• Teases of the 47th Super Sentai around Christmas week

• Cutie Honey: The Live will receive a US release, date TBD

That’s about all at the top of my head. What do you think?

Happy New Year!

Here are projects that are going on this year in the world of Tokusatsu.

Once again the house of Ultraman is going strong with a bunch of new stuff.

• Ultraman Decker is coming later in mid summer or early fall after the standard winter clip show (pending announcements)

• Studio Trigger is doing a grand finale to the Gridman Universe project with an anime crossover movie: Gridman X Dynazenon.

• Netflix will bring back Ultraman for season 2 and a Hollywood driven movie is coming to the service (expecting a trailer at SDCC)… that last one we should be very afraid of and pray for if previous attempts by studio executives to understand “Annie May” are any indication of how it will go.

• Marvel continues its partnership with Tsuburaya in comics.

• More DVD/Blu-Rays of Ultra shows and movies from Mill Creek for fans to enjoy in North America and for those with a region free disc player.

• The launch of Bandai’s Dynaction toyline starts with Shin Ultraman

• Speaking of which, Shin Ultraman (Finally) debuts in theaters

• Kaiju Decode premieres

• Ultraman Trigger: Episode Z hits theaters March 18th

• Ultraman Geed gets a comic spin off drawn by artist Gurihiru (Superman Smashes the Klan)

• In 2023, Tsubucon will be held during the holidays, hopefully at a public venue once COVID is eradicated from Japan.

This starting year is still has COVID misery but hopefully we can finally get it under control with the vaccines and anti-viral pills. Japan is 80% vaccinated so they should be good by the middle of the year or late fall. The rest of the world is still an uncertainty.

Aside from that, we have a few anniversaries this year. Mazinger Z, the granddaddy of the piloted mecha Super Robot genre that Super Sentai is part of, is turning 50. The Metal Heroes Series is turning 40, or more specifically Space Sheriff Gavan which debuted in 1982.

Kamen Rider Ryuki and Hurricanger are turning 20 as is Power Rangers Wild Force and the infamous 4kids dub of Ultraman Tiga. Also turning 20 is the kaiju film Godzilla vs. Mothra, so possible anniversary Blu-Ray and some bit of cheer from Toho Films?

An undoubtedly big Sentai anniversary will be the 30th anniversary of Zyuranger, the show that birthed Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, so expect a big to do about it at Power Morphicon if it can be held this year

Upcoming projects will be listed in a second post, but expect a great year ahead…I mean it, the worst is behind us and now we should focus on the future!