lazycoconut
I liked him when he wasn't a god
The grandfather of Fourze!Gentaro was also named Goro, IIRC :laugh:
The Lesser-Known Toku Discussion Thread
- Thread starter Mr G
- Start date
The grandfather of Fourze!Gentaro was also named Goro, IIRC :laugh:
MattComix
Super Moderator
Technically, the first two tokusatsu shows I ever saw were Specterman and Magma Taishi (under the dubbed title "Space Giants"). This was around the same time I was also watching the Gatchaman dub called "Battle of the Planets".
I remember really wanting a whistle that summoned a cool robot family. :redface2:
I remember really wanting a whistle that summoned a cool robot family. :redface2:
Toku Prime
Well-Known Member
The hell did I just watch? :sly:
'Mechanical Violator Hakaider' needs to be seen by more people. I'm sure that fans of Kikaider might cringe at the thought of a film which re-imagines the show's bad guy as an anti-hero in a post-apocalyptic future. But I've seen nothing at all of the Kikaider franchise, so I could ignore all that. It really reminds me of those low-budget 80's Hollywood sci-fi films, like 'Robocop' or 'Escape from New York'. It's incredibly violent, but don't let that put you off. The film has this slightly odd asthetic where any humans that die do so completely bloodlessly yet when machines get injured their internals consist of lots of bright red cables and tubes, giving a gore-like effect without a single drop of blood. If you liked the 90s Kamen Rider films, I'd give this one a go. Heck, Hakaider spends a lot more time on a motorbike than the 90's Riders did.
'Gunhed' is another obscure one that has a certain appeal. It starts out sounding like a rip-off of Terminator and Predator. Then the titular Gunhed (a roughly tank-sized mecha) turns up. :anime:
It's not a toku, but 'Negadon: The Monster from Mars' is a 24 minute anime that's basically a love-letter to daikaiju movies. In this case, it's a "real robot" with nods to some old-school design cues, fighting a giant alien monster. Worth a shot for anyone who loves their giant monster battles.
MattComix
Super Moderator
Lynxara and I saw Hakaider way back when. I enjoyed it actually but like you at that point I knew nothing about Kikaider. Now that I do I more or less think of it as an alt. universe kind of thing. DC's old Elseworlds imprint in toku form. Plus given the theme Keita Amemiya was going for it made sense to flip the roles of Kikaider and Hakaider.
I kind of like Hakaider more than ZO to be honest but ZO is the one out of the 3 Rider movies of the time (Shin, ZO, J) that I thought worked best.
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Shougo B'Stard
Would like to change his avatar
I just recently rewatched Hakaider -- the first time I saw it, I didn't really like it, but I was on an Inoue kick, so I decided to give it another shot...
I still think it feels like an unfinished idea, a half of a movie -- even the extended version, which is the one I watched. It's practically a silent movie -- Hakaider just shows up, rebels get killed, Hakaider kills the bad guys, leaves. Very, very basic for an Inoue script, and not exactly the most visually stylish for Amemiya being in the director's chair. Why didn't they just have this be a new Rider movie instead? Were they just shackled by the whole idea of trying to make Hakaider work as a lead? It's still kind of weird when you think about it.
I still think it feels like an unfinished idea, a half of a movie -- even the extended version, which is the one I watched. It's practically a silent movie -- Hakaider just shows up, rebels get killed, Hakaider kills the bad guys, leaves. Very, very basic for an Inoue script, and not exactly the most visually stylish for Amemiya being in the director's chair. Why didn't they just have this be a new Rider movie instead? Were they just shackled by the whole idea of trying to make Hakaider work as a lead? It's still kind of weird when you think about it.
Bigdog
New Member
I saw a trailer of it on a Golion dvd I got back then, and it turned me off as it felt strange. After seeing the new DREDD 3D , I might give it a go once I get to an obscure series around here: The Daimajin trilogy. When I read the Godzilla Dark Horse comic collection, it had this story that was of a stone idol which came to life, then I saw Daimajin and it clicked. After reading up on it, it seemed like my movie. It had an Edo era feel, with samurai and whatnot, a daikaiju via D, and whatever comes with it. Sort of also reminds me of Pulgasari , a film I still want to see for curiosity's sake.
If it does not have to be Japanese, and just Eastern Asian, grab City Hunter. It's this Korean thriller tv series based on the popular Japanese manga and anime , which was previously adapted into a film with Jackie Chan as the Hunter. Since I have not seen much live action fare aside from low budget toku like Sentai and Rider, it blew me away at how the production values were on par with an American show, and a better story to boot. Too bad there won't be a second season , but I hope that it gets picked up and continued at least. But considering how each episode is an hour long literally, its like watching 45 episodes or at least 30-5 episodes of an American series. I suggest going to viki.com .
I recall Gunhed was developed from a script that was entered for to be the sequel of Godzilla 1984, but heavily reworked. Personally, I wish they made it as the sequel of Biollante instead of King Ghidorah.
lazycoconut
I liked him when he wasn't a god
It included a guy slipping on a banana skin, a dog peeing on somebody, and random people flying out of a TV set :sweat:
The title sounds ominous, but intriguing ...
Toku Prime
Well-Known Member
If you like the 90's Rider films, it's worth a look. It has that same brooding, weird atmosphere, but it doesn't quite reach Shin's level of strangeness (though it certainly tries to).
I found Shin to be the most memorable, though admittedly I got the strong impression that it was initially a werewolf film and they just did a find-replace in Word to change it to grasshoppers and called that the second draft.
It does come across as the bare bones of a Rider film. There's lots of lingering shots of him riding his motorbike. The battle against the other robot towards the end could very easily have been made into another Black Vs Shadow Moon. The philosophy of the film - freedom and self-determination over blind obeyance to the system - could have easily been twisted into a 'Rider vs yet another version of Shocker' story. But I guess either Ishinomori wasn't on board or Toei decided to take a chance on a different franchise to see if it brought bigger returns.
I read that on wikipedia, but I didn't notice anything in the film that seemed like it belonged in a Godzilla film. It's interesting, but outside of the bits with the mecha (which is really a tank with a talking AI to help the pilot control it) it's a sci-fi twist on a haunted house film - running around dark corridors being chased down by a cyborg (not that that's automatically a bad thing - after all, 'Alien' is running around dark corridors being chased down by a xenomorph). There's no big monster for Gunhed to take on.
I keep meaning to get around to them. I watched a few episodes of Daimajin Kanon a while back, and tbh it didn't really do anything for me, but I've since gotten more into samurai and giant monster movies, so I'm hoping the films will be right up my street.
Mr G
Fighting evil makes me thirsty
You guys need to stop what you're doing and get your hands on the Daimajin trilogy. You can pick up all three movies on Blu-ray for $10. They are totally worth it. Daimajin normally doesn't show up until the last fifteen minutes of the movie or so, but, boy, is the wait worth it! Unlike some of the earlier kaiju stuff, Daimajin's special effects are about quality rather than quantity. For its time, and even now IMO, it boasts some awesome effects.
Each movie has a strong story with believable characters. Most plotlines are similar in that some evil, greedy ruler is exploiting innocent people and thumbing his nose at the mountain god, whom the villagers revere but the ruler has no belief in whatsoever. They actually play out very similarly to samurai films...but with a sprinkle of kaiju destruction! My personal favorite of the trio is the second film.
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lazycoconut
I liked him when he wasn't a god
I liked Daimajin Kanon a lot more than I was expecting to. Is it time I got my hands on the trilogy?
