Just as a kind of thought experiment, how many of the following would you guys consider to be toku?
Yojimbo
Mary Poppins
The Italian Job
Blues Brothers
Home Alone
ER
The Perfect Storm
Zatōichi (I'm thinking of the 2003 Beat Takeshi film in particular)
A Scanner Darkly
Atop the Fourth Wall
Just as a kind of thought experiment, how many of the following would you guys consider to be toku?
Yojimbo
Mary Poppins
The Italian Job
Blues Brothers
Home Alone
ER
The Perfect Storm
Zatōichi (I'm thinking of the 2003 Beat Takeshi film in particular)
A Scanner Darkly
Atop the Fourth Wall
Well that's the point really. To see whereabouts people stand on that kind of question. I tried to pick examples that could well be argued different ways depending on your view.
For example, Yojimbo is a black and white samurai movie. It's Japanese, it has lots of fighting, it even has a few basic special effects (one character uses a gun, and there a few examples of fake blood). But there are no supernatural elements or examples of technology that shouldn't be present in that time period. The special effects I mentioned are really pretty standard for any genre. So is it a toku film or not?
On the other extreme is Atop the Fourth Wall; a web series that features just about every element you might associate with toku: transformations, magic, futuristic technology, giant robots. Heck, it's even a plot point that the main character has enchanted his Power Rangers toys to make them actually work. But the ongoing storyline is really just a framing device wrapped around the core of the show, which is about humorously reviewing comic books. So is it a toku?
It's just really something that's caught my interest recently. But I suppose it makes a difference to list threads, whether ones like this trying to list every toku ever, or determining what people put on their watch lists.
America
Lost in Space
Smallville
Wonder Woman
MacGyver
Stargate SG-1
Battlestar Galactica
The Greatest American Hero
Knight Rider
Thunderbirds
Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends