What is Tokusatsu: A Fact Based Definition

[Ladymercury]

9 pages later and I finally realized that the entire purpose of this thread is for MechaGolem to spout his seemingly endless toku knowledge while talking down to other's that don't agree with his encyclopedia of knowledge. If he shoots out a bunch of years and toku titles, eventually people gonna back down and declare his opinion as fact.

I mean, it makes complete sense.

:thumbs:

 

[MechaGolem]

Who said you had to respect it?

o·pin·ion
/əˈpinyən/
Noun
A view or judgment formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge.

Just because you think you have some "factual" definition of what toku is, doesn't make you right. I don't have any delusions that what I think about toku is fact. I just know what I think.

I've talked about it, you just don't agree with what I believe, and that's great that's your choice. But you seem to take personal offense when people don't agree with your "factual" ideas of toku are. Honestly you are starting to get a bit offensive. A few of the things you said in your last post bordered on the dickish. If you want to keep telling people how wrong they are when they think PR is toku, do what makes you happy. I've my myself clear. I don't need to justify my personal beliefs to you no matter how much you tell me I do.

I mean think about it. By the logic you are using here, if I say I hate hamburger then I would need to have some facts to back up why I hate hamburger.

I don't mean to be offensive or dickish in any way. I don't think the desire for facts should be offensive. And saying that something is your opinion only gets you so far.

To run off your hamburger analogy, should someone be allowed to claim hamburger is a kind of poultry just because that's their opinion? I would think not. To say hamburger is poultry is blatantly erroneous under numerous categorical systems. It's in that same vein that I don't see why it should be okay for someone to say that non-Japanese shows like Captain Power are Tokusatsu just because it's their opinion.

Opinions based on nothing more then personal feelings maybe be fine when discussing what flavor of ice cream is best, but other then that I don't see much use in them. Let alone in a discussion about how to classify certain types of media.

Power Rangers, as has been discussed is a unique case. It's best understood as a hybrid production or a faux-Tokusatsu I think due to it's partial Japanese involvement.

 

[MechaGolem]

9 pages later and I finally realized that the entire purpose of this thread is for MechaGolem to spout his seemingly endless toku knowledge while talking down to other's that don't agree with his encyclopedia of knowledge. If he shoots out a bunch of years and toku titles, eventually people gonna back down and declare his opinion as fact.

I mean, it makes complete sense.

:thumbs:

I make no apologies for actually being informed about what I watch.

 

[Ladymercury]

Opinions based on nothing more then personal feelings maybe be fine when discussing what flavor of ice cream is best, but other then that I don't see much use in them. Let alone in a discussion about how to classify certain types of media.

 

[KingRanger]

I don't mean to be offensive or dickish in any way. I don't think the desire for facts should be offensive. And saying that something is your opinion only gets you so far.

To run off your hamburger analogy, should someone be allowed to claim hamburger is a kind of poultry just because that's their opinion? I would think not. To say hamburger is poultry is blatantly erroneous under numerous categorical systems. It's in that same vein that I don't see why it should be okay for someone to say that non-Japanese shows like Captain Power are Tokusatsu just because it's their opinion.

Opinions based on nothing more then personal feelings maybe be fine when discussing what flavor of ice cream is best, but other then that I don't see much use in them. Let alone in a discussion about how to classify certain types of media.

Power Rangers, as has been discussed is a unique case. It's best understood as a hybrid production or a faux-Tokusatsu I think due to it's partial Japanese involvement.

To quote another poster here, your twisting of my hamburger analogy is just asinine. You have proven you are not that dense. To spin it around to suit your needs here is just pretty bad.

Everything here is based on personal feelings. You can quote who ever you want, but you are just quoting the opinions of others. The opinion of a person in Japan about toku, is still just an opinion. Nothing you have said is more than opinion.

You can't have your cake and eat it too. Either PR is toku or it's not. By everything you have said in this thread, the only part of PR that is toku is the sentai footage it uses. The rest of the show, based on your own statements, is not toku nor could it ever be toku of any kind.

And lastely

It's in that same vein that I don't see why it should be okay for someone to say that non-Japanese shows like Captain Power are Tokusatsu just because it's their opinion.

Because they can. Just like you can put up your own opinions and personal beliefs, and those of us that disagree with you can tell you why we can call those shows toku.

 

[MechaGolem]

Not to get overly personal here but with regards to both KingRanger and LadyMercury, as a teacher I imagine you both must be absolutely infuriating in a classroom. I'm glad this conversation is confined to a forum....

...of course if it was a class then at least I could fail you :laugh:

 

[KingRanger]

Not to get overly personal here but with regards to both KingRanger and LadyMercury, as a teacher I imagine you both must be absolutely infuriating in a classroom. I'm glad this conversation is confined to a forum....

...of course if it was a class then at least I could fail you :laugh:

"OH NOES... Some one doesn't agree with me, I guess I better resort to lame analogies about schools and classrooms and then make a really lame joke about school and the people disagreeing with me."

There I fixed what you where trying to say.

 

[MechaGolem]

Considering the grinding halt this discussion had previously come to I decided to leave this thread alone for awhile.

But in an interesting new development that oddly coincides with the last couple comments made it turns out that the Osaka University of the Arts' Picture/Image Department is now offering a course in Tokusatsu run by resident professor and former Toho and Godzilla writer and director Kazuki Omori (Godzilla vs. Biollante, vs. King Ghidorah, vs. Mothra, vs. Destoroyah as well Super Star Fleet Sazer-X the Movie: Fight! Star Soldiers)

According to an article on Sci-Fi Japan by Daisuke Ishizuka, the course defines "Tokusatsu" as "a part of Japanese culture" that involves "traditional live-action special effects" as seen in movies like "Godzilla" and shows like "Ultraman and Super Sentai."

Famed Toho SFX director Koichi Kawakita (Ultraman Ace, Megaloman, Zone Fighter, the Heisei Godzilla and Mothra series, Gunhed, and the Super Star series among others) was invited as a guest lecturer.

Together Prof. Omori and Mr. Kawakita taught students how to build miniature sets, construct model planes and helicopters, make monster and superhero suits, perform pyrotechnics and shoot a traditional Tokusatsu fight scene.

It sounds like an amazing course.

Furthermore I suppose anyone who wishes to debate the exclusive appellation of the term Tokusatsu to those products which are Japanese and involve traditional SFX can take it up with Prof. Omori.

Source: http://www.scifijapan.com/articles/...-teach-tokusatsu-at-osaka-university-of-arts/

 

[Inui Takumi]

The way that you used the quote from that article seems a bit misleading. They define tokusatsu as just "traditional live-action special effects". The part about tokusatsu being a part of Japanese culture wasn't a definition more than it was just an observation of how it has now integrated into the culture. Doesn't mean that other cultures from other parts of the world cannot adapt this traditional style of filmmaking and use that term.

But, I'm fine with letting this topic die down since both sides are sort of set in their ways. Personally, I still don't see the problem with calling non-Japanese projects "tokusatsu" if they fit the bill. But we all have our reasons for why we think the way we do since it is opinion.

 

[Shynilyte]

I still don't see how a word that's not in the dictionary can have a definition that's "fact based".

Unless you look at Japanese dictionaries.