Japan is a cultural quagmire. 'Repetition' is the word of the day, every day. Except on days when it's 'tradition'. I'm truly surprised by the quote in that post having come from a prominent Japanese content producer. It feels like every time I read a quote from a Japanese creator these days it's stuck in the past.
There is a constant dichotomy being played out in Japanese society in which "tradition" butts heads with "modernity." Japan wants to be the most advance, the most modern, and in many ways the most "western" of all East Asian countries, and yet at the same time they don't want to loose what they feel is their own unique cultural identity which is rooted in their past. So you see this battle constantly playing out where Japan wants to be on the cutting edge of technology and modernity but they also want to keep doing things the traditional way and well, you can't really, so at some point somethings got to give.
In the case of tokusatsu it's usually that push to modernize their SFX which gives. They just say no and cite tradition as a defense. How long they can keep doing that though is a really big question. And as we've seen recently, via that article in the NY Times, it would appear the answer maybe not for much longer.
But this here, this is my real objection to this analysis. Even though it is presented in a scholarly way and provides support from supposed experts in the field...there is no vindication of those experts, and ethos plays very poorly with me. You have deferred your own opinion to somebody else's, and that is no more factual than if you had simply stated an opinion yourself.
Glamador, I appreciate your thoughtful critique of what I've written about in this thread.
Now while there is no definition of tokusatsu in any English dictionary there have been definitions given in other places (essays and books, etc...) that I've cited throughout, many of them Japanese. Also there was a time when you couldn't find the word "anime" in an English dictionary, but now you can. However just because you couldn't didn't mean that the word didn't have a set cultural meaning denoting just animation made in Japan. Tokusatsu seems be to gaining a lot more prominence in America these days - see NY Times article again - and so it's possible that it may soon end up in the dictionary as well.
As for me deferring my own opinion to somebody else's, that is essentially how the hierarchy of knowledge works. You find sources which you deem trustworthy founts of information on subjects you yourself don't know enough about to be an expert on and you adhere to their judgment. Now obviously you need to be shrewd about this and not fall into credulity and when defending your position not give into
argumentum ad auctoritatem. You should also investigate everything for yourself, to the best of your ability, and think critically about what is being said by said experts. If you find evidence to contradict what your sources of information say then you should bring that evidence forward and if it's good evidence and the people you are dealing with are being intellectually honest then the new correct evidence should be accepted with no issue.
I feel that I have been as intellectually responsible as possible in this regard in my attempts to lay down a definition for tokusatsu here.
Also to clarify it's not the fact that members have disagree with me about what tokusatsu is that I find so frustrating but rather that their attitude bespeaks of individuals who have no respect for the process I just described, instead choosing to reduce everything to a state of subjective meaninglessness simply because it allows them to say whatever they want and not be wrong. Or so they think.
But maybe that's just my opinion 
I've seen CGI-laden films (like King Kong or the 90s Godzilla) that look noticeably fake. I've found myself saying to films (just yelling at the screen) "What is this ****? Go back and look at Aliens or something for why animatronics and a little KY jelly can go a long way towards creating real atmosphere!"
That's the thing about striving for realism in effects, it's all about the results. I appreciate older shows like Star Trek and the like for doing a damn good job with what they had and pulling me into the world in spite of the tech at their disposal. I never really get that feeling from toku. It's more like costume and miniature fetishism in practice than really trying to convince the viewer of anything. And if it's a design I like then I'm cool with that.
But really good special effects are the ones that I never notice are there. And like you say a lot of that is how they are used rather than what tech generates them. I went to the old Universal Studios lot tour in California and some of the **** they did with perspective and matte paintings was pretty epic (and convincing!). And **** like the final fight with Phoenix in KR Wizard really piss me off for totally breaking me out of my experience.
Everything here is very good example of what we've been talking about in this thread. You talk about "good" SFX being "convincing" and "striving for realism" and being capable of "pulling you into" the world of the film or show as a result. This is simply indicative of that western "representational" mindset that Donald Ritchie and Erik Davis talk about when it comes to art. You feel that is order for art (cinematic anyway) to be good it needs to be "real" and that that is required for it to be absorbing. But there is nothing about Japanese art that is "real." Anime, manga, noh and kabuki theater, bonsai gardens, etc... as well as tokusatsu all speak of a culture obsessed with stylization over realism.
And I think you are right when you say that tokusatsu is more about "costume and miniature fetishism in practice than really trying to convince the viewer of anything." I don't think the great tokusatsu artists we're ever trying to convince their audiences that they were looking at anything other then really good suits and miniatures, it just wasn't a prerogative for them.
I don't remember if I've mentioned this story before here but there is a famous anecdote that I first heard related by Stan Winston on AMC back in the day about Eiji Tsuburaya and the making of
Frankenstein Conquers the World (65). In that film there is a scene where the kaiju Baragon attacks a farm and knocks over what are clearly a bunch of model horses. It's very "fake" looking. Apparently this caught the attention of some of the folks on Tsuburaya's staff and they approach Eiji to ask why he didn't use a photo composite of real horses (he had the technology to do so) to create something more realistic. Tsuburaya response: "Because using a model horse was more fun!"
And remember that Eiji Tsuburaya has been the example
par excellence of what a tokusatsu artist should be all the way down to today. I think that should tell you everything you need to know about the mindset of the people making these movies and shows.
