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is a Japanese term for [[live-action]] films or television programs that make heavy use of practical [[special effect]]s. Credited to special effects director [[Eiji Tsuburaya]], ''tokusatsu'' mainly refers to science fiction, [[superhero|Superhero film]], [[fantasy|fantasy film]], or [[horror|Horror film]] media featuring such technology but is also occasionally dubbed a genre itself. Its contemporary use originated in the Japanese mass media around 1958 to explain special effects in an easy-to-understand manner and was popularized during the "" (1966–1968). Prior to the monster boom, it was known in Japan as or shortened .
Subgenres of include kaiju such as the Godzilla and Gamera series; superhero such as the Kamen Rider and Metal Hero series; Kyodai Hero like Ultra Series and Denkou Choujin Gridman; and mecha like Giant Robo and Super Robot Red Baron. Some television programs combine several of these subgenres, for example, the Super Sentai series.
Tokusatsu is one of the most popular forms of Japanese entertainment, but only a small proportion of tokusatsu films and television programs are widely known outside of Japan. Nevertheless, certain properties have attained popularity outside of Japan; for example, Godzilla has featured in popular American-made movies.
has origins in early [[Japanese theater]], specifically in [[kabuki]] (with its action and fight scenes) and in , which utilized some of the earliest forms of special effects, specifically [[puppetry]]. Japanese cinema pioneer Shōzō Makino is credited as the founding father of ''tokusatsu'' techniques, having directed several ''[[jidaigeki]]'' films starring [[Matsunosuke Onoe]] that featured [[special effect]]s. Makino's effects work inspired filmmaker Yoshirō Edamasa to employ such technology in his own movies, notably ''Journey to the West'' (1917) and ''The Great Buddha Arrival'' (1934).
Godzilla kickstarted the genre in Japan, creating the "Monster Boom", which remained extremely popular for several decades, with characters such as the aforementioned Godzilla, Gamera and King Ghidorah leading the market. However, in 1957 Shintoho produced the first film serial featuring the superhero character Super Giant, signaling a shift in popularity that favored masked heroes over giant monsters called the "Henshin Boom" started by Kamen Rider in 1971, though giant monsters, aliens and humanoid creatures dubbed remained an integral part of the genre. Along with the anime Astro Boy, the Super Giant serials had a profound effect on the world of . The following year, Moonlight Mask premiered, the first of numerous televised superhero dramas that would make up one of the most popular subgenres. Japan Pop!: Inside the World of Japanese Popular Culture, p. 262 Created by Kōhan Kawauchi, he followed up its success with the superhero shows Seven Color Mask (1959) and Messenger of Allah (1960), both starring a young Sonny Chiba.
These original productions preceded the first color-television series, Ambassador Magma and Ultraman, which heralded the Kyodai Hero subgenre, wherein a regular-sized protagonist grows to larger proportions to fight equally large monsters.Porter, Hal. The Actors: an image of the new Japan, pg. 168 Popular superhero shows in the 1970s included Kamen Rider (1971), Warrior of Love Rainbowman (1972), Super Sentai (1975, trademarked in 1979) and Spider-Man (1978).
productions primarily feature supervillains as their central character. This includes films such as ''The Invisible Avenger'', ''[[Half Human]]'', ''[[The H-Man]]'', ''The Secret of the Telegian'', and ''The Human Vapor''.
Toei Company has several series that fall under their Toei Superheroes category of programming, starting in 1958 with the film series, Moonlight Mask. Then, they produced several other long-running series, starting with Shotaro Ishinomori's Kamen Rider in 1971, the Super Sentai series in 1975, the Metal Hero Series in 1982, and the Toei Fushigi Comedy Series in 1981. Toei also produced several other television series based on Ishinomori's works, including Android Kikaider and Kikaider 01, Robot Detective, Inazuman and Inazuman Flash, and Kaiketsu Zubat. Toei was also involved in the Spider-Man television series, which influenced their subsequent Super Sentai series. In 2003, TV Asahi began broadcasting the Super Sentai and Kamen Rider series in a one-hour block airing each week known as Super Hero Time. Toho, the creators of Godzilla, also had their hands in creating the Chouseishin Series of programs from 2003 to 2006 and the Zone Fighter franchise.
In 2006, Keita Amemiya's Garo, a mature late-night tokusatsu drama, was released, starting a franchise composed of several television series and films. Other mature late-night series followed, including a revival of Lion-Maru in Lion-Maru G, the Daimajin Kanon television series (based on the Daimajin film series), and Shougeki Gouraigan!! (also created by Amemiya).
techniques have spread outside Japan due to the popularity of ''Godzilla'' films.
In 2002, 4Kids Entertainment bought the rights to Ultraman Tiga, but simply produced a dub of the Japanese footage, broadcast on the FoxBox. And in 2009, Adness Entertainment took 2002's Kamen Rider Ryuki and turned it into , which began broadcast on The CW4Kids in 2009. It won the first Daytime Emmy for "Outstanding Stunt Coordination" for its original scenes.
In 2023, GMA Network released , an adaptation of the original Voltes V, which has used special effects and CGI heavily reminiscent of those found in traditional tokusatsu shows, with some western influences added. In 2006, YTV Monster Warriors used CGI for the monsters with humor in the show.
Concurrent with their work on Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad, DIC attempted an original concept based on the popularity of Power Rangers in 1994's Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters from Beverly Hills. In 1998, a video from an attempted Power Rangers-styled adaptation of Sailor Moon surfaced, combining original footage of American actresses with original animated sequences. Saban also attempted to make their own unique series entitled Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog, set in medieval Ireland and featured four, later five knights who transform using the power of the elements (for the most part) at they protected their kingdom from evil. Saban had also produced the live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series , which was known in the turtles' fandom for introducing a female turtle exclusive to that series called Venus de Milo and eliminating the fact that the other turtles were brothers. The show mostly featured actors in costumes, but featured similar choreographed fights like other shows. Also, like other Tokusatsu Productions, the Syndicated Big Wolf on Campus and Nickelodeon's Animorphs are also described as "American Tokusatsu" due to the techniques they employed. Fujiyama Ichiban is a 2013 web series shot in Los Angeles. All the other Tokusatsu shows in YTV's Monster Warriors were shot in Barrie, Ontario, Canada. They used CGI for the monsters.
In the 2000s, production companies in other East Asian countries began producing their own original -inspired television series: Thailand's Sport Ranger and South Korea's Erexion in 2006; the Philippines' (itself a sanctioned spinoff of Toei's Space Sheriff Shaider) in 2007; China's Armor Hero (p=Kǎi Jiǎ Yǒng Shì) in 2008, Battle Strike Team: Giant Saver (p=Jùshén zhàn jí duì) in 2012, Metal Kaiser (p=Wǔ Lóng Qí Jiàn Shì); and Indonesia's Bima Satria Garuda which began in 2013. On July the 1st, 2019, Vietnam's Transform Studio co-operating with Dive Into Eden announced their own original series, Mighty Guardian (Vietnamese: Chiến Thần). The first season in the series is Mighty Guardian: Lost Avian (Vietnamese: Chiến Thần Lạc Hồng), using Vietnamese Mythologies as the main concept.
Steven Spielberg cited Godzilla as an inspiration for Jurassic Park (1993), specifically Godzilla, King of the Monsters! (1956), which he grew up watching. During its production, Spielberg described Godzilla as "the most masterful of all the dinosaur movies because it made you believe it was really happening." Godzilla also influenced the Spielberg film Jaws (1975).
Japanese movies also influenced one of the first video games, Spacewar! (1961), inspiring its science fiction theme. According to the game's programmer Martin Graetz, "we would be off to one of Boston's seedier cinemas to view the latest trash from Toho" as Japanese studios "churned out a steady diet of cinematic junk food of which Rodan and Godzilla are only the best-known examples."
In 2001, Buki X-1 Productions, a French fan-based production company, produced its own series, France Five (now called Shin Kenjushi France Five), a tribute to Toei's long running Super Sentai series. The low-budget television series Kaiju Big Battel directly parodies monster and Kyodai Hero films and series by immersing their own costumed characters in professional wrestling matches among cardboard buildings. In 2006, Mighty Moshin' Emo Rangers premiered on the Internet as a Power Rangers spoof, but was quickly picked up by MTV UK for broadcast. The popularity of tokusatsus in Brazil in the 90s provided many fans in the country who even tried to make indie series, the most notable being Insector Sun (a low-budget tribute to Kamen Rider) and TimerMan.
Peyton Reed, the director of the Ant-Man films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, said that Ant-Man's costume design was influenced by two superheroes, Ultraman and Inframan.
In 2015, Brazilian indie game studio, Behold Studios, developed a Power Ranger and Super Sentai inspired game, Chroma Squad.
Tokusatsu has also had a large influence on western animation. Artist Thomas Perkins has delved into work that makes reference to tokusatsu. This is most notable in the design of the character Way Big from Ben 10, who bears a striking resemblance to Ultraman.
In March 2024, Oxford English Dictionary included the word Tokusatsu as a loanword along with others from Japanese culture.
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