TTS - Book I: Personal History

Puddle Jumper presents:

The Tokusatsu Saga

Book I

Personal History

As you may have guessed from the video above, my personal history with Tokusatsu began like it began for many of us in the Western nations. Namely, with the Mighty Morphing Power Rangers. More on this in another blog, but for right now, I’d like to talk about my journey through these awesome series.

Now, Power Rangers was my favorite show of all times back in the day. And for good reason too. I mean, it was the only show quite like it where I was from. The show was awesome and I got a lot of stuff from it. At one point I had the Megazord, Saba, the Red Ranger and a few other things. Unfortunately I’m no longer in the possession of a lot of those things seeing as my mother had the tendency to throw toys out whenever she felt I got too old for them. To this day I regret not standing up to her in keeping the Megazord and Saba. At any rate, not only was I a collector of their toys, I also had costumes made for occasions. For carnival I went as the Red Mighty Morphing Ranger and for Power Rangers Live I went as the White Ninja from the first Power Rangers movie. (Which I then later wore for another carnival.)

Along the way, I was lucky enough to see some other Americanization hit my TV stations like VR Troopers and my second favorite Americanization: Beetleborgs.

I actually don’t remember anything about VR Troopers, even though I had my mom tape every single episode. No, seriously, the cupboard was filled with em. Aaaaah, good times. Good times.

Anyhoo, Beetleborgs is where it was at for me. It was a lighter and more kid oriented version of the Power Rangers. (The Beetleborgs being played by kids had that effect. Plus, Zedd was a scary motherfucker when I was a kid.)

As far as merchandise when for these two series, I didn’t really get anything. Except maybe a Beetleborg as a toy. I don’t recall ever owning one, yet somehow I get the feeling I did. Annoying … At any rate, Beetleborgs stopped after Metallix and VR Troopers was quickly pulled off the air as well. But the Power Rangers went on.

Following every season like it was as vital as pushing the button in LOST, I found myself becoming less and less interested in the series after the Mighty Morphing era. Zeo was alright, but all the time I was hoping that reruns would come of the earlier seasons. The Turbo movie didn’t make a lick of sense considering what the Zeo powers were and after they blatantly switched teams and mentors after the first episodes of the season, I just said fuck it and only watched it when I felt like it. Still, that was a lot. I was growing up, it became less interesting and more stupid. But then I watched the Turbo final and I’ll be damned was that shocking to see. It has happened before, but now it was for real … the Command Center was gone and the Zordon Power Rangers were defeated. Because of this, I was back in to it … unfortunately it was all over by then. I knew that In Space was coming because they said so in the final, but my country isn’t exactly big on advertising this stuff. So, imagine my surprise when a few months later I stumble upon the SECOND EPISODE OF IN SPACE. Disappointed, I still held true to my fandom and continued to watch.

After the Zordon Era, I stopped watched Power Rangers because, well, I had grown up. Sure, I still watched the occasional episode here and there but it really didn’t interest me. That is, until Ninja Storm came along. This season alone has managed to hook me in the series once more, for good ol’ times sake. And without a doubt, it was as good as the Zordon Era and maybe even better than some of the seasons in that era. Alas, after that, I returned to the occasional episodes.

Ah yes, The History of Power Rangers by Lewis Lovhaug, AKA: Linkara. This is what sparked my interest once more in the Power Rangers series. After a couple episodes of Linkara’s History of Power Rangers, I found myself wanting to watch the earlier seasons again. Or at least some of the episodes. After doing so, my interest was also sparked for the Sentai Series on which this was based. You see, I always wanted to see one of these seasons and so … well, I did. After checking synopsizes on Wikipedia, I ended up at one Sentai in particular.

Samurai Sentai Shinkenger was the one I ended up with. And by god almighty did I find this to be the most awesome thing I had seen in a long, long while. More on this series in a few moments and in a later blog, but for now I want to continue on with Sentai series. So, after this series I watched Engine Sentai Go-Onger, which I didn’t really like but it was necessary for me to watch to the crossover movie with Shinkenger. After that it was Choujin Sentai Jetman, which was okay considering it’s age. I guess to me it was just a bit too outdated. Which then in turn brought me to Juken Sentai Gekiranger, one of the best sentai series out there I am sure. My god, this was absolutely amazing at how deep and emotional this story can get.

After all that, I think it was safe to say that I was a real Sentai fan. I knew that it was a show meant for kids and for teens, but it was still pretty good. The fighting was great, the story could get deep and it’s superheroes in flashy costumes kicking the shit out of guys in rubber suits, what’s not to like?

Now, in Sentai series it’s a custom to have a crossover event with another team, mostly from the previous season. However, Shinkenger pulled a good one on me as it crossed over with Kamen Rider Decade. Of course, the episodes in Shinkenger weren’t exactly epic or something, which lead me to go and watch these episodes on Decade. And guess what, I became a Kamen Rider fan. Seriously, after I watched the Shinkenger/Go-Onger movie, I immediately went over to Kamen Rider Decade. Definitely geared towards an older audience, Decade was AWESOME. There is no other word for it. Curious to know if every season was like it, I wanted to see more and so I saw the early episodes of Kuuga. Though not all episodes were available, I still liked what I saw. Somewhere between that I also watched the latest Americanization of Kamen Rider Ryuki, named Kamen Rider Dragon Knight. Whilst it’s nowhere near as good as the KR series, it’s still passable.

Which brings me to today where I am here sitting to try and tell you my history with Tokusatsu.

What is Tokusatsu you ask? Well, it’s a term for Japanese superhero series with a lot of special effects.

Coming up next: Book II - Puddle Jumper Reviews: The Power Rangers