If ever you needed to know how influential Hideaki Anno is in Japan, look no further. The creator of Neon Genesis Evangelion and its many reboots has more recently ushered in a new, unprecedented collaboration from some of Japan’s most popular cultural icons. Following the success of Anno and Shinji Higuchi’s Shin Godzilla in 2016, he produced and wrote Shin Ultraman and wrote, produced, and directed Shin Kamen Rider. The three of them, along with EVA Unit 1, the iconic main mech from Evangelion, formed the Shin Japan Heroes Project with Bandai.

Now the most ridiculous mashup you could imagine is here, which we first saw on Gizmodo. All four come together like a Megazord to fight a giant alien threat. Even though, chiefly, three of them are already giant sized and one of them is a tiny dude on a motorcycle. I… I haven’t the words.

That’s right; not only is this weird and silly, it’s also a toy advert. This tells you how much money Japan puts into toy advertisements in 2023. At any rate, seeing Godzilla fold open into a torso is breathtakingly strange. For most of the transformation sequence I was thinking “What is Kamen Rider going to do?” Then the Cyclone (his motorcycle) turns into the mecha’s head, and the man himself sits atop it might some kind of cybernetic Paul Atreides. Delightfully ridiculous.

The toy is a premium Bandai number, which will retail for 23,100 Yen. Don’t mortgage your house; that’s only about $170 US.

Very unlikely we’ll ever see this in a real movie, but it is fun to see. Shin Ultraman played the festival circuit last year and will get a Blu-ray release in North America later this summer. Meanwhile the long-awaited Shin Kamen Rider will play as a one-night-only Fathom Event on May 31. After that? Who knows! So soak in the Anno weirdness whilst you can.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd.

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We had to wait ages to see Shin Ultraman here in the US. After its Japanese cinema release set box office records for the country, director Shinji Higuchi and writer-producer Hideaki Anno’s tribute to Ultraman played the festival circuit before eventually getting a Fathom Event screening nearly a year later. Not so for Anno’s Shin Kamen Rider. After its Japanese debut in March, we only have to wait until the end of May here in the States.

Shin Kamen Rider will make its US debut on Wednesday, May 31, as a national Fathom Events screening. Tickets will go on sale on May 5. This is good news for anyone who likes cool-ass-looking things.

The movie is the third in the Anno-produced Shin (Japanese for “new”) series, which began in 2016 with the award-winning Shin Godzilla. This one is a reimagining of manga writer and artist Shotaro Ishinomori’s Kamen Rider which premiered on Japanese TV in 1971 and has continued in some form or other ever since.

The film stars Sosuke Ikematsu as Takeshi Hongo, a young motorcyclist whose life is turned upside down when he is kidnapped by the Sustainable Happiness Organization with Computational Knowledge Embedded Remodeling (SHOCKER) cult. Newly transformed into a mutant cyborg, Hongo escapes from SHOCKER with help from Ruriko (Minami Hamabe)—vowing to exact his vengeance against the cult and finally put a stop to their sinister plans for global domination. 

Shin Kamen Rider, from writer-director-producer Hideaki Anno (of Neon Genesis Evangelion fame), will premiere on May 31. We cannot wait! For more info, head to Fathom Events.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd.

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Original reporting by Kelly Knox.

The life-sized Gundam replica can move now, and it’s here to stay, at least for a while longer! We, for one, welcome our new mecha overlord. In the past, we told you about the 60-foot-tall Gundam robot in Yokohama, just south of Tokyo, Japan. While the pandemic disrupted the original plans for this incredible attraction to the public, development continued on the mind-blowing mecha. The RX-78-2 Gundam mecha can stand, kneel, turn its head, and point to the sky, and lucky fan Nan-chan caught it on video.

While the massive mecha moves slowly and deliberately, it’s an impressive feat of engineering. When the footage is sped up to four times speed, the robot is nothing short of unbelievable. Not only can it take steps and move its massive body, the fine control of its hands and fingers is astounding.

And if you’re still not impressed, Nan-chan’s other video of the mecha turning its head includes part of the engineering team to give you a sense of scale. As it turns toward them and opens its eyes, mecha fanatics might understandably get goosebumps. It’s mind-blowing.

SoraNews24 reports that while there have been life-sized Gundam models built in Japan before, Gundam Factory Yokohama features the first model that can actually move. The park originally scheduled an October 2020 opening but eventually opened in December 2020. It was slated to close in March 2022. But interest extended its life by a year. And now it will keep it open a while longer. This live-size moving Gundam will remain on display until March 31, 2024.

While this mecha might not be able to take on any kaiju erupting from the Earth’s core quite yet, we’re certainly on our way to making technology that once seemed like only a fantasy into a reality. Let’s just hope the kaiju also move very, very slowly, and we’ll be just fine.

Originally published on September 21, 2020

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When Ultraman first hit Japanese televisions in 1966, it was the biggest thing around. Literally. And for over 55 years, the franchise has been a nigh-perennial installation. But, save for seasonal spinoff films, most fans won’t have seen the giant silver-and-red hero on the big screen. That is, until last year’s Shin Ultraman, from Shin Godzilla director Shinji Higuchi and writer-producer Hideaki Anno. It was a major hit in Asia, and played the festival circuit in the west. I saw it; I loved it. Twice. Now, thanks to Fathom Events, fans in the United States will get to see the movie across the country.

And to celebrate the movie—which will screen subtitled on January 11 and dubbed on January 12—Fathom has given us an exclusive clip of the first three minutes of the movie. If you don’t think you’d get much kaiju action that early on, you are very wrong.

I love the first three minutes of this movie. It perfectly sets up everything you need to know, while at the same time giving existing fans a fun reference. You see, prior to Ultraman, Tsuburaya Productions had a show called Ultra Q which was about three humans investigating various monsters and supernatural occurrences. It’s a great show. The jaunty music we hear in the opening of the above clip is the Ultra Q theme, and the monsters we see, like Gomess and Peguila, all debuted in that series.

From there we learn that, to battle these kaiju, the Japanese government launched the SSSP, or S-Class Species Suppression Protocol. This small group of intelligence experts learn about and find solutions to the many monster problems. They are the heroes of Shin Ultraman even before Ultraman himself appears. It’s great stuff.

Much like Shin Godzilla, Shin Ultraman looks at how government and bureaucracy deals with the unfathomable. It’s not quite as cynical as the earlier film, but it’s no less satirical. And what’s better than a fun special effects adventure that holds a lens to the silliness of government red tape? Plus they directly call out how kaiju only ever seem to attack Japan.

Tickets for Shin Ultraman can be purchased at Fathom Events or at participating theater box offices. For a complete list of theater locations visit the Fathom Events website (theaters participants are subject to change). Please contact your local theater for individual safety precautions.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd.

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Shout! Factory has been instrumental in bringing Japanese tokusatsu (or “special effects”) television to the masses. They’ve had many seasons of Power Rangers antecedent Super Sentai over the years, and in 2020 they added the original Kamen Rider and 2000’s Kamen Rider Kuuga to its brand new TokuSHOUTsu streaming channel. Soon thereafter, Shout! teamed with Tsuburaya Productions and Mill Creek to add Ultraman series for streaming. But Shout! still believes in physical media (physical media forever!) and as such, have announced Kamen Rider Kuuga will make its Blu-ray debut, along with the 1990 Sentai series, Chikyuu Sentai Fiveman.

The news comes Saturday evening following a Rider panel at Anime Expo 2022, with the releases a collaboration between Shout! and Japan’s Toei Company. This September will see the physical release of both complete series for the first time in North America. Kuuga will be only the second Rider series to hit Blu-ray in North America. Last year, 2019’s Kamen Rider Zero-One was the first. Kuuga debuted on Japanese television in 2000 and ushered in a 22-year unbroken streak of series following various Masked Riders and their war against evil.

Kuuga begins with group of archaeologists uncovering the tomb of a legendary warrior. They unearth Kuuga’s belt, accidentally releasing an ancient race of monsters called the Grongi, bent on destroying humanity. Enter Yusuke Godai, a modern-day guy-next-door, who learns he is telepathically linked to the mysterious stone belt. With its power, he transforms into the legendary warrior known as Kuuga, humanity’s only defense against the murderous Grongi monsters.

On the other side of things, Fiveman is the fourteenth entry in the 46-year long-running Super Sentai metaseries. Each features a team of heroes (usually five of them) who take on various monsters and aliens and whatnot. Though Shout! had released all of the seasons of Sentai Saban used to create Power Rangers, Fiveman marks only the second pre-Power Rangers season to hit DVD in North America. The first, Fiveman‘s direct follow-up, Chōjin Sentai Jetman, remains a fan favorite.

Twenty years after their planet was attacked by the brutal Zone Empire, the five Hoshikawa children, who escaped and were raised on Earth, must prepare for a brand-new war. This time, though, they’re ready … having developed the powerful Fiveman technology that will help them defend Earth from the same empire that conquered their home world.

Kuuga and Fiveman will each drop in September in seven-disc complete series sets. Fiveman will be direct-to-consumer on September 6 via Shout! Factory’s website, while Kuuga will be available through all retailers on September 20.

For more information, head to Shout! Factory’s site.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd.

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Any Doctor Who fan will tell you one of the joys of the series is when a past Doctor shows up to aid (and usually bicker) with the current Doctor. Despite having 13 (or really 15 or 16 depending on who you ask) Doctors at this point, team ups have been relatively few. Usually it’s only a major anniversary that gets that kind of crossover. But if you happen to be an Ultraman fan, these kind of team-ups happen pretty regularly. That doesn’t make them any less special, however. Perhaps none of the crossover Ultraman movies feels more like a glorious love letter to the fans and the history than Superior 8 Ultra Brothers, now out on Blu-ray from Mill Creek.

Note: like most Japanese titles, this movie has several translations. Mill Creek uses Superior 8 Ultra Brothers, but the literal title is Great Decisive Battle! The Super 8 Ultra Brothers, and other releases have it as Superior Ultraman 8 Brothers. So, you know, call it whatever you want.

Since 2019, Mill Creek Entertainment has released pristine complete box sets of most of the Ultra series shows. Of the 31 official seasons that exist, the distributor has released 23, plus a few other specials and things. It’s incredibly impressive how quickly all of these have found their way to fans in North America. And since I’ve become a voracious consumer of these releases, a movie like Superior 8 filled me with the exact same fuzzy feeling that the Doctor Who 50th anniversary special, “The Day of the Doctor,” did in 2013.

The greater Ultra universe deals a lot with parallel dimensions, which this movies focuses on specifically. The idea here is “Ultraman” as a concept can persists in the human hosts even in universes where it’s a TV show. Kind of funky, but it really works. It brings together four of the Showa era Ultras with four from the Heisei era. It’s legitimately a melding of generations, bringing together many different cast members.

The Showa Ultras in question are: the original Ultraman (1966-67); Ultraseven (1967-68); Ultraman Jack (1971-72); and Ultraman Ace (1972-73). The Heisei ones are: Ultraman Tiga (1996-97); Ultraman Dyna (1997-98); Ultraman Gaia (1998-99); and Ultraman Mebius (2006-2007). Mebius was the most recent new Ultra at the time. It’s especially interesting, then, that it’s not Mebius who takes the lead in the film. It’s stead it’s Tiga, and specifically his human host Daigo (Hiroshi Nagano), who drives most of the action.

The movie begins in 1966, on the very day of the premiere episode of Ultraman. Three young boys, Daigo, Asuka, and Gamu, run through their town, excited to check out a brand new TV series. We come back to these children later in the film, as adult Daigo remembers a time when the three met a young girl with red shoes at the very moment they all wished about what their futures might hold. This is key to the journey of not only Daigo in the movie but seven of the eight Ultra Brothers.

In nearly all of the Ultra shows, and certainly all eight of the lead-up series for the movie, a main character in human form works for a space/science/defense agency that investigates alien and paranormal activity. While there are many characters on those teams, it’s the main hero who turns into the Ultraman. This is either because they ARE an Ultra in human form (Ultraseven specifically), or usually because the Ultraman has fused with the human. For Earth-protecting reasons, you see.

That is one of the few immutable constants about the series. What makes Superior 8 Ultra Brothers so interesting is that it supposes a universe in which none of that is true. There are no giant monsters to fight, so none of the human hosts need to work for any such alien defense force. As such, their lives have largely been normal, often unfulfilling. Daigo wished to be an astronaut but is now a tour guide in Yokohama. Asuka wished to be professional baseball player, but gave up after high school. Gamu wished to be a scientist who could build great space traveling ships, but didn’t quite make it either.

As a grown-up, Daigo begins having strange dreams, in which giant monsters attack and elder members of the community become Ultramen. That can’t possibly be true, right? Well, wouldn’t ya know, the lines of dream and reality blur and a real Ultraman, Mebius, arrives to do battle with a real kaiju. After taking his human form, Mirai Hibino, Daigo takes Mebius around to see the Ultra Brothers, except in this universe, they’re all just old guys. But surely the spirit of Ultraman can break through!

This is not a movie with a lot of twists and turns. You pretty much know from the title that all eight people will turn into Ultramen by the end to fight ever enormous monsters. This doesn’t make it any less enjoyable when it does happen. Before that happens, there’s a surprising amount of drama and pathos as the mysterious villain wreaks havoc on Yokohama and Daigo and the others question their life choices.

Superior 8 Ultra Brothers has so many lovely meta moments as well. Each of the four Showa Ultras’ jobs in this parallel universe reflect the real actor’s passions and post-acting life. The lead actress from each of the shows are there as well, and where applicable, the real life children of these actors play their kids in the movie. It feels like a family affair all around. Especially exciting for me is a brief cameo by kaiju movie legend Kenji Sahara reprising his role as Jun Majome from the Ultraman precursor series Ultra Q.

Anyone who has kept up with the Mill Creek releases as I have will find this movie an absolute treat, a reward for following these stories for season after season. But even if you have never seen an Ultraman series before, the movie gives enough context, and it’s standalone enough, that you won’t have any trouble enjoying it. Not to mention all the great practical effects work and suitmation, which is a hallmark of all Tsuburaya Productions.

Bottom line, I think Superior 8 Ultra Brothers is a great introduction to the franchise. If you’ve never seen any before, this will give you a taste of eight different shows. It also works as a fantastic celebration of, at the time they made it, 42 years of one of Japan’s most enduring shows.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!

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You don’t need psychic powers to know Earth faces a major pollution dilemma. Even non-newtypes can see something must be done. If we don’t start finding ways to reuse items we so easily throw in landfills, especially single use products, we’re going to have bigger problems than too much garbage. The kind of problems that put the whole planet at risk. That harsh reality inspired a new project from Bandai. For six months the company asked fans to recycle plastic runners. They’re the frame molding that comes with their Gundam collectibles and have no real use beyond their single function. Instead of ending up in landfills, Bandai transformed all those pieces into an eco-friendly art exhibit. And the show’s giant plastic Gundam head could—fittingly—lead to saving Earth in the future.

The Gundam Recycling Project, organized by Bandai Namco, asked fans to place single-use plastic runners into roughly 190 bins placed around Japan. In total the project collected nearly a ton of runners. That’s a ton of would-be garbage that is now something beautiful. As Bandai used an “advanced technology” to turn all those pieces “into new plastic model products through chemical recycling.”

Those runners are now part of a Gundam toy recycling event (which we first learned about at DesignTAXI). And the exhibit’s star piece is a gigantic 1:1 scale replica of a Gundam mecha’s head. It consists of roughly 3,000 pieces and looks like a rainbow of colors organized into a formidable robot.

The show, held at Sankaku Hiroba Triangle Square in Shinjuku, also features other displays made from the recycled runners. That includes “Naked Flowers” by artist Ryotaro Muramatsu. And “Plastic Hermitage” by artist Yoichi Ochiai.

These pieces are infinitely better than adding a ton of garbage to our pollution problem. But the real promise of this project is what it could mean for the future. The process used to melt the runners down into a different kind of plastic might someday be employed to make other items. That will eliminate waste. And it might also help prevent the creation of more.

Even if those items won’t look as cool as this Gundam head, they will still be just as cool.

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It’s been a big year already for fans of Kamen Rider. To mark the Japanese tokusatsu series’ 50th anniversary, we’ve learned about a new big screen outing in Shin Kamen Rider; there will be follow-ups to beloved series Kamen Rider Black and Kamen Rider W; and, as we told you back in April, Kamen Rider Ryuki coming to TokuSHOUTsu. In that same announcement, we also announced the first North American Blu-ray for a Kamen Rider series was on the way. And now we finally have a release date for Kamen Rider Zero-One on Blu-ray. January 25, 2022!

Preorders for the set are available right now via Shout! Factory’s store. The eight-disc collection will contain all 46 episodes of Zero-One plus the movie REALxTIME and five special episodes. That is, by our count, a lot of Kamen Rider Zero-One to enjoy.

Zero-One originally aired in Japan from September 2019 to August 2020. It’s the first series in Japan’s nascent Reiwa era, and marks the 30th series in total to have aired since 1971. TokuSHOUTsu has brought the original Kamen Rider series to North America followed by the 2000s follow-ups Kuuga and Ryuki. While other seasons have popped up on streaming services, to date, Zero-One is the only one on Blu-ray. Needless to say, this is a pretty big deal.

Toei/Shout! Factory

The synopsis of the series is as follows:

Humagears (humanoid robots), created by the leading company for AI, Hiden Intelligence, serve humanity’s every convenience. But a cyber-terrorist organization begins hacking the Humagears in a conspiracy that turns them into monsters. Aruto Hiden has taken over at Hiden Intelligence, and along with the CEO’s post, he also takes over the responsibility for Kamen Rider Zero-One by using his company’s technology. Aruto tries to keep the peaceful world between humans and Humagears with his Humagear secretary, while A.I.M.S., a military squad, pursues the terrorists!

Also look for KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE: THE COMPLETE SERIES with REALxTIME to stream on TokuSHOUTsu in January ’22.

Featured Image: Toei

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!

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It’s been thirty-six years since Marty McFly took off in Doc Brown’s DeLorean to 1955. And Back to the Future remains as beloved a film as it did in 1985 when it ruled the box office. Then, of course, two sequels followed. But Back to the Future has avoided any remakes, reboots, or legacy sequels during all of these subsequent years. That alone is something of a minor miracle these days. When almost everything gets some kind of continuation.

But Marty and Doc’s story is actually now getting retold. Thankfully, without anyone replacing Michael J. Fox or Christopher Lloyd. According to OtakuUSA (via Comic Book), we’ve learned that Robert Zemeckis’ comedy classic is getting reinterpreted as an illustrated children’s novel in Japan. Ready to go back in time and discover the power of love? You can see the amazing manga-influenced cover right here:

Universal Pictures 

The text for Back to the Future is being written by Ichiro Omiya, with Zerogo Iwamoto providing illustrations. Elementary and middle-school children are the target demographic. The novelization features “many illustrations and easy-to-understand words.”

Judging from the cover, it doesn’t look like Iwamoto is straying too far from the source material. Marty and Doc look just as they did in the original movie. Marty even has his famous “life preserver jacket” on. And Emmett Brown still sports his infamously wild hairdo.

It will be interesting to see how something like Back to the Future finds a new interpretation for a foreign audience. Most of the jokes in the original movie work based on knowing all the cultural differences between the 1950s and 1980s America. Does all of that go over the head of a young Gen Z kid in Japan? Unless, of course, they change the dates and locations for the story. Although is it still Back to the Future if it’s not in Hill Valley? That sure looks like the clock tower on the cover. We have questions! We’ll still happily take this over any big-screen remake, though.

The Back to the Future children’s book adaptation comes out in Japan on August 18. There’s no word yet on availability in North America or other territories. However, given the film’s iconic status, we imagine many fans will want to get their hands on this one.

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Fifty-five years is a long time for any pop culture thing to still be going strong. In the hallowed history of movies and TV shows, few have reached such a milestone and been all the stronger for it. But Ultraman has. Since Tsuburaya Productions premiered Ultra Q and the original Ultraman in 1966, the series has continued almost unbroken since, with only a few brief hiatuses here and there. Thirty official series have aired to date, which doesn’t include the various spinoff series and movies. Truly, the Land of Light has smiled upon those giant silver heroes.

To commemorate such a milestone of Japanese sci-fi excellence, TokuSHOUTsu will air a day-long Ultraman Day: Ultrathon consisting of 19 episodes from across the 55-year history of the franchise. This all culminates in the US streaming premiere of the fan-favorite movie Ultraman Zero: The Revenge of Belial. July 10 is going to be an Ultra cool day.

Tokushoutsu/Tsuburaya Productions

In addition to all those episodes and the movie, the Ultrathon will also see the premiere of “In Search Of An Ultraman! The Invasion From Another Space!” A journey across time and space to save Earth from invasion, this newly produced special features top voices representing franchise fans around the world, including Jason Narvy (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers); Linda Le (Vampy Bit Me); Mike Toole (The Mike Toole Show on Anime News Network); Lisa J (No Pink Spandex); Daniel Van Thomas (English voice of Ultraman Zero); Mach Dent (Vintage Henshin); Alyssa Fay (Daikaiju Legends); and Monster Island Buddies. Oh, and yours truly, Kyle Anderson.

Ultrathon kicks off on Saturday, July 10 at 7 a.m. PT with 19 hand-picked episodes across nine Ultraman series—Ultraman, Ultraseven, Return of Ultraman, Ultraman Ace, Ultraman Leo, Ultra Q, Ultraman X, Ultraman Orb, and Ultraman Ginga—alongside segments of the new special. This leads up to the 5 p.m. PT US streaming debut of Ultraman Zero: The Revenge of Belial as the grand finale.

Tsuburaya Productions

Ultraman Day: Ultrathon can be viewed across TokuSHOUTsu and Shout! Factory TV platforms: on TokuSHOUTsu.com and ShoutFactoryTV.com; TokuSHOUTsu’s Pluto TV, Twitch and THETA.tv channels; Shout! Factory TV’s Amazon Fire TV, Android, Apple TV, and Roku apps; and the following digital streaming platforms: IMDb TV, Local Now, Pluto TV, Redbox, Samsung TV Plus, Sling TV, STIRR, Twitch, Vizio and XUMO.

The post Celebrate ULTRAMAN Day with a Marathon and Movie Premiere appeared first on Nerdist.

Japanese baker WHIP SUGAR is baking cookies so detailed and three-dimensional that you might not even realize you’re looking at a sweet treat. Pokémon, Sanrio, and some of your favorite anime characters have all transformed into dazzling baked treats that are definitely too gorgeous to eat. Let’s take a close-up look at this evolution of sweet, geeky goodies. We apologize for any drooling you may experience as a result.

WHIP SUGAR

WHIP SUGAR specializes in vibrant 3-D iced sugar cookies and fluffy macarons that look like they might float away. They’re obviously a fan of the cute Pokémon like Eevee and their distinct, colorful evolutions. Under the baker’s steady hand these pocket monsters look like they’ve jumped off the screen and on to the table.

Lucky for us, not only does WHIP SUGAR show off gorgeous beauty shots of their baking and decorating on YouTube, the videos include relaxing music and delightful shots of each step of the process. Give them a watch, but we definitely warn you, you’ll be hungry.

And just… look at these Psyduck sweets. We’re too stunned to say anything else about these adorable creations.

If your tastes in anime and gaming lean away from cute and more into cool, WHIP SUGAR has just the treat for you, too. Your favorite Jujutsu Kaisen characters Sukuna and Gojo are also immortalized in confection perfection.

You’ll find WHIP SUGAR’s delightful photos and videos on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. We absolutely recommend following this creative channel to add some sweetness to your day.

Featured Image: WHIP SUGAR

Kelly Knox is a freelance entertainment writer in Seattle, WA who writes for Star Wars, DC Comics, and more. Her first book, Marvel Monsters, comes out this July from DK Books. Follow her on Twitter for bad jokes, pop culture thoughts, and more.

The post These Amazing Cookies Are the Next Evolution of Geeky Sweets appeared first on Nerdist.

Hideaki Anno has stealthily become the No. 1 re-interpreter of Japanese pop culture. After creating Neon Genesis Evangelion in the mid ’90s, he spent most of the ensuing 25 years issuing redos of it in some way or another. In 2016, Anno tackled maybe Japan’s largest export by writing and co-directing Shin Godzilla, a reimagining of the original 1954 film set firmly in the bureaucratic world of modern Japan. To follow that, he wrote 2021’s upcoming Shin Ultraman, a similar retelling of that superhero tale. And now, as of this weekend, Anno will set his sights on Shin Kamen Rider.

Toei Company

As part of Kamen Rider‘s 50th anniversary celebration on April 3, parent company Toei announced Anno will helm his retelling of the origin story, set for release in 2021. Created by famed manga writer-artist Shotaro Ishinomori (who also created other Japanese hero staple Super Sentai) Kamen Rider tells the story of a brilliant young college student and motorcycle enthusiast; demonic organization Shocker kidnaps him and forcibly turns him into a cyborg to do their bidding. He escapes before the mind-controlling portion and henceforth becomes a masked vigilante cyborg with inexplicably insectoid features.

In a press conference on Saturday, Anno said “I got a lot out of the TV show 50 years ago, and 50 years later, I started this project with the feeling that I’d like to return the favor in a small way.”

He also added that, because of COVID-19, the project, has had to push back two years. He hopes fans will think it’s worth the wait. The finished film, he promises, will be enjoyable to people regardless of if they’re familiar with Kamen Rider. (ht: Kotaku)

This puts Anno in one of the rarest positions of any creative in film. Three different, completely unrelated, rival media companies—Toho, Tsubaraya Productions, and now Toei—will have given their biggest cultural properties to him to basically reimagine however he sees fit. Shin Godzilla made the giant lizard even more monstrous than before; while Shin Ultraman looks pretty true to the initial intent, the brief teaser we’ve seen shows a similar real-world slant on the material.

The teaser image for Shin Kamen Rider looks to play up the property’s more horror-tinged aspects. (The first series is pretty scary at times.) It gives the character a much darker visual edge. I really dig it. If Shin Ultraman is as good as it looks, then I have nothing but confidence for Anno’s Japanese pop culture hattrick.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!

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It’s a big year for fans of Japanese fantasy/action TV. Not only is 2021 the 55th anniversary of the Ultra series, it’s the 50th anniversary of Kamen Rider. While both shows started making their way to North American audiences in a big way over the past 18 months, Ultraman has had the bigger deluge of content. But that’s about to change! During a special Kamen Rider 50th anniversary panel, Shout! Factory’s tokusatsu arm, TokuSHOUTsu, announced that two more Rider series will make their way to streaming this year. And one of them will even get a physical media release.

The news comes about a year after TokuSHOUTsu debuted the original 1971 Kamen Rider series, and later the 2000 reboot Kamen Rider Kuuga, on Shout Factory TV and its various channels on streaming. Now joining those is the 2002-2003 series Kamen Rider Ryuki and the 2019-2020 series Kamen Rider Zero-One. Shout! also announced exclusive physical media rights to Zero-One. This will make it the first KR series to receive an official Blu-ray release in North America. It’ll also only be the second series to come to official North American physical media of any sort; in 2001, there was an official DVD release of the 1973 series Kamen Rider V3. Good series, but quite a random one-off.

Shout! Factory/Toei Company

“We’ve seen a tremendous reaction to the Kamen Rider shows on Shout! Factory TV, so we’re delighted to partner with Toei to build the North American fanbase. And with Zero-One, we’ll now have the premiere series for each of the three eras of the franchise,” said Shout’s Jordan Fields. Indeed, this will mean the first Showa, Heisei, and Reiwa series will now be available to view in the U.S.

“I am so happy to hear that Zero-One will be on Shout! Factory TV,” said Takahito Omori, producer of Kamen Rider Zero-One. “Zero-One is the reflection of our future, of conflicts between humans and artificial intelligence, and a story not only about Kamen Rider, but about human beings. I hope fans enjoy watching the show and thinking about technology and ourselves.”

Shout! Factory / Toei Company

Ryuki is an interesting but exciting addition to the streaming service. The third Heisei-era season, it focused on the idea of 13 Riders being forced to battle until only one survived. Our hero is new to this world but becomes the titular Ryuki in line with his destiny. This series was eventually adapted into the surprisingly faithful American series, Masked Rider Dragon Knight in 2009.

No word on exactly when the series will join Shout Factory TV, nor when the Zero-One Blu-ray should come out, but it’s truly an exciting time for North American fans of Kamen Rider. In addition to TokuSHOUTsu’s two full series, the Toei Company, the studio that produces Kamen Rider, has been celebrating the 50th anniversary with weekly uploads of the first two episodes of each of the series. To date they’ve posted episodes from nine of the 31 seasons and three movies.

Read the official synopses of Ryuki and Zero-One below.

KAMEN RIDER ZERO-ONE SYNOPSIS

HUMAGEAR (humanoid Robots), created by HIDEN INTELIGENCE, the leading company for AI, serves for humanity’s convenient life.

A cyber-terrorist called Metsu-bou-jin-rai Net has secretly had a conspiracy for their final purpose, ‘human extinction’, although the human society aims for the coexistence between human and HUMAGEAR.

Aruto Hiden has taken over a CEO’s post at HIDEN INTELIGENCE, because his grandfather, Korenosuke Hiden, suddenly passed away, and along with the CEO’s post, he also takes over the responsibility for Kamen Rider Zero-One by using his company’s technology.

Aruto tries to keep the peaceful world between human and HUMAGEAR with Izu, his HUMAGEAR secretary, while A.I.M.S., a military squad against HUMAGEAR, chases the terrorist.

 

KAMEN RIDER RYUKI SYNOPSIS

“Mirror World” exists symmetrically beyond an invisible mirror in space, and an exact copy of our human world, where only monsters can dwell. Evil monsters frequently cross the mirror and attack our world.

Only Kamen Riders who make a contract with a specific monster and obtain special power from the monster can enter “Mirror World” and fight against evil monsters with the help of “Advent Card.”

Shinji Kido, a journalist, contacts with Dragon, and becomes Kamen Rider Ryuki. He fights a fierce battle with evil monsters.

Many Kamen Riders appear one after another, and fight to satisfy their own aims. However, only one Kamen Rider can outlive others. Thus, it is their fate to keep fighting to the last man.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!

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Look, I’m gonna keep harping on Kamen Rider until more people watch it. One of the kings of Japanese tokusatsu (or special effects) television, the insect-themed, motorcycle-riding cyborg superhero finally made his way (legally) to North America last year thanks to Toei and TokuSHOUTsu. But with the calendar turning to 2021, it’s an even better time to get into it. Kamen Rider turns 50 this year.  To celebrate, Toei is putting a staggering amount of content on its YouTube channel. This includes full episodes.

According to a press release from New Year’s, Toei will put up 1-2 episodes from each of the 31 different seasons on the Toei Tokusatsu World Official YouTube channel each week. With English subtitles! (HT: TokuNation) If you happened to catch Disney+‘s Marvel 616 episode about Japanese Spider-Man, you’ll know a little bit about the style of Tokusatsu from the ’70s. But truly, until you experience the original Kamen Rider, you don’t know the whole story. It’s actually very creepy, in a fun way.

On January 16, Toei posted the first episode, fittingly the very first episode of the very first 1971 season. “The Mysterious Spider Man” (yes, really, that’s the first episode’s title) introduces audiences to Takeshi Hongo; the brilliant young science student and motorcycle racer finds himself in the clutches of Shocker. Given his natural skills, Shocker, the evil terror organization, transforms him into a cyborg to do their bidding. Luckily, another kidnapped scientist frees Hongo before the mind control part. So he has all of the strengths of a cyborg and retains his mind. And a cool mask.

Toei

You can watch more of the first series of Kamen Rider (which lasts a whopping 98 episodes) via TokuSHOUTsu. Also there, you can watch the whole run of Kamen Rider Kuuga, the first of the Heisei Era Rider shows. I wrote all about that show here.

Toei also dropped the second episode, which has another amazing title. “The Terrifying Bat Man.”

While Ultraman has gotten a huge push in the last year, and Super Sentai remains relevant through Power Rangers, Kamen Rider has been tough to find officially subtitled in English. But thanks to Toei, 2021 will be the year we can all take a look. After all, it’s absolutely one of the stalwarts of Japanese fantasy television.

Toei

More episodes will drop on Toei Tokusatsu World every week.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!

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For a while now we’ve been touting our excitement about Shout! Factory’s acquiring of over 1,100 episodes of Ultraman. The long-running Japanese sci-fi superhero series is a favorite for many but has been tough to see in North America with any consistency. The initial announcement that Shout Factory TV and its TokuSHOUTsu channel would stream the library mentioned the rollout would begin November 1. Well, that’s this Sunday, friends, and Shout! has announced which Ultra series will arrive in their initial offering.

Tsuburaya Productions

Not super surprisingly, the first seasons to drop will be the first seasons Mill Creek released on Blu-ray late last year. These will be Ultra Q; Ultraman; Ultraseven; Ultraman Orb; and Ultraman Geed. In addition to the seasons, they’ll also stream the films Ultraman Orb The Movie: Let Me Borrow the Power of Bonds! and Ultraman Geed The Movie: Connect the Wishes! These join Ultraman Leo already on the platform. Not only that, but the first three series will stream in remastered HD for the first time.

As we discussed in our push for why you should watch Ultraman, the series began in 1966 with Ultra Q, a kind of black-and-white X-Files with paranormal and giant monster investigators. As the first series from special effects guru Eiji Tsuburaya’s new production company, they wanted to showcase the kinds of monsters and models from the Godzilla movies, on the small screen. I’m a pretty huge fan of Ultra Q and wrote about why you should watch it here.

Tsuburaya Productions

Ultraman and Ultraseven in 1966 and 1967, respectively, ushered in a new era for Tsuburaya. It began the over 50 years of giant alien heroes battling those monsters. Ultraman is vibrant and colorful, with fun characters and a healthy amount of comedy. Ultraman himself didn’t show up until the end of the episodes, but when he did, you knew you were in for a great time. Ultraseven was a bit more grown up, a with a little more violence, but it too focused on a team of high-tech heroes fighting monsters and aliens before a giant superhero arrived to save the say.

Tsuburaya took inspiration for the model work in his series from Gerry Anderson’s Thunderbirds TV series, and it shows. The detail he and his team gave to all of the miniatures is of the highest degree of skill. With these first three shows, Tsuburaya Productions cemented their commitment to sci-fi storytelling and spectacle of the highest order.

Tsuburaya Productions

The last two series joining streaming on November 1 are from the New Generation batch of seasons. Ultraman Orb, the 28th entry in the Ultra series, debuted in 2016. It commemorated both the 50th anniversary of Ultraman and the 20th anniversary of Ultraman Tiga, the relaunch of Ultraman after a couple of Australian-produced seasons. Orb not only features one of the fan-favorite protagonists, but also introduced Jugglus Juggler, the hands-down most popular villain in Ultra who has appeared several times thereafter.

Ultraman Geed from 2017 is for many the best of the New Generation seasons. It features guest appearances from no fewer than 10 other Ultras, and is to date the only series to make fan-favorite Ultraman Zero a recurring character.

Tsuburaya Productions

These five shows are a great cross-section of Ultraman and will give any new fan a perfect entry point to the series from different eras.

All Ultraman content will be available for streaming on demand across Shout! Factory TV platforms, on ShoutFactoryTV.com; Shout! Factory TV’s Roku, Amazon Fire, Apple TV, and Android apps; and on various Shout! Factory TV branded channels including Tubi, Amazon Prime Channels, and the Roku Channel.

Featured Image: Tsuburaya Productions

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!

The post First Batch of ULTRAMAN Dropping on Streaming Nov 1 appeared first on Nerdist.

This year has been tough to take, and I for one need an escape every so often. And I’ve found myself really attracted to Japanese superhero series. I’ve already written about how much I enjoy the original Kamen Rider and its 2000 reboot Kamen Rider Kuuga, but while those shows are fun and engaging, the series that has me completely hooked is Ultraman. The nearly 55-year-old series offers a perfect mix of action, spectacle, humor, and heart. It’s also got hundred and hundreds of episodes, which can feel pretty daunting.

Luckily right now is the absolute perfect time to get into Ultraman as a North American. The series is getting a massive physical media and streaming push, and no less than Marvel Comics just launched a 5-issue miniseries that is shaping up to be pretty special. But there are 32 seasons of TV in the official canon, not counting spinoffs and non-canon entries, not to mention dozens of movies. That can overwhelm anyone. So as someone who’s spent a very long time this year watching many seasons in the Ultra universe, I know it’s probably easier to dive in if you have some basic knowledge.

Tsuburaya Productions

The Basics

We can’t talk about Ultraman without talking about Godzilla. The special effects master behind the groundbreaking suitmation and model work in Toho’s Godzilla series is Eiji Tsuburaya. After making several films for the studio, he founded his own company, Tsuburaya Productions, which sought to bring the same level of special effects majesty to the small screen. In 1966, the Tokyo Broadcasting System premiered Ultra Q, a black-and-white kind of X-Files with giant monsters. I wrote about series extensively here.

Ultra Q was an immediate ratings hit and TBS asked Tsuburaya for a second series right away. This new series would be a bit different; in color, more adventure than mystery, and would feature a giant hero character to fight the giant monsters. So, with only one week gap after the final Ultra Q episode, Ultraman debuted and was an even bigger hit.

In the first episode we meet the Science Special Search Party, or SSSP, a highly-funded government organization which both investigates and fights off alien and biological threats. Early in the first episode, a rookie member of the team, Shin Hayata, collides his plane with a red celestial orb, while the blue orb it chases crashes to Earth.

Tsuburaya Productions

On the precipice between life and death, the entity inside the red orb intercedes to save Hayata’s life. He is Ultraman, an intergalactic warrior from Nebula M78, aka the Land of Light. Ultraman bonds his own life force to Hayata and offers his help; whenever needed, Hayata can use a Beta Capsule (which is just a transformation doohickey) and summon/become Ultraman. 40-feet-tall and possessing of fighting skills and special laser moves, Ultraman is the last resort when a giant monster is too much for the SSSP to handle alone.

The Further Ultras

Ultraman was incredibly successful, and in 1967 Tsuburaya Productions returned with Ultraseven. It was very similar to Ultraman but refined the premise to a degree. The tone and storytelling in Ultraseven was more grown-up; the comedy aspects of Ultraman were mostly removed; and the monster battles featured more blood and gore. And in order to streamline things, Ultraseven wasn’t an alien bonding with a human. Instead, he’s an alien taking human form. Dan Moroboshi, Ultraseven’s alter ego, worked for that show’s high-tech security agency, UG, the Ultra Guard.

Up to this point, aside from the idea of giant monsters and a giant, red-hued superhero fighting them, there was no connection between the Ultra series. This changed in 1971 when The Return of Ultraman debuted. It went back to the same set-up as Ultraman—an Ultra bonded to a human—but it was canonically established that this Ultraman was separate. He’d eventually get the name Ultraman Jack, and the original Ultraman and Ultraseven appeared in the series for a guest team-up.

Tsuburaya Productions

Each new series starred a new central Ultra hero, but they also established more of the Ultras’ continuity. That method remains true to this day with crossovers and guest appearances aplenty.

The Eras

Okay, so now that we’ve got the story basics out of the way, it’s time to decide where you start watching. Luckily, any season of Ultraman for the most part is a totally standalone affair. There’s always a new human protagonist, a new Ultra to bond with them, a new organization of monster fighters, and a lot of monsters. Each season is its own continuity within the same canon; the Ultras can travel between universes but only rarely do the human characters reappear disconnected from said Ultras.

Tsuburaya Productions

The show more or less has three separate eras to choose from: the Showa, Heisei, and New Generation eras. The Showa era is any series between 1966 and 1981, which includes eight live-action series and one anime; the Heisei era begins in 1996’s Ultraman Tiga and goes through Neo Ultra Q in 2013. The Heisei era also includes a series of films introducing and starring Ultraman Zero, beginning in 2009, who to date has never had his own series but remains intensely popular and shows up frequently in subsequent seasons. The New Generation era begins with Ultraman Ginga in 2014 and goes through Ultraman Taiga in 2019. The current season, Ultraman Z, is the first season in the Reiwa Era.

So far, Mill Creek Entertainment has put out five seasons of Showa-era Ultra and five seasons (plus spin-off movies and miniseries) from the New Generation era. So it’s pretty easy to jump in anywhere in the Blu-rays. If you like the old Godzilla movies, the Showa era is for you; if you like J-drama and more CGI effects, the New Generation is your ticket. Just know that, even though they’re standalone, the New Generation era is highly referential and reverential to the older series. You don’t need to know them, just that you’ll see plenty of Showa and Heisei Ultras popping up.

Tsuburaya Productions

The Conclusion

The Ultra series scratches the itch of things like Doctor Who and the Marvel movies in a way I never fully expected. It’s all about heroism, friendship, loss, and yes, also big giant monsters and stuff. It’s really easy to watch any of the shows I’ve watched so far (six seasons and several movies) and there are a lot of episodes so you can just throw them on and you’re good for a day.

Current streaming options on TokuSHOUTsu are just 1974’s Ultraman Leo, but beginning in November, the streaming platform will host over 1100 episodes of the series and over 20 films. AND, the new Marvel Comics miniseries which just started has its own version of events in the series, putting Shin Hayata and the SSSP in modern day, with references to Ultraseven and Ultra Q in the first issue.

Tsuburaya Productions

It’s kind of the perfect time to get into Ultraman if you’re of a mind to do so. Don’t be put off by the fact that there are subtitles; this is some of the most fun you can have watching TV. In a year bereft of big blockbuster entertainment, this supplies all the thrills you’ll need.

Featured Image: Tsuburaya Productions

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!

The post You Should Get into ULTRAMAN and Here’s How appeared first on Nerdist.

If you’ve ever dreamed of dressing in the flowing gown of Queen Serenity or in the embellished suit of Prince Endymion of Sailor Moon, fashion line Mariarosa is making your wish come true. On your wedding day, no less. The Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon wedding collection is now available for rent or purchase. Featuring six gowns and two tuxedos, it will make you feel like a magical girl on any day.

Wedding star power, makeup!

Mariarosa / Sailor Moon

Whether you’re looking for a bridal gown or bridesmaid dress, each gown in the collection is more dreamy than the last. Of course, there’s the iconic dress and tuxedo of the Moon Kingdom. The empire-waisted white dress is almost as recognizable as Usagi’s school uniform inspired magical girl look—which you can also also wear as a gown.

Mariarosa / Sailor Moon

One of the most dazzling gowns incorporates the colors of the inner senshi Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter. The hues blend beautifully and bring to mind the colorful transformation scenes you’ve loved for years. Tiny planetary symbols adorn the shimmering fabric. The calming colors of outer senshi Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto blend below the bodice of another beaded gown. Whether you wear it for a wedding, prom, or on a Tuesday, this dress in particular will make you feel magical.

Mariarosa

We also can’t help but love the bold yellow and black dress based on Luna’s transformation in the Sailor Moon S movie. It brings to mind a moment in the movie that’s sweet and a little heartbreaking and the layers of black tulle are gorgeous. We want to try it on immediately and do a few spins.

Toei Animation

“Overseen by series creator Naoko Takeuchi herself, the Sailor Moon Wedding Dress Collection is a tie-up between the beloved manga/anime franchise and Tokyo-based bridal apparel provider Mariarosa,” reports SoraNews24.

Mariarosa

Visit the collection website for more information about the magical (girl) collection. The collection will be available for both rental and purchase in Japan later this year. See more photos below.

Featured Image: Toei Animation

Kelly Knox is a freelance entertainment writer in Seattle, WA who writes for Star Wars, DC Comics, and more. Follow her on Twitter.

Mariarosa

Originally published July 1, 2020.

The post A Magical SAILOR MOON Wedding Gown Collection appeared first on Nerdist.

There was something of a tokusatsu reawakening in the ’90s following the success of Power Rangers; the parent series Super Sentai began in 1975 and continues unabated to this day. Kamen Rider, which debuted in 1971 and continued in various forms until 1989, returned to TV screens in the year 2000 in a similar fashion. Each season would be an individual new Rider story with new characters, theme, and suit. The first of these new Heisei-era (Jan 1989-April 2019) shows had the subtitle Kuuga. Kamen Rider Kuuga is available to stream in North America on Shout Factory TV, the Pluto TV tokuSHOUTsu channel, and on Tubi. It’s a show very worth your time.

Toei

The Story

Creating a whole new lore and mythology, Kuuga tells of two ancient races; the evil Grongi Tribe and the peaceful Linto Tribe. One warrior of the Linto harnessed the power of Kuuga to become the savior of his people. In the present day, archaeologists uncover Kuuga’s mysterious stone belt which also awakens the Grongi, who are monstrous in their true forms. They decide to get revenge on the descendants of the Linto…aka, humanity!

Enter Godai Yūsuke (Joe Odagiri), a happy-go-lucky 25-year-old who feels an inexplicable draw toward the belt. He dons it and becomes the new Kuuga, defender of humans against the evil forces of Grongi. Yūsuke isn’t alone, thankfully; helping him are a number of other forthright young people, including police inspector Ichijo (Shingo Katsurayama); graduate student and “Lintonese” expert Sawatari (Kazumi Murata); Minori (Wakana Chizaki), Yūsuke’s school teacher younger sister; Dr. Tsubaki (Yoshitaka Otsuka), Ichijo’s friend from childhood; and a host of other allies across the show’s 49 episodes.

Yūsuke is one of the most hopeful and positive characters ever in an action series. He combats any situation with his trademark thumbs-up and grin. A wandering adventurer prior to the events of the series, his entire goal is to bring smiles to people. And he takes that with him into his Kuuga battles. While the Grongi try to spread fear and hatred, Kuuga brings hope to those around him.

Toei

The Style

What sets Kuuga apart from the Kamen Rider series that came before are both in presentation and narrative style. This was the first of the series to film in widescreen on DV rather than 16mm film. As a result, it has a much glossier and brighter look. And, yes, the CGI doesn’t look all that great today; it was 20 years ago, we’ve come a long way. Rather than a pure monster-of-the-week type of storytelling with the barest threads of story arcs continuing on, Kuuga ushered in the era of serialized stories for Kamen Rider. While certainly new monsters appear all the time, and Kuuga even develops new forms and powers along the way, the overall story continues every week. Sometimes the episode will end in the middle of a big fight.

This narrative change meant the show existed much more like a soap opera or modern dramatic presentation. There’s a greater focus on the Rider’s friends and relationships; even the group of villains (all in human form played by hot young actors) got development from early on. It’s really a testament to the writing and performing on the show that the soapier aspects of the show don’t impede on the sci-fi/horror action. Yūsuke is so likable and cheery, we want him to succeed, and when he doesn’t, it impacts the rest of the characters. And you so badly want at least four different pairs of characters to get together by the end. That’ll keep you watching.

Toei

The Odagiri Effect

One truly innovative aspect of Kamen Rider Kuuga had nothing at all to do with the fighting or the suits. As the series went on, the producers noticed two main audiences: one was children and young people, which wasn’t a surprise; the second was women in their 30s. Inexplicably, as Kuuga continued, the number of thirtysomething women tuning in continued to climb. The reason, they discovered, was because of how attractive star Joe Odagiri was. The mothers of the kids watching Kuuga would tune in, just because the lead actor was handsome. This led to a change in how producers market and cast TV series. It’s called the Odagiri Effect; it’s real, you can look it up.

Toei

Good action, a cool mythos, handsome-as-heck performers, and a story that keeps you watching episode for episode. Even if it doesn’t quite seem up your alley, Kamen Rider Kuuga feels very akin to modern superhero or sci-fi serials and at 49 episodes, it’s a nice healthy journey that neatly wraps up at the end. And hey, “no fear, no pain” is a pretty great motto to live by.

You can watch Kamen Rider Kuuga on Shout! Factory TV, tokuSHOUTsu, and Tubi.

Featured Image: Toei

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!

The post Why You Should Watch KAMEN RIDER KUUGA appeared first on Nerdist.

If you read Nerdist with any frequency—or you follow me on Twitter—you know that I’ve become rather obsessed with tokusatsu lately. This is the tradition in Japanese film and TV of live-action special-effects showcases. They’re a whole lot of fun and have some really entertaining hallmarks. Usually there are cool costumes, often neat model effects, slightly silly or wacky fight scenes, and overwrought emotions. They’re a blast. But one of the best things about them are the amazing sci-fi theme songs.

Toei

While there are great tunes from any era of tokusatsu (the original Kamen Rider theme and the most recent season of Ultraman are examples), the ’80s had pound-for-pound the best, catchiest, and ass-whippingest tunes of the bunch. As I started listening to a lot of these songs, I noticed most of my favorites had the same singer. Akira Kushida has an absolutely amazing voice for this kind of song. To prove it, here are some of the best songs he ever sung for tokusatsu.

Taiyo Sentai Sun Vulcan

Kushida’s first foray into tokusatsu is Taiyo Sentai Sun Vulcan, the fifth in the seemingly endless Super Sentai series (which birthed Power Rangers). I include this one here because it’s from 1981 and gives you a taste, an amuse bouche, of the amazing pipes on this guy. But the greatness is still to come, believe you me.

Space Sheriff Gavan

Just one year later, Kushida sang what may well be the greatest sci-fi toku song of all time. The theme to Space Sheriff Gavan—the first in the Space Sheriff trilogy, itself the first in the long-running Metal Heroes imprint—is exactly what you want. It’s got funky bass, a catchy hook, and plenty of places for Kushida to belt like nobody’s business. Also the opening shows you Gavan in all his glory, fighting baddies with his robot space dragon (natch).

Space Cop Sharivan

A fitting sequel to Gavan, if a little bit more…serious, I guess I want to say.

Space Sheriff Shaider

And finally we have the third part in the saga. This one’s a little bouncier than the one before, perhaps trying a bit to recapture the magic of Gavan.

Birth of the 10th! Kamen Riders All Together!!

While Kushida is basically the voice of Metal Heroes in the decade, he did make a brief jaunt over to Toei’s long-running Kamen Rider franchise. Kushida’s glorious pipes grace the opening theme, “Dragon Road,” and the closing theme, “Forget Memories,” from the Japanese TV special designed to introduce Kamen Rider ZX, the tenth hero in the series. It’s got a kind of a James Bond vibe to it, especially with the “Endless fight!” lyrics.

Anyway, back to Metal Heroes.

Space Wolf Juspion

While Kushida didn’t provide the opening thing to Juspion (which is a delightful fever dream), he did sing one song on the soundtrack, a rocking tune devoted to the Daileon, the large space battleship the heroes use. It also turns into a giant robot, obviously.

World Ninja War Jirayia

By the late ’80s, the Metal Heroes series started to go a bit weird. Forgoing the relative safety of space sheriffs and future VR Troopers, with 1988’s Jirayia, which is just about a modern-day ninja with a special suit of red armor. Not particularly sci-fi, really. It’s pretty cool, and has some awesome stuntwork. Akira Kushida, who hadn’t done a toku theme since 1985, is back to his old tricks again here, and it still slaps.

The Mobile Cop Jiban

For his final soundtrack of the ’80s, Kushida sang the opening and closing tunes for 1989’s Mobile Cop Jiban. The opening feels right out of the Magnum, P.I. or Knight Rider playbook. The show is Toei shifting toward a RoboCop inspired theme for their Metal Heroes. Jiban looks like a pretty great legally different version of Alex Murphy, even if he apparently got his powers from a magic little girl with a flower? I mean, it’s better than gang members shooting you to pieces, right?

Akira Kushida continued singing themes and album cuts again in the 2000s, singing various tunes for the Super Sentai series. In 2010 he provided the voice of the transformation device for the series Kamen Rider OOO. It’s a perfect fit; he really is the voice of (or one of them) of sci-fi tokusatsu.

Featured Image: Toei

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!

The post These ’80s Japanese Sci-Fi TV Theme Songs Whip Ass appeared first on Nerdist.

These past few months haven’t been a great time in general, but the one thing that has gotten me through is diving into Japanese tokusatsu series. Seemingly when we needed them the most, dozens of live-action superhero shows made their way to North America, many of them for the very first time. At the vanguard of this discovery has been Shout! Factory TV‘s newest imprint, TokuSHOUTsu. Launching their Pluto TV channel in March, TokuSHOUTsu brought Kamen Rider to North America for the very first time. In a historic deal with Tsuburaya Productions and Mill Creek Entertainment, Shout! will now be the exclusive streaming home of the Ultraman library.

Fittingly, this news comes on Ultraman Day. In a press release, Shout! Factory and Mill Creek Entertainment have announced the landmark multi-year streaming deal. Mill Creek has the North American Blu-ray rights to the Ultra library, and has released full seasons from both the original Showa Era run and the contemporary Heisei Era. This new deal means that, in addition to the Blu-rays, the library will stream exclusively on Shout! Factory TV’s AVOD and SVOD platforms. The massive deal includes over 1100 episodes of TV and over 20 movies.

Tsuburaya Productions

Eiji Tsuburaya was the man responsible for the groundbreaking scale model and suitmation effects in kaiju films like Godzilla and Mothra. In 1963, he founded Tsuburaya Productions with the goal of producing television and films with the highest level of special effects possible. The Ultra series officially began in January 1966 with the premiere of Tsuburaya’s Ultra Q, a kind of Twilight Zone-meets-The X-Files show about people investigating giant monsters, aliens, and other weird occurrences. I wrote extensively about Ultra Q earlier this year. The show was such a hit that the Tokyo Broadcasting System asked for a second series right away. This one, a full-color superhero show, became Ultraman.

Since Ultraman‘s debut in July of 1966, Tsuburaya has produced nearly 40 live-action and animated shows featuring some incarnation of the giant silver-and-red hero. Generally these shows followed a special scientific-military group designated to fight monsters and aliens; one member of the group merges (or is just one of) a member of the alien Ultra Brotherhood, allowing them to transform into the only hero who can fight the marauding kaiju and save Japan, and the world.

Tsuburaya Productions

Upon launch, Shout! Factory TV and TokuSHOUTsu already had the rights to Ultraman Leo, the seventh show in the series, which ran from 1974-1975. This new deal gives them the streaming rights to a great deal more. This includes:

Series

1. Ultra Q (1966)
2. Ultraman (1966-1967)
3. Ultra Seven (1967-1968) [and my personal favorite]
4. Return of Ultraman (1971-1972)
5. Ultraman Ace (1972-1973)
6. Ultraman Taro (1973-1974)
7. Ultraman Gaia (1998-1999)
8. Ultraman Cosmos (2001-2002)
9. Ultraman Nexus (2004-2005)
10. Ultraman Max (2005-2006)
11. Ultraman Mebius (2006-2007)
12. Ultraman Ginga (2013)
13. Ultraman Ginga S (2014)
14. Ultraman X (2015-2016)
15. Ultraman Orb (2016)
16. Ultraman Geed (2017)

Movies in the initial offering include Ultraman Mebius & Ultraman Brothers from 2006 and Mega Monster Battle Ultra Galaxy: The Movie from 2009. The “aggressive rollout” for these Ultra shows will begin this year.

Tsuburaya Productions

The Ultra series has been a bright beacon of hope and joy for me in these trouble times. All of the shows I’ve seen so far have been a delight, and I personally can’t wait to dive into the ones I haven’t. Each of the series is more or less standalone (with more crossovers as you get deeper in) so pick which one looks coolest to you and jump into the monster-fighting deep end.

Featured Image: Tsuburaya Productions

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!

The post Massive ULTRAMAN Library to Stream on Shout! Factory TV appeared first on Nerdist.

If it seems like we’re talking a lot about Kamen Rider lately, it’s for a good reason. We in North America can finally watch it! It’s been a big hit in Japan for decades, and fans of tokusatsu in the west have found ways to watch. Thanks to Shout! Factory TV, the show is finally available here. And thanks to Bluefin brands, the show’s considerable merchandise is heading over here too. In celebration of 20 years of new Kamen Rider (the Heisei Era, 2000-2019), and in the lead up to our premiere of the anniversary film Kamen Rider Heisei Generations FOREVER, Team Kamen Rider has unveiled a huge sale on collectibles and apparel.

Bluefin has a wide array of Kamen Rider merch to toss your way. On their official Team Rider page, you can find bundles of snap-together model kits from Figure-rise Standard where you can get two or three models of Riders for a huge discount. You can get the “Time Bundle” with both Zio and Geiz from Kamen Rider Zi-O; the Double Tripple bundle featuring three different forms from Kamen Rider W; and the Heisei Forever Bundle featuring models of Kuuga, the first Heisei Rider, Zi-O, the 20th Heisei Rider, and Kabuto, the seventh Heisei Rider. Why? Why not?!

In addition to model kits, you can get your hands on several different figures, drivers (the devices that allow the Kamen Riders to transform), and belts for the fashion-forward among you.

On the apparel side of things, Team Kamen Rider has launched an Amazon shop featuring a huge array of t-shirts celebrating the Heisei Era. You can get a shirt with all 20 of the riders’ emblems; one just for Rider Kicks; and perhaps coolest, different shirts commemorating each of the 20 Riders themselves. If your favorites are Faiz, Ghost, and Build, you can get each one on its own tee. Each design has the rider in an epic pose along with their respective season name and number in the chronology. It looks cool, and it helps you keep them all straight.

Both of these stores are operating in perpetuity, but the Heisei Week sale ends Sunday, July 12. So if you want to make the most of it, you have a ticking clock.

And once again, a reminder that Saturday, July 11, at 4pm PT, you can tune in to Nerdist and Geek & Sundry‘s YouTube for a panel about the series and its journey to North America as part of Nerdist House 2020. I will be your humble host with experts and reps from Team Kamen Rider and TokuSHOUTsu. This will lead directly into the U.S. and Canada premiere screening of Kamen Rider Heisei Generations FOREVER, the movie celebrating these 20 Riders we’ve been talking about. Join us!

Featured Image: Ishimori Production Inc and Toei Company

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!

The post Celebrate 20 Years of KAMEN RIDER with a Collectible Sale appeared first on Nerdist.

One of the great things about getting into a new fandom, or even just dipping your toe, is learning how much there is to enjoy. That can also be pretty daunting. This is especially true when you realize you have 50+ years of things to catch up on. One such franchise that might seem overwhelming is one of Japan’s flagship tokusatsu brands, Kamen Rider. Kamen Rider began in 1971 to capitalize on the wild success of special effects hero shows at the time. It has since spawned 30 distinct television incarnations, spin-off movies and merchandise, and continues today.

We’re about to host a panel about Kamen Rider as part of Nerdist House 2020; I thought it would be a good time to give some very basic info on the series. Specifically the series that started it all, streaming now on Shout! Factory TV and the TokuSHOUTsu channel on Pluto TV.

Chances are if you’re a kid of the Power Rangers generation, you have a vague memory of the one-season wonder that was Masked Rider. That show featured a teenage alien prince who defends Earth from evil with insect-like armor and a motorcycle. As with Power Rangers, which took action footage from Toei’s Super Sentai series, Masked Rider took action footage from Kamen Rider Black RX, the ninth and final Kamen Rider series of the original run. And while Masked Rider wasn’t particularly good, the Japanese series were pretty darned awesome.

Toei

Origins

The original Kamen Rider began, as I said, in 1971. The initial idea from producer Toru Hirayama was to adapt manga legend Shotaro Ishinomori’s Skull Man to live-action TV. That eventually morphed a bit and became the story of a young motorcycle-riding hero who is forcibly turned into a cyborg by the evil post-Nazi, occult-worshiping organization Shocker to do their nefarious bidding. The mind-controlling part of the conversion doesn’t take, however, and the hero retains his forthright will and intelligence and lets-loose his newfound abilities to defend Japan from Shocker’s minions.

Toei

The Rider himself wore distinctively motorcycle-inspired armor, with an insect tinge. The helmet/mask had oversized red eyes and antennae, while the coloring on the jacket/armor looked a lot like an insect’s thorax and wings. It was a very effective design. Unlike Tsuburaya Productions’ popular Ultra series which were the height of special model and monster-suit effects of the time, Kamen Rider‘s scope was much less grandiose. It clearly didn’t have the budget of something like Ultraman and instead relied on hand-to-hand combat and stunt performers doing death-defying acts.

The Evil of Shocker

Monsters and fighting them is always a big part tokusatsu, but Kamen Rider‘s aesthetic takes a major turn toward horror. Shocker’s minions are all humans modified with animal or insect DNA with cybernetic enhancements. Shocker’s leader takes many forms throughout the years, but in the first series he’s a cyclopean creature with red robes. His under bosses all have names like Doctor Death and Ambassador Hell. And the monster-of-the-week formula provided such amazing encounters as mummies, werewolves, vampires, and even evil dinosaur professional wrestlers. One time the Rider had to fight a giant carnivorous flying squirrel man.

Toei would eventually produce the now-legendary Spider-Man live-action series in 1978, but in 1971 they wanted to ensure their own hero outshone those other famous icons. That’s why I can’t imagine it’s a coincidence the first two Kamen Rider episodes are “The Eerie Spider Man” and “The Terrifying Bat Man”; wanna know how awesome our hero is? He defeated Spider-Man and Batman the first two weeks he existed.

A Tale of Two Riders

One of the hallmarks of Kamen Rider is the team-up with other Riders. While later on, that would meaning bringing back past heroes for huge event episodes. But in the first series, it was much more about necessity. Fujioka Hiroshi played the handsome, sensitive hero Hongo Takeshi who became Kamen Rider. In addition to acting, he also performed his stunts; during the filming of the 10th episode, Fujioka broke both of his legs in a motorcycle accident. That meant he would be out for months, from a popular show that just started. It’s a disaster any way you slice it. Or it could have been had the producers not thought quickly.

Toei

For the next few episodes, Takeshi would only appear in full Rider gear (a stunt double) with the occasional piece of stock footage of the actor out of costume. Starting in episode 14, in the story of the show, Takeshi goes off to fight Shocker in Europe, leaving Japan in the hands of the second Kamen Rider. Ichimonji Hayato (Sasaki Takeshi) was a photographer and thrill-seeker who was to be yet another victim of Shocker’s gene-splicing; luckily (offscreen) Kamen Rider saves him mid-transformation and he gets to be Japan’s new savior, in a very similar but marketably different suit.

The genius of this move meant the show was essentially refreshed after 13 weeks. And not just with a different actor, the two characters are markedly different. Takeshi is a sweet and humble university student with a knack for motorcycle racing, while Hayato is much more hip, brash, and has an attitude. He’s more of a ladies man and has a suave style all his own. This was all the more important beginning in episode 40.

Team-Ups

After 26 episodes with Rider 2, Hongo returned for a two-part team up wherein the Shocker villain of the week brainwashed him so they fought each other. At the end of those episodes, Takeshi goes back to Europe. He returns again in episodes 49 and 51 before re-taking the reins of the series in episode 52. At that point, Hayato had been the star of the show more than twice as long, so it felt again like a brand new show. Hayata returned for his own guest appearances in episodes 72, 73, 93, 94, and the series finale of 98.

Toei

Kamen Rider was a smash hit and the next iteration, V3, began the week after the original ended (very common in Japanese shows). From 1971-1976, there was always a Kamen Rider on TV. After a few years off, four more series ran from 1979-1981 and then 1987-1989.

All 98 episodes are currently available to watch for free on Shout! Factory TV and are airing on Pluto TV’s TokuSHOUTsu channel. It’s really worth a look, for its creepy-funky monsters, emphasis on stuntwork and fights, and for that cool-ass theme song.

Featured Image: Toei/TokuSHOUTsu

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!

The post What You Need to Know About KAMEN RIDER appeared first on Nerdist.

We love a big superhero crossover, eh? The biggest box office hit of all time is testament to that. And while the U.S. has only gotten into this game in the past 10 years, Japan is way ahead. For decades now, they’ve given fans huge events where classic and contemporary heroes and villains clash in epic feature-length proportions. Kamen Rider, one of Japan’s most popular and long-running tokusatsu (Japanese live action special effects/genre) shows, features team-ups with past Riders on a regular basis; none however are as big and potentially Earth-shattering as Kamen Rider Heisei Generations Forever.

And speaking of epic team-ups, Shout! Factory TV and Team Kamen Rider are teaming up with Nerdist for a live panel and U.S. premiere screening of Kamen Rider Heisei Generations Forever. Take a look!

The movie features a team up of all 20 Heisei Era Riders. (For those not steeped in such things, the Heisei Era corresponds to the reign of Emperor Akihito from January 8, 1989 until his abdication on April 30 2019. Currently, Japan is in the Reiwa Era.) Kamen Rider is a long-running superhero series featuring a motorcycle-riding, insect-themed hero taking on all manner of nasty evil monsters. The original run, consisting of nine distinct series, ran from 1971 to 1989. In 2000, Kamen Rider Kuuga premiered, ushering in the Heisei Era which continued apace ever since.

Nerdist is incredibly proud to welcome Team Kamen Rider and Shout Factory TV to Nerdist House 2020. This will be our virtual series of panels and discussions broadcast live over the internet. July 11 is the big day, as you may have already seen on TokuSHOUTsu, Shout! Factory TV’s new streaming channel devoted entirely to Japanese tokusatsu. Since its launch in March, TokuSHOUTsu has given fans 24/7 entertainment with shows like our favorite Rider, Super Sentai, and Ultraman.

Build & Zi-O Production Committee

Final details are still in process, but I’m delighted to announce I will moderate the panel on July 11 and introduce the screening along with members of Team Kamen Rider, Tokunation, and Tokusatsu Network. I’m revved up to get to share the joys of tokusatsu—which I’ve been mainlining for months now—with all of you! If you’ve never watched, this is a perfect chance to find out what you’re missing. And Kamen Rider Heisei Generations Forever will not stream anywhere else until the end of the summer, so if you want to catch it sooner rather than later, you’ll have to check out Nerdist House!

The panel will be carried on on Nerdist’s YouTube Channel and will simultaneously stream on the Geek & Sundry YouTube Channel and Geek & Sundry’s Twitch Channel. The film will only screen on Nerdist’s YouTube Channel and on Geek & Sundry’s YouTube Channel.

Team Kamen Rider will also be doing a digital event called “Heisei Week” with livestreams every day from July 6-11, on every Kamen Rider in the film. Head to the Team Kamen Rider website for more info and exclusive new merchandise for sale.

We’re excited to bring the excitement of Kamen Rider to you! Mark your calendars for July 11, 2020, and get ready to transform your life.

Featured Image: Build & Zi-O Production Committee

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!

The post KAMEN RIDER Panel & Screening Coming to Nerdist House appeared first on Nerdist.

A fifth-generation tatami craftsman near Nagoya, Japan is bucking tradition. Tatami, or a woven straw grass mat, is a symbol of Japan’s storied past. Usually laid down in square or rectangle patterns in traditional Japanese-style rooms, tatami is both elegant and pleasing to the eye. But as apartments and modern Western-style houses grow in popularity, traditional flooring is disappearing.

Artisan Kenji Yamada is transforming tatami into dazzling floor designs that might just keep the tradition alive.

Kenji Yamada

Yamada’s company, Yamada Hajime Tatami-ten, has been creating and laying tatami mats since 1869. Combining centuries-old tradition with modern designs and technology could be the breath of fresh air his industry needs to keep going. Yamada shared a look at his patterning and production process on YouTube. It’s mesmerizing.

Yamada uses color, weaving, and unusual shapes to create unique tatami designs. In an interview recently translated by Nippon.com, he said “originally, he thought that it was only possible to make rectangular tatami, but when he realized he could produce other shapes, he began creating designs that use rooms as a giant canvas.”

Tiles in the shape of circles, irregular polygons, and more are used in Yamada’s designs. Alternating the weave affects the reflection of the light on the woven grass so that the mats even look like they’re changing colors from different angles.

Yamada plans to take his ideas international so that homes around the world can display his imaginative artwork on floors, furniture, and more. Take a look through Yamada’s website for a gallery of his amazing creations and be sure to read the complete interview on Nippon.com for a fascinating look at how modern aesthetics and traditions can live in harmony.

Featured Image: Kenji Yamada

Kelly Knox is a freelance writer in Seattle, WA who writes for Star Wars, DC Comics, and more. Follow her on Twitter.

The post Japanese Tradition and Art Collide in These Unusual Tatami Designs appeared first on Nerdist.