is a Japanese word that literally means "special effects." It is primarily used to refer to live-action Japanese film and television dramas that make use of special effects.

The term "tokusatsu" is a contraction of the Japanese phrase , meaning "special photography". In production, the special effects director is given the title of , Japanese for "special techniques" or , which is Japanese for "special effects director", the title usually used by English language productions.

Tokusatsu entertainment is often science fiction, fantasy, or horror, but movies and TV shows in other genres can sometimes be classified as tokusatsu as well. The most popular types of tokusatsu are kaiju monster movies (the Godzilla and Gamera film series), superhero TV serials (the Kamen Rider and Metal Heroes series), and mecha dramas (''Giant Robo''). Some tokusatsu television programs combine several of these subgenres (the Ultraman and Super Sentai series).

Tokusatsu is one of the most popular forms of Japanese entertainment, but most tokusatsu movies and television programs are not widely known outside Asia.

History

Tokusatsu has its most distant origins in early Japanese theater, specifically kabuki, with its action and fight scenes, and bunraku, which utilized some of the earliest forms of special effects, specifically puppetry. Modern tokusatsu, however, did not begin to take shape until the early 1950s, with the conceptual and creative birth of Godzilla, one of the most famous kaiju (giant monsters) of all time.

The driving forces behind 1954's ''Godzilla'' were special effects artist Eiji Tsuburaya and director Ishiro Honda. Tsuburaya, inspired by the American film ''King Kong'', formulated many of the techniques that would become staples of the genre, such as so-called suitmation — the use of a human actor in a costume to play a giant monster — combined with the use of miniatures and scaled-down city sets. ''Godzilla'' forever changed the landscape of Japanese science fiction & fantasy, and cinema, by creating a uniquely Japanese vision in a genre typically dominated by American cinema.Allison, ''Millennial Monsters'', pp. 47-8.

''Godzilla'' kickstarted the kaiju genre in Japan, which remained extremely popular for several decades, with characters such as the aforementioned Godzilla, Gamera, and King Ghidorah leading the market.Greenberger, Robert, ''Meet Godzilla''. ISBN 1404202692 However, in 1957, the first film serial featuring the superhero character Super Giant was released, signaling a shift in popularity that favored masked heroes over giant monsters. Along with the anime ''Astro Boy'' (''Tetsuwan Atom''), the ''Super Giant'' serials had a profound effect on the world of tokusatsu. The following year, in 1958, premiered, the first of numerous televised superhero dramas that would make up one of the most popular tokusatsu subgenres.Craig, p. 262

Superheroes remained a viable and popular staple of entertainment during the 1960s, but were largely staid, with few of the programs distinguishing themselves from the rest of the lineup. This changed in 1966, with and ''Ultraman'' creating the Kyodai Hero genre, 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 ISBN 0207950148

Popular franchises

Over the past half-century, there have been long running television series that are often a combination of several other themes. Tsuburaya Productions has had the Ultra Series starting with ''Ultra Q'' and ''Ultraman'' in 1966. P Productions began their foray into tokusatasu in 1966 with the series ''Ambassador Magma''. They have also been behind the Lion-Maru trilogy which concluded recently. The Toei Company also has several series that fall under their Toei Superheroes category of programming, starting in 1961 with the single series, ''Moonlight Mask''. Then, they produced several other longrunning series, starting with the Kamen Rider Series in 1971, the Super Sentai Series in 1975, the Metal Heroes Series in 1982, and several . Toho, the creators of Godzilla, also had their hands in creating the Chouseishin Series of programs from 2003 to 2006.

Non-traditional tokusatsu productions

Non-traditional tokusatsu films and television programs may not use the conventional special effects or may not star human actors. Suitmation is characteristic of tokusatsu; however, some productions may use stop-motion instead to animate its monsters (e.g. ''Majin Hunter Mitsurugi'' (1973)). "Puppet shows" may use traditional tokusatsu techniques, but are cast with puppets or marionettes (e.g. ''Uchuusen Silica'' (1960), ''Ginga Shonen Tai'' (1963) and ''Kuchuu Toshi 008'' (1969); Go Nagai's ''X Bomber'' (1980)). Some tokusatsu may employ animation in addition to its live-action components (e.g. Tsuburaya Productions' ''Dinosaur Expedition Team Bornfree'' (1976) and ''Dinosaur War Aizenborg'' (1977); ''Pro-Wrestling Star Aztekaiser'' (1976)).

Japanese fan films

As popular culture fandom in Japan grew in the 1980s, a fan-based group called Daicon Film (now called Gainax) was created by Hideaki Anno, Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, Takami Akai, and Shinji Higuchi. Besides anime sequences, they also produced a series of tokusatsu shorts parodying monster movies and superhero shows which has gained much media coverage. These productions include ''Patriotic Squadron Dai-Nippon'' (1983), ''Swift Hero Noutenki'' (1982), ''Return of Ultraman'' (1983) and ''The Eight-Headed Giant Serpent Strikes Back'' (1985).

In the turn of the new millennium, comedian Shinpei Hayashiya produced a number of tokusatsu fan films. These include ''Godzilla Vs. Seadora'' and ''Gamera 4: Truth'' (2004). In 2005, he completed his upcoming first original effort, ''Deep Sea Beast Reigo''.

Tokusatsu-influenced productions outside Japan

Tokusatsu technique has been replicated outside of Japan due to the popularity of Godzilla films. In 1961, England made its own Godzilla-style film, ''Gorgo'', which used the same suitmation technique as the Godzilla films. That same year, Saga Studios in Denmark made another Godzilla-style giant monster film, ''Reptilicus''. This film's monster was brought to life using a marionette on a miniature set. In 1967, South Korea produced its own kaiju movie titled ''Taekoesu Yonggary''. In 1975, Shaw Brothers produced a superhero film called ''The Super Inframan'', based on the huge success of Ultraman and Kamen Rider there. The film starred Danny Lee in the title role. Although there were several other similar superhero productions in Hong Kong, ''The Super Inframan'' is the first. With help from Japanese SPFX artists under Sadamasa Arikawa, they also produced a Japanese-styled monster movie, ''The Mighty Peking Man'', in 1977. In 2001, Buki X-1 Productions, a French fan-based production company, produced its own series, ''Jushi Sentai France Five'' (now called ''Shin Kenjushi France Five''), a tribute to Toei's long running Super Sentai series. In 2004, Peter Tatara (with his company Experimental Amateur Hero Productions) produced a low-budget superhero video series called ''Johnny Robo'', which is a tribute/deconstruction/parody of Kamen Rider and the Henshin Hero genre. The low-budget television series ''Kaiju Big Battel'' directly parodies kaiju and Kyodai Hero films and series by immersing their own costumed characters in professional wrestling matches among cardboard buildings. In 2006, the South Korean series ''Erexion'' premiered as a "children's special effects drama;" its style is reminiscent of tokusatsu techniques. 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. In 2006, Insector Sun, a low-budget tribute to Kamen Rider was produced by Brazilian fans. In addition, a Thai Sentai-style series ''Sport Ranger'' began broadcasting on August 2006.

Adaptations

''Godzilla, King of the Monsters!'' was first dubbed into English in 1956 (the sole addition to the movie was American actor Raymond Burr) and Ultraman gained popularity when it too was dubbed for American audiences in the 1960s.

The primary influx of tokusatsu adaptations came in the 1990s, starting in 1993 with Saban Entertainment's purchase of footage from Toei's sixteenth installment of their long-running Super Sentai series, ''Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger'' to become ''Mighty Morphin Power Rangers'' and start the popular Power Rangers franchise. An adaptation of footage from ''Choujinki Metalder'', ''Jikuu Senshi Spielban'', and ''Uchuu Keiji Shaider'', several series in the Metal Heroes series, became ''VR Troopers'' in 1994. This was followed by an adaptation of the ninth series in the Kamen Rider, ''Kamen Rider Black RX'', into ''Saban's Masked Rider''. In 1996 and 1997, ''Juukou B-Fighter'' and its sequel ''B-Fighter Kabuto'' became ''Big Bad Beetleborgs'' and its sequel ''Beetleborgs Metallix''. DiC Entertainment, in 1994, purchased the footage for ''Denkou Choujin Gridman'' to become ''Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad''. Most recently, there are plans to adapt the twelfth Kamen Rider series, ''Kamen Rider Ryuki'', into ''Kamen Rider Dragon Knight'', which is to be broadcast in 2008.

Original American productions

American production companies also had a hand in creating what are termed by fans as "American Tokusatsu." The syndicated series ''Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters from Beverly Hills'' was a low budget attempt at competing with the Power Rangers. Saban's ''The Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog'' was an original production by Saban to emulate their own Power Rangers series. The syndicated ''Big Wolf on Campus'' and Nickelodeon's ''Animorphs'' are also described as "American Tokusatsu" due to the techniques they employed.

Foreign productions as tokusatsu

In Japan, several English language live action series are dubbed into Japanese and considered tokusatsu programs. English language television programs such as ''Thunderbirds'', ''Doctor Who'', ''Lost in Space'', ''Smallville'', ''Wonder Woman'', ''MacGyver'', ''Stargate SG-1'', ''Battlestar Galactica'', ''Red Dwarf'', ''The Greatest American Hero'', ''Knight Rider'', and even ''Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends'' are considered as tokusatsu for the special effects techniques and themes that they utilize.:ja:特撮テレビ番組一覧

References

Martinez, Dolores P. ''The Worlds of Japanese Popular Culture: Gender, Shifting Boundaries, and Global Cultures''. ISBN 0521637295

Allison, Anne. ''Millennial Monsters: Japanese Toys and the Global Imagination''. ISBN 0520245652

Grays, Kevin. ''Welcome to the Wonderful World of Japanese Fantasy'' (''Markalite'' Vol. 1, Summer 1990, Kaiju Productions/Pacific Rim Publishing)

Yoshida, Makoto & Ikeda, Noriyoshi and Ragone, August. ''The Making of "Godzilla Vs. Biollante" - They Call it "Tokusatsu"'' (''Markalite'' Vol. 1, Summer 1990, Kaiju Productions/Pacific Rim Publishing)

Godziszewski, Ed. ''The Making of Godzilla'' (''G-FAN'' #12, November/December 1994, Daikaiju Enterprises)

Ryfle, Steve. ''Japan's Favorite Mon-Star: The Unauthorized Biography of Godzilla''. ECW Press, 1999. ISBN 1-55022-348-8.

Craig, Timothy J. ''Japan Pop!: Inside the World of Japanese Popular Culture'' ISBN 0765605600