Tokusatsu, in its simplest explanation, is a Japanese special effects film. In the west, the most well known Tokusatsu franchise is easily Godzilla. The giant nuclear monster gets the majority of screentime and conversation. For good reason, as he is the King of the Monsters. However, western audiences are missing a large swath of great Tokusatsu material. Toku not only inhabits the realm of the giant monster, but the genre also has plenty of human-sized creatures as well. What better way to start out Toku Tuesday than to cover a movie that utilizes both.
Kamen Rider J (1994) is a short 50-minute film by director Keita Amemiya. It was one of three films that were made in the gap between the Showa and Heisei eras of Kamen Rider. The names “Showa” and “Heisei” refer to the emperor of Japan. The Heisei period began in 1989 making this film a Heisei Rider film. The Kamen Rider franchise involves a Masked Rider who is proficient in Martial Arts fighting an organization of villains. In a nutshell, think of Power Rangers (which in turn is based upon Super Sentai) but instead of a team, there is a singular fighter. Every Kamen Rider has his own Motorcycle and Rider Kick that helps define them as a character. There are in total 188 Kamen Riders if you count all of the side characters. All of these characters are of normal human-sized stature, that is all except one, none other than Kamen Rider J.
With all of the background information out of the way, we can finally dig into the film itself. The film is very simple in plot structure. A fallen hero is given the powers of the earth in order to fight off alien invaders and to save the planet. A fantasy tale in the vein of King Arthur. However, this is King Arthur in the style of Keita Amemiya a famous artist who takes clear inspiration from Alien (1979) artist H. R. Giger. Amemiya will come up a lot during the run of Toku Tuesday as he is a very influential creative force in the genre and he is virtually unknown in the west. The mix of fantastical elements and Gigeresque art style really helps to give some vibrant dichotomy between Earth and the Alien Invaders. Asides from the dichotomy there are quite a few examples of reproductive imagery seeping into what on the surface appears to be a simple allegory.
During the climax, the “Machine Beast Mothership Fog Mother” (the REAL name of the antagonist) the villain can only be fully reborn through a sacrifice. Said sacrifice is a young girl clad in white who is being lowered in a cage to a group of ravenous creatures that closely resemble a phallus. The idea that a being called “Mother” can only be reborn by the sacrifice of an innocent child makes this imagery seem intentional. We then have a sequence where our hero is encased in a fleshy tube and he can only escape by going into the light which allows him to reach his full power. That’s right Kamen Rider J is literally reborn through the Fog Mother’s fallopian tubes. These sequences help to give the film more weight than its rather conventional environmental themes that lie on the surface.
We’ve had our intellectual analysis, now let’s get to the fun stuff: THE ACTION. Kamen Rider J has outstanding fight sequences with an array of bizarre creatures. First off Kamen Rider J has a familiar on his side named Berry. Berry is a giant locust who flies alongside him helping J to maintain his connection to the earth spirits. I love Berry. The first few fight scenes are all done in human size. There is some excellent wire work during the fight with Zu, a flying bee monster, and the fight with Garai inside of the Fog Mother is top notch. Garai has a saber that makes some sounds very similar to a certain well-known space franchise and has a similar effect. Unlike Star Wars, however, all of the effects in the Garai battle are done in camera and feature some great battle damage as the fight goes on. The sequence where J goes full-on Ultraman likewise features some great effects. The Miniatures are solid and the battle while short is very satisfying.
If you’re merely looking to have a good night with some breezy tokusatsu then you can’t do much better than Kamen Rider J. It has the best elements of Tokusatsu with truly impressive choreography and delightful effects. You can dig into the film thematically or you can just grab some popcorn to enjoy your night.
See you in two weeks for another edition of Toku Tuesday.
