One of the greatest recurring themes in Tokusatsu is the act of forgiving oneself after contemplating your own actions or upon discovering a sin you never knew you were being complicit in. Various Ultra and Kamen Rider bring up the ideas held within time and time again. It is a theme that I’ve only seen a smattering of times in North American children’s media. He-Man does not stop and think if Beast Man has hidden depths, nor do we question whether the actions of G.I. Joe interferes with international stability. My favourite use of this theme date back as far as the original Ultraman, with the episode ‘Monster Graveyard’ (1967).
In this episode, the Ultra team travel to outer space and they notice that there is an entire asteroid belt that is littered with the frozen corpses of the Kaiju they’ve defeated. This leads the crew to put on a funeral for all of the creatures who have died. When Hayata becomes Ultraman for the first time this episode, we see him looking to the stars and debating on whether or not his actions are correct. This is an extremely poignant sequence and really puts everything you’ve watched up to now into perspective. For a culture still reeling with the aftermath of World War Two, this must have been an extra affecting sequence. Japan was a deeply nationalistic culture in World War Two and every victory was celebrated with a sense of their actions being right. Then after the war, they were forced to reevaluate their actions and learn about war crimes like The Rape of Nanking or the atrocities of Unit 731. Nationalism has an extreme cost and we’ve unknowingly been reveling in it throughout the entire show, watching the hero of Japan destroying all foreign invaders. Yet Monster Graveyard attempts to put that all into perspective and add extra nuance to the hero. A monster arrives on Earth and is deeply depressed wanting only to return to the bliss found within the vast expanse of space. Ultraman decides to help the creature return to the graveyard instead of massacring him. It enforces empathy for the creature and a realization that not all of our hero’s actions are correct. This is not the final episode of Ultraman, although it is near the end of the first series. So, the idea going forward from here is that Ultraman has learnt a lesson and has decided to think on his actions. Going forward you, as a viewer, understand there is a difference between a peaceful Kaiju and a threat to humanity. Ultraman paying respects to his past foes ensures that we know the deeper significance behinds ones actions.
This is a theme that recurs throughout toku history. One of the other big moments of this theme that sticks with me is the use in Kamen Rider Gaim (2013-14). Gaim is a wild series and one which I’ve not finished. Not due to disinterest but because it gets pretty heavy and you need to be in the right headspace to explore this series. Which when I describe the main plot you’ll think I am a complete madman. The plot of Kamen Rider Gaim involves a bunch of break dancing teens and a hero who uses the powers of fruit to kill monsters. The series begins very fun and loose and then midway through you have the rug torn out from under you. You see the monsters in the show are often times humans who ate forbidden fruit not knowing what they were getting into. When Gaim finds this out he understandably no longer wishes to kill them and is glad that he has seemingly never killed anyone unknowingly. Then one of the villains reveals that he has in fact murdered someone and it was someone the Rider was close to. This happened way back in the pilot episode of the show and the twist puts everything in a whole new perspective. It understandably shakes our protagonist. In order to continue with his life and his heroism Gaim must learn to forgive himself, to live with his crimes. If one is to continue living one must deal with their faults both past and present in order to continue living. Everyone has some past folly and hopefully that does not involve anything as serious as murder. Still our past is something which can hold us back and stop us from moving forward. Tokusatsu is aware of this and frames stories around it. It leads to incredibly mature storytelling within a series aimed at children.
The idea and theme continues to this day. Just last weekend at the time of writing this we were introduced to another hero left to untangle his own actions. In Ultraman Z episode 11 (2020) we learn that our lead hero Haruki has lost his father to a Kaiju attack many years ago. For the anniversary of his father’s death, he plans to return to his childhood home and spend the day with his mother. This is unsurprisingly interrupted by another Kaiju attack; that of the Kaiju Red King. Red King is one of Ultraman’s most iconic foes so even longtime viewers think nothing of his brutal battle. Near the finishing move, we discover that there is another Red King who has been spotted nearby. Haruki finishes off the first Red King and goes off to join his team and their brand new mech to defeat the second creature.
It is during this second fight we learn that the two creatures are mates protecting their young and, moreover, it appears the first one that Haruki murdered was the father. He has committed the very act he was there to commemorate. The second creature disappears with its egg and we are left wondering if we’ll ever see them again. The clear parallel hits Haruki and he is left shaken and disturbed. As the viewer, you are, too. Are we really just experiencing fun monster of the week show or are we watching the extinction of an endangered species of animals who have been encroached upon by human interference? The true repercussions of the act have yet to be seen but this will no doubt have wide-reaching consequences.
Children’s program has a responsibility to introduce complex concepts to the children who watch it. We should all strive for this level of complexity and self-awareness in our programming.
