Toku Forgiveness
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...
THE GUYVER (1991): A Movie at War with Itself
In 1990, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie became the most successful independent movie of all time. It would hold onto this honour until 1999’s The Blair Witch Project stole the crown. The turtles...
Yeti: Giant of the 20th Century, A Canadian-Italian Kaiju Fever Dream
A few months ago we discussed Kaiju and giant monsters that have attacked Canada. In my research for the article, I missed the biggest instance of Canadian monster rampage. Yeti: Giant of the 20th...
Toku Tuesday: Ultramega Issue #1
Par for the course, whenever I make a list of upcoming material I always miss something. In this case I literally missed a GODZILLA comic, which is nigh heresy on my part, however the...
American Tokusatsu: A Look At Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers: The Movie
The year is 1995 and one Tokusatsu show rules North America. The Power Rangers. Rangermania didn't last long (it was eventually usurped but for a few years), but the show was so incredibly popular...
The Absurd Punk Energy of PSYCHO GOREMAN (2020)
Tokusatsu has a wide influence and it is never more clear how wide-reaching it is than when you see a film like Psycho Goreman (2020). It is a love letter to the inventiveness found...
A kaiju author’s travel memoir: HOW TO HAVE AN ADVENTURE IN NORTHERN JAPAN by...
Travel is one thing that no responsible person is participating in this year. However, just because you are trapped inside does not mean your mind cannot wander streets in countries far beyond your own....
Introducing ‘Toku Tuesdays’ with Kamen Rider J (1994)
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....
Monster Movie Pool Party
So you’ve found yourself blessed with being fully vaxed and ready to get back into the world this summer. There is no better time to put together a pool party.
But not just any...
Reading Project Nemesis: the Comic
Project Nemesis began life as a novel by Jeremy Robinson written in 2012 and it has become one of the most popular entries in Kaiju fiction. There are a total of six books in...
Toku Tuesday Catch-Up
2021 has been a difficult year to say the least; having had a serious stroke in September of 2020 this entire year thus far has been an arduous process. If I’m not having trouble...
Mighty Gamin’ Power Rangers
The super Nintendo is truly the perfect retro console. The sprites and the capabilities of the system allow GOOD games to attain a timeless quality. Sprite art ages better than many of the early...
Replanting Godzilla Vs. Biollante (1989)
Originally the Big G was intended to sit out of this column for quite some time, as there have been a copious amount of writing detailing his storied career. However given that this is...
Boob Guns and Butt Swords: A Look at RoboGeisha (2009)
The late 2000s and early 2010s were an interesting time for Japanese genre pictures. One of the most prevalent subgenres was the gory, the goofy, and the perverse. Films like Tokyo Gore Police (2008),...
The Special Effects Mastery of THE LOST WORLD (1925)
The Lost World from 1925 is arguably the most important Dinosaur film of all time. While not as famous as say, King Kong (1933), all of the elements that make Kong so iconic were pioneered...
An Old-Fashioned MONSTRUM Movie
South Korea has absolutely been killing it in the genre scene. Bong Joon-Ho just won Best Picture and it seems like there is a lot of money being poured into their film divisions. Speaking...
The Terror-ibleness of Tentacles (1977)
Tentacles (1977) is truly terrible. The kind of terrible that only comes from attempting to shamelessly ripoff another more popular movie. The movie in question here is clearly trying to ripoff Jaws (1975). Now the...
Toku Tuesday: Project Nemesis, the Series
In the past we discussed the comic adaptation of Jeremy Robinson's novel Project Nemesis, this week we're discussing the series as a whole. Lasting five books with one prequel novel Project Nemesis is a...
Get Down with Godzilla: Big G’s Music Video Appearances
Godzilla has meant a lot of things to a lot of people. If his recent appearances in the realm of music videos are of any indication, the things that Godzilla can mean vary A...
Kaiju Fandom Survives the Quarantine
The Quarantine and Stay at Home orders have affected the entire world. The Tokusatsu and Kaiju Genre is no different. This has led to a fair share of bungles -- like the renaming of...
A Beast Called Gorgo: Exploring the King Brothers’ Kaiju Comic
Gorgo is a 1961 monster film funded by King Brothers Productions after they had a huge success distributing the American version of the Japanese film Rodan (1956). At the time Tokusatsu and suitmation was...
Kaiju Con-Line
The virus is for now here to stay and with that all of the common summer hobbies we’ve all grown to love have been completely altered. One of the biggest life changes for us...
Monster Madness
Thrifting is one of my favourite pastimes. Specifically when it comes to looking for books. Spending hours in some dusty basement of a store filled to the brim with books from yesteryear. This is...
Taking a Bite Out of the Godzilla: King of the Monsters Novelization
The wait is finally over, after 5 years of dormancy the King of the Monsters has arisen once again to take his place in the annals of American cinema. Along with this resurgence (and...
An Appreciation for the Tokusatsu Fanbase in 2020
This year has been a hard one for all of us. As the year ends it feels like a good time for reflection. Despite the seemingly unending darkness that was 2020, there were bright...