That Heisei Feeling

CCLemon99...that guy...ugh...he HATES Heisei Tokusatsu.

Back when I was more active it was something I was always hearing. Honestly, my likes and dislikes are more or less linked to my mood. A show that sucked once might be halfway decent the second time around. I can't really say I've ever been one to like a new show for the sake of it being new. There are fans out there that do, and more power to them, but it seems shallow. Like yeah, Ryusoulger may be your favorite Sentai ever, but how about ten months from now when the next one drops? I don't get that.

When you take a look at a 1970s movie, it has a certain aesthetic that was dominant to the set ten years it was made. On the flip side, you have the Golden Age of Cinema where the era itself is defined by the art form. I guess my point is...what even is an era in Tokusatsu? Can a genre of entertainment even slip into an undefined length of time that has no intrinsic value to the genre itself?

Yes...and no.

Tokusatsu as we know and love it was born out of the Showa era. There are people better suited to give a history lesson from the post-war beginnings of Tokusatsu until the end of the Showa era on January 7, 1989. To sum up my feelings on the era, it was the the beginning (duh) and blueprint for longevity. It was a reflection of what Japan had to offer. Sooooo much effort and innovation was poured into something as frivolous as children's programming and entertainment. The industry behind it was almost something of an accident. The very first expansive Tokusatsu toyline I can think of is probably Chojinki Metalder's Ghost Bank Series...and that didn't arrive until 1987. It was a large line of miniature figures and accessories that were all numbered, which is the bane of the existence to every OCD kid out there. I *NEED* to have them all. I already bought No.22, the Ghost Bank, now I MUST fill it!

The Showa era of Tokusatsu always felt like the establishment and the passion for the craft. Watching Godzilla in 1954 had to have been nothing short of total inspiration for the purveyors of the craft for decades to come. When you look at the final years of the Showa era in Tokusatsu, however, had much changed from it's explosive beginnings? The shows felt largely the same. Ultraman was more or less abandoned. Budgets were very slim. P Productions didn't even make it into the 80s.

When the Heisei era began, it inherited a mess of a genre in Tokusatsu. There were some bright newcomers that year like Gunhed and the latest Godzilla installment, Godzilla vs Biollante, but outside of Toho things were somewhat grim. Kamen Rider wouldn't survive the decade and Super Sentai would soon begin it's seemingly annual threat to newly hired cast members that "By the way, this is going to be the last series. No pressure.".

As much as I dislike the series, there is no denying that Chojin Sentai Jetman was the enormous reversal that Super Sentai desperately needed. While it continued with the formulaic premise, giving the characters the chance to develop brought in a new dimension of interest to the genre. The craft never left the genre, merely this is the pivotal time where it was extended to the plot. That isn't to say series prior didn't accomplish this, it was done in a way that caused people who otherwise wouldn't be fans to take notice for the first time.

The remainder of the 1990s did a fantastic job capitalizing on this. Granted, it wasn't every series...like Zyuranger...but who cares when that show became Mighty Morphin' Power Ranger$. The rise of the toy lines in the 1990s was, once again, a symptom of it's growing rebirth...and also what brings us to today.

One of my favorite things to look out for during my viewings for series I want to review is the level of disdain that writers have for introducing new toys to the show. There are the episode where you can tell a writer is utterly disgusted to be stuck writing an episode for a weapon that will be used only twice. On the flip side you get an episode where the writer gives an involved and almost absurd story behind a new mecha like "This new super mecha killed the twenty finest and top minds from our organization that were developing it.......enjoy your new toy. P.S. it attaches to the previous toy, so the only way to properly memorialize those lost souls is to buy that one too".

Bandai's meddling in Tokusatsu is hardly 100% of this almost ongoing decline in quality. Those craftsmen and women who landed their dream jobs after being wowed by early Tokusatsu are no longer at the helm--technology is. Computer Graphics are a necessity when you're pulling of an effect that is critical, yet otherwise impossible to pull off practically. It was fun to watch CG starting to sneak it's way in...until it wasn't. It's just become grating and lazy.

To risk sounding like "Old man yells at cloud" I should probably start wrapping this up.

I want to continue to live in a world where Tokusatsu is a thing. The massive upswing that the genre took during the mid-late Heisei era has cooled considerably at this where Super Sentai needs to look to the past and remind themselves what a plot-driven show like Jetman for a reversal of fortune.

I'm kinda brought back to my original question. What even is Heisei Tokusatsu? So much has happened in these last thirty years. There was a rebirth, there was a massive leap in the industry that broke when popularity expanded, there was growth with Ultraman and Kamen Rider's return as well as the popularity of independent productions, and there was the inevitable snake eating it's own tail.

None of that describes the shows, though. Most of my favorite shows happened in the Heisei era, but most of my least favorite show did as well. There was this...aaaand this... Despite being having about a decade more of productions, Showa Tokusatsu has a Showa feel. I'll be damned if I know what a Heisei show feels like...

-CC