The plot twist of the year is the massive reversal of fortunes when it comes to Tokusatsu physical media releases. Think about where we were just a few short months ago. Ultraman was the only thing keeping us afloat. Great stuff--but I couldn't help but feel we were in the midst of our malaise era of Tokusatsu.
Then...we got more. Lots more.
It was only a month ago the obscured legends from Shout Factory emerged in their three-piece mecha to halt the invasion of Hasbronauts. References to the first episode of Fiveman aside--that happens to be the shock of the month. In just 1-2-3-4-5 weeks from this writing we will be getting the *woefully* delayed DVD set of Chikyuu Sentai Fiveman! The very set that was teased like four years ago is being released with the exact artwork seen in the teaser post? Why the delay? What gives? Who cares! What we can only hope is that this is not the end of Shout's Super Sentai DVD releases.
Fiveman is not an incredible series, but I still found great enjoyment out of it. I miss that era where Sentai series has their own sound effect catalog. Jetman had it fart sounds...Fiveman had its bizarre sound design. It was great. Yeah, I'm excited to give this show another shot legitimately. I know I've been teasing a Timeranger post since it's release, but there is a lot to talk about and I need to get it right. Fiveman...is gonna be a challenge, but crucially it's episodes are only like seventeen and a half minutes without credits, which helps since time is in short supply.
Anyway...Fiveman DVD set. Great stuff. Ordered immediately and I cannot wait to get it. If Abaranger is next, I'll be there too.
That same day we also got another lump of awesome news. Kamen Rider Kuuga is coming to Blu Ray! I haven't seen this series in so long and I was just getting the itch to watch again after catching an episode on Shout Factory's Tokushoutsu Twitch channel one night when I couldn't sleep. The series has been available to stream for some time, but I can't engage with streaming as much as I can with a DVD or BD. I put the Blues Brothers on the other night and watched the entire damn movie without distraction. I also streamed all of Seinfeld last month and constantly left to do other stuff.
This release isn't a total shock as, like I mentioned, the series has been available in North America to stream for quite some time along with Kamen Rider and Kamen Rider Agito.
This announcement...it definitely opens up the possibility for more. Keep this in mind when the crop of new Kamen Rider films are released in the future. They'll have life on Amazon Prime...but the possibilities are endless.
In addition to this, we have Media Blasters lurking in the background.
They teased what is truly going to be one of my favorite releases of all-time at the very end of 2021. They proposed a set of basically every 1990s Kamen Rider feature sometime in 2022. Even if it happens in 2023, I'm still pumped. They've been the lords of the Hakaider license in America since like 2000 and recently put out a great BD and have also released new BDs of Zebraman and Zebraman 2.
-----------
We're currently at a watershed moment of releases and I am just taking it all in.
I have been working on my own little side project for something later on. I can say that upon re-re-re-release some Toei BDs have gotten more reasonably priced when it comes to Super Sentai vs/V Cinema releases, but holy hell are full series still freakin' expensive.
The next time I hear some dork whine that $60 is too much for a full series DVD release, I will gladly remind them that you will be hard-pressed to find that same series for less than $300 in Japan. The releases aren't perfect, but the rock bottom price of $35-$60 that these sets have been have made up for it in spades. Not wishing to have a "get off my lawn" moment, but $20 used to buy you a VHS copy with four episodes in 1994. Twenty 1994 Dollars. (I am working on a certain post about some old tapes...)
Anyway, whiners will always whine. Winners will always support physical Tokusatsu releases.
See ya~!
-CC
