The first episode of the new GARO series is out!
With English Subs!
Can you imagine if Zeiram (1991 dir. Keita Amemiya) came out today. Everyone would want to fuck Zeiram. There would be so much art of him the monsterfuckers could finally die happy.
Depending on who you ask, Zeiram either has no gender or all possible genders at once, being an entity of ever changing ultra-adaptable DNA. But in any case the thing you must accept about Zeiram is that, no matter how cool the ominous visor looks, the ridiculous tiny face on their “hat” is their real head.
Kamen Rider ZO was actually the first Kamen Rider I ever saw. I rented a bootleg VHS from a local shop in Dallas, TX called Pop Culture (we referred to it as Bootleg Bob’s and then when we found out the owner was actually named Ed, Boothead Ed’s). I remember falling in love with this movie and it made me a lifelong fan of Kamen Rider and Keita Amemiya.
Just a reminder, the monster designs from Kamen Rider ZO were nightmare fuel.
Azusa Nakamura as the main character Kaoru Mikoshiba in the 1990 Toei V-Cinema release Lady Battle Cop. Her armor was designed by Keita Amemiya, the creator of GARO.
shylax asked:
If you wanted to get a friend into tokusatsu, what would you show them to convey how awesome it is?
Well, your avatar is a good start! Mechanical Violator Hakaider is a nice, short, stylish action film that neatly encapsulates a certain time period in tokusatsu (the mid-1990s) while also serving as an introduction to the look and style of the genre as a whole.
It also provides a first glimpse into the works of the one of the most important and influential modern tokusatsu creators, Keita Amemiya. From there you could expand on his works with Zeiram or Kamen Rider ZO and then into Garo.
Or, if you wanted to go a little less dark, branch off into Super Sentai with his work on 1991′s Chojin Sentai Jetman.
There are so many roads to travel down to get people into tokusatsu. Find something they like and there is bound to be a movie/series/episode that deals with that concept. For example, are they into manga? There are episode of Garo and Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger that revolve around manga! Anime fan? Introduce them to shows created by their favorite creators. A good example of this is Gen Urobuchi. Not only did he create the phenomenally successful magical girl series Madoka Magica but he was the head writer on Kamen Rider Gaim!
It’s all about finding the right hook to catch their interest. Sometimes it just happens by chance. For example, my ex-roommate got into tokusatsu when she started watching Kamen Rider Kiva with me back in 2008. Before that, she was a fan of Japanese pop culture but not really tokusatsu (aside from the giant gateway drug Godzilla). However, it was the serialized drama of weekly toku that really drew her in and the well-written characters and situations of that series. From there, we’ve watched almost every Kamen Rider and Super Sentai series together on a semi-weekly basis.
Thanks for the Question and good luck!