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The Mike Toole Show - Live-Action Traction


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penguintruth



Joined: 08 Dec 2004
Posts: 8458
Location: Penguinopolis
PostPosted: Sun Sep 07, 2014 2:14 pm Reply with quote
Red Mask?

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Lord Geo



Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 2530
Location: North Brunswick, New Jersey
PostPosted: Sun Sep 07, 2014 2:28 pm Reply with quote
Man, I'd love to see the Red Baron anime one day. Sure, it looks really derivative & the basic concept for the anime sounds like a complete rip-off of G Gundam (even though they aired during the same time in the 90s, so the similarity was likely just a bizarre coincidence), but there's just something to do that looks like a fun time... Plus, that OP theme by Shinichi Ishihara is undeniably awesome. Too bad we'll likely never see any sort of English translation, official or fan, outside of the first episode (which was fansubbed as a one-shot a few years back). It certainly doesn't help that the anime Red Baron doesn't seem to have ever seen a DVD release, even in Japan (VHS & uber-rare LD only).

As for toku I'd like to see made into anime, I can't really say. I would say Kamen Rider, but that technically did have an anime in the form of the gag OVA Kamen Rider SD back in the 80s. Actually, I am amazed that neither Godzilla nor Gamera ever had some sort of anime version made, even if only a one-shot OVA from the 80s. Therefore, I'll go with that: I want an anime version of Godzilla and Gamera; it can be the Gamera X Godzilla crossover we all want! Hell, even manga artist Yusuke Murata wants to see it happen.
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trunkschan90



Joined: 08 Aug 2002
Posts: 592
Location: California
PostPosted: Sun Sep 07, 2014 2:57 pm Reply with quote
I also got to see the spanish dub of Red Baron when it was playing on the channel Telefutura. I have the episodes that aired taped on my trusty VHS tape Smile

I wish somebody would re-license Kikaider and dub the last special (with the original English cast, although only Kikaider and Hattori are the only ones that show up in that special).
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Sun Sep 07, 2014 3:20 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
Also, I can't tell if the black mark on his face is some sort of fearsome jaw, or if he just has a kinda Pringles-looking mustache.

It looks like his sunglasses fell down over his mouth. Smile I think that's his smile, it's just his bottom lip is a beak.

Great article!
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TnKtRk



Joined: 17 Mar 2011
Posts: 183
PostPosted: Sun Sep 07, 2014 4:05 pm Reply with quote
anime adaptations are always great, but I'm surprised a 3d cg movie remake/reboot hasn't come up/out yet. A nice balance of both live-action and anime's strengths.
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Zhou-BR



Joined: 28 Feb 2008
Posts: 1419
PostPosted: Sun Sep 07, 2014 4:23 pm Reply with quote
Believe me when I say the Barom-1 anime is even worse than Babel II: Beyond Infinity, although I like the opening theme quite a bit. Actually, I'd even take something terribly offensive and smutty like the Genma Wars TV series over that show, which is just plain dull and badly animated.

As for the Red Baron anime, Locomotion used to air it here in Brazil and it looked like a fun show, but I couldn't bear watching it because of the atrocious dub by an amateur Miami-based studio called The Kitchen, which to this day produces unacceptably crappy Portuguese language dubs for shows like South Park. Whenever I caught the show, I'd just watch the opening sequence, rock to that great theme and then change the channel as soon as it was over.
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jtron



Joined: 03 May 2012
Posts: 183
Location: Chicago
PostPosted: Sun Sep 07, 2014 8:24 pm Reply with quote
Great stuff as usual, Mr Toole!

The easy answer for me would be to say either of my current favorite tokusatsu shows - Akumaizer 3 or Kaiketsu Zubat. The former is about renegade demons who are also cyborgs and also somehow the 3 Musketeers; they have a flying ghost pirate ship that transforms into a sort of flying fish/city/battleship thing. The latter is basically Johnny Cash walking the earth helping people out, except with a henshin suit and a flying car. Obviously either would make cracking good anime (especially with Tomokazu Sugita as Zubat; he could really carry the whole production and it would keep him busy while we wait for the next series of Gintama)...

...but what I'd really like to see is less of an adaptation and more of a continuation - a 13-episode anime of Nijiyome Academy Z-Cune Aoi that rapidly becomes season 3 of the amazing parodic metafictional tokusatsu, Unofficial Sentai Akibaranger. Even better if it's not announced as anything but the high-school Utenavangelion it appears to be.
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Cutiebunny



Joined: 18 Apr 2010
Posts: 1746
PostPosted: Sun Sep 07, 2014 11:39 pm Reply with quote
I want to see an anime version of Starman, otherwise known as Super Giant in Japan. This series was released in 1957 in Japan. Maybe they can make it a comedy series, sorta like Akibaranger.

BTW, Super Giant predates Moonlight Mask by a year. Wiki says that MM was the first Japanese TV superhero, but Starman was the first movie hero.

The English dub is just so comically bad that it's funny. First of all, Starman has three powers - He can fly through the air, he can detect radiation, and he has a watch-like device that allows him to communicate in any language. The same watch also allows him to disguise himself as a human, but he still goes around calling himself Super Giant. The English dub features your stereotypical "Asian man speaking Engrish" , despite the fact that said man is a professor. Meanwhile, his kids all speak perfect BBC English. I recommend watching Atomic Rulers of the World and Attack from Space if you're in the mood for something campy. Good stuff.

Since Starman wears a tight bodysuit, I thought it was amusing that they always made sure that he was packing. I read later that apparently the director thought that, by doing this, more women would watch Starman films. Later interviewers asked the man who played Starman, Ken Utsui, about this and he never wanted to talk about it.
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CES06



Joined: 15 Mar 2013
Posts: 4
PostPosted: Mon Sep 08, 2014 3:49 am Reply with quote
Lord Geo wrote:
Man, I'd love to see the Red Baron anime one day. Sure, it looks really derivative & the basic concept for the anime sounds like a complete rip-off of G Gundam (even though they aired during the same time in the 90s, so the similarity was likely just a bizarre coincidence), but there's just something to do that looks like a fun time... Plus, that OP theme by Shinichi Ishihara is undeniably awesome. Too bad we'll likely never see any sort of English translation, official or fan, outside of the first episode (which was fansubbed as a one-shot a few years back). It certainly doesn't help that the anime Red Baron doesn't seem to have ever seen a DVD release, even in Japan (VHS & uber-rare LD only).

As for toku I'd like to see made into anime, I can't really say. I would say Kamen Rider, but that technically did have an anime in the form of the gag OVA Kamen Rider SD back in the 80s. Actually, I am amazed that neither Godzilla nor Gamera ever had some sort of anime version made, even if only a one-shot OVA from the 80s. Therefore, I'll go with that: I want an anime version of Godzilla and Gamera; it can be the Gamera X Godzilla crossover we all want! Hell, even manga artist Yusuke Murata wants to see it happen.


Red Baron's is awesome, but Mach Baron's theme song still takes the cake.

Big G doesn't have an anime yet, but there are the english animated series. Godzilla: The Series was pretty ok. But it is kind of amazing that they haven't done any sort of Godzilla anime. I don't think a kaiju anime has ever been done yet.

Speaking of tokusatsu and anime, there's also Azteckaiser, which is both. It's a shame nothing like this was ever done again, considering doing a toku/anime would be right up Toei's alley.
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replyguy



Joined: 08 Sep 2014
Posts: 2
PostPosted: Mon Sep 08, 2014 6:12 am Reply with quote
So something interesting to note - Moonlight Mask was not only the first tokusatsu show, it was the very first full fledged Japanese TV drama production. Before that point there were a lot of variety shows, imports, and mini shows, but Moonlight Mask was the first time you had a full scale production going for a half hour drama block.
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Levitz9



Joined: 06 Feb 2007
Posts: 1022
Location: Puerto Rico
PostPosted: Mon Sep 08, 2014 9:21 am Reply with quote
penguintruth wrote:
Red Mask?



Red Mask.

I.E., yeah, that's the same character. A lot of Yokoyama's heroes were re-purposed as members of the villainous BF Society (I love typing that out) in Giant Robo.

Speaking of Kikaider, he recently had a reboot in the form of a [s]theatrical movie[/s] summer roadshow. Toei really pulled out all of the stops, going so far as to totally redesign Kikaider and Hakaider's costumes. They even stopped an ongoing arc in the currently-running Kamen Rider Gaim in order to have an episode where the protagonist met Kikaider/Jiro and fought against one of the Gaim villains who had stuck his brain into Hakaider's body (he was a mad scientist, so it works out). Toei was teasing Kikaider's return since the Super Hero Wars Z movie last year: the stinger basically screamed, "Kikaider's gonna be in the next movie!".

I think I'd like to see something else involving Inazuman, the psychic soldier of freedom. He had already had two appearances in the Kamen Rider movies (according to Fourze's continuity, he's one of Fourze's high-school students in the future). I'd like to see a cool Inazuman anime.

I'm a huge tokusatsu fan, so seeing this column really made me happy. Thanks a whole heap, Mike!
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writerpatrick



Joined: 29 Mar 2006
Posts: 670
Location: Canada
PostPosted: Mon Sep 08, 2014 9:31 am Reply with quote
Lord Geo wrote:
Actually, I am amazed that neither Godzilla nor Gamera ever had some sort of anime version made, even if only a one-shot OVA from the 80s.


There wasn't an anime but there were a couple of Godzilla cartoon series made, the first being a US/Japan co-op.

With all the interest in Power Rangers it's a surprise that there never was the same interest in live-action Japanese shows as there was in the animated shows. But in a way that would explain why Power Rangers was so popular; the west had never been exposed to the Japanese shows.
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ly000001



Joined: 30 Apr 2010
Posts: 73
PostPosted: Mon Sep 08, 2014 10:13 am Reply with quote
writerpatrick wrote:

There wasn't an anime but there were a couple of Godzilla cartoon series made, the first being a US/Japan co-op.

http://youtu.be/oTItRfN-LO8
Unfortunately, this was the first exposure to Godzilla for a lot of kids of my generation Sad
However, they were still probably better off than the kids whose first exposure was the 1998 Roland Emmerich version Razz
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replyguy



Joined: 08 Sep 2014
Posts: 2
PostPosted: Mon Sep 08, 2014 10:29 am Reply with quote
[quote="writerpatrick"]
Lord Geo wrote:


With all the interest in Power Rangers it's a surprise that there never was the same interest in live-action Japanese shows as there was in the animated shows. But in a way that would explain why Power Rangers was so popular; the west had never been exposed to the Japanese shows.


There were dubs of many popular tokusatsu programs back in the 60s, 70s, and early 80s. As soon as Power Rangers shows up though, that sort of thing goes away.

I think one of the reasons there isn't as big a fanbase for western fans of tokusatsu is simply because the tokusatsu technique is so uniquely Japanese that even anime fans are often put off by that sort of thing. It's easy to call it cheap and make fun of the shows because it's not something you grew up with or have any real exposure to outside of Power Rangers - which is so often looked down on as camp and dribble for the kiddies. With that sort of mentality going around, you need to Westernize tokusatsu for it to have any sort of mass appeal - Godzilla, Pacific Rim, most likely the upcoming Power Rangers movie.

Tokusatsu as a fanbase has grown quite considerably in the last decade thanks to the advent of high speed internet, but it's still a very niche thing, even among fans of Japanese media, specifically anime. And some of it is also that anime fans so rarely look beyond anime as far as interests in Japan go. This isn't to say it's never the case, but you're more likely to find someone who won't bother looking outside of anime or video games to expand their exposure.

I've been a fan of tokusatsu for about a decade now and it started because I liked Nanase Aikawa as a singer and wanted to hear more music from here after my exposure during Inuyasha. I sought out some songs and found one that was labeled as the opening theme for a show called "Kamen Rider Blade", which I thought was an anime I had never heard of at that point. I looked up Blade and slowly got into tokusatu from there, then I wanted to see more shows with the actors I grew fond of in tokusatsu, so that got me into the world of J-Dramas and then variety shows, etc.

Your typical anime fan is more likely to stick to anime and never go beyond that realm. (and a lot of it is probably because of how many shows are produced year on year, you never really run the well of new material dry)
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Levitz9



Joined: 06 Feb 2007
Posts: 1022
Location: Puerto Rico
PostPosted: Mon Sep 08, 2014 1:11 pm Reply with quote
I'm withreplyguy: Tokusatsu (and I'm not just talking about henshin-heroes, but the whole medium--that includes rubber-suit-monster movies) tend to be wholly without pretense, and U.S. audiences are entirely pretentious. 55-year-old Liam Neeson with a gun and a cellphone can save the world, but the moment a monster is colored something other than grey, you just went too far off the deep end.

That's part of why Godzilla and Pacific Rim frustrated me, as good as they were: a hero is only as cool as the villain they defeat, and the Kaiju and MUTOs were just so bland.
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