Dai
Pokémon Master
Back in the 90s, when we had the first big wave of anime video releases, every new show or movie used to hit me like it came from outer space. I had no knowledge of the cultural context that had informed the stories and characters I was seeing, so it all seemed unique. Looking back now, I can see just how heavily some stories were influenced by tokusatsu, especially when it came to anything with a masked or helmeted hero. It's funny, because we were seeing some tokusatsu shows airing on TV around the same time in chopped up form, but my brain just didn't connect the dots.
The Guyver. Looking at it now, the influence of Masked Rider and similar shows is clear, from the insect exoskeleton look of the armour to the evil corporation dispatching its scheduled monster-of-the-week.
Bubblegum Crisis. Looking at the Knight Sabers posing on a rooftop in their colourful armour and faceless helmets, there's a real feeling of Super Sentai to it, albeit translated into the visual language of cyberpunk.
Sailor Moon. This story's big revolution to the magical girl genre came by merging it with the sentai battle format. It had everything but the masks, and considering that its immediate predecessor Sailor V was a masked hero, I suspect that dropping the masks was more of a marketing decision.
Evangelion. There's as much Ultraman in this as there is anything from the giant robot genre. Adam is even referred to as a "giant of light", a term often used to describe Ultraman, and of course Anno was a notorious fan.
It's probably no coincidence that these examples all followed a time when tokusatsu shows were a lot more successful on Japanese TV. We just don't seem to see the same influence in today's anime heroes. The only masked hero I can think of in recent memory is in Netflix's adaptation of the Ultraman manga, which is directly from one of the big franchises rather than being an indirect influence. Instead we tend to get more influence from western superheroes with the likes of One Punch Man and My Hero Academia, or you have isekai heroes where everyone just rolled an RPG stats sheet.
Can you think of any significant examples I've overlooked: shows that borrow heavily from tokusatsu, while not actually being adapted from one (like Kikaider or Ambassador Magma)? Did this influence survive past the 90s at all?
The Guyver. Looking at it now, the influence of Masked Rider and similar shows is clear, from the insect exoskeleton look of the armour to the evil corporation dispatching its scheduled monster-of-the-week.
Bubblegum Crisis. Looking at the Knight Sabers posing on a rooftop in their colourful armour and faceless helmets, there's a real feeling of Super Sentai to it, albeit translated into the visual language of cyberpunk.
Sailor Moon. This story's big revolution to the magical girl genre came by merging it with the sentai battle format. It had everything but the masks, and considering that its immediate predecessor Sailor V was a masked hero, I suspect that dropping the masks was more of a marketing decision.
Evangelion. There's as much Ultraman in this as there is anything from the giant robot genre. Adam is even referred to as a "giant of light", a term often used to describe Ultraman, and of course Anno was a notorious fan.
It's probably no coincidence that these examples all followed a time when tokusatsu shows were a lot more successful on Japanese TV. We just don't seem to see the same influence in today's anime heroes. The only masked hero I can think of in recent memory is in Netflix's adaptation of the Ultraman manga, which is directly from one of the big franchises rather than being an indirect influence. Instead we tend to get more influence from western superheroes with the likes of One Punch Man and My Hero Academia, or you have isekai heroes where everyone just rolled an RPG stats sheet.
Can you think of any significant examples I've overlooked: shows that borrow heavily from tokusatsu, while not actually being adapted from one (like Kikaider or Ambassador Magma)? Did this influence survive past the 90s at all?