Inspired by Noh theatre and Kabuki, tokusatsu is a genre that is still alive and kicking today, graced its presence in the 1950s when its first incarnation, known as kaiju - consisting of prehistoric-like monsters on a pilgrimage to cause and wreak mass hysteria amongst mere mortal mankind. The distribution company Toei was the main franchise that produced tokusatsu shows as well as gamera films and kaijen televisual programming. The superhero wave of toku would arrive on the scene with 1961's prescient Moonlight Mask, created by Kohan Kawauchi. In their native Japan, tokusatsu series caught on in wildfire fashion on the standalone strength of the successes of Ishiro Honda's Gojira brand beginning in 1954.
Tokusatsu boasted two significant eras, first was the Godzilla influenced Monster Boom followed by the Henshin Boom also recognized as the second Kaiju Boom in 1971, that turned out the popular Kamen Rider superhero series that was adapted from a famous manga character.
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| Takeshi Hongo keeping us abuzz as Kamen Rider (Masked Rider) |
Shitaro Ishinomori's Kikaida that hailed from Shonen Saturday magazine was also immortalized and seen through in a live-action toku television series Kikaider in 1972. A renaissance period of Kikaida has surfaced with the aptly titled Kikaider Reboot in 2014.
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| Zone Fighter, twilight style. |
Though certainly well past its golden age there are some current series of note in the likes of The Power Rangers that commenced in 1993 and still in syndication and Garo : Makai no Hana, the fourth series of Golden Knight Garo that originally appeared on TV Tokyo in 2005.