Tokusatsu

As ScreenCrush managing editor Matt Singer recently noted, March is now the beginning of the summer movie season. That means saying goodbye to all the middling horror movies, low-concept boutique pictures, and genre films we used to see in March and cutting straight to the $100 million dollar blockbusters that are looking for any competitive edge. Last year, the big release at the end of March was the gloomy Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice; this year we’re going to get the gentler kid’s version of that movie in Power Rangers, a film about people in bulky suits and flying machines fighting CGI monsters. It’s kind of a nice parallel.

We’ve seen them in all their gear, but we haven’t seen the new Power Rangers with their cool visors down — until now. Yesterday, the official Power Rangers movie Twitter account unveiled a new motion poster that shows off the Power Rangers’ cool helmets and what they look like when they’re in full Ranger mode.

Last week, NYCC gave us our first official look at the new Power Rangers movie: five teens happen upon alien artifacts that give them super ninja powers, which they must use to fight off evil. It all looks pretty Power Rangers-y, but also very serious. It’s the dark and gritty Power Rangers reboot nobody was asking for, but we’re getting one anyway. Luckily, we have YouTube, and an evil genius with enough time on their hands to recut the new trailer with footage from the original show.

Thursdays links await all those who click through.

As you might already know from the constant chatter about the Power Rangers and Kamen Rider, we here at ComicsAlliance are pretty big fans of Japanese tokusatsu. Something about those live-action shows where teenagers with attitude transform to kick monsters and summon giant robots just speak to us on a fundamental level. That said, the actual behind-the-scenes origins of the franchises is even mo

Live action budgets have largely relegated tokusatsu battles to Japan, New Zealand and... Southern California. But thanks to the magic of comics, Wook Jin Clark has successfully brought a brand of superheroics informed by Super Sentai and Mighty Morpnin Power Rangers series to the last place you might expect: Atlanta. This February, Megagogo Vol. 1 shows how superpowered martial artists, giant rob

Following the current season of the dance/gun/dinosaur-themed Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger, Toei will launch its 38th Super Sentai series, Ressha Sentai Tokkyuger. It's all about trains! Train track helmets, railroad crossing chest motifs, a giant combined train mech known as the TokkyuOh, electronic train ticket device morphers called Tokkyu Chargers  -- this show looks like it's going to be the right

The good news: Toei Japan is launching a 24-hour paid subscription Internet channel devoted to streaming its iconic shows, including tokusatsu series that potentially include Kamen Rider, Super Sentai and more in the United States next month. The less good news: It could take as long as a year before programming will feature English subtitles.

  If you had to compare Tsuburaya's Ultraman to a Western superhero concept, the closest comparison would probably be... Captain Marvel or a much friendlier version of Alan Moore's Marvelman? Every incarnation of the longrunning Japanese tokusatsu and anime empire is different, but more often than not, the hero is the result of a nobel member of a kind of cosmic pantheon merging with a human host

Fans of the classic 1970s anime Science Ninja Team Gatchaman are one step closer to seeing a full-on, live action adaptation of the franchise with the release of a 30-second teaser trailer on the film's website. This marks the second try to make a Gatchaman film in recent years...