Tokusatsu ( Japanese : 特撮, "special filming") is a Japanese term for live action film or television drama that makes heavy use of special effects. Tokusatsu entertainment often deals with science fiction, fantasy or horror, but films and television shows in other genres can sometimes count as tokusatsu as well. The most popular types of tokusatsu include kaiju monster films such as the Godzilla and Gamera film series ; superhero TV serials such as the Kamen Rider and Metal Hero series ; and mecha dramas like Giant Robo and Ambassador Magma. Some tokusatsu television programs combine several of these subgenres, for example the Ultraman and Super Sentai series.
Tokusatsu is one of the most popular forms of Japanese entertainment, but despite the popularity of films and television programs based on tokusatsu properties such as Godzilla or Super Sentai, only a small proportion of tokusatsu films and television programs are widely known outside Asia.
History
Tokusatsu has origins in early Japanese theater, specifically in kabuki (with its action - and fight -scenes) and in bunraku, which utilized some of the earliest forms of special effects, specifically puppetry. Modern tokusatsu, however, did not begin to take shape until the early 1950s, with the conceptual and creative birth of Godzilla, one of the most famous monsters ( kaiju ) of all time.
The special-effects artist Eiji Tsuburaya and the director Ishirō Honda became the driving forces behind 1954's Godzilla. Tsuburaya, inspired by the American film King Kong, formulated many of the techniques that would become staples of the genre, such as so-called suitmation—the use of a human actor in a costume to play a giant monster —combined with the use of miniatures and scaled- down city sets. Godzilla forever changed the landscape of Japanese science fiction, fantasy, and cinema by creating a uniquely Japanese vision in a genre typically dominated by American cinema.In 1954, Godzilla kickstarted the kaiju genre in Japan called the " Monster Boom", which remained extremely popular for several decades, with characters such as the aforementioned Godzilla, Gamera and King Ghidorah leading the market.
