The tokusatsu tradition of live-action Japanese science fiction shows is alive and well with one of the genre's cornerstone franchises Kamen Rider getting a 50th anniversary movie in 2021. Shinichirо̄ Shirakura, director of the tentatively titled Kamen Rider film announced the project commemorating 50 years of the series during Toei’s 2021 lineup presentation in Tokyo. A specific release date for the film has yet to be announced.
While Kamen Rider isn’t exactly well known outside of Japan and Asia, the Tokusatsu genre does have a steady foothold in the US and other western countries. The term Tokusatsu refers to live-action television dramas typically in the science fiction genre. Godzilla is probably the most well-known among these shows to make it out west followed by Super Sentai (commonly known as Power Rangers) and its sibling show Kamen Rider.
The 50th anniversary film will likely be separate from the current series currently airing in Japan. Kamen Rider Saber premiered on September 6 and had its own film open on December 18. Traditionally the latest Kamen Rider and Super Sentai series premiere as a double feature during summer, but COVID-19 caused production delays and the two movies to be split up. Many tokusatsu have certain tropes that set them apart from others and for Kamen Rider, it's a lone masked superhero usually following a bug motif riding a motorcycle into battle.
The latest Super Sentai movie, Manshin Sentai Kiramager will open in early 2021. While the latest seasons of Kamen Rider are hard to find streaming, the original series that aired in 1971 is available via Amazon Prime. Super Sentai is much easier to find with all the various seasons of Power Rangers available for streaming on Netflix. The Power Rangers television shows that air in the US are spliced together using footage from various Super Sentai series from the past and original footage shot with American actors.
With anime getting various dedicated streaming platforms like Crunchyroll and Funimation plus many Korean dramas and movies making it to Netflix here's to hoping that more tokusatsu shows start to make it to English-speaking viewers as well.
The Kamen Rider film will premiere in 2021.
Source: Manten Web