REVIVAL DAY: The Rise Of The Indie Hero

“You and your talents have a higher purpose now.” ~ The Geist, Battle Hero Absolute Episode 1

What it is. I’m sort of new here, so let’s get it on.

My name is AresProtocol and I write about deep, philosophical stuff in a manner that’s both enlightening and entertaining (or, at least, that’s what people are convinced of). I write about the philosophy of Super Sentai and Power Rangers on morphinlegacy.com under the name ‘TheGreenKnight’ and it’s been a pretty good run so far, but the content there is understandably polarized to those shows. As a decent writer and self-proclaimed master of all things tokusatsu (I am neither), I’m sweating hard to talk about some other things that bug and intrigue me in the rest of the tokusatsu world. That’s what’s brought me to Henshin Justice Unlimited (by the way, you’ll be seeing A LOT of side-jags between these little brackets).

Let’s let off some steam and let me talk about myself for the duration of a paragraph. I was raised, like many, on Power Rangers and partook in all the laughs (Bulk and Skull), plot developments (meeting Prof. Phenomenous), tears (Bulk and Phenomenous leaving Skull), and redemptions (“Bulkmeier’s, Bulk speaking.”) between MMPR and, well, Forever Red. After Disney bought the show, shit was different, and I’m telling you that I could feel it. It was way too obvious, and I self-exiled from Power Rangers upon entry to junior high school. Afterwards, I came to my own revelations about not being ashamed of things you’re passionate about and re-injected myself into the fandom and found some very interesting facts.

I lied about my biography lasting one paragraph. Anyway, I found out about Sentai and Kamen Rider and all the big shows, and started really paying attention right after RPM was over; I began watching and catching up on ‘the other side’ of the shows I’d fallen in love with. There was death, blood, screaming, and sometimes boobs. I was taken so far aback that I had to repeat 9th grade.

Despite the inevitable and ever-present contrast, there was a spirit the shows shared that never escaped me. At the core was a story of individuals tasked with defending their home from overwhelming odds, the likes of which are nearly invincible to conventional warfare. Our heroes must take up futuristic/otherworldly/magical weaponry to confront the enemy and persevere despite the long, arduous, sometimes deadly campaign the end result may require of them. They showed the best virtues of heroism, and the watered-down American versions helped build the moral foundation of not only myself, but young people everywhere. This was, in itself, the core of the genre for me: standing up against something bigger than yourself to become something more than you are. In fact, let’s get definitive, because I’m going to be using the word ‘tokusatsu’ a lot, and I want you to know what it means to me.

Tokusatsu (tow-koo-saht-soo, noun): a genre of film identified by a protagonist that represents basic cultural archetypes and ideals that is forced, either through responsibility or secondary coercion, to combat a supernatural, otherworldly, or otherwise unnatural antagonist with use of highly technological or similarly unnatural means or weapons.

From the original Godzilla to Power Rangers Megaforce, these are the big points I think all of tokusatsu have, or should have, in common, and it’s made me consider the repercussions of the shows on the droves of children that has made up the audiences for these productions in the last several decades. The specificity of the over-10-years-old audience is an interesting anomaly, as it’s composed pretty much of people who watched any of the shows before puberty and now hang onto all of tokusatsu religiously. This, of course, makes one wonder if a child who grew up with Liveman as their ‘first’ could appreciate and follow Power Rangers, or if there is anyone in our community who started watching Power Rangers during or after high school.

Overall, it seems that (at least, according to everybody I’ve talked to or heard the story of) we are a community made up of people who started watching young, grew out of it, and then melted back into it either upon the discovery of the Toei counterparts or the advent of interaction with likeminded fans and former-fans, usually on the internet. The digital age has brought the growth of such shows on every continent onto the world stage, connecting the community in a way that was once limited to the playground. The fact that the tokusatsu fandom has thrived so well has resulted in something I believe to be more wonderful than any show we’ve fallen in love with: it festers on the mind of the creative among us. As some of you may know, people enjoy making art. It’s a part of our nature that goes back thousands of years before the written word.  Human beings have been drawing longer than they have been recording language; humanity like to tell stories about things they know, or that seems important to them in some way.

I’ll use myself as an example to make this next point be clear: I was raised on Power Rangers and learned about the virtues of doing moral right and conducting oneself in a manner becoming of a member of the human race so as to promote the general welfare and the advancement of the species. This was very simple as a child, where the world was divided between the good guys and the bad guys, and justice often prevailed as far as I could track it. However, it is plausible to assert that my perspective was filtered through layers of veils that had not been lifted: the lack of temporal and financial responsibility, the needs required by the final years of public schooling and further educational institutions, and the ability to function in a work environment and to serve as a contributing member of society at large. Power Rangers didn’t overtly cover that.

Growing up is its own journey which we are all forced to go on. Going back to Power Rangers has made me feel uncomfortable at times, as it represents the place of immaturity which I have come so far from, yet retains values that I intend to continue to emulate, although they were catered to the pre-pubescent audiences of all times and places. How can an artist move forward, but honor the ethical roots that came before them? The answer is simple: they create their own.

For the last 30 years, tokusatsu fans from all over the world have banded together and put their creative skills to work in evolving and expanding the genre of tokusatsu in the independent world. This has been come to be known as (no shit, Sherlock) Independent Tokusatsu, Indie Toku, or, in reference to the characters, Indie Heroes. These artists and creators don’t do it for money, or because they’ve got a time slot to fill next year, or because it will open doors for them in the executive world; Indie Toku is made out of love of the genre and the desire to advance it.

It goes back as far as 1982’s Aikoku Sentai Dai-Nippon, when a bunch of Japanese college students (calling themselves Daicon Film) decided to make an affectionate parody of Super Sentai, using the Russo-Japanese war as an inspiration for content. It was not only hilarious, but it surprisingly solid to modern viewers; the story, dealing with some Commie-representative attempting to convert Japanese school children to their evil ways by replacing red pages in their books, could be considered an almost shocking carbon-copy of Sentai at the time. I will say, though, that I doubt Dai-Nippon was made for the story quality; the suits, villains, grunts, action scenes, and even the mecha were outstandingly made from scratch. In the span of 15 minutes, the dudes at Daicon exceeded some aspects of Sentai at the time.

Though this would prove to be their only independent foray into Sentai, the Daicon crew made SIX MORE TOKU-INSPIRED SHORTS in the next few years. One was a parody based on Return Of Ultraman, one an hour-long homage to kaiju, and the other four were inspired by Shotaro Ishinomori’s Kaiketsu Zubat; one of the ‘episodes’ reportedly included the titular hero sightseeing in San Francisco in costume. When I first found out about this, I couldn’t help but think about this guy:

Dai-Nippon had far-reaching influence. In 2000, a group of French filmmakers released the first episode of Jushi Sentai France Five, (obviously) a Sentai-inspired independent production paying homage to the extremely popular Sentai shows that aired in the 1980s, and also (reportedly) to Dai-Nippon. France Five is the story of invading aliens that wish to conquer Earth but are unable to unless they disable a shield that prevents them from sending their whole army at once. The shield’s source is located somewhere around the Eiffel Tower, and as they work to complete their evil deeds, they are opposed by colorful heroes known as the France Five.

Thirteen years later, the series has yet to finish and release its sixth, and final, episode. It has gained a following not just in the tokusatsu fan community, but in France and Japan; it became so popular that Japanese singer Akira Kushida, who has been singing tracks for Japanese tokusatsu since Sun Vulcan and Gavan, even recorded a theme song for them. In this aspect, France Five represents a celebration of retro tokusatsu by people who experienced it during production and during its original airing, which seems to be a trend in other early tokusatsu productions.

Another production which I am having trouble segway-ing into is a little web series called Gigabots, which many have probably not heard of. It was a low-budget comedic take on mecha-based shows like Evangelion and Power Rangers that was comprised of eight 5-minute episodes and one final ten-minute episode. This show was the closest we will ever get to an American Dai-Nippon in terms of the specificity of the content being parodied. Much of the sets and mecha suits were made of taped and painted cardboard suits that were actually quite complex when observed closely; monsters were made of what could possibly be Halloween props (dinosaur heads, faux-Egyptian armor) and almost every external setpiece had some cardboard element. The cockpits were in somebody’s garage, as was command central and nearly every other interior, the pink Gigabot pilot was an unshaven chubby dude named Garth, and yet the show took itself very seriously, which is where the comedy succeeded.

With goofy characters that borrowed directly from every stereotype in the book and battles that almost feel nostalgic, Gigabots was a tromp through toku country that reflected American tokusatsu with a tough reality: most of it was as cheaply made and laughable as Gigabots, and we still watched it. Whether or not this was the intention of the filmmakers, the Duncan brothers, it still struck me as a hard pill to swallow. Beyond this and Power Rangers, there was no content in tokusatsu that was truly a work made with the intention to be taken in a serious light. This is why many former fans left the fandom in the firstplace: there just isn’t any story that can satisfy the fans that grew up.

Created by Bueno at GarageProTV and shot in Japan, Gun Caliber is an Indie Toku anti-hero that hits hard and drinks harder. He likes women, hates children, and goes out publicly to indulge in all of the very adult sins and treats usually ignored and shied from most tokusatsu franchises. With a background in wushu and a childhood spent with Kamen Rider Black RX, Bueno has begun helping recreate the image of the tokusatsu hero in general by reinventing the quality of the main character’s moral foundations. He doesn’t have to be a guy that enjoys playing Frisbee golf and volunteering at the Tolerance Center. He isn’t required to tell kids about how important protecting the environment is or do anything about bullies. He probably isn’t going to have anything good to say about this article or the guy who wrote it.

Gun Caliber will be one of the single-most important contemporary, independent explorations of tokusatsu. It is a movie that has been in the making for two years, the character’s debut being in the documentary-style Stray Bullet (which can be found at GarageProTV’s YouTube channel), but it is already a favorite among those of us in the tokusatsu fan community. It’s true that adults are drawn to this for the mature themes, but not for the themes alone: the evolution of the tokusatsu hero in our minds from the righteous knight to a rogueish knave is interesting, and injects a dynamic element into the fabric of the story that we are not accustomed to, yet accept with comfort as new and acceptable.

However, Gun Caliber does not stand alone. Across the Pacific, the most significant Indie Hero to American culture fights a parasitic alien race known as the Clarion for control of his town. The show is called Battle Hero Absolute, and it has reinvented what Americans know as tokusatsu. From the mind of Jabronie Pictures’ Jay Huerto, who is aiming to create a new kind of tokusatsu hero in the vein of The Dark Knight. In the ten episodes released so far, we have seen the main character stretched so thin in his responsibility to protect his home that he has lost more than he ever bargained for.

This is not a typical story of a Joe Schmoe-turned-hero. Upon defeating his enemies (members of his own community and social circles that are used as hosts by the Clarion race), they are erased from existence entirely. The timeline has shifted more than once. He and his loved ones are being targeted personally over and over. It becomes apparent that being ‘average’ is a crippling disadvantage in the insane war he’s been thrust in the middle of. He is occasionally aided by a second, female Battle Hero, though their true connection is not completely clear. He is stuck fighting for a reality that he’s personally changing.

Battle Hero Absolute is the pinnacle of the Indie Toku movement so far. The parameters have shifted and people can now view the genre in a darker, graver story that stands strong. The characters are vibrant and layered, the enemies are dangerous, and the action is astounding. This is a quality show that has gained what could be considered a cult following; recently, a fundraiser was held to help finish the first season with a $4000 goal. By the end, 72 backers gave Jay Huerto $5530, which guaranteed a second season for the fans and renewed the involvement and support of the tokusatsu fanbase as an active part of the genre we love. It wasn’t the first one, either: at the end of 2010, Jabronie Pictures held one for $2500 and wound up getting $3715 in donations. People love this show for a reason.

Battle Hero Absolute, as well as all the other shows I’ve mentioned, is the most important next step in this genre identified by color coordination and flashy action. The identity of the tokusatsu hero has possibilities that are not being explored thoroughly yet; we’ve just broken the surface of what can be done in the genre.  I haven’t even touched on the MMPR fan film project, which has raised nearly $30,000 when they only asked for $18,500.  But that’s another story for another site.

This brings me to my final point: we, as a collective, connected fan base, must unify and consolidate ourselves if we want to see more shows like these and keep moving the genre forward as we do in our lives. Battle Hero has shown that people care about these kinds of shows, where ordinary individuals are pitted against the overwhelming to accomplish greater good and become a specific kind of superhero, but the support can’t ever stop. This is the throwback to the idea of the INDEPENDENT tokusatsu hero: these artists are creating these stories from their own funds obtained from their various day jobs just so they can release something to us, their audience. It’s an incredibly humbling thought when one realizes that some episodes of Battle Hero Absolute, as well as Gun Caliber, get hardly 1000 views on YouTube, the primary medium of watching.

If you are an experienced editor, offer to do some work for these guys. If you are a musician, record a theme song or score some scenes for them. If you are able to make armor, helmets, weapons, suits, or other props, cut these guys a deal or give them a discount on making them. If you have any kind of skill pertaining to performing arts that could be utilized by these Indie Hero teams, or if you have an idea to make your own (MY GREATEST HOPE!), help them or help yourself and we will all be rewarded with some great content. We, as fans, can’t greatly affect the big shows like Kamen Rider, Sentai, or Power Rangers, and those shows will continue to be made as long as money has value, so why not do something for groups of people who are literally in direct contact with us via social media, and whose success is the result of such mediums?

Going all the way back to the beginning, it is apparent that these shows are for us, the fans as a whole, and we should give back in any way we can to see the genre continue to evolve. There are plenty more shows being planned whose productions are burdened in some way, such as Exo Hero Exceed, Supernova Cyber Knights, the MMPR fan film, and Task Force Operator, that is easily sped up with our support. There’s enough people reading any given article here on Henshin Justice Unlimited that, if we dig deep and really find the reasoning, we can get them queued up in no time. Let’s face it: this is what the source material, Sentai and Kamen Rider, has been teaching us all along, to work for something we consider great and to improve upon it.

If you’ve enjoyed Aikoku Sentai Dai-Nippon, Jushi Sentai France Five, Gigabots, Battle Hero Absolute or anything from Jabronie Pictures, any of Gun Caliber or GarageProTV’s productions, Spheres Trinity, or any article you’ve read on this site, send a message to your favorite independent filmmakers and ask if there’s anything you can do for them to help speed up their productions.  All of their previously released content can be found at the end of this article, so if you haven’t gotten on the wagon yet, get on, bro.

Thanks for reading all the way through this, or congratulations on having intense impatience and skipping right to the end. I hope to write about these Indie Heroes in detail, as well as put out some articles on the philosophy of Kamen Rider and other shows if you like me enough. If everyone who reads this article hates me, make sure to tell Keith Justice and he will make an intimate recording of each hateful word and send them to me so that I REALLY get the message. Or I can write an article that deconstructs the psychology of Shinji Kido. I also take requests for any article you may want to see written. Your choice, bro.

What do YOU want to see next?
SHOWA VS. HEISEI: EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED
LET’S TALK ABOUT DECADE
THE CANON’S MOUTH: EXPLAINING THE EXISTENCE OF KAMEN RIDER
BEHIND THE HELMET OF [your favorite Rider here]

Until the next one: have courage and press on regardless.

Aikoku Sentai Dai-Nippon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ky5Bszw7L5s (no subtitles)

http://www.francefive.com/
You can find and download all of the released episodes at their site here, which include subtitles for English and, I believe, Japanese.  Otherwise, most content can be found on YouTube.

Episode 1 for the lazy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvKHRnqR9b4 (no subtitles)

Episode 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOoUbbXiVxw

The remaining episodes can be seen on the DuncanBros YouTube channel.

Stray Bullet (original documentary featuring Gun Caliber): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3DW0dY990g

Gun Caliber teaser: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRm1e1wEPzs

Gun Caliber Super Battle Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YZepEwi-aQ

Gun Caliber Ondo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5vPAzkBYhc

Final Advent (first appearance of Battle Hero): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLXZARGimm4

Episode 1, Heroness Awakened: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hI2YlGOaHs

Episode 6, Working Holiday (team-up with Gun Caliber): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWKj9hLiD84

Episode 11, Compañeros: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4AuYCA3neo

The remaining episodes can be found on the Jabronie Pictures YouTube channel

Episode 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N40Sh9leXIg

Episode 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7r-ey9CdZ4

Episode 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3fRTR3C7wY

Additional content, including behind-the-scenes and bloopers, can be found on the Dimension YouTube channel.

Concept Trailer (PROJECT_RANGER edition, featuring the voice of Robert Axelrod as Lord Zedd): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNPx94ErNgg

Teaser Episode 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeXK-vAaJDs

Kickstarter link: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1953801310/mmpr-a-mighty-morphin-power-rangers-fan-film