The Practical Way: How Japanese Super Heroes Makes It Work

The Difference Between Two Sides of the World You might have heard about Marvel Studio and DC Movies by now. Their movies are filled with World Class actors and actresses with top of the industry Visual Effects quality as their most well-known selling point. But there is a small country in Asia which still produces super heroes movies with almost none of those privileges Hollywood movies have. That place is Japan, where Super Heroes, movies -Tokusatsu- are filmed with real stunts in suits acting with minimal visual effects and featuring mostly new actors. 

CGI Is the Last Resort As I mentioned, Hollywood Super Heroes movies are overblown with CGI, practically in every scene. However, Japanese Tokusatsu is on the other side of the spectrum. A show like Kamen Rider, Super Sentai and Ultraman still utilize real stuntman in a costume to shoot action scenes for the show. They do use CGI for some impossible scenes that cannot be produced in real life such as transformation scenes, their colorful and over the top finishing moves and some vehicle-based stunts scenes that would be impossible to pull off. But keep in mind that almost 80% of what you see in those action scenes are real and that make the biggest difference in the world.

Why Do They Still Do It Old School? The first and most obvious reason is the cost. In hindsight, practical effects and practical stunts are cheaper and less time consuming. Once you shot it, you can threw the scene into the editing room, threw in necessary CGI and Sound Effect and that's it! Jobs done for that scene. You don't need the artist to put CGI in every scene, because many of their work was done on the set already. The other reason is to keep the art alive, they could easily do it all CGI with some capital. If you compare the Zyuranger's Daizyuzin fight to the Megazord fight Scene from latest Power Rangers movie, Power Rangers was apapted from Zyuranger, you can see the difference clear as day. Power Rangers movie used CGI for Megazord but Zyuranger used real actors in a robot and monster costume and had a bout on a miniature city scene. It looks fake but there is a charm to this type of the style, considering that Star Wars Episode VII switched to Practical effect based shooting from CGI-loaded Star Wars Episode I-III. Also tokusatsus are made to sell toys to the child audiences, if they see that the actors and the fights are real, most kids will eat their toys up in no time.



How Long Will This Style of Shooting Last? Sadly, the popularity of Japanese tokusatsu was gradually dropping some time ago. Due to the drought in good ideas from the studios and the conservative idea from older fans. Still, Japanese tokusatsus see a little boost of popularity due to breakout ideas such as Kamen Rider Ex-Aid, which combines games and doctors together with really gripping storyline, and Ultraman Orb, which the hero transform by fusion older Ultraman heroes to create a new form. Those ideas did sparked outrages from the older fans but the sell figures of the toys and show ratings keep rising with no end in sight. So I would say that Japanese tokusatsu is still alive and well, and can be a refreshing take on Super Heroes movies for those who grew tired of Hollywood Super Heroes movies.

Written by Phantawit Sukjaidee ID 58030099