Tokusatsu feels like it's finally breaking into the English-speaking world as a legitimate art form, something for which I'm very grateful. Power Rangers cast tokusatsu in a dark light for a long time, associated with children and the same ashamed-of-its-origins work that produced god-awful dubs of asian movies back in the day. The Shin series (Shin Ultraman, Shin Godzilla, Shin Kamen Rider) have brought the hugest tokusatsu properites to us, and I'm very pleased about it! I'm a big fan of tokusatsu, and furiously devoured almost the entirety of Heisei Kamen Rider when I first found out about tokusatsu. Since then - since Ultraman and Super Sentai don't really appeal to me - I've gone off the beaten track to find lesser known tokusatsu that I can adore with all my heart.

Changerion

I'll be honest, Choukou Senshi Changéríon sucks. It's not good. It's a cheap, comedic tv show that did so poorly it was cancelled midway through. The head writer, Toshiki Inoue, is known for his iconoclastic and sometimes controversial writing style, and Changerion is all his weirdness turned up to 11. The quality is poor, the fights are boring, and the whole show has been clearly dubbed over in post-production. Despite all this, I've seen it multiple times and find it immensely charming. The main character, Akira Suzumura, is played by Takashi Hagino in such a way that he oozes charisma and likeability even when he's acting like a real dickhead (which is often). He's pathetic and amicable and you can't help but love him. The absurdity of the show itself, which often makes fun of the tokusatsu genre itself, adds to the delight of it all. If you don't like watching bad shows, Changerion is not for you. If, however, you love the idea of a show that makes you feel slightly feverish, Changerion is most certainly for you.

Dogengers

No disclaimers needed, Dogengers is just good! Dogengers follows along the lives of a group of mascot heroes who represent companies in Fukuoka. Another slightly meta approach to tokusatsu, Dogengers is just immense fun from beginning to end and has a truly brilliant cast of characters (I love you so much, KitaQman). My one main criticism is that until the third season, Dogengers has basically zero female characters beyond a love interest. The third season, Dogengers High School, fixes this by having a female main character, which is a wonderful change.

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