U.S. Tokusatsu Releases

[starsteam]

May 2023 Additions
Ultraman:
other - Ultraseven 55th Anniversary Anthology (Blu-ray, Mill Creek) 8/15/23

Kong & Other International Giant Monsters
-Mega Ape (DVD, Wild Eye Releasing) 9/12/23
-The Giant Gila Monster/The Killer Shrews (Blu-ray, Film Masters) 9/26/23

[Jimmy_Melnarik]

Originally Posted by starsteam

May 2023 Additions
Ultraman:
other - Ultraseven 55th Anniversary Anthology (Blu-ray, Mill Creek) 8/15/23

Kong & Other International Giant Monsters
-Mega Ape (DVD, Wild Eye Releasing) 9/12/23
-The Giant Gila Monster/The Killer Shrews (Blu-ray, Film Masters) 9/26/23

What is this?

[starsteam]

Originally Posted by Jimmy_Melnarik

What is this?

Are you asking about the Ultraseven Anthology? Not much info is out yet, just pre-orders on Amazon and Target. Runtime is longer than the original series, so speculation is that it's a repackage of UltraSeven, UltraSeven X, and a collection of episodes from other Ultra series that feature U7.

[starsteam]

Kamen Rider Black RX slated for August
https://www.rightstufanime.com/Kamen...Series-Blu-ray

[sonicyogurt]

The next few days could be pretty exciting.

Though I'm assuming any truly seismic announcements would be held back for Otakon, I'm hopeful for something from Toku Time at Discotek Days in a couple of hours.

And since we heard about Kuuga and Fiveman at Anime Expo this time last year, maybe Shout Factory will show a little of what they have in the cards this weekend too.

[ZeroRo]

I hope Shout has something. Like we need actual new Heisei Riders and Saber. And honestly we need more info on how they are handling the Sentai releases

I hope we are not just getting a Blu-ray copy of the original or V3 from Shout Factory

[starsteam]

Almost no additions for June 2023, but Arrow squeezed one somewhat relevant release today.

June 2023 Additions
Expanded Tokusatsu:
-Ringu (4K, Arrow) 10/29/23


Hopefully Anime Expo and Otakon will bring us some news and a better July.

[sonicyogurt]

No matter what comes out of Anime Expo, we have this to look forward to (even though it's not Japanese) from Vinegar Syndrome. Gorgo!

[ZeroRo]

Yeah I’m kind of worried if we will hear anything on the Kamen Rider subject. Unless the sales were bad, because I assumed they were doing them in batches. Sentai will probably be a Shout Exclusive (although it would be nice if they would be like release date: Next Month).

I wonder if they got more Kamen Rider rights if they will do Sentai Exclusives or Physical Only releases. Considering Episode Final was Physical Only.

[sonicyogurt]

...and maybe we won't hear anything at Anime Expo. There's no Kamen Rider panel this year, I don't see Shout Factory or TokuSHOUTsu listed on any of the four days of panels either, and if there were a booth display mentioning a new Kamen Rider/Sentai/whatever release, someone presumably would've posted it on Twitter, Reddit, Instagram, etc. by now. (Or maybe someone has and I just haven't come across it yet. )

Shout/Scream Factory haven't announced their September slate yet, and if they announce on Monday like the usually do, that'll overlap with AX. Could be a good opportunity for some synergy there.

Still hopeful for something. And if not...y'know, what are you gonna do?

[ZeroRo]

They may announce something on Monday, but do they really show anything on later days of an expo? Like, you would think they would give us more details if that is how Sentai releases will be, how they will be Shout Exclusive at first or if they got more Riders?

I guess we will have to wait till Monday. Just kind of ridiculous how, Shout was suppose to be the Kamen Rider home yet, we haven’t gotten anything new from them content wise since late 2021. (Not counting Episode Final that is). Like I would blame Toei, but then I think what is Discotek doing to be getting these rights? I figured Shout makes more money than Discotek. I figured maybe Discotek is more willing to put forward a pretty penny. Personally it’s just makes trying to support this series harder. Saber has Netflix streaming rights in Vietnam…….. only way I can watch Saber is if I get a bootleg on EBay, which I can’t say isn’t tempting.

[sonicyogurt]

Originally Posted by ZeroRo

Just kind of ridiculous how, Shout was suppose to be the Kamen Rider home

I don’t recall Shout Factory saying anything along those lines.

Other labels are releasing plenty of Toei titles, including Discotek and the more modestly-sized likes of Mondo Macabro, Neon Eagle, and Media Blasters. But those are also labels that are extremely well-versed in dealing with foreign licensors, and perhaps there are more hoops to jump through than Shout is willing to put up with these days. Or maybe they just haven’t been able to make the numbers for their Kamen Rider releases work as well as they’d hoped. Or maybe there was an advocate at Shout for these titles that is no longer there. Or maybe Toei is being particularly difficult in licensing Kamen Rider now, whether it’s the series that are available, there are contractual terms that are tough to swallow, etc. Or maybe investing in Kamen Rider made sense as part of a streaming/physical strategy, but with TokuSHOUTsu seemingly well-fed for content, maybe the shine has faded for Shout. Or maybe they’re negotiating a larger deal and it’s just slow moving. From the outside looking in, there’s no way to know for sure.

[Gowho]

Originally Posted by ZeroRo

Just kind of ridiculous how, Shout was suppose to be the Kamen Rider home

This exclusivity thinking should have ended when TokuHD got Agito & Faiz for streaming.

I would also say the same for Funimation and Fuuto PI but they got that through another company.

[starsteam]

Originally Posted by sonicyogurt

...and maybe we won't hear anything at Anime Expo. There's no Kamen Rider panel this year, I don't see Shout Factory or TokuSHOUTsu listed on any of the four days of panels either, and if there were a booth display mentioning a new Kamen Rider/Sentai/whatever release, someone presumably would've posted it on Twitter, Reddit, Instagram, etc. by now. (Or maybe someone has and I just haven't come across it yet. )

Shout/Scream Factory haven't announced their September slate yet, and if they announce on Monday like the usually do, that'll overlap with AX. Could be a good opportunity for some synergy there.

Still hopeful for something. And if not...y'know, what are you gonna do?

Shout does have a booth (2225) but the only picture I've seen so far is a Ghibli display on their social media.
Currently scanning through twitter to see if any other photos of the booth are available.

[sonicyogurt]

Originally Posted by starsteam

Shout does have a booth (2225) but the only picture I've seen so far is a Ghibli display on their social media.
Currently scanning through twitter to see if any other photos of the booth are available.

Yeah. I just figure if there were something new with Super Sentai or Kamen Rider at their booth, a toku fan would've crowed about it by now.

They mentioned Dekaranger in their Anime Expo lineup beforehand but nothing else toku. And, weirdly, a lot of what they listed are releases from last year, including some things that were out before AX 2022.

[starsteam]

Originally Posted by sonicyogurt

Yeah. I just figure if there were something new with Super Sentai or Kamen Rider at their booth, a toku fan would've crowed about it by now.

They mentioned Dekaranger in their Anime Expo lineup beforehand but nothing else toku. And, weirdly, a lot of what they listed are releases from last year, including some things that were out before AX 2022.

It's seeming unlikely at this point. If they did have anything to announce, it would be part of the September announcements next week.

Shout may just not have any releases ready to reveal yet.

[Gowho]

From Chris of TokuNation


https://twitter.com/GeekWithChris/st...77824839704578
https://twitter.com/GeekWithChris/st...83584239796225

Originally Posted by GeekWithChris (formerly TokuChris)

For years now there has been a top level Japanese executive at Bandai America who has had a personal grudge against Toei.


After a restructure, he was put in charge of [Team Kamen Rider] late last year and canceled nearly all public-facing events and marketing for Kamen Rider merch.


AFAIK, he also pulled the plug on all fan interactions and marketing of anything except product.That's why TKR is silent except to promote new product releases.


No more giveaways, no more online streams or panels, no more convention appearances, no chance at another sub movie


I'll go much more in to this later sometime, just waking up.


I just don't want the narrative to be "TKR sucks!". Every member of that team poured their heart and soul into getting KR here in the US in merch *AND* media.


It's hard to do when your own company won't support you.

Essentially, Toei doesn't help with marketing. When Bandai had the Zero-One suit here last year, they had to pay a lot of money to Toei to get it here. And Toei had to approve all marketing that used show-images - and they had to pay Toei to even use them.


So a large part of that "grudge" is financial - a belief that Toei should start footing the bill to promote their own IP like Tsuburaya does.

[Lum]

Interesting. The connection does stretch decades back (Bandai produced countless toys for Saban based on Toei designs, for starters), not that I know what the friction is about.

[ZeroRo]

Was wondering when this would be posted. . But that doesn’t explain the shows

[Gowho]

Somewhat related to the above

https://www.oricon.co.jp/news/2285423

https://twitter.com/SentaiFive/statu...20760818184192

All this Rider talk and this pops up on my TL. Shirakura is GM of Toei’s new Character Strategy Department, aiming to maximize profits, extending IP life, and consider global expansion to the US, Europe, Central/South America, and Asia. Good luck hope this actually goes somewhere

https://twitter.com/Spindash54/statu...17713459273728

Shirakura is heading a Character Strategy Department for Rider and Sentai to "further strengthen the character business" and "maximize revenue". Among that, they will "plan the area strategy...for Asia, Latin America, Europe and the United States..."

There was also this from a few months back

https://www.toei.co.jp/company/bussi...y/envision.pdf
https://twitter.com/UkiyaSeed/status...55693171687426

Coming from Toei's Toei New Wave 2033 PowerPoint presentation that's on their website. Well that explains why both Kamen Rider and Super Sentai had slow roll outs in North America and Europe, they are just secondary targets.

Secondary behind Asia & Latin America (most likely thanks to Brazil being a big toku market).

Originally Posted by ZeroRo

Was wondering when this would be posted. . But that doesn’t explain the shows

Can't speak for Discotek nor Media Blasters but I think Team Kamen Rider played a part in Shout's releases.