It’s been a while but guess who’s back on their soapbox?! Following the airing of the latest Kamen Rider Outsiders, it’s time to talk about the use of Generative AI in tokusatsu.
It’s a few weeks ago, the 29th of September, it’s the early hours of the morning and I’m getting ready to go to bed, when a post from someone live reacting to the penultimate episode of Kamen Rider Outsiders catches my eye:
I ended up staying up over an extra hour and got a hold of the episode to check myself. Sure enough, around six and a half minutes in, there it was. I grab some screenshots of the offending moment and share them, as no one had until that point, and I thought I could save people time checking for themselves.
Please forgive the late night spelling error, which should read “no way they were not GenAI made.”
Why is GenAI so offensive?
Someone smarter than me once said, “Sometimes you’ve got some feelings and you just gotta monetize them.” As someone trying to make a profession in an creative field, it should not be a shock to you, reader, to learn that my reaction to this GenAI slop being unnecessarily thrown in here was not a positive one. Disgust and disappointment are probably closer to an accurate description of my feelings on the matter.
There are some good videos on the subject of AI: here, here and here, I would encourage you to also do your own research on not only the unethical practices being used to keep AI business going, but also its unbelievable environmental cost, since running these data centres uses a massive amount of electricity.
This technology has to exploit in order to survive and, much like with plagiarists, the only assumption that can be made is that pro AI advertisers do not see creative works, artists, writers, musicians, voice actors or even film and video makers as works that hold real value, and that’s why they believe stealing from them to create there sloppy knockoffs is okay. They’ve taken what they have deemed ‘lesser than’ and made it something they deem better. Corporations and companies are jumping on GenAI, because it looks real enough that they think they can cut out the middleman, save some money, no matter the human cost.
Not the First Time
Originally, I was planning on concluding this article/rant/venting session with the general take that, while I’m upset and disappointed, at least this seems to be an anomaly and GenAI isn’t the norm in Kamen Rider. But, then, someone points out to me that the Chojo Wakusei magazine covers that Kajiki, best friend of Kamen Rider Gotchard, Hotaro, carries around in two episodes are likely GenAI. The second of them was even shared by the head writer on social media.
I’m left feeling incredibly stupid that, for over a year, I championed and platformed a show that used these practices. I feel sick.
I don’t really know how to end this article but, as I’m questioning my support for Toei and willingness to support them going forward, I can say this: while I’m now dealing with questions like “does Gavv’s base form looking so much like a Zero-One alt form have anything to do with them using GenAI to make concept art, instead of hiring a concept artist?”
If I do stick with Toei made tokusatsu, it will be in spite of Toei and these practices. I can’t speak on behalf of everyone but there are a lot of talented people that work on Rider and Super Sentai: writers, actors, suit actors and stunt/fight choreographers, to name a few. These shows are a collaborative effort and I can understand if you can look past the GenAI to keep cheering them on. But, as I sit here writing this article with a sinking feeling in my stomach, I’m not sure if I can. I clearly have a lot I need to reflect on.
Take Out The Trash
After taking some time to refelect and cool down, I realised that, if I had not posted those original pictures and the clip, a tonne of people wouldn’t have even known about this. So, my resolution to all of this is that I’m going to keep doing just that. To paraphrase someone, “I’ll review/watch this stuff and call out the slop so you don’t have too.” If a work has got GenAI in it, you will absolutely hear about it from me, and I can do my best to highlight all the other talented, real human, hardworking individuals contributing to these shows. Honestly, if Western Toei toku fans were in a different position, where the powers that be even recognised we exist, I could maybe take a different stance (like with the whole Ultraman NFT debacle from a few years ago) but, for now at least, that’s my current personal policy going forward. I’m going to keep reviewing Toei tokusatsu like normal but with a more watchful eye. If this practice becomes the norm, I may need to reevaluate that stance, but I’ll leave that judgement to future Ethan to handle…
What do you think about all of this? Are you comfortable supporting shows that use practices you don’t like? As always, I’ve been Ethan: Human writer, reviewer and person keeping a close eye on Toei for The Toku Source, which is also run by humans. Until next time.
