As a new year begins, Ethan returns to reflect on the year that was – the highs, lows and everything inbetween of tokusatsu in 2024!
2024 was a wild ride for tokusatsu fans! We saw the end of some beloved series and the start of exciting new ones. There were plenty of twists and turns along the way and we can’t wait to see what 2025 has in store. Want to check out last year’s wrap up of 2023 before jumping into this year’s recap? You can check it out here.
Let’s kick things off with Power Rangers!
Power Rangers
Reboot In Limbo
I think it’s best to start with Power Rangers this year, as I think it might have had its biggest lows. Last year saw the release of the franchise’s final instalment, Power Rangers Cosmic Fury, followed by waiting for a reboot. However, due to some producer comments, fans were worrying what that could look like; no one could have predicted, though, that it would look like a big pile of nothing, with the news breaking in June that Netflix has cancelled the reboot they were working on with Hasbro. With no further updates to this over half a year later, many are wondering if there will be a reboot at all, especially considering the next point.
The Auction
In October, we found out the news that Hasbro was partnering with Heritage Auctions to sell off its 30 years worth of props, costumes, and miscellany, much to the displeasure of fans, actors and… well, really anyone that wasn’t Hasbro! Hunter Deno, Cosmic Fury Red herself even lamenting the sale.
Fans were quick also to point out that this auction was the closest Hasbro has come to making good on their claims that the Power Rangers Cosmic Fury suits were designed with toys in mind, as this was the most Cosmic Fury things that they had sold. But what were the results? According to Gizmodo, Hasbro made a total of $3.3 million USD from the sale, with their biggest earners being the Cosmic Blaster (the teams combined weapon) going for $87,500, the Transformable Astro Megaship/Astro Megazord miniature used Power Rangers in Space, which went for $47,500, and the late great Jason David Frank’s Green Power Ranger Costume going for $30,000. Full action results can be found here.
As for 2025, between the lack of updates and the auction itself happening, it’s unlikely we will see anything live action. Not to point out the obvious but by selling all of this stuff they just added “make all new suits and props” to the list of things to do if they are planning anything live action, which, in general, studios don’t make more work for themselves, they cut corners and save money. While we don’t know for sure, it’s looking an awful lot like there’s just no reboot and no plan for anything live action any time in the near future.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Rita’s Rewind
While the live action end of the franchise appears to have had the plug pulled, other ends of the franchise appear to be doing great! This year, we saw the release of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Rita’s Rewind. A retro style side scrolling beat ’em up with Zord POV fights, released on all modern platforms. For more info, you can read about it here, and check out the launch trailer below:
BOOM! Studios Comics
Last year, I ended off this section talking about BOOM! Studios as I attempted to end on a hopeful note and, you know what, I’m going to try and do it again! This year saw a lot changes in the lineup from BOOM! as they brought a lot of their ongoing Ranger titles to a close, and started fresh with the new Power Rangers Prime (details can be found here).
Regardless of what the future holds for Power Rangers the programme, between BOOM! Studios’ amazing content and fan works/celebrations like Power Ranger Day and The Toku Source’s very own Green Ranger Day celebrations (hopefully returning in 2025!), the fans of the franchise will be there to keep the torch lit. May the franchise remain ablaze for a long time to come! Once a Ranger, always a Ranger.
Ultraman
Ultraman Connection Removes Store and Streaming
I’m going to start with this point as it links into the next one. This year saw Ultraman Connection merge its store with its Amazon US page and, in addition to this, removed all ability to rent or watch things on their website. From the official announcement back in April:
“Our shop will be folded into the Ultraman Amazon official store (https://www.amazon.com/ultraman). This store includes a wider variety of goods from various licensees, and will regularly be renewed to include more new and exciting products. Ultraman Connection will continue to post reviews about licensee goods along with all kinds of articles related to Ultraman, so be sure to stay tuned.
Unfortunately, as a part of these changes, the Exclusive Videos and Video Rental sections will be closed. All content that was once hosted on these sections will be transferred to other services and future releases. Please stay tuned with the latest Ultraman video content on the ULTRAMAN OFFICIAL YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ULTRAMAN_OFFICIAL”
Now, you’re smart, I’m sure you realise why this isn’t quite the good news Ultraman Connection see it to be, especially for all of us outside of their focus and general push in the US, and you’re right. Firstly, the vast majority of the things on their Amazon store can’t be imported, but the removal of movie rentals means the official release of Ultraman movies such as the Ultraman Blazar movie and the upcoming Ultraman Arc movie means the only option now is to buy the BluRay. This has its own issues as Mill Creek’s releases are only for US regions and are locked for everyone else. On top of the cost of importing the BluRays themselves, those of us not in America require a special player to even watch them! Like Shin Ultraman before, it likely means we will have future releases spoiled by Americans that were able to support the official release without having to jump through customs hoops. I think I can speak for everyone when I say, please oh please give us a way to support the official releases. At least change the “Ultraman Global” accounts name because various South East Asian countries and the USA is not global. Companies pushing toku in the west and “by the west we only mean the USA” is a topic I can get very heated about.
Ultraman Blazar
2024 saw the conclusion to Ultraman Blazar and the release of its movie (for some). Last year I said “the currently airing season, Ultraman Blazar, has only a few episodes left but I think it’s safe to say this is another series a lot of people will remember. Between it mixing things up with the Earth defense team captain being the Ultra host, to said Ultra basically being a space caveman and the whole array of new and interesting kaiju, you can be sure the Blazar recaps will continue into 2024.” And continue they have! I’m sure if Sean or I are ever able to watch the Blazar movie we will also have a review out of it too.
Ultraman Meets Spider-Man
This year saw Ultraman grow in new and interesting ways, with a new manga series “Ultraman: Along Came a Spider” by Shigenobu Matsumoto, which sees Spider-Man crossover into the world of Ultraman, teaming up with the original hero to stop a plan by Doctor Doom and Mefilas. You know when you’re enjoying something fine enough but not enough that it’s a major priority for you and you end up leaving it too long to reach chapter five then the web based manga reader you could complain about forever locks the next chapter you’re on behind a paywall? No? Too specific? As you might guess, that’s the reason why the reviews of this hard stopped. If unlike me you were able to keep up with it and put with the Viz manga reader, then I’m sure you have been enjoying it. When I’m able to find a way to read it upon its ending, you can expect a full review then.
Ultraman Joins the Avengers
The continuation of Matthew Groom and Kyle Higgins’ wonderful reimagining of the original ultraman series, this time facing off against Galactus aided by the Avengers, with him and UltraSeven both officially becoming members themselves. With the series halfway through so far there’s still a lot that can happen and I, for one, can’t wait. Not dipped into this series yet, here’s my reviews of issues 1 and 2 to get you started.
Ultraman Rising
This year saw the release of the animated Ultraman movie, Ultraman Rising on Netflix, written by Shannon Tindle, Marc Haimes and directed by Shannon Tindle and John Aoshima. The world was introduced to Ken Sato, a new Ultraman and new adoptive dad to the cutest baby kaiju you have ever seen. Not only did it bring me to tears, the movie also saw recognition not just from my glowing review but it also won the ‘visual effects’ category in the HPA awards! Additionally, check out why we think it deserved an Oscar as well. As we wait patiently for the announcement of a sequel, we will just have to make do with rewatching the movie.
Ultraman Arc and the Franchise in 2025
At time of writing Ultraman Arc is nearing its conclusion (catch the recaps for it here). Compared to Blazar, it felt very much like a return to formula for Ultraman; that one episode where the main villain was The Son of Man (1946 by Rene Magritte) painting notwithstanding. Additionally, this year saw the birth of a second Ultraman YouTube channel, just for English dubbed content! Here’s hoping the newly announced Ultraman Zero movie dubs make their way to YouTube as well. Hopefully, in 2025 we see a resolution to the movie issue I brought up in my rather heated opening to this section, even its its just a delayed release on the official YouTube channel that’s region locked in the US, like Blazar is right now since the BluRay was announced. Still, the future is sure looking bright for us Ultraman fans!
Kamen Rider
Kamen Rider Geats Post Series Content
The year of 2024 saw the release of the last of Kamen Rider Geats post series content in the form of Geats Extra: Kamen Rider Gazer and Kamen Rider Geats V-CINEXT – Jyamato Awaking: the final V-Cinext movie and a TTFC prequel to it. Revealing that all the defeated future people were actually getting kicked back to the future makes all the panic to get to the time gate before the grand end, with Beroba and Kekera using a wish to stay after it, really silly. It also revealed that the future cast are from the same year Futurama takes place (1000 years from now). None of that gets into other issues I had with the movie, your going to need to read the review for yourself to find out why my normally very positive self is so hard on it. Hey, at least it keeps Kamen Rider Geats standards of being “frustratingly a 9/10 that could easily be higher if it used half of it’s ideas better” alive.
Ride Kamens
2024 also saw Kamen Rider branch out into the world of “cute boy gatcha games” with Ride Kamens. Still a Japan only game at present, so the most we know is translated bios and cool art, they did also get a stage show. Adapting the story, which was written by veteran franchise writer Yuya Takahashi, is not out of the question, or at least having Sango appear in a movie or something; kinda like how the Zi-O summer movie had manga Kuuga show up. Still, we will have to see. You can bet we will be here to cover it, whatever they end up doing. For more information about Ride Kamens, check here and here.
Kamen Rider The Winter Movie: Gotchard & Geats Strongest Chemy★Great Gotcha Operation
This year also saw what might be the last Winter crossover movie. This movie saw the post series cast of Geats team up with the cast of Gotchard to catch all the Level X Chemies, and beat someone Ace owned in a past life so hard he dedicated his life to forbidden alchemy to live long enough to try and get revenge on a future reincarnation of Ace. What a trip! This was also a standout as its the one piece of Geats content that uses the fact Ace has been Kamen Riding in the DGP for longer then any Rider to date, not having its villain be from the future like literally every other piece of Geats media. A delightful time and the debut of Kamen Rider Majade, Rinne, the franchises first female secondary. Despite Toei and Bandai arguing over that and just flat out treating her weirdly, the movie is great and well worth a watch. For my review check here.
Kamen Rider Gotchard
This year also saw the conclusion to Kamen Rider Gotchard! Concluding the story of Hotaro and his quest to, along with his friends, find and befriend all 101 Chemies (technically 102 but who’s actually counting) and create a world where they can coexist with humanity, which he quite literally did, as well as helping his alternate timeline future self in the summer movie (don’t worry a movie review is coming soon). This was the first ongoing series I’ve covered and, while its not perfect, it does mean a lot to me and hit it just the right time. For all of my Gotchard reviews, and the now ongoing Gavv reviews, check here! Be sure to keep an eye out for my coverage of the Gotchard post series content as well!
Kamen Rider 555 20th: Paradise Regained
Twenty or so years after the original series, 2024 saw the release of Kamen Rider 555 20th: Paradise Regained, the 20th anniversary movie for the beloved series, seeing the return of many of the core actors from the series as well as leaving things open for a continuation. I really enjoyed my time with the movie, so much so that I went back and watched the series and loved that too.
Kamen Rider Outsiders and Toei using GenAI Slop.
We cant talk about the heights of Rider this year without mentioning this unbelievable low, Outsiders episode 6 and its GenAI slop usage.
As you can see in the clip, they are basically used because Toei didn’t want to pay for stock images. This not only ruined my night but lead to the discovery of a lot more GenAI use in Toei’s production, from props in Gotchard to Boonboomgers marketing material, it’s all there. While I could use this to give a cliffnotes version of my article on the subject, it’s been covered fairly extensively here. I will however use this platform to raise awareness about something close to home that everyone, especially those in the UK, should be aware of.
The UK government plans to change UK copyright law to give GenAI slop a pass on theft. More details can be found here. If you make anything, or create anything, I don’t need to tell you how awful an idea this is, regardless of if you live in the UK or not. This will set a precedent and could pave the way for more slop content mills in the future if we don’t stop them now. Write to your local MP and tell them you don’t want this!
Kamen Rider Gavv and 2025 for Kamen Rider
Kamen Rider in 2024 has seen a lot of highs and one giant low. Despite its issues, we’ve had the end of Outsiders (giant multipart review of that coming) and the wonderful Kamen Rider Gavv – whose new production schedule has meant that every episodes had longer for post production while they get approved for airing in China. On one hand, this has meant, in my opinion, that there has been a big step forward in the SFX department but has the notable downside of there being no winter crossover movie… I’m sure there will be something new to fill the gap down the line but, as well as this, there is the newly trademarked “Kamen Rider Defence Warriors.” The future of Kamen Rider seems just as bright and verified as ever.
The poster promoting the next Arc for Kamen Rider Gavv features Gavv in his CaKing form and new Riders Dark Valen, Kamen Rider Vlam and Kamen Rider Bitter Gavv.
Super Sentai
Ohsama Sentai KingOhger
On the Sentai side, 2024 saw the end of Ohsama Sentai KingOhger and boy oh boy did it deliver! In addition to the series, we were treated to not one, but two, teamup movies, KingOhger VS Donbrothers and KingOhger VS Kyoryuger – two very fun crossovers that have their own share of issues. One of these clearly was given priority over the other, both crossovers were shorter than normal and all of the timeline stuff at the end there being… confusing, to say the least. Also, Prince in general; while I love Kyoryuger, I’m not a fan of Prince.
As always, with the ending of a Sentai comes the new beginnings of a Sentai!
BoonBoomger and 2025 for Super Sentai
Yet another series initially met with mixed feelings from some about the suits and helmets, BoonBoomger, like Donbrothers before it, wow’ed with its great action and wonderful stories week to week. Additionally, this year saw the launch of another review series from The Toku Source: The Sentai Summary! You can read that here. As for what the future holds for Super Sentai next year, well, things sure do look bright, especially since we got the new teaser for the next season. You can be sure The Toku Source will have you covered with all the news in time before it starts.
Godzilla
Godzilla Turns 70!
This year not only saw the release of Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, it saw the King of the Monsters turn the big 70! With celebrations comes big news, like new movies being greenlit as well as crossovers and collaborations with Fortnite, Digimon and Marvel Comics !
Safe to say the King of the Monsters will be busy next year, to be sure! Be sure to keep an eye out for that!
Independent Toku
Last time out, I ended highlighting some cool independent tokusatsu productions; the First being Ork, an indie movie that was filmed on an iPhone. It looks really cool and is also fully English Subbed and free on YouTube.
The second was Masahiro Inoue’s (Kamen Rider Decade) then latest project Sentika F8ABA6 Jisariz, which as well as being available subbed on YouTube, has great production value and an engaging mystery story. You can watch episode one here:
This year, I only have the one independent toku series to shoutout and promote for you all, and that’s Avalon: Knight of the Round Table by Shield and Sword Productions. It marks the latest instalment in their EGT – Earl Grey Tokusatsu. You know, like Spaghetti Westerns, but it’s tokusatsu made by a Brit! Like every other independent toku project I’ve mentioned here, it’s English subbed and on YouTube! Additionally, if you want to see more from Shield and Sword Productions and their Earl Grey Toku, you can follow them on various social media pages here.
Now I know what you’re thinking… “Ethan, did you really just use this to plug two of the same indy toku projects again, that you plugged last year?” and yeah, I guess I did, but in my defence, I’ve no idea how many of you actually did your end of year 2023 homework and checked them out so I’m taking this as an extra chance to plug them again, okay? Gotta support independent stuff of all kinds and I’d hope they appreciate my trying to spread word of mouth about them. Be sure to let them know The Toku Source sent you, alright? I want to see them get a big bump from people in their comments!
Conclusion
And that was 2024! What a wild year it’s been. Plenty of ups and downs but, ultimately, I think it’s been a pretty great year for tokusatsu. I’m sure 2025 will be even better so you better stick around and experience it all with us! I hope you have had a wonderful year, a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
For another year and counting I’ve been Ethan: Writer, reviewer and bringer of the new year for The Toku Source. Here’s to 2025!
