Books

Jan222018 by DocNo Comments

POWER RANGERS Star Emma Lahana Joins Marvel’s CLOAK & DAGGER

Articles, Blog, Books, Comics, Movies & TV, News, Power Rangers, Toku, toku, tokublogs, tokusatsu, Uncategorized, Video Update, Videos

Power Rangers Dino Thunder fans have something new to sonic scream about as actress Emma Lahana, best known to Power Rangers nerds as the high school rocker chick turned Yellow Ranger Kira Ford, has just landed a role on the upcoming Marvel series Cloak & Dagger. Disney's newly-branded cable television channel Freeform is set to launch this young adult-oriented superhero series based on the comic book of the same name. The singer/actress took to Twitter herself to relay the news, though we have yet to learn whether or not she'll be suiting up as another costumed heroine. Couldn’t be more thrilled to be part of the @Marvel universe! I can’t give you guys the details of my character just yet ;) but I hope you love her as much as I do. Cloak & Dagger follows the story of two te

Jan162018 by DocNo Comments

Shatter Your Eyeballs With These POWER RANGERS: SHATTERED GRID Comic Covers

Articles, Blog, Books, Comics, Gallery, Movies & TV, News, Power Rangers, Toku, toku, tokublogs, tokusatsu, Uncategorized

The Power Rangers comic book saga rolls on with BOOM! Studios' first major event, Power Rangers: Shattered Grid. In which, the beloved books in the series all link up as the villainous Lord Drakkon, ever the sore loser, means to do some damage to the multicolored heroes that defeated him once before. This time, it'll take more than the teenage saviors of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers to send him packing. To that end, the ongoing series is recruiting an army of heroes from across the decades-spanning television franchise, many of whom longtime fans have been dying to see since the comic came into being. A breakdown of upcoming issues, along with some exceedingly dope artwork, awaits below. BOOM! sounded the alarm on the crossover extravaganza, putting together heroes from seasons that e...

Jan152018 by DocNo Comments

It’s a Mazinger! Watch MAZINGER Z: INFINITY in US Theaters

Animation, Anime, Articles, Blog, Books, Comics, Culture, Movies & TV, News, Toku, Uncategorized, Video Update, Videos

Grab your popcorn and load up on pocky. Mazinger Z: INFINITY is coming to the United States to treat anime fans to a pulse-pounding action/adventure experience best seen in movie theaters. For a limited time only, the latest entry in the Mazinger super robot manga and anime saga can be found on the big screen courtesy of Viz Media and Fathom Events. We talked about the project a couple months back when the trailer dropped, featuring the voice of Kamen Rider W's Kikkawa Kouji, who sings the film's official ending song, "The Last Letter". Now, as the movie finally sees its Japanese debut, the Toei Animation flick makes its way to US shores for a two-day event across the country. https://youtu.be/qZ2OYb1wxZc Viz and Fathom's official synopsis follows: Ten years ago, the villainous sci...

Jan112018 by DocNo Comments

The Stars Align: UCHUU SENTAI KYURANGER & KAMEN RIDER BUILD Come to HeroVision

Articles, Blog, Books, Culture, Gallery, Kamen Rider, Movies & TV, News, Super Sentai, Toku, toku, tokublogs, tokusatsu, Uncategorized

It's been a wonderful season for tokusatsu. From the colorful, high-flying adventure of Uchuu Sentai Kyuranger to the intense, take-no-prisoners action of Kamen Rider Build, the world of special effects television has rarely been so exciting. And, as we inch closer to the tearful farewell to the spacey super-team of Kyuranger and ramp up toward the introduction of their successors in the upcoming Kaitou Sentai Lupinranger vs Keisatsu Sentai Patranger, here's a small picture gallery to celebrate the era of these Toei Company heroes. This brief sampling comes courtesy of HeroVision, the tokusatsu-themed publication featuring high-quality images of the stars and assorted memorabilia from their fantastical series, as well as original interviews and commentary from the people who bring the...

Jan102018 by DocNo Comments

MOB PSYCHO 100 Teaser – Do You Even Lift?

Animation, Anime, Articles, Blog, Books, Comics, Movies & TV, News, Toku, toku, tokublogs, tokusatsu, Ultraman, Video Update, Videos

Actor Tatsuomi Hamada is leaping from one beloved super-powered franchise to another, as he bids farewell to his starring role as giant monster-fighter Ultraman Geed and slips into the maddening role of high school psychic Mob in the live-action Mob Psycho 100. Based on the monstrously successful manga and anime of the same name, Hamada's Mob will face challenges big and small, encountering others of his peculiar kind as the series rolls out to an international audience on Netflix. The first promotional video follows. This fleeting glimpse into the series, directed by Ultraman Geed chief Sakamoto Koichi, comes via BS Japan, who starts airing the series in its home country along with neighboring station TV Tokyo shortly after its Netflix debut. The video features Mob demonstrating some...

Jan22018 by DocNo Comments

INUYASHIKI Teaser: KAMEN RIDER DEN-O Joins the Dark Side

Animation, Anime, Articles, Blog, Books, Comics, Kamen Rider, Movies & TV, News, Toku, toku, tokublogs, tokusatsu, Uncategorized, Video Update, Videos

Take flight with this new Inuyashiki teaser trailer. The upcoming film adapts the popular manga series, in which the title character, an aging salaryman with a dreadfully ordinary life, suddenly becomes extraordinary when a fateful explosion changes everything. But along for the ride is another who has been gifted with the same strange abilities Inuyashiki now possesses. And this guy doesn't share his wholesome philosophy about what to do with the considerable power they now wield. Shenanigans, as they inevitably must, will ensue. Despite the fact that our unlikely lead hero gleefully sings the Astro Boy theme song when he first discovers his gifts, this story may not be quite as bright and happy as it sounds. Writer/illustrator Oku Hiroya's original comic, recently given the anime tr...

Dec282017 by DocNo Comments

No Joke! KAMEN RIDER W Manga Collection Drops This Spring

Articles, Blog, Books, Comics, Culture, Kamen Rider, Movies & TV, News, Toku, toku, tokublogs, tokusatsu, Uncategorized

Kamen Rider fans have one more reason to shout at the moon in the coming year, as the first volume to the Kamen Rider W: Fuuto Detectives manga is headed for a Spring release to satisfy all your jazzy, noir-tinted, superheroic needs. Based upon the Kamen Rider W television series, the official sequel from original TV writer Sanjo Riku and artist Satou Masaki has been published in Weekly Big Comic Spirits magazine for the past several months, and will now be made available in this collection. Let's take a gander at some potential cover art for the upcoming releases. FuutoKoushiki on Twitter provides the goods: Kamen Rider W: Fuuto Detectives catches up with the "half-boiled" detective Hidari Shotaro and his oddball partner Phillip, each forming one half of the combined crimefi...

Dec282017 by DocNo Comments

GODZILLA: PLANET OF THE MONSTERS Gets the Manga Treatment, Film Sequel Named

Animation, Anime, Articles, Blog, Books, Comics, godzilla, Kaiju, monster, Movies & TV, News, Toku, toku, tokublogs, tokusatsu, Uncategorized, Video Update, Videos

Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters is stomping its way into the print medium with a new comic based on this, the first official animated feature for the long-running Godzilla franchise. The giant lizard's story will be told in manga form based on the character designs from the film, with new material only found in this version of the tale. Published in Shonen Jump this March and illustrated by Youth Kurahashi. Meanwhile, the kaiju anime trilogy continues its rampage as the second of the three gets its title. What a marvelous year it will be for monsters. Natalie brings us the news for the manga, which will feature added backstory for the film's cast of characters, as we await the arrival of the next post-apocalyptic kaiju throwdown just months later. And the name of that throwdown, t...

Dec222017 by Justin MullisNo Comments

Scholars Talking Toku: Interview with Tom Gill – Pt. 2

Animation, Anime, Articles, Blog, Books, Comics, Culture, Dairanger, Interviews, Movies & TV, Power Rangers, Space Sheriff, Super Sentai, Toku, toku, tokusatsu, Ultraman

Welcome to the second installment of a brand new series here on HJU, Scholars Talking Toku. My name is Justin Mullis. I’m a scholar working in the academic field of religious studies with a life long love of Japanese pop-culture. Earlier this year an essay I wrote, “Notes from the Land of Light: Observations on Religious Elements Seen in Ultraman” was published in the book Giant Creatures in Our World: Essays on Kaiju and American Popular Culture (2017, McFarland Press) edited by Camille D.G. Mustachio and Jason Barr. I recommend you pick it up! As a result of my work on this essay I came to realize that there were a number of scholars, like me, who were interested in the topic of Japanese superheroes, through separated both geographically and by areas of expertise. The goal of this s

Dec212017 by Justin MullisNo Comments

Scholars Talking Toku: Interview with Tom Gill – Pt. 1

Anime, Articles, Blog, Books, Culture, Interviews, Kaiju, Kamen Rider, monster, Movies & TV, Super Sentai, Toku, toku, tokusatsu, Ultraman

Welcome to the start of a brand new series here on HJU, Scholars Talking Toku. My name is Justin Mullis. I'm a scholar working in the academic field of religious studies with a life long love of Japanese pop-culture. Earlier this year an essay I wrote, "Notes from the Land of Light: Observations on Religious Elements Seen in Ultraman" was published in the book Giant Creatures in Our World: Essays on Kaiju and American Popular Culture (2017, McFarland Press) edited by Camille D.G. Mustachio and Jason Barr. I recommend you pick it up! When I started working on this essay I believed that I was breaking new ground, that work by academics on Japanese superheroes was probably minuscule to nonexistent. What I soon realized however was that a number of scholars were in fact interested in this...