Ultraman, Kamen Rider, Super Sentai — they all fall under this genre called “tokusatsu.” Its trademarks are lots of special effects — giant monsters aka kaiju; heroes who transform into suited usually color-coded fighters with helmets and weapons; giant warring robots; crazy villain costumes and command centers in space ships. These shows came to the Philippines from Japan in the late ‘70s starting with “Star Rangers” (Himitsu Sentai Goranger dubbed in English using Filipino talent,) and they captured the imaginations of the kids watching these shows.

The genre continues to be vibrant and fun 40 years later with fans all over the globe. While writing this, I rabbit-holed a bit into the “Star Rangers” and a fan show called “France Five” (with characters like Black Beaujolais and Yellow Baguette). Last Monday, Chris Cantada Force unleashed a 26-minute pilot for a show called “Carpioman: Original Philippine Tokusatsu.”