Tokusatsu

Tokusatsu as a word is inherently a reference to live-action media (originally movies but often television). However its many popular franchises and new works inspired by them have crossed over into comics and this page covers broadly all its basic categories combined including kaiju, mecha and hero.

Name:

Tokusatsu

Aliases:

特撮
怪獣
Kaijū
メカ
Mecha
戦隊
Sentai
ヒーロー
Hero

Start year:

1983

First issue:

Wing-Man (1983) #1 Vol. 1

See at ComicVine

Note: This page is functioning in the capacity of being a comic book genre, it should detail a general overview with examples of this genre's history and trends over time around the world. There is no practical value to crediting it on multiple individual issues in a volume except in cases where it represents very particular issues but nothing else in that volume. Because there is no Tokusatsu theme that can be credited to volumes, the first issue (and only the first issue) can be credited for volumes where the entire work falls into this genre.

Tokusatsu is a term used in Japanese live action film or television that specializes in heavy special effects and is associated with kaiju and superheroes in either science-fiction, fantasy, or horror genres. Note the actual Japanese term is much broader than what is covered here. This page is primarily about the types of franchises that came from live-action into comics and not the reverse (for example the live-action adaptation of Akuma-kun would be considered tokusatsu in Japan but here it is simply a horror manga that was later adapted into other mediums like television).

Virtually all comics in this category will belong to preexisting franchise and can more productively be listed below than every issue individually linked. Examples include: