lonekaiju

Sūtsumēshon is a term originally used in Japan for a tokusatsu technique to portray a daikaiju (giant monster) using a suit actor in a monster suit, often moving through scale model scenery to give the impression of large size, as well as filming them at a higher framerate, to make them appear slower. The term can be used when puppet does not apply, since the puppet is being worn by an actor, and when costume does not apply, since the costume is also being controlled by a puppeteer. The technique was initially developed by Eiji Tsuburaya for use in Godzilla films and then used for his Ultra Series productions. The following are considered suitmation: the creature costumes of some B-movies, notably An American Werewolf in London, and the American television satire Dinosaurs; the full-body costumes of Jim Henson's Creature Shop, in particular the pre-Creature Shop creations of The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth; and also other creations of his such as Big Bird and Sweetums. The 2009 film Where the Wild Things Are uses a suitmation technique combined with computer-generated imagery to depict the Wild Things.

Concept Kaiju are typically modeled after conventional animals, insects or mythological creatures; however, there are more exotic examples. Chōjin Sentai Jetman features monsters based on traffic lights, faucets and tomatoes; Kamen Rider Super-1 includes a whole army of monsters based on household objects such as umbrellas and utility ladders. Monsters famous in English stories, such as vampires, werewolves, mummies and zombies, fall into this category. Frankenstein's monster was a starring kaiju in the Toho films Frankenstein Conquers the World, and The War of the Gargantuas. Kaiju are sometimes depicted as cannon fodder serving a greater evil. Some kaiju are elite warriors which serve as the right-hand man to the greater villain and are destroyed by the heroic forces. Others have a neutral alignment, only seeking to destroy buildings and other structures. During the early eras of tokusatsu, "heroic" monsters were rarely seen in daikaiju eiga films, and it was not until later when television tokusatsu productions began using kaiju which aided the hero, saved civilians, or demonstrated some kind of complex personality. These kaiju adopted many classic monster traits, appearing as the "Misunderstood Creature". Some kaiju hung out with the heroes and provided comedy relief, in contrast to the darker approach to these characters from more mature franchises, like Kamen Rider. Godzilla, arguably the most well known of the daikaiju, has played the roles of hero, villain, and force of nature in the course of his existence, one of the few kaiju of any type to be depicted in multiple roles and having those around him react in different ways, depending on how the creature itself was being presented in the films

(from Japanese "strange beast") is a film genre that features monsters, usually attacking a major Japanese city or engaging other monsters in battle. It is a subgenre of tokusatsu (special effects-based) entertainment. Related terms include kaijū eiga (怪獣映画 kaijū eiga?, monster movie), a film featuring giant monsters or a single monster; kaijin (怪人?, referring to roughly humanoid monsters); and daikaiju (大怪獣 daikaijū?, giant kaiju), specifically meaning the larger variety of monsters. Godzilla is an example of a daikaiju; others include Gamera, Mothra, Rodan, King Ghidorah, Mechagodzilla and Daimajin. The term ultra-kaiju is longhand for kaiju in the Ultra Series. Toho has produced a variety of Kaiju films over the years (many that featured Godzilla and Mothra) but other Japanese studios contributed to expanding the genre in Japan by producing Kaiju films and shows of their own, studios including Daiei Film Co., Ltd., Kadokawa Pictures, Tsuburaya Productions, Shochiku, and Nikkatsu studios.

literally "mysterious person") productions primarily feature a supervillain as their central character. This category includes films such as The Secret of the Telegian, The Human Vapor, The H-Man, Half Human, and Tomei Ningen.

History Tokusatsu has origins in early Japanese theater, specifically in kabuki (with its action- and fight-scenes) and in bunraku, which utilized some of the earliest forms of special effects, specifically puppetry. Modern tokusatsu, however, did not begin to take shape until the early 1950s with the conceptual and creative birth of Godzilla, one of the most famous monsters (kaiju) of all time. The special-effects artist Eiji Tsuburaya and the director Ishirō Honda became the driving forces behind 1954's Godzilla. Tsuburaya, inspired by the American film King Kong, formulated many of the techniques that would become staples of the genre, such as so-called suitmation—the use of a human actor in a costume to play a giant monster—combined with the use of miniatures and scaled-down city sets. Godzilla forever changed the landscape of Japanese science fiction, fantasy, and cinema by creating a uniquely Japanese vision in a genre typically dominated by American cinema. In 1954, Godzilla kickstarted the kaiju genre in Japan, which remained extremely popular for several decades, with characters such as the aforementioned Godzilla, Gamera and King Ghidorah leading the market.[2] However, in 1957 Shintoho produced the first film serial featuring the superhero character Super Giant, signaling a shift in popularity that favored masked heroes over giant monsters. Along with the anime Astro Boy, the Super Giant serials had a profound effect on the world of tokusatsu. The following year, Moonlight Mask premiered, the first of numerous televised superhero dramas that would make up one of the most popular tokusatsu subgenres. These original productions preceded the first color-television tokusatsu series, Ambassador Magma and Ultraman, which heralded the Kyodai Hero genre, wherein a regular-sized protagonist grows to larger proportions to fight equally large monsters

is a Japanese term that applies to any live-action film or television drama that features considerable use of special effects (tokusatsu literally translates as "special filming" in Japanese). Tokusatsu entertainment often deals with science fiction, fantasy or horror, but movies and television shows in other genres can sometimes count as tokusatsu as well. The most popular types of tokusatsu include kaiju monster movies like the Godzilla and Gamera film series; superhero TV serials such as the Kamen Rider and Metal Hero series; and mecha dramas like Giant Robo. Some tokusatsu television programs combine several of these subgenres, for example the Ultraman and Super Sentai series. Tokusatsu is one of the most popular forms of Japanese entertainment, but most tokusatsu movies and television programs are not widely known outside Asia.