Toku Week In Review (5/26/2013)

It's Memorial Day weekend over here in the United States. While you guys are taking a break from checking out all the new films out there (I will catch Fast & Furious 6 ASAP) or grilling your healthy doses of meats and veggies, come check out what's been up with the tokusatsu industry over the last week. A new Kamen Rider novel is released, Toei opens auditions for those who want to join Shocker, Battride War finally comes out, and filming for the cameos in Power Rangers: Super Megaforce begins! Hit the jump for a barbecue-sized feast of toku news!

KAMEN RIDER HIBIKI NOVEL RELEASED, SUMMARY REVEALED

Cover of the new Kamen Rider Hibiki novel

On Thursday, Kodansha released the newest in a series of novels based on the Heisei Kamen Riders, from Kuuga to OOO. The Kamen Rider Hibiki novel, written by Tsuyoshi Kida (one of the head writers on the first half of Hibiki and the head writer on Wizard), serves as a prequel to the events of the series. Taking place at the beginning of the Edo era, Hibiki and other members of the Oni clan are continuing the fight against the monstrous Makamou. Suddenly, he meets a mysterious ninja named Hayate who is also fighting against an evil clan. As it turns out, this ninja is none other than another one of Shotaro Ishinomori's creations: Henshin Ninja Arashi!

Henshin Ninja Arashi's opening

For those who don't know, Henshin Ninja Arashi was a 1972 tokusatsu series featuring a ninja who could transform into a superhero and fought an evil clan he was once loyal to. For years leading up to the airing of Hibiki, Toei had been trying a revival of Arashi. As I mentioned in my Amemiya retrospective, it's rumored that Toei had plans to reimagine Henshin Ninja Arashi in movie form for its 1996 Super Hero Fair. When that fell through, some influences from Arashi found their way into Kamen Rider's Heisei shows. For example, Kamen Rider Odin's design is based somewhat on Arashi's and the original design for Kamen Rider Blade's Jack Form had more Arashi influence. In 2005, one of Toei's original plans for Hibiki was to give Kamen Rider a break altogether and give Arashi his long-awaited revival. When sponsors said otherwise, the series was restructured into a Kamen Rider series based on one of Ishinomori's unadapted concepts. Clearly, Tsuyoshi Kida did not forget this and seems to have used this opportunity to bring Arashi back into the spotlight.

[Courtesy of Kodansha, JEFusion, and Henshin Justice]

WANNA JOIN SHOCKER?

Earlier today, Toei held "auditions" for people with high intelligence and strength to join the ranks of Kamen Rider's biggest enemy: the Shocker organization. Toei sought after 3 types of characters: an average guy who enjoys reading Internet news, a short and pudgy guy who is a self-titled "Gourmet hunter" and jokes around, and a tall, skinny guy who is addicted to the Internet. Tickets for the audition were 1000 yen each, but children under 2 could get in for free. Held from 10 AM to 5 PM, the auditions were held at Shinagawa Prince Hotel in Tokyo. Check back in if Toei ever announces what the heck this whole event is about!

[Courtesy of JEFusion]

KAMEN RIDER BATTRIDE WAR RELEASED, FINAL VOICE ACTORS ANNOUNCED

Official game cover for the "Premium Sound Edition" of Kamen Rider Battride War

On Thursday, the highly-anticipated "musou" style action game Kamen Rider Battride War was finally released. A PS3 exclusive, the game includes free day-1 DLC characters: Wizard Infinity Style and Beast Hyper Mode. Retailing for 7480 yen for the standard edition, the game was also given a Limited Edition version (called the Premium Sound Edition) that comes with a soundtrack featuring 30 songs in the game that retails for 10480 yen. There are two modes in the game: the story mode (called Chronicle Mode) features the Heisei Riders trying to get their memories back after they are mysteriously wiped. By reliving scenes from the series, the Riders slowly regain their memories and unlock their powers. The second mode is a Free Mission mode, where unlocked Riders can be leveled up and figures can be collected.

The official blog also revealed the final list of voice actors reprising their respective roles in the game. The final list of returning actors and the roles they play are listed below, with the new announcements bolded.

-Kamen Rider Agito: Toshiki Kashu

-El of the Water: Kiyoyuki Yanada

-Kamen Rider Ryuki: Takamasa Suga

-Kamen Rider Odin: Tsuyoshi Koyama

-Kamen Rider Blade: Takayuki Tsubaki

-Kamen Rider Garren: Hironari Amano

-Joker Undead: Ryoji Morimoto

-Kamen Rider Gatack: Yuki Sato

-Cassis Worm: Tak Sakaguchi

-Kamen Rider Den-O Sword Form/Momotaros: Toshihiko Seki

-Kamen Rider Den-O Rod Form/Urataros: Koji Yusa

-Kamen Rider Den-O Axe Form/Kintaros: Masaki Terasoma

-Kamen Rider Den-O Gun Form/Ryuutaros: Kenichi Suzumura

-Kamen Rider New Den-O: Dori Sakurada

-Teddy: Daisuke Ono

-Albino Leo Imagin: Takaya Kuroda

-Kamen Rider IXA: Keisuke Kato

-Kamen Rider Dark Kiva (Taiga Nobori): Shouma Yamamoto

-Kivat-bat the 2nd/Kivat-bat the 3rd: Tomokazu Sugita

-Tatsulot: Akira Ishida

-Bat Fangire Reborn: Keiko Sakai

-Kamen Rider Decade: Masahiro Inoue

-Kamen Rider DiEnd: Kimito Totani

-Kiva-la: Miyuki Sawashiro

-Super Apollo Geist: Kazuhisa Kawahara

-Kamen Rider W (Shotaro Hidari): Renn Kiriyama

-Kamen Rider Accel: Minehiro Kinomoto

-Weather Dopant: Tomoyuki Dan

-Kamen Rider OOO: Shu Watanabe

-Kamen Rider Birth (Akira Date): Hiroaki Iwanaga

-Ankh: Ryosuke Miura

-Dinosaur Greeed: Yu Kamio

-Kamen Rider Fourze: Sota Fukushi

-Kamen Rider Meteor: Ryo Yoshizawa

-Sagittarius Zodiarts: Shingo Tsurumi

-Kamen Rider Wizard: Shunya Shiraishi

-Kamen Rider Beast: Tasuku Nagase

-Phoenix: Atsumi

[Courtesy of Bandai Namco's Official Blog and Kamen Rider Wiki]

FILMING FOR POWER RANGERS: SUPER MEGAFORCE LEGEND CAMEOS BEGINS

On May 25th, filming began in New Zealand for the "Legend War" scenes for Power Rangers: Super Megaforce. Based on the 35th anniversary season of Super Sentai, Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger, Super Megaforce will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of Saban's immensely successful Power Rangers franchise. Filming continues today, and set photos have revealed all of the actors expected to cameo in this scene. To hype up Jason David Frank's return as fan favorite Tommy, Saban also released a poster announcing his long-awaited return.

[Courtesy of Jason David Frank's Facebook page]

Jason Faunt also revealed two familiar faces that had not yet been announced to return for the special. Patricia Ja Lee, best known as the 2nd Pink Turbo Ranger and and Pink Space Ranger, was spotted among the cast while dining on some sushi. Also revealed in the picture is longtime Power Rangers director Koichi Sakamoto (the one giving the thumbs up and also Japanese), meaning there is a strong chance he's taking a short break from Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger to direct this episode.

[Courtesy of Henshin Justice]

[Courtesy of Henshin Justice, Jason David Frank's Facebook page, and Jason Faunt's Instagram page]