On this episode of the podcast, Kevin, Justin, and Byrd sit down to discuss some of the exciting recent tokusatsu home video releases from Criterion, Mill Creek, Discotek, Section23, SRS, Shout Factory, Arrow, Kino Lorber, and Synapse. We also go into the overall home video market landscape, distribution, why we still collect physical media, and the convoluted history that Godzilla has had on North American home video.
Show notes:
- Follow Byrd on Kaiju Transmissions
- Follow Justin at Man Creates Dinosaurs (on an unrelated note, his recent MonsterTalk appearance is fascinating)
- The ad for Criterion’s never-made Godzilla laserdisc set:
- Criterion’s Godzilla: The Showa Era Blu-ray set is half-off at Barnes and Noble right now. All Criterion releases are discounted 50%, so now’d be a great chance to pick up Jellyfish Eyes, House, Kwaidan, and When Horror Came to Shochiku (a four-movie box including The X from Outer Space and Goke the Bodysnatcher) as well.
- Arrow Releases are also half-off at Barnes & Noble, so it’s also a good time to pick up The Bloodthirsty Trilogy, Terra Formars, Happiness of the Katakuris, the Ring Collection, Dark Water, Akio Jissoji’s Buddhist Trilogy, and more.
- Arrow has added Gamera movies to their streaming channel, so a set may be in the works.
- Mill Creek’s ambitious Ultraman release schedule:
- Shout Factory’s Super Sentai releases
- The Fiveman release was teased back in March; but then there was a Tweet from July saying there are no releases in the works.
- Discotek’s X-Bomber, Juspion, and Message from Space sets
- Section23 titles, including the Kraken releases of Garo and Return of Godzilla, are available through the Sentai Filmworks website. These titles are available elsewhere, but the steepest discounts will show up from there or Rightstuf. Tokusatsu fans should also check out their releases of Kaiju Mono, Cheer Fruits, Skull Man, and Patlabor.
- The SRS releases of Reigo and Raiga
- SRS has also announced the licenses to Attack of the Giant Teacher and Raiga vs. Ohga.
- Kino Lorber has Konga coming soon, which will go great next to their release of A*P*E.
- Synapse just released Undertaker and is allegedly working on a Blu-ray of Sompote Sands’ Crocodile
- Funimation’s upcoming release of SSSS.Gridman, in limited edition and standard versions
- Media Blasters/Tokyo Shock is still kicking, as is evidenced by an upcoming re-release of Machine Girl
- Generation Kikaida also still exists, but haven’t released anything lately
There are other cool new titles out there, from Legend of the Demon Cat to Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, but I think we hit the major tokusatsu releases. Hopefully this helps someone to make good decisions with their holiday shopping, add to their personal collection, or just feel more educated about the products for knowledge’s sake!
Maser Patrol 