We’ve been singing the praises of add supported VOD services like PlutoTV for a while now, but it’s rare that they do something so exciting we have to write a whole piece about it. But the combo of ShoutFactoryTV and PlutoTV was too much for us to ignore as the two companies have teamed up to make a new free channel dedicated entirely to tokusatsu that you can watch right now!
In case you aren’t aware, PlutoTV is a free add supported tv service that can be watched online or via the PlutoTV app. The service boasts hundreds of channels including ones dedicated entirely to James Bond movies, old episodes of Baywatch, classic anime, RiffTrax, and much much more. Tokushoutsu is the newest addition to PlutoTV’s impressive roster and we couldn’t be more excited! The classic Japanese tradition of tokusatsu TV shows have long been hard to find legally in the US, you’re probably most familiar with the popular genre via Power Rangers, which took the dynamic action scenes from the iconic tokusatsu show Super Sentai Zyuranger and cut them with a newly recorded American plot line about high schoolers who gain super powers.
The biggest draw for fans of tokusatsu is that, aside from 24-hour programming with classics like Ultraman and almost every iteration of Super Sentai, it is also home to the first official North American release of the cult ’70s smash, Kamen Rider. The channel launched last night with the first episode of the series and PlutoTV promises that fans can expect a whole bunch more too. This is a great addition to the current PlutoTV roster and as someone who had a ShoutFactoryTV subscription just so that I could binge watch Super Sentai shows this is also a pleasant surprise!
Marvel
Hopefully this will introduce more American viewers to the magic of tokusatsu and who knows if we keep watching maybe PlutoTV and ShoutFactoryTV will bless us with the iconic and impossible to find Spider-Man tokasatsu show, which was the first tokusatsu series to ever introduce the trope of giant robot that became a core part of the genre!
Header Image: ShoutFactoryTV