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KyodaiHero

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Ultraman,is Japan's first and most famousKyodaiHero

KyodaiHero(Cự đại ヒーロー,Kyodai Hīrō,lit. 'Giant Hero')is a television subgenre intokusatsuthat involves Japanese superheroes or robots either with the ability to grow to immense heights to fightgiant monstersor who are originally giant as a part of their lives. The Kyodai Hero is the mainstream superhero genre that is widely popular in Japan. One of the earliest and most famous Kyodai heroes isUltramanwho made his debut in 1966. Since then, Ultraman has helped spawn the Kyodai hero genre with countless shows, franchises and films such asGo! GodmanandIron King.

1960s

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The inception of the Kyodai hero genre initially began withGodzillain the filmGhidorah, the Three-Headed Monster.Godzilla is portrayed as a personified natural disaster at first but over the course of the film franchise's many monster battles, he is gradually put into the position of protector of the human race, a keytropeof the Kyodai Hero genre. Though Godzilla established the minor concept of the Kyodai Hero, the genre technically began with P-Productions' live action adaptation of Osamu Tezuka'sAmbassador Magmawhich predated the popularUltramanfranchise, by six days.Ultramanwas created by theGodzillafilms' Special Effects Director and SupervisorEiji Tsuburaya.Ultraman- a sequel series to the previous TokusatsukaijuseriesUltra Q- quickly became very popular in its initial run, to the point thatTsuburaya Productionsproduced sequel showUltraseven,the second Kyodai Hero show ever produced - this series introduced another trope characteristic of the genre, in that the hero mainly fought aliens and their monster subordinates throughout the show.Ultrasevenwas the final Tokusatsu Kyodai hero show produced by Eiji Tsuburaya before his death in 1970. Since then, the increase inUltraman's popularity was so great that Tsuburaya Productions decided to revive the franchise in 1970 withThe Return of Ultraman,thus creating a series of Ultraman shows which continues to the present day, referred to as theUltra Series.

1970s

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The 70s saw the uprising ofTokusatsuand Kyodai hero shows, which coexisted with and helped shape kaiju films of the era. Tsuburaya Productions restarted theUltramanseries withThe Return of Ultraman.This reignited high interest in studios to produce their own tokusatsu shows. Many of the tokusatsu shows from the 70s era mainly featured Kyodai heroes such asSpectremanandSuper Robot Red Baron.By 1975, Tokusatsu shows were highly popular in Asia.Toho Studioseven invented its own Kyodai hero to fight alongside Godzilla,Jet Jaguarin the filmGodzilla vs. Megalon,and introduced numerous other Tokusatsu heroes throughout the 1970's, includingGodman,MegalomanandGreenman.In Hong Kong,Shaw Brothers Studioproduced its own Henshin/Kyodai hero as well withThe Super Inframan.Though stylistically more akin toKamen Rider,Inframan mixed Kyodai Hero elements into its formula, allowing the titular hero to grow to gigantic size.

Style & techniques

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The Kyodai Hero genre usually involves a human (either a host to the hero, or simply a human form) who transforms into the eponymous hero, usually an organic cyborg, android, or robot, and changes to an enormous size to battle a giant monster or aliens. The special effect techniques usually usesuitmationandscale models.

List of Kyodai Hero characters

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