The English-speaking tokusatsu fandom has a rumour mill. This is almost certainly true for literally every fandom that has ever existed - Walt Disney’s frozen head being a prime example of bizarre fandom mythos - but tokusatsu has a few special elements which, in my opinion, allow rumours and half-truths to be peddled as hard truth.

• There’s a language barrier. Most tokusatsu fans outside Japan can’t speak Japanese, so their information about tokusatsu has already gone through a layer of parsing. This becomes a problem when sources such as Wikipedia repeat things that are mistranslations. It also means bizarre half-truths go unchallenged because the tokusatsu industry as a whole has zero exposure to them. A far cry from situations such as Disney, which has to go out of its way to tell people not to try and get their kids born on Disney grounds.

• People in the tokusatsu fandom skew young. Most tokusatsu is for kids or teens, so younger, more credulous fans share ‘facts’ with each other with less critical thinking going on.

• There is clout to be had in knowing lots of facts about tokusatsu. Some people have a gatekeep-y attitude towards tokusatsu, and words like ‘tourist’ get bandied around really too much. This means that knowing random factoids about shows or actors can be a way of showing you’re a ‘real fan’.

Unfortunately, a lot of these rumours are either wrong, exaggerated, or misunderstandings. This is frustrating because this in turn makes me sceptical of literally every fact presented to me about tokusatsu. Did that actor REALLY say that? So here are some of the rumours I hear peddled which is at least, in some part, not an accurate portrayal of reality. That’s not to say there isn’t usually a kernel of truth. Often there is, which is why these rumours persist. But reality is less clean and tidy than a neat ‘fun fact’ can display. Please note that I am also fallible, and I encourage anybody who notices a mistake to let me know.

“Kamen Rider Kiva’s suit used real chains”

Background: Kamen Rider Kiva, the titular character of the Kamen Rider show, wears a suit which is notably asymmetrical. On one side is a large ‘metal’ leg covered in a chain. Rumours persist that either this chain was real, or otherwise that the lopsided nature of the outfit made it difficult for suit actor Seiji Takaiwa to act in.

Reality Check: This is obviously not true. The chains were made of urethane foam. Kamen Rider suits can be extremely heavy, weighing as much as a person, so there is no sane costume designer who would suggest using real chains to an already heavy outfit. In Test! Look, Get on the Scale!! (検定！見たか、乗ったぞ体重計!!, Kentei! Mita ka, Notta zo Taijūkei!!) Seiji Takaiwa seems to have stated that the Kiva outfit was very heavy, which is likely where this rumour came from. It is possible that the suit’s weight may have been lopsided due to its asymmetrical design, but I have seen no evidence of this fact.

“Toshiki Inoue and Yasuko Kobayashi don’t like each other”

Background: Toshiki Inoue and Yasuko Kobayashi are writers who frequently work on tokusatsu shows such as Kamen Rider and Super Sentai. They are often discussed in fandom spaces due to both having idiosyncratic writing styles.

Reality Check: I have never seen a shred of evidence to confirm this. While obviously this kind of thing is unfalsifiable (“you can’t prove it ISN’T true!”) I think this kind of rumor is very ignorant of how working professionals act and speak with the media. If one of these writers publicly stated in an interview that they didn’t like the other, that would be deeply unprofessional and could result in serious consequences. There is really no way of knowing their true opinions on each other, and the speculation that led to their supposed animosity is based on extraordinarily tenuous evidence.

“The Odagiri effect is/isn’t real”

Background: The “Odagiri effect” is the phenomenon of handsome male actors causing an unexpectedly high female audience for a programme. It is named as such because Joe Odagiri played the main character in Kamen Rider Kuuga, which garnered a large audience of women in their 30s - especially notable because Kuuga is a show aimed at mostly male children. There is plenty of argument over whether this ‘effect’ is real, whether Japanese people use the term, or whether it’s a neologism invented by the internet with no proof behind it.

Note: I am unable to verify whether it’s true or false that Kamen Rider Kuuga really did have a large audience of female viewers. The source of this claim is “The Dorama Encyclopedia” about which I will talk more later.

Reality Check: There are various elements that make up this particular rumour, and they all deserve attention.

• It is true that before Kamen Rider Kuuga, Kamen Rider featured men of varying levels of attractiveness. Actors such as Hiroaki Murakami (Skyrider) and Hiroshi Miyauchi (V3) could easily be said to be just as attractive as Joe Odagiri. I think, however, the argument that because of this, the Odagiri effect isn't real, misses some nuance. Kamen Rider Kuuga has, to put it slightly vaguely, a very different vibe than previous Kamen Rider shows. There is more drama, and focus on interpersonal relationships, as well as more continuity between episodes. In my opinion, this (and well written female characters) would also have been a draw for women at the time. This very likely contributed to the increase female viewership.

• It doesn’t make much sense to say whether the Odagiri effect is “real” or not because its manifestation is simply an extension of the fact that most women are heterosexual and therefore like to look at attractive men. It isn’t really something you can measure, is it? ‘Hold on, let’s release this show again but with an uglier main character, and A/B test the audience demographics.’

Anyway, onto the main point. Where the hell did this term come from? From my searching I believe it comes from The Dorama Encyclopedia, published first in 2003. The book literally uses the words ‘Odagiri Effect’, but it’s not clear whether the book coined it or if they are referring to previous usage. (Also, LOL at them calling Kuuga ‘Cougar’.)

So, no, the Odagiri Effect is not an internet neologism. Or, if it is, it was on the internet before the publication of The Dorama Encyclopedia, which would make it a very old neologism by this point indeed. It is a perfectly useful term to refer to a media phenomenon, although it obviously did not START with Kamen Rider Kuuga. The one thing that still bugs me is not being able to verify the viewership demographic claims made by The Dorama Encyclopedia. If anybody knows where this information can be found, I would love to know.

“Joe Odagiri hates kamen rider/kuuga/tokusatsu”

Background: Joe Odagiri starred in Kamen Rider Kuuga. He then proceeded to never return to the role, a fact which is unusual for Kamen Rider actors who have a tendency to make cameos or to return for crossover movies. Based on this, fans speculate that he hates Kuuga.

Reality Check: From the translated evidence available, the reality is much less sensational: Joe Odagiri just seems to not enjoy tokusatsu as a genre. He has even said (when asked of Kuuga “is it something you want to pretend never happened?”) “It’s not like that at all. I was happy to appear in it.”. It seems perfectly normal to me that an actor with ambitions larger than children’s programming would be uninterested in returning to a role in a genre he doesn’t really like.

“Leopardon inspired Sentai to have Giant Robots”

Background: Toei’s Spiderman includes a giant robot called Leopardon. It is speculated that this inspired Super Sentai to have Giant Robots.

Reality Check: This one is actually pretty true. Leopardon as a toy did well commercially, and Battle Fever J was scheduled to air as the follow-up programme to Spiderman. Battle Fever J was also a co-production with Marvel, and it’s reasonable to think that since Leopardon sold so well, it was the reason why giant robots became a staple of Super Sentai shows. It should be noted, however, that giant robot tokusatsu existed before Spiderman, including contemporary shows with toys which sold better than Leopardon. Therefore in my opinion it seems more accurate to say that Leopardon was a proof of concept and commercial success which production staff chose to continue with, rather than a vague ‘inspiration’.