TokuSHOUTsu on YouTube

[Benjamin Haines]

TokuSHOUTsu is Shout Factory's brand name for their tokusatsu-focused streaming channels, which are available to watch on Pluto TV and Twitch. Shout also has a TokuSHOUTsu channel on YouTube and they've recently added a ton of 24/7 streaming videos to it.

https://www.youtube.com/@TokuSHOUTsu/streams

There are individual streams for each of the five Kamen Rider shows that Shout has licensed (the original, Kuuga, Ryuki, Zero-One, Geats), with each stream cycling through every episode of the show before looping back to the beginning.

There are also streams for several of the Super Sentai shows that Shout has licensed (Zyuranger, Dairanger, Ohranger, Gingaman, Timeranger, Gaoranger), although they did originally have more on there. This is particularly cool to me because Super Sentai shows are like potato chips and I can jump into any of the ones I've already seen no matter which episode. The channel also has a general Super Sentai stream, which originally played random episodes from different shows but now just seems to be cycling through whole shows in sequence, as it's currently playing through Dairanger as I type this. The current image thumbnail for the general Super Sentai stream is a collage of different teams including many from shows that Shout hasn't licensed, even the original Goranger, but I think that's just an oversight and not an indication of any new licensing deals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6M5YIxH0F00

The "UTRAMAN Movie Marathon" stream currently has that typo in the title. It's playing Ultraman: The Next as I type this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYCY2M1JXio

There's a stream that cycles through both the original Ultraman and Return of Ultraman. There's also one that plays through 80 and Cosmos, and another one that plays through both seasons of Ultra Galaxy: Mega Monster Battle, and another that plays Orb, Geed and R/B. There's even one called "Ultraman Everything, 1058 Episodes + 26 Movies on Shuffle": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SD8MKeu1eRc

Of course, Shout also streams 14 of the Showa Godzilla movies (everything but KKvsG) plus Rodan and War of the Gargantuas, and this YouTube channel currently plays them on four different streams.

Both "GODZILLA: Non-Stop Kaiju Action" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mU7UhubWbRw) and "Retro Godzilla Marathon" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjt1Ii3oKCw) cycle through the movies in alphabetical order by their listed titles:

All Monsters Attack
Destroy All Monsters
Ebirah, Horror of The Deep
Gammera The Invincible
Ghidorah, The Three-Headed Monster
Godzilla Raids Again
Godzilla vs. Gigan
Godzilla vs. Hedorah
Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla
Godzilla vs. Megalon
Godzilla, King Of The Monsters!
Godzilla, The Uncut Japanese Original (Gojira)
Invasion Of Astro-Monster
Mothra vs. Godzilla
Rodan
Son Of Godzilla
Terror Of Mechagodzilla
The War Of The Gargantuas

The Toho movies are all the Japanese versions except for WOTG (international dub) and the American cut of the original Godzilla, which plays immediately before the Japanese version because of how their titles are listed. There is also Gammera the Invincible, the American cut of the first Gamera, and it appears to be the same widescreen transfer that Arrow released on blu-ray disc.

"Toku Films: GODZILLA & Friends" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2zjuV6jHJc) plays all of those same movies, likewise in alphabetical order, but with the addition of two others: the Elvira's Movie Macabre episode with Gamera Super Monster and, inexplicably, a second transfer of the American cut of the original Gamera. It appears to be the same old pan-&-scan transfer that was released on multiple low-grade DVDs back in the day, and having its title listed as "Gamera The Invincible" means that it plays immediately before the widescreen transfer that's listed with the "Gammera The Invincible" title. Yes, this stream plays the American cut of the original Gamera twice, back to back every time, first the old pan-&-scan transfer and then the newer widescreen transfer, and it always plays them right after the Elvira version of Super Monster because it's alphabetical.

"Watch the GODZILLA Marathon" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCyNwRBPIvM) is the only one of the streams that plays these movies in a somewhat more randomized order, although it's always this same sequence each time:

All Monsters Attack
Ghidorah, The Three-Headed Monster
Godzilla vs. Gigan
Godzilla vs. Megalon
Ebirah, Horror of The Deep
Godzilla vs. Hedorah
Rodan
Invasion Of Astro-Monster
Son Of Godzilla
Elvira’s Movie Macabre Gamera, Super Monster
Gamera The Invincible
Terror Of Mechagodzilla
The War Of The Gargantuas
Godzilla, The Uncut Japanese Original (Gojira)
Gammera The Invincible
Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla
Mothra vs. Godzilla
Destroy All Monsters
Godzilla Raids Again
Godzilla, King Of The Monsters!

This TokuSHOUTsu YouTube channel also has streams for other Shout-licensed content beyond tokusatsu, including Jackie Chan movies, Sonny Chiba movies, the Digimon Adventure tri anime films and some obscure shows.

[lhb412]

Honestly, between Shout's various "Tokushoutsu" and MST3K livestreams on YouTube I haven't really had a reason to go to Pluto TV anymore!

[Kailem]

It's a shame these are region-locked. They'd be great to just have on in the background every now and then.

[Benjamin Haines]

Well, wouldn't you know it, Shout Factory's streaming rights to the 14 Showa Godzilla movies, Rodan and War of the Gargantuas (all sublicensed from Janus/Criterion) seem to have expired. Those movies have all vanished from the Shout Factory TV website, Pluto TV's Godzilla Channel and on-demand streaming, the Tubi streaming service, and the TokuSHOUTsu YouTube streams. They're still available on the Max streaming service for now, as are a lot of other Janus/Criterion titles. It's possible that the recent deal to put the Janus/Criterion-licensed G'84, GvsB and GvsKG on Max also entailed a window of exclusivity on Max for the rest of these movies, so we'll see how long this lasts. It's just another reminder that there's no substitute for owning physical media!

The TokuSHOUTsu YouTube channel still has several Ultraman, Kamen Rider and Super Sentai streams going. It would be nice if they could make their channel available outside of North America, although I'm sure the reason they can't is because Shout hasn't licensed the streaming rights in other territories.

[lhb412]

Wow! I suppose the multiple Godzilla streams they were doing around the 70th anniversary were a last hurrah, huh?

Here's something interesting; I read that Max is gonna begin experimenting with live channels that marathon certain famous properties. Just think about the library they could turn into a channel: a currently expanding catalog of Toho's classic genre films via Janus (not just Godzilla), the MonsterVerse movies, plus the original King Kong and other thematically linked outliers like Mighty Joe, Beast From 20,000 Fathoms, and THEM!