Henshin

Henshin Drama
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Henshin is a type of dramatic/action show/movie prevalent in Japanese media. Typically, Hensin is a crime fighting show about a person/persons with certain powers that they use to fight evil and corruption. A "Sentai" is a fighting team of typically 5 members, mixed gender sometimes. The best example of this in American society is Power Rangers, who's show was actually a Japanese creation. (Saban took out the Japanese live action and replace them with American actors. Most of the action scenes you see are actually Japanese people.  So the stories changed slightly from the original.)  Masked (Kamen) Rider BLACK is another example of this happening. With a lot of Henshin drama, there is a group/syndicate of villans that create and send out monsters to fight the protagonists. The hidden identity of the villans is sometimes known by the fighters, sometimes they're total strangers, possibly even demons from another plane. A lot of henshin involves a transformations sequence. This is a very special part that involves the hero striking a series of poses, or saying a transformation word (in Masked Rider, he said "henshin" itself! Henshin is japanese for "transform"). This comes about mid episode, and is crucial in the destruction of the monster. A special attack is commonly used. The type of cinematography used is called tokusatsu. It was pioneered by Japanese companies Toei, Toho and Tsuburaya.

Sites used to make this article: Heneshin Hall of Fame

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