After Kamen Rider Zeztz  kicked of Toei's plans of global expansion in full force, it's time to enter phase two as the Kamen Rider franchise celebrates its 55th anniversary. Kamen Rider My-Th , the eighth instalment in the current Reiwa era (and 41st main instalment overall), finds a new home on YouTube over at the Toei Tokusatsu World Official   channel, which for the last few years has hosted a selection of Kamen Rider series and movies as well as various other Toei tokusatsu and anime shows. The series is being written by none other than Naruhisa Arakawa , best known for his helping to bring Kamen Rider back to television screens with Kamen Rider Kuuga back in 2026. This first episode, entitled "The Mouse Meister and the Young Lady", was directed by Shojiro Nakazawa .

Super Space Sheriff Gavan Infinity may have been a loving tribute to one of their most iconic tokusatsu superhero series, but for the second instalment in Project R.E.D.   Toei  seem to be trying something new. Channelling the likes of Monster Hunter and Pokémon , Kakuseihunter Omegahorn turns the focus slightly away from transforming superheroes and brings kaiju to the forefront of the series. With characters and elements from Gavan Infinity also carrying over, Atsuhiro Tomioka continues on as head writer for the series - now joined by  Hiroyuki Kato and Jun Watanabe as director and action director respectively.

It doesn't really feel like that long ago that Ultraman was celebrating its 55th anniversary, but the last five years have clearly flown by and now the franchise is in the midst of its 60th birthday. And whilst there sadly might not be a big budget movie like Shin Ultraman to commemorate the milestone this time around, that doesn't mean Tsuburaya Productions aren't going to celebrate the occasion. The birthday bash kicks off with the premiere of its latest instalment Ultraman Teo , which once again will be released globally with multi-language subtitles (and once again a simultaneously-released English language dub) thanks to the ULTRAMAN Official YouTube channel . Teo 's main writer/series compositor is newcomer to the franchise Shigenori Tanabe , with Takashi Ninomiya and Takanori Tsujimoto as the main director and special effects director respectively.

The age of Super Sentai is over, and so begins the time of Project R.E.D. ! Overall details on Toei 's newest tokusatsu  franchise are still somewhat vague, but what we do currently know about Project R.E.D. (which is an acronym for Records of Extraordinary Dimension s ) is that while it will primarily feature red-coloured heroes (no surprise there), the shows themselves won't necessarily follow a specific pattern. It's first entry, Super Space Sheriff Gavan Infinity , is already a pretty good example of this. As the title suggests the series is a reboot of 1982's Space Sheriff Gavan , however it is not explicitly a continuation of the series (in the same way the 2012 movie was) nor is it a relaunch of the Metal Heroes franchise. So just what is Gavan Infinity , and why has a reboot of the iconic Space Sheriff been chosen to spearhead a whole new franchise? We'll just have to watch on to find out! 

While it may not seem like new GARO series come around quite as often as they used to, every time a new one is announced it feels all the more special. With the franchise currently celebrating its 20th anniversary there have been a few new projects celebrating its different timelines. The tail end of 2025 saw the release of prequel film GARO: Taiga , taking place in the Saejima family timeline and focusing on Kouga's father and previous Golden Knight Taiga. Meanwhile 2026 kicks off with a new instalment in the alternate Ryuga Dougai universe, GARO: Sentinel of the East ( Higashi no Kairo ) - the fourth series to feature the character. As with 2024's Heir to Steel Armor , the series will be simulcast worldwide via the official GARO YouTube channel . However like before whilst multi-language subtitles are available, these are machine generated and thus of varying quality.

With Tsuburaya Productions having simulcast Ultraman on YouTube for several years now, Toei have been sorely lagging behind with their tokusatsu offerings. The US is being well-served by various releases of older series on blu-ray as well as a handful of shows on streaming, but when it comes to the newest shows fans have still had to resort to more clandestine means. Until 2025 that is, as Toei finally bring the latest Kamen Rider series to a (somewhat) worldwide audience with Kamen Rider Zeztz ! The seventh series to debut in the Reiwa era will have its episodes released on the TokuSHOUTsu YouTube channel with English subs, live-streaming on a continuous loop for the following five days. Franchise veteran Yuya Takahashi ( Ex-Aid , Zero-One , Geats ) returns once more to write the series, with Kazuya Kamihoriuchi directing this first episode - "Case 1: Start".

New Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt is streaming o n Amazo n Prime All the way back in 2010 the world was blessed with Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt , arguably the swan song of the once great studio Gainax . But after 13 episodes of loud and irreverent sex, swearing and sugar, the series disappeared into the ether. Its creators went on to found studio Trigger , whilst Gainax rapidly became a husk of its former self. Now 15 years later, the stars have finally aligned and the dawn of  New Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt is upon us. With the IP finally having been acquired by Trigger, the Anarchy sisters are free to continue their debauchery. The bitches are back baby, and it is LONG overdue.

As the Ultraman franchise enters its sixth year of delivering worldwide simulcasts with multi-language subtitles via its ULTRAMAN Official YouTube Channel , there isn't a shadow of a doubt that Tsuburaya Productions are leading the way when it comes to making their shows available on a global scale. For its 2025 entry, we enter a brave new world with Ultraman Omega . The series compositors are Toshizo Nemoto and Junichiro Ashiki (both veteran writers for the New Generation era), while its main director is Masayoshi Takasue (who previously held the same role for Ultraman R/B and Ultraman Decker ). Unfortunately unlike previous entries Ultraman Arc and Ultraman Blazar it seems an English language dub won't be available on the day of release, but is said to be coming at a later date.

Although both Kamen Rider and Ultraman may have celebrated their 50th anniversaries a few years ago, in terms of overall achievement neither are quite as impressive as Super Sentai finally reaching that milestone. Of the three, it is the only franchise to have run consistently without any significant breaks since the premiere of Himitsu Sentai Gorenger on April 5th 1975. While previously Super Sentai has celebrated its anniversaries by series number rather than year ( Gorenger 's run having spanned across two years), 2025 will now see that change. Despite being the 49th instalment in the franchise, No.1 Sentai Gozyuger slots in rather nicely as the 50th Super Sentai team thanks to the two-team gimmick of Lupinranger vs Patranger . The series is written by Akiko Inoue (daughter of tokusatsu legend Toshiki Inoue ) in her Sentai debut, with veteran Ryuta Tasaki on board as the main director.

While the various franchises that make Japan's tokusatsu sphere rarely disappoint, it's always exciting when something new and/or difference comes along to add to the usual annual line-up. 2024 sees Masakazu Katsura 's superhero fantasy manga Wingman celebrate its 40th anniversary, with the occasion marked by a brand new live-action adaptation. Wingman is co-produced by TV Tokyo, Toei Video and DMM TV, is directed by Koichi Sakamoto and stars Maito Fujioka (son of Kamen Rider legend Hiroshi Fujioka and the young Hongo Takeshi in Kamen Rider: Beyond Generations ) in the lead role. An anime adaptation of Wingman was also previously released between 1984 and 1985.

Dragon Ball DAIMA is available to stream on Crunchyroll and Netflix It's been five years since the  Dragon Ball Super anime series ended and while fans haven't been completely starved of new Dragon Ball content since then, the times have certainly changed. The passing of creator Akira Toriyama earlier this year shocked the world, and although its a far sadder place without him we were fortunate enough to see him revisit the story onscreen one last time with Dragon Ball DAIMA . The sixth entry in the Dragon Ball franchise had Toriyama involved with the story "deeply beyond his usual capacity", in which Goku , Vegeta and the rest of Earth's fighters are transformed back into children by a brand new evil.

Among the many faucets of Kamen Rider merchandising there's one that often goes under appreciated, despite being a consistent element since 2011 and being beloved by the fandom for its memorable advertising. But it seems 2024 is the year that the "Kamen Rider Gummi" finally gets its due, as gummy sweets, snacks and all kinds of confectionary take centre stage in the 35th entry in the franchise - Kamen Rider Gavv (pronounced " Kamen Rider Gavu "). The sixth series in the Reiwa era takes over from Kamen Rider Gotchard and joins Bakuage Sentai Boonboomger in the current Super Hero Time lineup, with Junko Komura (head writer for Super Sentai series Zyuohger , Lupinranger vs Patranger and Zenkaiger , as well as having previously written episodes for both Kamen Rider Wizard and Kamen Rider Ghost ) on board as writer.

2024 looks like it's going to be another big year for the Ultraman franchise! In the last few weeks Ultraman: Rising has dropped on Netflix to largely positive reception, in comics the Giant of Light will be facing off against Earth's Mightiest Heroes starting this August in Ultraman x Avengers  and on the main series side of things a brand new instalment in the franchise has just begun! Ultraman Arc invites fans to unleash the power of imagination, once again being distributed worldwide via the   ULTRAMAN OFFICIAL YouTube channel   complete with a variety of different language subtitles as well as a simultaneously released English dub .

Proving that trains and giant robots continue to be a winning combination, the Shinkansen Robo Henkei Shinkalion franchise has returned for a third instalment in 2024 - but this time mixing things up a little bit. Not only does Shinkalion: Change the World appear to be starting afresh with a brand new continuity (ignoring the 2018-19 original series and its 2021-22 sequel Shinkalion Z ), but it's also working with a slightly older cast. From a production standpoint things have slightly changed too, with Production I.G.  and Signal.MD taking over animation duties from OLM . The first episode has also been made available worldwide via the official Shinkalion YouTube channel , albeit without subtitles.

Having proved to be a guaranteed hit in the past, there are some themes that  Super Sentai will always revisit every few years. Dinosaurs and ninjas are two of the most obvious ones, along with the subject of 2024's entry into the franchise - vehicles. After trying some new things last year with Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger , Super Sentai looks to be moving back into its comfort zone with its 48th series Bakuage Sentai Boonboomger . Newcomer to the franchise Atsuhiro Tomioka  joins as its head writer, with Shojiro Nakazawa (who has worked on a number of Super Sentai series since Timeranger ) as director. Following their work on King-Ohger , Jun Watanabe and Hiroshi Butsuda also return as action director and SFX director respectively. 

Between the numerous live-action series, movies, anime adaptations, action figures and more, it doesn't feel like all that long ago we were in a golden age of GARO . But truth be told the franchise has actually been relatively dormant for the last few years - the last series GARO Versus Road having come out back in 2020. However it's been ten years since the franchise's second Golden Knight Ryuga Dougai was first introduced back in GARO: The One Who Shines in the Darkness , and to mark the occasion he's back for a brand new series. GARO: Heir to Steel Armor ( GARO: Hagane o Tsugu Mono ) is the third series to feature Dougai in the titular role, and also marks a big first for the franchise. Much like what Tsuburaya Productions have been doing with Ultraman for the past few years, episodes will be released weekly on the official GARO YouTube   channel alongside their Japanese airing - available worldwide complete with English subtitles.

If there's one way to make a franchise surrounded by collectible toy lines somehow even more collectible, it's to add trading cards. Between randomly assorted booster packs, rarities and art variants, Kamen Rider collectors are in for an expensive year because this is the direction franchise has gone in with its fifth Reiwa era series (and 34th overall) Kamen Rider Gotchard . Replacing Kamen Rider Geats alongside Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger in the current Super Hero Time line-up, the series will be co-written by Keiichi Hasagawa and Hiroki Uchida – both of whom have served as regular writers for both Kamen Rider and Ultraman .

While the " New Generation Series " era of Ultraman has been pivotal in helping Tsuburaya Productions re-establish the franchise as a major player in both Japan and the rest of the world, there's no denying that it's lost the lustre it once had. While the overall quality of the shows remain high, the look and feel of the shows have become formulaic. Even shows like Ultraman Trigger and Ultraman Decker , both of which were supposed to harken back to Ultraman' s return in the 1990s, didn't feel all that removed from their recent predecessors. Clearly TsuPro have recognised this themselves as well, which is why for the 2023 instalment of the franchise they seem to be going back to basics. Ultraman Blazar has arrived, with fans worldwide once again able to watch the series legally via TsuPro's official YouTube channel or the Ultraman Connection website. Additionally for the very first time, the series will be available with an English dub released simultane...

Of all the motifs Super Sentai hasn't used so far in its 48-year run, insects has proven time and time again to be a particular popular one among fans. On the one hand it makes sense the franchise hasn't adopted it yet - Kamen Rider is the one that's always been more closely associated with insects (despite having branched into many other things over the years), and Metal Heroes entries like  Juuko B-Fighter and B-Fighter Kabuto are considered similarly iconic. But at long last the insect-themed Sentai we've all dreamed of has finally arrived as its 47th series - Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger ! The series will be written by Minato Takano - a newcomer for Super Sentai best known for working under Yuya Takahashi on his various Kamen Rider series. He is joined by Kazuya Kamihoriuchi , Jun Watanabe and Hiroshi Butsuda as the main, action and SFX directors respectively.

With the 50th anniversary series over and done with its time to look to the future of Kamen Rider once again, as the franchise launches its fourth entry in the Reiwa era and 33rd series overall. Its name – Kamen Rider Geats . Returning once again to pen the series is Yuya Takahashi , who previously worked as the head-writer on both Kamen Rider Ex-Aid and Kamen Rider Zero-One . So without further ado, let's dive into the first episode and see just what this much-anticipated instalment in the long-running franchise has to offer. "This game – The winner in the end is me!"