Fansub Guides
As their shows air primarily in Japan, Tokusatsu is only found in Japanese. Unfortunately for English-speaking fans, most of us are unable to speak Japanese. Fortunately, there exist many groups of fans who understand Japanese and are willing to translate and subtitle these shows for us. These are called “fansubs” (a portmanteau of “fan” and “sub,” short for subtitle.) Many years ago, before the boom of the Internet, fansubs were difficult to find. These were poorly transferred masters taped on a VCR in Japan and shipped to the US to be translated and sold at flea markets at massive prices months or even years after they originally aired. You often wouldn’t find episodes in order and some would be missing. Fortunately, with the Internet boom, fansubs have become a non-profit market with generous fans working for the non-Japanese speakers. These episodes are often available within weeks, if not days, of an episode’s airdate with high-quality recordings. Still, there exist many shows that aired in the years before the Internet fansub boom, and so a number of fansub groups have decided to go into the back catalog of Tokusatsu and subtitle these shows for us to watch.