Most streaming services celebrate a milestone birthday with a highlight reel. The Toei Tokusatsu Fan Club (TTFC) marked its 10th anniversary by building a completely original hero from the ground up. FORTICUS Haishin! Oshi wo Tsugu Mono, which roughly translates to FORTICUS Stream! Those Who Inherit Their Oshi, began streaming exclusively on TTFC on 7 June 2026, and it might be one of the most self-aware pieces of tokusatsu Toei has ever produced.

The premise alone tells you exactly who this was made for. FORTICUS belongs to no existing franchise, no Kamen Rider, no Super Sentai, no Metal Hero. He is a brand new hero whose transformation call is, of all things, “Haishin!”, the Japanese word for streaming. In a genre where heroes have shouted “Henshin!” for over half a century, a hero who transforms by yelling “Stream!” for a streaming service’s anniversary is either the silliest or the smartest idea Toei has had in years. Possibly both.

Fans of a hero, chosen by the hero

The story follows three employees of a struggling production company called SLOPPY DOGS: Tsuyoshi Honjo and Naoto Soda, both devoted fans of Shinsei Densho Forticus, a popular tokusatsu series streaming on, naturally, TTFC, and their outwardly serious colleague Koharu Umishiro, who turns out to be a hidden otaku herself. A work assignment drags the trio into a mysterious incident, where they come face to face with the “real” FORTICUS and are handed the ultimate fan fantasy: “the next hero is you.”

At its heart, this is a classic good versus evil story, and it makes no apologies for that. But the real charm is in how the trio doubles as a love letter to the three pillars of mainstream tokusatsu. Tsuyoshi embodies justice and has no tolerance for evil, making him the Kamen Rider fan of the group. Naoto embodies courage and loves giant heroes, which is about as Ultraman as a character trait gets. And Koharu embodies love, with an admiration for team dynamics that could only come from a lifetime of watching Super Sentai. Three fans, three fandoms, three virtues.

It is a premise built entirely around oshi culture, the idea that devotion to the thing you love can itself become a source of power. The title says it outright: this is a story about inheriting your oshi. For a service whose entire business is tokusatsu fandom, it is hard to imagine a more fitting anniversary statement.

A cast full of familiar faces

The casting takes that love letter one step further, with alumni from across the genre filling out the cast. Fuku Suzuki, who played Keiwa Sakurai, Kamen Rider Tycoon, in Kamen Rider Geats, stars as Tsuyoshi, the resident Kamen Rider devotee. Tatsuomi Hamada, Riku Asakura himself from Ultraman Geed, plays Naoto, the giant hero fan, a casting choice we can only describe as perfect typecasting. Rena Takeda of Kamen Rider Amazons rounds out the trio as Koharu, the Super Sentai admirer.

The voice of FORTICUS is Daisuke Ono, the veteran voice actor behind Jotaro Kujo in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, and the supporting cast keeps the alumni parade going, headlined by Yuki Kubota, Takatora Kureshima from Kamen Rider Gaim, as the president of the suspicious corporation BioTech M. Ultraman Nexus fans get a treat of their own: Mitsutoshi Shunto, who played Shinya Mizorogi, Dark Mephisto himself, appears as Gohongi, a seemingly carefree scientist supporting TTFC’s technical operations. Ayaka Imoto, Kohdai Miyagi, Yu Miyazawa, Kohei Yamamoto, and Kamen Rider GIRLS members Jenna Sumi and Chisato Akita round out the cast.

Sakamoto Koichi at the wheel

Behind the camera is exactly who you would want for a love letter to tokusatsu: Koichi Sakamoto handles planning, directing and action directing, with B.O.S Action Unity on action coordination. The screenplay comes from Junichiro Ashiki, and the hero design is by veteran designer Go Nonaka.

At the members-only premiere screening held on 28 May at Asakusa Hanayashiki, Sakamoto described the project as his way of repaying the genre, saying he exists today because of tokusatsu and wanted to make a work of gratitude that fans could share in. Fuku Suzuki, for his part, used the stage to pitch his own dream TTFC project: Kamen Rider Pizza. We are not making that up, and honestly, TTFC probably is the only place that could greenlight it.

Three forms, three hearts

FORTICUS does not fight in just one shape, and this is where the love letter gets written in action choreography. The final trailer revealed three battle forms, each one awakened by a different lead’s defining virtue, and each one fighting suspiciously like the franchise its owner adores. FORTICUS Kanon, drawn from Tsuyoshi’s sense of justice, is a close combat martial arts specialist with boomerangs mounted on both shoulders, in other words, a Kamen Rider in all but name. FORTICUS Stratos, awakened by Koharu’s love, splits into multiple bodies and fights with an arsenal of weapons in coordinated team attacks, which is Super Sentai to its core. And FORTICUS Gigas, powered by Naoto’s courage, goes full giant hero with light based attacks, about as Ultraman as Toei could legally make it. Three virtues, three fighting styles, three franchises honoured in a single hero.

The music matches the anniversary energy. MindaRyn performs the opening theme “Backlit world”, while the ending theme “Trinity Force” pairs anisong legend Masami Okui with Yuki Tanaka.

How to watch

FORTICUS Haishin! Oshi wo Tsugu Mono is streaming now as a TTFC member exclusive, alongside a steady drip of companion content: a behind the scenes documentary series titled INSIDE, audio commentary, and a spin-off navigation programme in which FORTICUS himself guides viewers through TTFC’s original works back catalogue. TTFC remains primarily a Japan focused service, which will sting for Southeast Asian fans, though the fact that regional distributors have already been talking up the project gives us some hope that FORTICUS may eventually travel beyond Japan.

A hero born from fandom, powered by devotion, and summoned by shouting “Stream!” at the sky. Ten years in, TTFC clearly knows exactly what it is, and tokuAsia would not have it any other way.

To find out more about FORTICUS, head over to the official TTFC portal site for the latest updates.

“FORTICUS” follows the spelling used by Toei’s trademark filing and official portal site; music releases romanize it as “FORTIX”. Character and form name romanizations in this article are direct transliterations from the Japanese and are not official, as Toei has yet to release official English terms for them.

All information in this article is sourced from the official TTFC portal site and Toei’s official announcements.

This article is written with assistance from Claude.

Forticus Hamada Tatsuomi Koichi Sakamoto Rena Takeda Toei Tokusatsu Fan Club