A content drought seems improbable for a Japanese tokusatsu fan with many shows to watch and with each show having an average of 50 episodes. But it does happen for someone who has got into one particular show and craves for more of its world and characters.
That's what happened to me and my growing obsession with Special Rescue Exceedraft. The show is little known in both the English-speaking and Japanese tokusatsu community since a) it aired way back in 1992, b) is part of the defunct Metal Hero Series franchise and c) when it was airing, it attracted a smaller audience than the other two Rescue Police shows of which it belongs to the same trilogy. Even if Exceedraft were to get an anniversary movie or other kinds of special content like more popular Toei tokusatsu, it would still have less discussion and posts about it online since most of the community's interest is centred on modern, currently airing shows.
What's an obsessed fan to do but post? Post a lot, in fact.
To borrow and extend a metaphor from Tumblr, my Exceedraft content drought inspired the ideas to water my crops. My most inspiring idea was to centre my ideas for Exceedraft fanworks on one of my favourite Exceedraft episodes as a creative constraint until I complete 100 fanworks.
Getting to that goal involves embracing unpopularity, not just unpopularity for the fanworks that I'd share, but also the unpopular habit of revisiting tokusatsu media. For viewers of TV shows, especially long tokusatsu shows that grow in number with each year, going through what's new is far more common than rewatching or even looking more than once at any part of what's been seen before.
It's easy to see the difficulty in drawing attention to an unpopular show in an unpopular way. Appreciating my own posts becomes all the more important for counteracting any discomfort from doing what's at odds with most of the rest of the fan community are doing.
My fanworks based on Exceedraft E13 has neutralised some downsides in creating them, yet also clarifies the nature of the challenge that my project presents and which I could better take on through different methods and mediums. Comparing the good and bad of creating and sharing my Exceedraft E13 fanworks also uncovers an "unnamed third quality" that entwines the good with the bad.
The good
From April to July 2026, I posted one fanwork based on Exceedraft E13 for 100 straight days. I continued posting for a couple days more since I became inspired to create more fanworks past the quota I set for myself.
The best part about hitting my goal is knowing I could actually talk about one TV episode for multiple weeks. Most of my fanworks, both the visual and written sort, are created as conversation prompts to exchange and develop ideas from Exceedraft E13 and the show as a whole. I first posted each of my GIFs, collages and clips as a daily fanwork before repurposing them to complement my essays. I managed to share at least one essay every week for encouraging discussions on not only Exceedraft, but also conversations that specify and analyse what happens in a show. Aside from currently airing tokusatsu shows, it's rare to see conversations that dig into a show's specifics for revealing more of what's interesting and meaningful in a beloved show.
Appreciating what I've created is the second best part of creating 100 fanworks. Looking over them brings up the ideas for the fanworks that I had not got around to making. Knowing I could make more resolves some of my lingering dissatisfaction.
For tackling future projects, I could carry with me not just the technical skills for photo editing and writing essays that I learnt through creating 100 Exceedraft E13 fanworks, but also the approach behind the episode’s creation itself. The more E13 fanworks that I create, the more I see the approach that shapes the episode as being defined by these qualities: personalised, open-handed and playing to win. The same qualities also define the characterisation of Okuma Ken, E13's central character. I've since tried to replicate the approach to telling Ken's story in executing my ideas for creative works and supporting other fanwork creators.
It's freeing to condense and centralise on my current dominant interest, and leave thinking about anything else for later. Naming my BSky account after Exceedraft E13 first, then dedicating the account to Exceedraft as a whole were steps taken towards creating and sharing future offerings while settling into my obsession. I amuse myself by likening the change in my BSky account’s handle to the changes in Ken's different yellow jackets in Exceedraft itself.
The bad
By trying to get good, creating lots of Exceedraft fanworks becomes a good activity for me. Otherwise, there are just the obvious disadvantages from posting about a show that hardly anyone knows about.
Trying to share the view that an old show contains fresh ideas turns out tougher than I thought. In the spaces where I share my fanworks, others are watching modern tokusatsu shows and various new and popular media while I'm mentally living in the early '90s when Exceedraft first aired (and when I wasn't even born). My fanworks had to transport other minds from the Reiwa era all the way to back to the early Heisei and return to the present to connect over what I see as our common interests. It's a worthwhile challenge but still an extra one that takes more effort on top of doing my best to post what resembles any other appealing and interesting creative work online. I resorted to unusual mental tactics like pretending I'm copying posts from an alternate universe in which Exceedraft is a popular show.
I also began observing that others who've seen Exceedraft seldom notice on their own the details that don't appear to affect its story or characterisation. After writing "we notice" and "we see" in my essays, it feels jarring when "we" don't even seem to be watching the same show. Maybe if I replace "we" with "I", I could be more at ease with others disagreeing completely or having no interest in my views, though it could mean trading in a sense of communion with one of isolation.
Creating many fanworks worsens the good that it brings if sharing the works proves their limitation in bringing their creator closer to whoever shares their interest. My fanworks have the potential to draw in those who think Exceedraft is good and keep at length those uninterested to give it a first or second thought. Yet without drawing in conversation partners, pinpointing whom to talk to in the present or future, my fanworks and ongoing interest in creating more of them start appearing like a wall sealing off closeness between myself and others.
The unnamed third quality
Everyone's different. Everything becomes different too, even if nothing appears to have changed, when changes clarify what separates and distinguishes everyone from one another.
All that's neither good nor bad, but an "unnamed third quality".
The unnamed third quality is like the "secret third thing" in netspeak. A secret third thing defies and contains the two extremes referred to in attempts to describe what it is. The Metal Hero series, of which Exceedraft is a part of, is the third most famous Toei tokusatsu franchise standing between the two extremes of different approaches to creating Japanese special effects shows as represented by the same studio’s Kamen Rider series and the Super Sentai series. It's then fitting to see a Metal Hero show as a secret third thing.
Could a thing still be a "secret" if its existence is known to the public? Yes, if learning more about it feels like uncovering a secret; one which you're eager to tell the whole world.
Rather than being a "secret", my Exceedraft E13 fanworks' third quality is "unnamed" as a reference to the historical German dagger technique "the unnamed". Since Exceedraft E13 centers on martial arts fights, it has inspired to link my own martial arts training to what I create. I'll also point out the irony that in naming anything, it could never truly have no name. Still, there's value in naming the "unnamed" as every name defines meaning and purpose.
The purpose behind calling the German dagger technique "the unnamed" is to teach it while limiting its spread (its virality in modern terms) to retain an advantage for those who know how to do it. As for the unnamed third quality, it’s what I see as the quality that could only be known and described through doing what's rarely done, like creating a hundred fanworks from one TV episode.
Once again, I encountered the unnamed third quality on learning anew that everyone's different. It sounds like a no-brainer observation, yet it had me veering between cynicism and curiosity. Cynicism about the mismatch of my interests with those of others and curiosity on what brought them to view my favourite show in a different way. Creating fanworks in the gap from the difference between self and others brings frustration and inspiration that are intertwined.
Whether I manage to close the gap between other minds and hearts or not, I get momentary closure in having my completed fanworks fill the space it has opened for itself. What's non-existent takes on a visible existence. During the change that occurs, I become different, and my favourite show becomes different to me too.
For a while, I began watching other tokusatsu episodes as if it's Exceedraft E13 to someone else. I talked about other TV episodes and shows as if a comment about it could be the wellspring of unique interpretations and associations. Since then, I thought that rather than trying to start discussions on shows only mildly interesting to me for uncovering what’s really interesting to others, my attention is better put into continuing to expand on the stories I already love and look out for when others bother to point out an overlap between their interests and mine.
I also changed my approach to posts and posting. If a displeasing post appears, I'll start taking steps to "displace" it by creating a more pleasant post. Before, I just take the common advice to try to ignore what I dislike and seethe in my own corner. A more proactive approach is not only energising, but also brings me genuine delight in the act of posting. That's what I lacked before knowing what it's like to post a creative work every day and actually seeing what I'm interested in without first sifting through other posts.
My love for Exceedraft E13, and for the show as a whole, only grows stronger after creating and sharing all my fanworks about it. Recently, I rewatched the episode once more, and the close attention I've poured into it seemed to change it into an episode that's 3 minutes long rather than its actual length of approximately 23 minutes. By creating more out of what I love, the episode has become to me a sort of device that enables time, and life itself, to go by quicker than before. Is that good or bad? It's the unnamed third quality.