Kaiju Appreciation

[AdamFTF]

The premise of that other one reminds me a little of Marvel's Damage Control. Only instead of cleaning up after super-battles, it's cleaning up after kaiju with an emphasis on disposing of kaiju bodies.

They both sound like fun. I know there are probably some kaiju purists out there who hate these concepts. But I'm the guy who came in and suggested a starry-eyed shojo comic where the heroine turns into a kaiju, so I'm certainly no purist.

[Angilasman]

^ I'm all for new, original kaiju material. I love Godzilla, Ultraman, and Gamera (now he needs a new movie) - but new ideas and concepts not tied to existing franchises are essential for a genre to keep going.

[AdamFTF]

One nice thing about offbeat new stuff is it can find some new stuff that kaiju can be metaphors for. Like how in Colossal, it was a metaphor for self-destructive behavior. Or in Kaiju Girl Caramelise it's a metaphor for adolescence. I mean, not every monster can stand in for the horrific repercussions of nuclear testing.

[Angilasman]

^ Yeah, it seems like for years no one took the serious metaphor of the original Godzilla seriously, but now we've gone past that to where there's this cultural belief, especially among certain Western critics and fans who sometimes take things a bit too seriously, that every Kaiju has to be similarly linked to the same metaphor.

The nuclear thing is enormously important to the genre, of course, but when you look at the totality of it monsters are actually more likely to represent broader environmental themes, as is often the case with Kaiju in Ultraman or in Pacific Rim where they sort of broadly represent climate change.

Also, Collosal is awesome and criminally underseen!

[Vakanai]

Gonna be honest, I didn't like Collosal. Well made, just not my type of movie. But glad it was made and strongly agree with the general sentiment that more and different entries in the genre is a good thing. Sure, Godzilla, Ultraman, Kong, and Gamera are like your MCU and DCEU of the genre, but kaiju movies also need their Super, Kick-Ass, Hancock, and My Super Ex-girlfriend equivalents.

[Angilasman]

Just watched the new Blu-ray of Gappa! It's a lesser entry in the Kaiju genre, notable mainly because it rather blatantly ripped off the plot of Gorgo and it was the only Kaiju movie Nikkatsu made during the "Kaiju boom" of the 60s, but it's got some neat bits in it (some nice miniatures) and the transfer on this disc is pretty good!

[marshal88]

anyone here ever watched 'orochi the eight headed dragon', no not the one punch man manga but a japanese fantasy flick from the 80s. Thinking of watching it.

[Angilasman]

^ It's from Toho in the '90s. It's classic Japanese fantasy in subject matter, but for all intents and purposes it's very similar in tone an execution to both the 90s Godzilla movies and Mothra trilogy with a smidgen of Ultraman. I haven't seen him in ages! Had it on VHS.

[Kai "the spy"]

Yes, it's a re-telling of Yamato Takeru, the Japanese national hero saga, similar to King Arthur in Great Britain, or Siegfried and the Nibelungs in Germany. Part of the saga is the hero fighting and defeating Orochi. While a minor part of the legend, this movie made it the grand finale (as it was supposed to be the first part in a trilogy), and thus the international title, with Yamato Takeru not being anywhere near well-known in western countries, chose to focus on that.

[AdamFTF]

Never saw the movie. I do know the story about Susano-o and Orochi-maru. I told it at a Story Circle meeting. Maybe I should check this movie out.

[Kai "the spy"]

For a more complete retelling of the Yamato Takeru legend, though not much of a Kaiju movie, I recommend 1959's "The Three Treasures", also from Toho, and starring Toshiro Mifune (and co-starring Godzilla alumn Akira Takarada). Though, ideally, you should look for the Japanese cut, as the American release was cut down from 182 minutes to 112 minutes. Yes, they cut the running time of a b-movie from this film. Realistically, though, it might be hard enough to find any version of the movie that is watchable without being fluent in Japanese.

[Angilasman]

^I've always meant to see that one but've never got around to it, as its depiction of Orochi was a standout effects sequence from Eiji Tsuburaya at the time and the direct predecessor to King Ghidorah, created a few years later.

There are few Toho fantasy and effects films from that era that are totally ignored by Western fans because there's little connection to the run of Kaiju and science fiction movies that were usually directed by Ishiro Honda. I'd love for one of those boutique home video labels to do a box set of them!