Kaiju Explained

is a Japanese term that is commonly associated with media involving giant monsters. A subgenre of science fiction, it was created by Eiji Tsuburaya and Ishirō Honda.[1] The term can also refer to the giant monsters themselves, which are usually depicted attacking major cities and battling either the military or other monsters.

Director Ishirō Honda and tokusatsu director Eiji Tsuburaya's 1954 film Godzilla is often regarded as the first kaiju film. Kaiju characters are often somewhat metaphorical in nature; Godzilla, for example, serves as a metaphor for nuclear weapons, reflecting the fears of post-war Japan following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Lucky Dragon 5 incident. Other notable examples of kaiju characters include King Kong, Rodan, Mothra, King Ghidorah, and Gamera. Directors Ishirō Honda and Eiji Tsuburaya drew inspiration from the character of King Kong, both in its influential 1933 film and in the conception of a giant monster, establishing it as a pivotal precursor in the evolution of the genre.[2]

Origin

See also: Monster movie.

The Japanese word kaijū originally referred to monsters and creatures from ancient Japanese legends;[3] it earlier appeared in the Chinese Classic of Mountains and Seas.[4] [5] There are no traditional depictions of kaijū or kaijū-like creatures among the yōkai of Japanese folklore,[6] although it is possible to find megafauna in their mythology (e.g., Japanese dragons). After sakoku ended and Japan was opened to foreign relations in the mid-19th century, the term kaijū came to be used to express concepts from paleontology and legendary creatures from around the world. For example, the extinct Ceratosaurus-like cryptid featured in The Monster of "Partridge Creek" (1908) by French writer Georges Dupuy[7] was referred to as kaijū.[8] It is worthy to note that in the Meiji era, Jules Verne’s works were introduced to the Japanese public, achieving great success around 1890.[9]

Genre elements were present at the end of Winsor McCay's 1921 animated short The Pet in which a mysterious giant animal starts destroying the city, until it is countered by a massive airstrike. It was based on a 1905 episode of McCay's comic strip series Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend.[10]

The 1925 film The Lost World (adapted from Arthur Conan Doyle's 1912 novel of the same name), featured many dinosaurs, including a brontosaurus that breaks loose in London and destroys Tower Bridge. The dinosaurs of The Lost World were animated by pioneering stop motion techniques by Willis H. O'Brien, who would some years later animate the giant gorilla-like creature breaking loose in New York City, for the 1933 film King Kong (1933). The enormous success of King Kong can be seen as the definitive breakthrough of monster movies. This influential achievement of King Kong paved the way for the emergence of the giant monster genre, serving as a blueprint for future kaiju productions. Its success reverberated in the film industry, leaving a lasting impact and solidifying the figure of the giant monster as an essential component in genre cinematography. RKO Pictures later licensed the King Kong character to the Japanese studio Toho, resulting in the co-productions King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) and King Kong Escapes (1967), both directed by Ishirō Honda.

Yoshirō Edamasa directed The Great Buddha Arrival in 1934. Although the original film is now lost, stills of the film have survived, and it is one of the earliest examples of a kaiju film in Japanese cinematic history.[11] The 1934 film presumably influenced the production of the Ultraman franchise.[12]

In 1942 Fleischer Studios released The Arctic Giant, the fourth of seventeen animated short films based upon the DC Comics character Superman, in which he has to stop a giant dinosaur from attacking the city of Metropolis.

Ray Bradbury's short story "The Fog Horn" (1951) served as the basis for The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953), featuring a fictional dinosaur (animated by Ray Harryhausen), which is released from its frozen, hibernating state by an atomic bomb test within the Arctic Circle. The American movie was released in Japan in 1954 under the title The Atomic Kaiju Appears, marking the first use of the genre's name in a film title.[13] However, Godzilla, released in 1954, is commonly regarded as the first Japanese kaiju film. Tomoyuki Tanaka, a producer for Toho Studios in Tokyo, needed a film to release after his previous project was halted. Seeing how well the Hollywood giant monster movie genre films King Kong (1933) and The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953) had done in Japanese box offices, and himself a fan of these films, he set out to make a new movie based on them and created Godzilla.[14] Tanaka aimed to combine Hollywood giant monster movies with the re-emerged Japanese fears of atomic weapons that arose from the Daigo Fukuryū Maru fishing boat incident; and so he put a team together and created the concept of a giant radioactive creature emerging from the depths of the ocean, a creature that would become the monster Godzilla.[15] Godzilla initially had commercial success in Japan, inspiring other kaiju movies.[16]

Terminology

The term kaijū translates literally as "strange beast".[17] Kaiju can be antagonistic, protagonistic, or a neutral force of nature, but are more specifically preternatural creatures of divine power. They are not merely "big animals". Godzilla, for example, from its first appearance in the initial 1954 entry in the Godzilla franchise, has manifest all of these aspects. Other examples of kaiju include Rodan, Mothra, King Ghidorah, Anguirus, King Kong, Gamera, Daimajin, Gappa, Guilala, and Yonggary. There are also subcategories including Mecha Kaiju (Meka-Kaijū), featuring mechanical or cybernetic characters, including Moguera, Mechani-Kong, Mechagodzilla, and Gigan, which are an offshoot of kaiju. Likewise, the collective subcategory Ultra-Kaiju (Urutora-Kaijū) is a separate strata of kaijū that specifically originate in the long-running Ultra Series franchise but can also be referred to simply by kaijū. As a noun, kaijū is an invariant, as both the singular and the plural expressions are identical.

Kaijin

(lit. "Strange person") refers to distorted human beings or humanoid-like creatures. The origin of kaijin goes back to the early 20th Century Japanese literature, starting with Edogawa Rampo's 1936 novel, The Fiend with Twenty Faces. The story introduced Edogawa's master detective, Kogoro Akechi's arch-nemesis, the eponymous "Fiend", a mysterious master of disguise, whose real face was unknown; the Moriarty to Akechi's Sherlock. Catching the public's imagination, many such literary and movie (and later television) villains took on the mantle of kaijin. To be clear, kaijin is not an offshoot of kaiju. The first-ever kaijin that appeared on film was The Great Buddha Arrival a lost film, made in 1934. After the Pacific War, the term was modernized when it was adopted to describe the bizarre, genetically engineered and cybernetically enhanced evil humanoid spawn conceived for the Kamen Rider Series in 1971. This created a new splinter of the term, which quickly propagated through the popularity of superhero programs produced from the 1970s, forward. These kaijin possess rational thought and the power of speech, as do human beings. A successive kaijin menagerie, in diverse iterations, appeared over numerous series, most notably the Super Sentai programs premiering in 1975 (later carried over into Super Sentais English iteration as Power Rangers in the 1990s).

This created yet another splinter, as the kaijin of Super Sentai have since evolved to feature unique forms and attributes (e.g., gigantism), existing somewhere between kaijin and kaiju.

Daikaiju

Daikaijū literally translates as "giant kaiju" or "great kaiju". This hyperbolic term was used to denote greatness of the subject kaiju, the prefix dai- emphasizing great size, power, and/or status. The first known appearance of the term daikaiju in the 20th Century was in the publicity materials for the original 1954 release of Godzilla. Specifically, in the subtitle on the original movie poster, Suibaku Daikaiju Eiga, lit. "H-Bomb Giant Monster Movie". Gamera, the Giant Monster, the first film of the Gamera franchise in 1965, also utilized the term where the Japanese title of the film is Daikaijū Gamera .

Seijin

Seijin (lit. "star people"), appears within Japanese words for extraterrestrial aliens, such as Kaseijin, which means "Martian". Aliens can also be called uchūjin which means "spacemen". Among the best known Seijin in the genre can be found in the Ultra Series, such as Alien Baltan from Ultraman, a race of cicada-like aliens who have gone on to become one of the franchise's most enduring and recurring characters other than the Ultras themselves.

Toho has produced a variety of kaiju films over the years (many of which feature Godzilla, Rodan, and Mothra), but other Japanese studios contributed to the genre by producing films and shows of their own: Daiei Film (Kadokawa Pictures), Tsuburaya Productions, and Shochiku and Nikkatsu Studios.

Monster techniques

Eiji Tsuburaya, who was in charge of the special effects for Godzilla, developed a technique to animate the kaiju that became known colloquially as "suitmation".[18] Where Western monster movies often used stop motion to animate the monsters, Tsubaraya decided to attempt to create suits, called "creature suits", for a human (suit actor) to wear and act in.[19] This was combined with the use of miniature models and scaled-down city sets to create the illusion of a giant creature in a city.[20] Due to the extreme stiffness of the latex or rubber suits, filming would often be done at double speed, so that when the film was shown, the monster was smoother and slower than in the original shot.[14] Kaiju films also used a form of puppetry interwoven between suitmation scenes for shots that were physically impossible for the suit actor to perform. From the 1998 release of Godzilla, American-produced kaiju films strayed from suitmation to computer-generated imagery (CGI). In Japan, CGI and stop-motion have been increasingly used for certain special sequences and monsters, but suitmation has been used for an overwhelming majority of kaiju films produced in Japan of all eras.[20] [21]

Selected media

Films

See main article: List of films featuring giant monsters.

Manga

Novels

Comics

Video games

Board games

Television

Other appearances

Notes and References

  1. Book: Ryfle . Steve . Ishiro Honda: A Life in Film, from Godzilla to Kurosawa . Godziszewski . Ed . . 2017 . 9780819570871 . xiii.
  2. King Kong’s influence on the giant monster genre:
  3. Web site: Les monstres japonais du 10 mai 2014 - France Inter. May 10, 2014 .
  4. Web site: Introduction to Kaiju [in Japanese]]. dic-pixiv. March 9, 2017.
  5. A Study of Chinese monster culture – Mysterious animals that proliferates in present age media [in Japanese]]. The Journal of Hokkai Gakuen University. September 2009. 141 . 141. 91–121. Hokkai-Gakuen University. March 9, 2017. 中根 . 研一 .
  6. Foster, Michael (1998). The Book of Yokai: Mysterious Creatures of Japanese Folklore. Oakland: University of California Press.
  7. Book: Bissette, Steven R.. July 19, 2017. Red Range: A Wild Western Adventure. https://books.google.com/books?id=TE4rDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT110. Lansdale. Joe R.. IDW Publishing. A Brief History of Cowboys and Dinosaurs. 978-1684062904. May 26, 2018.
  8. Web site: 怪世界 : 珍談奇話. NDL Digital Collections.
  9. Web site: 日本ペンクラブ電子文藝館 . 2023-08-30 . bungeikan.jp.
  10. Web site: Moody Katie. Bissette Stephen R.. November 22, 2010. Survey 1 Comic Strip Essays: Katie Moody on Winsor McCay's "Dream of the Rarebit Fiend". Center for Cartoon Studies. https://web.archive.org/web/20130530150441/http://www.cartoonstudies.org/schulz/blog/survey-1-comic-strip-essays-katie-moody-on-winsor-mccays-dream-of-the-rarebit-fiend/. dead. May 30, 2013. January 10, 2021.
  11. Web site: Amazon.com: The Great Buddha Arrival : Hiroto Yokokawa: Prime Video . 2023-04-30 . www.amazon.com.
  12. [Natalie (website)|Natalie]
  13. Book: Mustachio. Camille. Barr. Jason. September 29, 2017. Giant Creatures in Our World: Essays on Kaiju and American Popular Culture. McFarland & Company. 978-1476668369. April 14, 2018.
  14. Web site: Godzilla: Why the Japanese original is no joke. https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/10788996/Godzilla-why-the-Japanese-original-is-no-joke.html . January 11, 2022 . subscription . live. Martin. Tim. Telegraph. May 15, 2014. July 30, 2017.
  15. Web site: A History of Godzilla on Film, Part 1: Origins (1954–1962). Harvey. Ryan. Black Gate. December 16, 2013. December 16, 2013.
  16. Ryfle, Steve (1998). Japan's Favorite Mon-Star: The Unauthorized Biography of the Big G. ECW Press.
  17. Book: Yoda. Tomiko. Harootunian. Harry. Japan After Japan: Social and Cultural Life from the Recessionary 1990s to the Present. Duke University Press Books. 344. 2006. 9780822388609.
  18. Weinstock, Jeffery (2014) The Ashgate Encyclopedia of Literary and Cinematic Monsters. Farnham: Ashgate Publishing.
  19. Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: Web site: Making of the Godzilla Suit. Godziszewski. Ed. Classic Media 2006 DVD Special Features. September 5, 2006. July 30, 2017.
  20. Allison, Anne (2006) Snake Person Monsters: Japanese Toys and the Global Imagination. Oakland: University of California Press
  21. Web site: The History of Godzilla Is the History of Special Effects. Failes. Ian. Inverse. October 14, 2016. July 30, 2017.
  22. Book: Ryfle, Steve . Japan's Favorite Mon-Star: The Unauthorized Biography of the Big G . 1998 . ECW Press . 9781550223484 . 15 . registration .
  23. Book: Ryfle . Steve . Japan's Favorite Mon-star: The Unauthorized Biography of "The Big G" . 1998 . . 9781550223484 . 17 . registration .
  24. Book: Freer . Ian . The Complete Spielberg . 2001 . . 9780753505564 . 48 . registration .
  25. Book: Derry . Charles . Dark Dreams: A Psychological History of the Modern Horror Film . 1977 . A. S. Barnes . 9780498019159 . 82 . registration .
  26. Web site: Seitz . Dod . 2023-02-21 . 10 Pokemon Designs Based On Kaiju . 2023-08-31 . TheGamer . en.
  27. Cardcaptor Sakura, season 1 episode 1: "Sakura and the Mysterious Magic Book"; season 1 episode 15: "Sakura and Kero's Big Fight"
  28. Usagi Yojimbo Vol.3 #66–68: "Sumi-e, Parts 1–3"
  29. Web site: "The Zillo Beast" Episode Guide . October 5, 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150704030640/http://www.starwars.com/tv-shows/clone-wars/the-zillo-beast . July 4, 2015 . dead .
  30. Web site: "The Zillo Beast Strikes Back" Episode Guide . October 5, 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150628013908/http://www.starwars.com/tv-shows/clone-wars/the-zillo-beast-strikes-back . June 28, 2015 . dead .
  31. Web site: The Cinema Behind Star Wars: Godzilla . September 29, 2014 . October 5, 2014.
  32. . 2003 . South Park: The Complete First Season: "Mecha-Streisand" (Audio commentary) . CD . Comedy Central.
  33. Web site: Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters . February 21, 2021 . . American Film Institute.
  34. Gate: Jieitai Kano Chi nite, Kaku Tatakaeri, book I: "Contact", chapters II and V
  35. Gate: Jieitai Kano Chi nite, Kaku Tatakaeri (anime series) episode 2: "Two Military Forces", episode 3: "Fire Dragon", and episode 4: "To Unknown Lands"
  36. Book: Mizuno, Ryou. Sorcerous Stabber Orphen Anthology. Commentary. 2019. ja . TO Books. 9784864728799. 236.
  37. Web site: Silverman. Rebecca . Sneeze: Naoki Urasawa Story Collection – Review. Anime News Network. October 20, 2020. November 29, 2020.
  38. Web site: http://13sar.jp/system/. ja:十三機兵防衛圏 – System. ja. Atlus. November 19, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20191119090439/http://13sar.jp/system/. November 19, 2019. live.

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