Killer Whale (film) explained

Killer Whale
Native Name:
Kanji:鯨神
Revhep:Kujira Gami
Director:Tokuzō Tanaka, Chikara Komatsubara (special effect)[1]
Producer:Masaichi Nagata
Screenplay:Kaneto Shindo
Starring:
Music:Akira Ifukube
Cinematography:Setsuo Kobayashi, Toru Matoba, Hiroshi Ishida
Editing:Tatsuji Nakashizu
Studio:Daiei Film
Distributors:-->
Runtime:100 minutes
Country:Japan
Language:Japanese

, alternatively as Killer Whale,[2] is a 1962 Japanese tokusatsu (kaiju) film[3] produced by Daiei Film based on the 1961 Akutagawa Prize winning novel of the same name by Kōichirō Uno. It was presumably inspired by the 1851 novel Moby-Dick by Herman Melville.[4] [5] [6]

Plot

The story takes place in early Meiji era when large-scale shore-based whaling was still in operation along the Japanese Islands. Somewhere down the line, an unusually large and powerful North Pacific right whale drew attentions among whalers as no one had been able to hunt this extraordinary whale for years while the whale outsmarts humanity and instead killed a number of whalers. Spontaneously, the whale was entitled the "Whale God".[7]

On Hirado Island, dozens of whalers were killed by the Whale God and villagers became vengeful to slaughter the whale especially Shaki who lost his grandfather and father and brother for the whale. One day, the boss of fishermen declared that he will give his myōseki and properties and land and daughter Toyo to the person who succeeds to capture the whale. However, a barbarous whaler named Kishū from the Kishū region suddenly appeared and unilaterally perceived Shaki as a rival, and raped a girl named Ei, who is in love with Shaki, to warn and provoke Shaki. When the hostility between the two became decisive, a sighting of the Whale God approaching the village was reported.

Cast

Production

Yonesaburo Tsukiji was originally appointed for the tokusatsu filming of The Whale God, however he was suddenly appointed for the 1962 film The Great Wall, and Toru Matoba instead became a tokusatsu director for The Whale God.

Manga

The three-episode comicalization by Takao Saito was released on Weekly Bokura Magazine in January, 1979. It was later made into a Tankōbon in 2008.[8]

Legacy

See also: Gamera. Although not strictly depicting a fictional monster (kaiju), The Whale God was the first Daiei Film production to feature a rampaging megafauna. It predates the Gamera franchise where the successes of Gamera, the Giant Monster in 1965 and Gamera vs. Barugon presumably influenced the sudden increase of Non-Toho kaiju productions and the prosperity of the genre, while the Six-Company Agreement led by Masaichi Nagata, one of creators of Gamera, restricted non-Toho companies to easily engage in kaiju productions. A number of film makers and actors who had participated in The Whale God later worked for Daiei Film's representative tokusatsu franchises, Gamera, Daimajin, and Yokai Monsters.[9]

Fuminori Ohashi and Ryosaku Takayama co-worked for The Whale God, and the production of Tsuburaya Productions's Ultra Q was presumably influenced by The Whale God as Ohashi lessoned Takayama on tokusatsu techniques right after The Whale God.[10]

The Dai-kaiju, the right whale-based kaiju with an alias of "Whale God" from GeGeGe no Kitarō franchise, which is by Shigeru Mizuki and later yielded connections to the above-mentioned Daiei tokusatsu franchises due to Mizuki's involvements in Yokai Monsters,[11] [12] was presumably influenced by The Whale God.[13]

The yokai manga series Mononoke Soushi by Yōsuke Takahashi has an episode to feature a supernatural right whale,[14] being somewhat reminiscent of Uno's The Whale God in which the titular right whale was briefly suggested to be a supernatural being at the end.

Notes and References

  1. https://www.allcinema.net/cinema/86033 鯨神(くじらがみ)
  2. https://www.filmaffinity.com/en/film890546.html Killer Whale
  3. John Squires, May 25, 2023, ‘The Whale God – Practical Killer Whale Kaiju Movie from 1962 Finally Being Unleashed in North America!, Bloody Disgusting
  4. https://natalie.mu/eiga/film/140350 鯨神
  5. https://ofuna-cinema.com/kujiragami/ 鯨神(昭和37年)
  6. Web site: THE WHALE GOD Limited Edition Blu-ray Now Up For Preorder From SRS Cinema . 2024-07-11 . SciFi Japan . en.
  7. Hisayuki Ui, January 1, 1994, From Gamera to Daimajin: all of Daiei tokusatsu films, p.64, p.72, Kindaieigasha
  8. https://www.kinokuniya.co.jp/f/dsg-01-97848458370458 SPコミックス 鯨神 - さいとう・たかを時代劇セレクション
  9. [:ja:唐沢俊一|Shunichi Karasawa]
  10. [Kodansha]
  11. Hirokazu Minemori, Yusuke Watanabe, 2021, : Side Story: Heian Hyakkitan, pp.265-271, Media Works Bunko, Kadokawa
  12. [Natsuhiko Kyogoku]
  13. [Shigeru Mizuki]
  14. https://www.bunkasha.co.jp/book/b212873.html 高橋葉介傑作集 もののけ草紙 一ノ巻