Intro. to Daikaiju

I realized the other day that nearly 100% of our content is with the daikaiju fan in mind when we produce it. But what about those who are new to the genre and don’t know where to begin? came to mind.

Sure, more than likely there aren’t as many people out there actively seeking out the sort of information a new fan would seek compared to those who are already fans. So this article (or possible series of articles) was conceived.

I thought having this article in a Q&A format would best suit the article instead of a large information dump; which can be intimidating (not to mention I realized that I probably could get more to the point in this type of format rather than writing the traditional article).

You are more than welcomed to ask questions of your own or to suggest answers. Simply place your questions and responses in the comment section below. 🙂

On to the classroom!

What does “daikaiju” mean?

“Daikaiju” is Japanese for “Giant Monster(s).” In fact, it’s a combination of two words: “dai” means giant and “kaiju” means “monster(s).” An “S” is not required on “daikaiju” to make the word plural.

Why are a vast majority of daikaiju films made in Japan?

It’s a cultural thing in Japan. While I do not entirely know Japan’s fascination with giant monsters and robots, a simple answer is that it is, and always has been, a large part of their culture.

Why is Godzilla the poster-child for the genre?

One easy answer to that is because Godzilla has appeared in more live-action movies than any character in cinema history–including James Bond. Godzilla’s presence is unavoidable in the genre due to the many movies (29 if you include the 1998 film; 30 when Gareth Edwards’s movie is released next spring) he has appeared. Not to mention Godzilla was an allegory for nuclear holocaust in his initial film, Gojira (Godzilla). The film was a horror film and resonated with the Japanese people due to the awful experiences of having two atomic bombs drop on their country.

Gojira, as you can imagine, made lots of money and a sequel was quickly produced. From that point, Godzilla has been a permanent fixture in Japanese pop culture.

What does “Showa,” “Heisei,” and “Millennium” mean in the context of daikaiju films; particularly the Godzilla franchise?

Those are terms used to describe a period of Godzilla films; usually coinciding with the reign of an emperor in Japan. In the context of the Godzilla films, “Showa” covers the years from 1954 to 1984. “Heisei” covers years 1989 to 1995. “Millennium” covers 1999 to 2004. Technically, the Millennium films are still in the Heisei era. But since the Heisei era of films had its own story and continuity, the films from 1999 to 2004 were dubbed “Millennium” to set them apart from the films of the late 1980s and through the 1990s.

So, “Godzilla 1985” is technically a Showa era film?

Yes. However, it gets included in the Heisei era mainly due to its ties with the Heisei films. But, technically, yes, it is a Showa era film.

Do these labels also apply to the Gamera series of films?

For the most part, yes. The only small difference is that 1999’s Gamera 3 is included as part of the Heisei era due to its ties to the previous two films. This is different from the Godzilla franchise where 1999’s Godzilla 2000 is the start of the Millennium series. That’s because it started a new series of films where Gamera 3 concluded the Heisei trilogy of films.

“Showa” covers 1965 through 1980, “Heisei” covers 1995 through 1999, and “Millennium” covers the 2006 movie: Gamera: The Brave.

Gamera seems an awful lot like Godzilla. Was Godzilla the inspiration for Gamera?

Yes. By the mid-1960s, Godzilla films were extremely popular and profitable for Toho Studios. To get, and cash, in on the giant monster craze, Daiei Studios wanted to make a giant monster of their own; the only difference is their films’ target audience would mainly be children. Since Godzilla was a popular character, Daiei figured, in the designing of Gamera, they would model their kaiju after Godzilla. It’s part of the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mindset.

So does that make Gamera is less popular with daikaiju fans?

Not really. However, a lot of it depends on the individual fan. Since most fans were first exposed to Godzilla films, the Gamera films did seem like a blatant rip-off of the Godzilla films. Some fans despised this, until they became older, while others embraced them. The Showa Gamera films did not have the production value of the Godzilla films, so some fans, when they were younger anyways, believed Gamera was nothing more than a cheap attempt by Daiei to make money. To some degree, there is truth in that.

However, this last decade saw the release of the Heisei trilogy of Gamera films. These films are considered some of the best produced films in the genre and are the standard, by some fans, when making a daikaiju film. The special effects were state-of-the-art, the stories were gritty and dark in tone, and the fights tended to be brutal in nature. These are Gamera films for the older fan and are a complete departure from the Showa films. This trilogy is a huge favorite amongst daikaiju fans and many ended up becoming Gamera fans due to these films.

Even then, as most fans got older, they began to see the charm of the Gamera films and have openly embraced them.

What are some other well-known daikaiju films?

Thankfully, within the last decade, many more daikaiju films have been released onto home video and most of these films are still readily available:

• Rodan
• Mothra
• Varan: The Unbelievable
• Frankenstein Conquers the World
• War of the Gargantuas

Even this year’s Pacific Rim is considered a daikaiju film of sorts due to director Guillermo Del Toro’s love of the genre and how these older films inspired Pacific Rim.

Does a fan need to have a large collection of films and toys to be considered a true fan?

Just like with being a fan of anything else, the answer is no. However, many fans, myself included at one point, believed that one had to own a lot of merchandise to become a fan.

A fan is someone who has a love of a particular series of films, sports team(s), book series, etc. You don’t even need to become a geek, or a nerd; although those are usual side-effects after you have watched a number of these movies :).

The size of one’s collection does not determine how big of a fan he/she is. But, of course, if you want a large collection, that is entirely up to you.

Where can I find these movies?

Depending on where you live, some of your large retail-based stores will have some of these films. However, your best bet is online. Amazon is usually the place to start. They tend to have most of these movies available.

However, since some of these movies are out of print, such as some of the TriStar distributed films, some sellers on Amazon are selling them for exorbitant amounts of money. In that case, it is up to you what you’re willing to spend on these movies.

But chances are, you want to have more reasonable prices, and I wouldn’t blame you. In that case, I would recommend starting at such places as eBay, Monster Island Toys, and SumoGorilla.

Where can I go to learn more about these films?

There are many fansites on the Internet, now, devoted to this genre. There are some really good ones and not-so-good ones. I would recommend going to Google and searching whatever you are most interested in and start from that point.

There are also some magazines devoted to this genre: Famous Monsters of Filmland can be purchased at just about any location that sells a large collection of magazines and they typically cover this genre, though not all the time. The best magazine, that consistently covers daikaiju, would be G-Fan. G-Fan is a quarterly magazine and can only be subscribed through their Website. Thankfully, there are a number of back issues available and they can also be purchased through their Website. G-Fan back issues can also be purchased through eBay and Amazon.

There are a number of books available, as well, but, sadly, some of them are out of print and are running at high prices. Again, it depends on what you’re willing to spend. But here are some books that I think are great for starting out:

• The Official Godzilla Compendium by J.D. Lees and Marc Cerasini
• Japan’s Favorite Mon-Star: The Unauthorized Biography of “The Big G” by Steve Ryfle
• Monsters are Attacking Tokyo by Stuart Galbraith IV
• Mushroom Clouds and Mushroom Men: The Fantastic Cinema of Ishiro Honda by Peter H. Brothers
• Eiji Tsuburaya: Master of Monsters: Defending the Earth with Ultraman, Godzilla, and Friends in the Golden Age of Japanese Science Fiction Film by August Ragone

I hope you have found this article to be extremely helpful in getting you started in the wonderful world of daikaiju cinema! I enjoyed putting this together and may produce more of these in the future.

Enjoy Godzilla, Gamera, and the awesome world of giant monsters!