Daikaijū

Daikaijū (大怪獣 *Daikaijū* lit. Giant Monster) 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 (水爆大怪獣映画), lit. "H-Bomb Giant Monster Movie" (in proper English, "The Giant H-Bomb Monster Movie").

## Kaiju

Kaiju are typically modeled after conventional animals, mythological creatures, and sometimes even plants; however, there are more exotic examples. *Choujin Sentai Jetman* features monsters based on traffic lights, faucets, and tomatoes; *Kamen Rider Super-1* includes a whole army of monsters based on household objects such as umbrellas and utility ladders. While the term *kaiju* is used in the West to describe monsters from tokusatsu and Japanese folklore, monsters like vampires, werewolves, Frankenstein's Monster, mummies and zombies could fall into this category (Frankenstein's Monster was once a daikaiju in the film *Frankenstein vs. Baragon*, which was produced by Toho). Kaiju are sometimes depicted as minions serving a greater evil. Some kaiju are elite warriors which serve as the right-hand man to the greater villain and are destroyed by the heroic forces. Others have a neutral alignment, only seeking to destroy buildings and other structures. During the early eras of tokusatsu, "heroic" monsters were seen in daikaiju eiga films, and it wasn't until later when television tokusatsu productions began using kaiju which aided the hero, saved civilians, or demonstrated some kind of complex personality. These kaiju adopted many classic monster traits, appearing as the "misunderstood creature."

## History

### 1934

*Main article:* The Giant Buddha Statue's Travel Through the Country

in 1934 Daibutsu Movie Works made the first ever known form of "Daikaiju" a 33 meter tall Statue called the Great Buddha[1] comes to life embarks on a walk to save humanity te film was destroyed in the booming in World War II[1]

### 1938

*Main article:* King Kong Appears in Edo

the second ever daikaiju film, king kong appears in edo was released in 1933, and is an era action movie in which a monster monkey reminiscent of " King Kong " appeared . It was produced as a "three week anniversary special work" by Kinema Zenkatsu . It was sometimes said that this film was the first movie in which a giant monster appeared in Japanese film history , but the "King Kong" (ape) in the play is said to be life-size, Not  . However, because this ape modeling and suit actor was later in charge of many special effects works by Fushin Ohashi (Ryunosuke Kabayama)  , it is sometimes referred to as "the prehistoric history of monster movies." It also has a certain name recognition among overseas monster fans. The original version is currently unknown and is in a state where it cannot be viewed.

### 1954

*Main article:* Godzilla (1954)

The first Godzilla series to feature a giant monster Godzilla , the originator of Japanese monster movies . A monster "Godzilla" of the Jurassic period  Jurassic  lurking in a cave on the sea floor was chased from a safe haven in repeated hydrogen bomb experiments , and landed in Tokyo and tried to destroy it. The director is Inoshiro Honda , the original is Shigeru Kayama , the script is Takeo Murata and Inoshiro Honda, and the special technique is Eiji Tsuburaya . Performers are Akira Takarada , Momoko Kawauchi , Akihiko Hirata and others. Genres include monster movies, special effects movies , panic movies, and anti - nuclear movies.

The origin of the project

Producer of this work Tomoyuki Tanaka is 1953 "in the Pacific Ocean of the eagle " ( Ishirō Honda Director), followed by " Farewell Rabaul " just returned to Toho in the previous year when it made the (Ishirō Honda Director) Tsuburaya When he met Eiji , he realized that "special effects can be done" because of the success of special effects by Tsuburaya. While Tanaka was making the "Farewell Rabaul" production, he was doing his best to create a joint movie with Indonesia . 1953 August, the Indonesian National Film Company ( nun : Perusahaan Film Nasional Indonesia , abbreviation: Perufini) serves as the president of the Japan is Usumaru Ismail, agreed to manufacture the day nun cooperation movie in between the Toho  . The two companies have signed a temporary contract  . In response to this, Tanaka and Ismail under the planning of a collaborative movie, title: "Glorious Shadow", director: Chikichi Taniguchi , script: Haruo Umeda  . Yoshiko Yamaguchiand Ryo Ikebe will be the leading actors and will not return to Japan after the end of the war.The story of the film, which depicts the appearance of a former Japanese soldier who fought the Independence War with the Netherlands, is also decided  .

The following day, February 16, 1954, Tanaka and Taniguchi visited Jakarta , the capital of Indochia, for the final meeting of the script and this contract  . The two have reached agreements after repeated discussions with Ismail, and Toho and Perfini have signed this contract  . In response to this, Pelfini successively obtained approvals for collaborative film production from various government agencies in Indonesia  . On the other hand, Toho also carried the shooting equipment and materials to Jakarta by the instruction of Tanaka, and was ready to wait for the crank-in scheduled in early April  . However, on March 25, 1954, the two companies suddenly forced themselves to abandon production of a joint movie  . On April 5, Toho and Perfini announced a joint statement, officially announcing the abandonment of the production of the Nino-Nipple movie  . On March 25, Perfini received a notification from the Indonesian Foreign Minister that he could not approve the production of the joint movie because he could not agree with the idea of ​​the story  . The Indonesian government's refusal to approve made it impossible to produce a Nino-Nippon movie at the last minute . In a joint statement, the two companies said, "Certainly the foreign minister's opposition is to the story of the movie, but in the background there is also the deterioration of the government relations between Japan and Nigeria, that is, the unresolved war compensation problem. is set to the be "  .

Tanaka says that in the latter year, the planning of the joint movie was very successful, but he said that it was a matter of making a joint movie even though there is no diplomatic relations, and he was sent back by the opposition from the minister there .. Tanaka was forced to make an alternative plan. Just that time, was held in March of the same year Bikini Atoll in the nuclear tests and the Fifth Lucky Dragon , exposure incident of the thirteenth honored circle had become a social problem  . Inspired by this, Tanaka made a plan for a special-effects film, "A dinosaur sleeping on the bottom of the Bikini Atoll awakens under the influence of a hydrogen bomb test and attacks Japan." The planning tentative title at this point was "Large Kaiju from the Seabed 20,000 Miles."

When Tanaka submitted this project to the planning meeting of Toho Headquarters, it was noticed by Mori Iwao , the executive director . Mori, who had been involved in Toho since the prewar era, invited Tsuburaya, but after being banished from public office in 1952 (Showa 27), he returned to the headquarters and visited Hollywood to reaffirm the importance of special effects movies. The "Special Technology Section", which had been dismantled after the war, was reorganized in Toho, and Tsuburaya was invited again to reinforce this section. In this way, as the Toho upper division unanimously opposed the fact that shooting was impossible, it was decided that only Mori Iwao expressed his opinion in favor of this project, strongly supported it, and finally reached the GO sign.