Gappa: The Giant

Directed by
 Running time
90 minutes (Japan)
 Budget

Giant Beast Gappa (Original title: Large behemoth Gappa) (also known as Gappa, The Triphibian Monster or Gappa) is a nikkatsu monster film,Directed by Haruyasu Noguchi.

## Plot

The Weekly magazine Hiroshi Kurosaki of "Playmate" Reporters, Itoko Koyanagi of photographers, and by Toto University biology together with Associate Professor, Tonooka et al., In response to the lives of Playmates President and Funatsu South Pacific had done the exploration of. This exploration also meant the use of biological collection and local scouts to realize a major theme park that was created in the image of the southern country, which the company is planning for its 5th anniversary .

After a long voyage, the group found a mysterious stone statue on the erupting Katherine Islands Obelisk Island and landed on the island. Although the group encountered the islanders , they seemed to have been under prewar Japanese rule or occupied by the Japanese army during the war , and some of them could understand Japanese and were kind enough to say that "the Japanese have returned" Receive a welcome. Meanwhile, Kurosaki, who was worried about the stone statue, asked Saki, a boy, about the matter. Saki takes Kurosaki and Itoko and guides them there.

Eventually, the three arrive at a huge statue. Then, the stone image collapsed due to the sudden earthquake , and the entrance to the cave appeared at the mark. Kurosaki and Itoko go inside without hearing Saki's arrest. There was a huge underground lake in the basement of the island, with huge bones and a large egg of about 2 meters. In addition, the eggs hatched and Kurosaki, who was pleased with the unexpected prey, overwhelms the opposition of the islanders who fear the anger of Gappa and takes them back to Japan. Parent Gappa, who learns that his child has been taken away, rages in anger and attacks a village on the island.

On the other hand, when Kurosaki and his colleagues arrive in Tokyo, they find out that they have the ability to tell their whereabouts to a distant friend while examining the child gappa. Around that time, two flying objects of unknown nationality appeared. Tonooka instinctively thinks that flying object is "a parent gappa?" Finally, two parent Gappa reveal the giant from Sagami Bay . The two roared over the hotel district of Atami City , burned out the Self-Defense Forces that had been dispatched by the high heat rays of 4000 degrees that spit out of their mouths, and lurked at the bottom of Lake Kawaguchi .

Gappa quickly caught on the topic of people, and "Playmate" featuring Gappa became a huge hit. Funatsu is pleased with the sales of the magazine. Same time, the US Navy of submarine rescued in to Saki who came to Japan from the island is to convince to return to the immediate parent of the child Gappa, nobody does not respond other than the cousin. On the other hand, Gappa, which was driven out of Lake Kawaguchi due to the weak point of dissonance , travels through Nikko along Route 4 to Tokyo, where there is a child Gappa. Amid fears of Tokyo's annihilation, Kurosaki and his colleagues released the child Gappa at Haneda Airport , as Saki said, "Return the child Gappa, the parent Gappa returns quietly ." Eventually, the parent Gappa, who was guided by the sound of the child Gappa, was pleased with the reunion, taught the child Gappa who could not fly yet how to fly, and flew away in the dawn sky toward the south with three birds.

## Cast

* Tamio Kawachi- Hiroshi Kurosaki
* Yoko Yamamoto- Itako Koyanagi
* Yuji Odaka- Daizo Tonooka
* Koji Wada- Machida
* Tatsuya Fuji- George Inoue
* Keisuke Yukioka- Funatsu
* Zenji Yamada- Captain Gull Maru
* Kamon Takemon -Obersk Island Elders
* Hiroshi Sugie- Newspaper A
* Hiromatsu Saburo -Hosoda
* Toshinosuke Nagao- Commander of the Ground Self-Defense Force of the Countermeasures Conference
* Kamiyama Masaru- Professor of Emergency Countermeasures Conference
* Katsura Kokan -Saburo Hayashi
* Nagahiro- Captain of transport aircraft
* Oshimi Shiro -Oyama
* Yoko Otani- Aihara
* Hiroshi Kono- Head of Emergency Response Headquarters
* Mine Sanpei -islanders
* Takashi Koshiba- Playmate Reporter
* Kenai Tamai-The Islander
* Satomi -Playmate Reporter
* Kiyoshi Matsuoka- islanders
* Hiroshi Ito- Newspaper Reporter B
* Tadao Mitani- Airport Controller
* Kenji Shimamura- Playmate Reporter
* Urushizawa Masako -islanders
* Midori Mori -
* Yoshie Kitada -Atami Geiko
* Makiko Fukamachi -
* Hiromi Hiratsuka- Tsuruko
* Machida Masanori -Saki
* Mike Dunne -American Submarine Crew
* Luigi Fidanza- Captain of the American Submarine
* Paul Schumann- Doctor McDonald
* Hiromi Atami , Takashi Konagai - Gappa Yu
* Ken Misugi / Shiro Tonami- Gappa Female
* Masanori Koyama -
* Hidenori Matsuoka -
* Manarisuke Kayanagi -Japanese dance teacher
* Urushizawa Masako -choreography
* Below non-credit
* Ichiro Kikuta- Seafarer Kamomemaru
* Shoko Sakamaki , Eiko Mizushiro , Yasue Nishihara- Playmate Female Reporter
* Kenichi Shikita / Hiroshi Imamura- Playmate Reporter
* Kazuya Murakami- Playmate Reporter/Controller
* Yoshimoto Nemoto- islanders, self-defense forces
* Ryoichi Sato , Yoshio Sugawara- Islanders
* Yoshito Akihito -Islanders/Self-Defense Forces Executives
* Yoshiyoshi Ohba- Researcher / Deputy Captain
* Joe Tsuyuki -Researcher
* Shigeru Tanaka- Controller
* Takeo Sonoda , Mari Tsubaki- A reporter interviewing the captain
* Yoshio Tsuchida -People at the banquet hall in Atami and police officers at the conference
* Hisashi Ichihara- Photographer at the banquet and wedding photo
* Hiroshi Chiyoda , Kunio Niitsu , Ryu Ikezawa , Toshizo Kuon , Masayoshi Yamaoka- Atami banquet guests
* Izumi Eisuke -banquet guests and wedding anniversary attendees
* Naoko Miyazawa , Setsuko Honma- Atami Geisha
* Akiko Sagawa and Akira Takahashi- Atami refugees
* Shuji Kagawa , Kyoichi Mizuki , Takeshi Niimura- reporter in front of the conference room
* Keiji Itami , Koji Yatsushiro , Hiroshi Midorikawa- SDF personnel at the Emergency Response Headquarters Meeting
* Toshio Murata , Mitsuru Date, and Ichizo Uehara-Participants of the Emergency Response Headquarters Meeting
* Junichi Yamanobe- SDF personnel at the Kawaguchiko countermeasures headquarters
* Hidemi Togo- Eyeglass Reporter for Emergency Response Headquarters

## Staff

* Director: Haruyasu Noguchi
* Planning: Hideo Koi
* Original draft/ special skill director : Akira Watanabe
* Script: Gan Yamazaki , Ryuzo Nakanishi
* Photo: Muneo Ueda
* Lighting: Moriho Tsuchida
* Edit: Masanori Tsujii
* Art: Kazumi Koike
* Recording: Saburo Takahashi
* Development: Toyo Developer
* Music: Morio Ota
* Assistant Director: Yu Hashimoto, Isao Hayashi, Masaru Onuma

## Titles

* Giant Beast Gappa (Original Japanese Title)
* Colossal Gappa (Japanese re-release title)
* Monster from a Prehistoric Planet (United States title)
* Gappa, the Triphibian Monsters (United States Video Title)
* The Monster That Threatens the World (El Monstruo Que Amenaza el Mundo; Spain)
* Gappa, the Descendant of Godzilla (Gappa, le Descendant de Godzilla; France)
* Gappa, the Monster of the Sea (Γάππα, το τέρας της θάλασσας Gáppa, to téras tis thálassas; Greece)
* The Triphibian Monster (Ang Triphibian Halimaw; Philippines)
* Gappa - Frankenstein's Flying Monster (Gappa - Frankensteins fliegende Monster; West Germany)
* Gappa - Invasion of the Flying Beasts (Gappa - Invasion der Fliegenden-Bestien; West Germany Re-Issue Title)

## Production

Principal photography on Gappa lasted for about 40 days, twice the time that director Haruyasu Noguchi usually took to shoot a film.

## Release

Gappa the Triphibian Monster was released in Japan on April 22, 1967 as Daikyojū Gappa. The film was never released theatrically in the United States. American International Television first offered the film as Monster from a Prehistoric Planet in the "15 New Science Fiction" television package beginning in 1967; the film may have premiered on television in 1968.

Stuart Galbraith IV, author of Japanese Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films described the American version of the film as poorly dubbed and that home video versions prior to 1994 are poor dupes taken from a 16mm television print. The film has been released on DVD by various companies including Alpha Video, Mill Creek Entertainment, Tokyo Shock and Image Entertainment.

### U.S. release

In July 1967, Gappa played at the Nikkatsu Theater in Honolulu, Hawaii, in Japanese with English subtitles.

American International Television released the film directly to television in 1968, as Monster from a Prehistoric Planet. The English dubbing was recorded by the Tokyo-based studio Frontier Enterprises. The international cut of the film runs six minutes longer than the Japanese release, with the majority of the furthered run time gained from the extension of the special effects sequences featuring the adult Gappas. The film's songs, "Colossal Beast Gappa" and "Don't Give Up, Baby Gappa!," were substituted with instrumental scoring, with the former replaced by an alternative orchestral piece.