Great Planet Monster Negadon

Directed by
 Budget

Great Planet Monster Negadon (also known as Negadon: The Monster from Mars*)* is a 2005 Computer Animated short kaiju film.

## Plot

In the year 2025, Earth's population has reached 10 billion, and its resources are at a breaking point. As a result, humanity is in the process of terraforming Mars with nuclear weapons to make it more hospitable. One such blast exposes a strange cocoon, which is retrieved by the spaceship Izanami. At the home of retired scientist Ryuichi Narasaki, a TV anchor explains that Izanami will soon be returning to Fuji.

Narasaki is visited by Seiji Yoshizawa, a JSDF officer and his former assistant, who implores him to reconsider the military's recent offer to rejoin Japan's heavy-labor robotics program. He again refuses, stating that he no longer has any interest in science and technology. When Yoshizawa presses the issue, Narasaki asks him to leave.

As Narasaki watches a moth fly around the room, he thinks back to the accident ten years ago at the Narasaki Walking Machine Laboratory that changed his life. His daughter, Emi, had come with him to work that day, and listened attentively as he explained his dream to invent robots capable of working on land, in the sea, and in outer space. She asks him if he read her letter, and he replies that he left it in his coat pocket. Just then, a systems malfunction causes a massive tube attached to the robot, Miroku, to detach and crash through the protective glass between them and the hanger, killing Emi and blinding Narasaki in one eye.

As the Izanami approaches Earth, the cocoon in its cargo hold suddenly spikes in temperature, destroying the ship as it falls towards Tokyo and causes immense destruction as it lands. A news helicopter broadcasts footage of a monster, Negadon, floating out of the cocoon, only to be destroyed when it fires an electrical blast at the ground. The JSDF deploys fighter jets, missile launchers, and tanks, but Negadon shrugs their weapons off by shifting into a defensive stance, then destroys the tanks with another energy blast from one of its appendages.

Watching at home, Narasaki muses that "man always brings about disaster by his own hand," thinking of Miroku as well as the accidental awakening of Negadon. As he looks at Emi's letter, a new determination fills him. Returning to the Narasaki Walking Machine Laboratory, he climbs into Miroku's cockpit and launches it, landing before Negadon. Yoshizawa calls Narasaki after seeing Miroku on TV, imploring him to see reason; his ten-year-old prototype is no match for a space monster. Narasaki scoffs, and asks only that Yoshizawa evacuate with his family before hanging up.

Negadon begins the fight with an energy blast, but Miroku reflects it with its drill arm, badly damaging the appendage which fired it and causes Negadon to topple. The monster the unleashes an energy whip which Miroku leaps over, allowing it to deliver a flying kick. However, Negadon rapidly burrows underground and emerges behind Miroku, who turns around just in time to take a devestating beam to the chest. Narasaki switches to Miroku's rocket-powered grappling hook. As Negadon prepares to shoot it down, the JSDF's jets return, firing on the weak point in its appendage with their missiles. Miroku blasts off, and Negadon has no choice but to follow.

Now floating in space, monster and robot regard each other before letting loose their final attacks. Miroku charges with its drill arm extended; Negadon answers with a massive energy ball. The drill intercepts it, then, as Narasaki pushes the robot's thrusters to their limit, disintegrates it and impales Negadon. The monster goes limp and explodes, taking Miroku with it. Narasaki's last thought is, This will do, right, Emi? The robot's drill, still intact, sails through space.

Yoshizawa watches the sun set as Tokyo begins to rebuild.

## Cast

* Dai Shimizu   as   Ryuichi Narasaki (voice)
* Takuma Sasahara   as   Seiji Yoshizawa (voice)
* Akane Yumoto   as   Emi Narasaki (voice)
* Masafumi Kishi   as   Narrator / TV Announcer (voice)

### English dub

* Sean Schemmel   as   Ryuichi Narasaki
* Dan Green   as   Seiji Yoshizawa
* Annice Moriarty   as   Emi Narasaki
* Marc Thompson   as   TV Announcer
* Tom Wayland, Tim Werenko   as   Other Voices.

## Staff

* Directed by   Jun Awazu
* Written by   Jun Awazu
* Produced by   Kazuki Sunami
* Music by   Shingo Terasawa, Akane Yumoto ("Dream in True Color: The Sky in 2015")
* Cinematography by   Jun Awazu
* Edited by   Jun Awazu

## Titles

* Great Planet Monster Negadon (Literal Japanese Title)
* Negadon: Le Monstre de Mars (French Canadian Title)

## Development

After directing two short CG kaiju films in college (Magara: The Giant Monster and Magara: The Final Showdown), Jun Awazu embarked on a more ambitious project. Negadon: The Monster from Mars was to be an elaborate homage to Showa-era tokusatsu films, from the production design to the qualities of the film stock. He would come to call the latter, which took two years to develop, the "Awazu Filter."

Awazu began writing the script in March or early April 2003, and completed the storyboards in June. The appearance of Tokyo in the film was largely based on his childhood memories of his hometown, Nagoya.

## Production

Negadon: The Monster from Mars was animated in 3D Studio Max and After Effects, almost entirely by Awazu himself. The film's cast and crew totaled only 11 people.

## U.S. release

Central Park Media acquired the rights to *Negadon: The Monster from Mars* in January 2005, and commissioned an English dub from TripWire Productions. The film was screened at several conventions and theaters throughout the year; in theaters, it was part of a triple feature with two other anime shorts, *Cat Soup* and *Kakurenbo: Hide and Seek*. A partial list of U.S. screenings is below:

* Anime Syracuse (Syracuse, NY) - March 25, 2006
* ImaginAsian Theater (New York City, NY) - May 9-18, 2016
* Egyptian Theatre (Hollywood, CA) - June 30, 2006
* G-Fest (Rosemont, IL) - July 8, 2006
* Alamo Mason Park Cinema (Houston, TX) - Opened July 12, 2006

The film was released on DVD by U.S. Manga Corps on July 11, 2006.