post-Godzilla daikaiju films

[Hellspawn28]

I think Thunder of the Gigantic Serpent is the only Hong Kong daikaiju film? It was directed by Godfrey Ho, who is best known as the Ed Wood of Asian Cinema. The movie does not seem to have a R1 dvd release and I was lucky to see it in 2009 on Youtube.

[kpa]

I can actually read katakana.

Excellent! Please feel to translate for me: ゴジラ and compare with the official English spelling.... Just sayin...

Godzilla's English name was created at a time when transliteration was less sophisticated and Japanese sounds were not transcribed as accurately. The Hepburnsystem, now most popular inside and outside Japan, had not gained traction at that time, evidently.

O.supreme's point is absolutely correct. You can do a straight translation of characters names in katakana and end up with Gojira, Mosura, Urutoraman, Radon, etc... or you can understand that the studios/filmmakers also have official English names for these characters, which are often spelled and/or pronounced differently than a straightforward katakana translation.

In the case of "Geharha", it's not flawed translation... it's the official English name of the monster. When the short film was first aired in February, 2009 it included English title and credit screens that spelled the monster's name as "Geharha". Shortly thereafter, NHK offered the film for screenings at international festivals with the English title GEHARHA: THE DARK AND LONG HAIR MONSTER. In the spring of 2009 I was sent a subtitled studio screener which used the English spelling "Geharha" for the subs and onscreen credits (the opening title I posted came from that screener). That summer the film screened at festivals with the onscreen English title GEHARHA: THE DARK AND LONG HAIR MONSTER. In September, the Japanese DVD and Blu-ray were released. New subtitles were done-- compare the font from my screener with what was used for the DVD/Blu-ray-- and again, "Geharha" was the spelling used across the board. And the English copyright for the film is © 2009 NHK 'Geharha' Project.

So why did I bring this up twice? Because, from the start, the people who created and own the movie have made it clear what the English spelling is. GEHARHA is an affectionate tribute to the classic daikaiju films, and my understanding is that the English spelling is intentional. And even if the viewer doesn't understand a word of Japanese and was watching the film completely untranslated, it should be impossible to miss the screen-filling English text telling them so...



Seriously, how much clearer do the filmmakers need to be?

All I'm saying is that "Gehara" is an accurate transliteration of the monster's name. It's not incorrect just because a flawed subtitle in a Japanese-made DVD inserts an extraneous H in various names (Geharha, Ohsawa).

Your comparison to Ken Osawa/Ohsawa doesn't work at all. First, neither is an example of a flawed subtitle and, secondly, you're confusing two different things.

"Geharha" isn't a subtitling issue because the same spelling appears in onscreen text, foreign sales listings, screeners, copies of the film shown at festivals, the DVD, the Blu-ray and the copyright notice. Remember, Geharha is a fictional character, and the creators/owners have repeatedly shown how the name of their character is spelled, and it ain't "Gehara". Again, all you have to do is watch the untranslated movie and it's right there...

On the other hand, Ken (as far I know) isn't a product owned by a company who can decide how his name is spelled.

Years ago I was helping a Japanese friend with his English and the example you sited was an issue he was having trouble with. In Japanese, Ken's family name begins with a long 'o' sound, so the romaji translation "Osawa" is accurate but doesn't exactly replicate the pronunciation of that name to a Japanese ear. Therefore, some translators add an 'h' to better match the long sound, while others go with a double 'o'. One of the problems my friend was having was that he was pronouncing English words like "book" or "moo" with a long 'o' since that's how he would speak a Japanese name written in romaji. Once he understood the difference, his English speaking improved considerably.

So unless Ken (or his agency) gives a clear indication of how his name should be written in English, "Osawa", "Ohsawa" or even "Oosawa" would all be acceptable. And this would apply to pretty much any Japanese name or word that doesn't have a defined English translation... y'know, like Geharha does.

[Jomei]

kpa, you're arguing that "Geharha" is the official English name they present in the film, which I'm not disagreeing with. My only contention is that it's fine to refer to the monster by its direct transliteration (Gehara) as well--and certainly not worth the time and effort to "correct" people over. Point taken about it being a likely intentional homage to earlier bizarre transliterations (Ghidrah, Ghidora, Ghidorah), but as the way we refer to other monsters has historically been pretty flexible, so should the case be with Gehara/Geharha, I say. I certainly mean no disrespect by challenging you on this point, as I really appreciate the work you've done, making info on the genre accessible to fans.

Anyway, on a constructive note, I added films to the list on the first page. Thanks to Tohosaurus and, of course, kpa and the others at Sci-Fi Japan for their help on this.

[o.supreme]

I just wanted to thank all the fine folks for putting this list together. I'm a geek for stuff like this. But I have to agree with the below sentiment:

I think listing the Transformers films is really stretching it.

I really do like the Transformers films. Transformers is one of my all time favorite franchises, however I really dont classify them as Giant Monster films. If so that would have to open the door for a bunch of other Robot based films, and I think keeping them purely Monster based would be simplest, just my opinion though.

Also Daimajin Kannon was a TV series (26 episodes). I could not find anything online about there being a film compilation or a post-series film, but someone please feel free to correct me if I am mistaken.

[Jomei]

^thanks for the input. Any other thoughts about the inclusion of Transformers? I'm somewhat inclined to agree with o.supreme, though perhaps in light of the case of Daimajin Kannon we should open the list to kaiju-based series as well.

[Tohosaurus]

^thanks for the input. Any other thoughts about the inclusion of Transformers? I'm somewhat inclined to agree with o.supreme, though perhaps in light of the case of Daimajin Kannon we should open the list to kaiju-based series as well.

I actually agree with all of you that I don't really look at them as daikaiju films. Then again, I don't really think of ones like The Host either because The Host is big but ... not THAT big. Even King Kong I don't look at as a pure daikaiju film. But are the robots in Transformers large beings with a mind of their own? I mean you could argue they're giant monsters, I wouldn't dispute that. I just included anything under the umbrella.

It's all opinion though.

[Jomei]

There's certainly a benefit to being more inclusive of borderline titles.

[kpa]

kpa, you're arguing that "Geharha" is the official English name they present in the film, which I'm not disagreeing with. My only contention is that it's fine to refer to the monster by its direct transliteration (Gehara) as well

Which is fine, but this is an English language website where most of the board members-- and that includes you -- generally use English spellings (ex: King Ghidorah) rather that romaji (ex: Kingugidora). So there's an inconsistency in using English names 98% of the time but insisting "Gehara" is equally valid... ever though the English spelling "Geharha" appears in giant letters in the Japanese version of the movie. Seriously, if someone just pays attention when they watch the movie, there's no room for debate.

--and certainly not worth the time and effort to "correct" people over.

I couldn't disagree more. These forums are to foster discussion and exchange information, and sharing accurate information is never a waste of time... if I felt that way, I wouldn't bother posting or reading what anyone else here had to say. I suspect you feel the same way, too, or you wouldn't have posted 3-4 times in rebuttal.

Point taken about it being a likely intentional homage to earlier bizarre transliterations (Ghidrah, Ghidora, Ghidorah), but as the way we refer to other monsters has historically been pretty flexible, so should the case be with Gehara/Geharha, I say.

I agree with that to some point. Toho has changed the official English spellings for some monster names, and sometimes names are changed for US releases. But for some monsters there has only been on English name, and that's the case with Geharha. If the studio/filmmakers go with a different spelling at some point, that would be a valid example... but so far, they've been consistent.

I certainly mean no disrespect by challenging you on this point, as I really appreciate the work you've done, making info on the genre accessible to fans.

Discussing this stuff-- even strongly debating it-- is fun for me, not personal. I'm not insulted or offended if someone has a different opinion, so anytime you disagree with me, please feel free say so. And I don't mind being wrong because I still learned something.

Thanks for the kind words about SFJ. The whole point has been to share accurate info with other fans so I'm always glad to hear that people have found the site a valuable resource.

And on that note, I would like to point out the English spelling "Daimajin Kannon" is wrong.



The official English spelling is DAIMAJIN KANON, and was used on the Japanese DVD and Blu-ray sets. Kadokawa sent me English promotional materials for the series with that spelling. The show's official website is dm-kanon.com., and the Japanese title 大魔神カノン translates in romaji as "Daimajin Kanon". The title refers to the female lead character in the series, Misaki Kanon.

As for Japanese movies released since GODZILLA: FINAL WARS, each of the following features a giant monster, robot, alien, and/or supernatural character...

ULTRAMAN: THE NEXT (2004)
TETSUJIN 28 (2005)
GREAT YOKAI WAR (2005)
SUPERFLEET SAZER X (2005)
MIRROR MAN: REFLEX (2006)
ULTRAMAN MEBIUS & ULTRAMAN BROTHERS (2006)
DORORO (2007)
KITARO AND THE MILLENNIUM CURSE (2008)
20TH CENTURY BOYS (2008)
SUPERIOR ULTRAMAN 8 BROTHERS (2008)
20TH CENTURY BOYS 3: REDEMPTION (2009)
MEGA MONSTER BATTLE ULTRA GALAXY: THE MOVIE (2009)
ULTRAMAN ZERO: THE REVENGE OF BELIAL (2010)
GANTZ (2011)
KAIBUTSU-KUN: THE MOVIE (2011)
ULTRAMAN SAGA (2012)

[Jomei]

Well, kpa, I understand your reasons for insisting on the extra H better now, though I still don't feel quite as you do that we must insist on it to the exclusion of the accurate transliteration.

I agree on Kanon, though! That's something. I'll update the first post.

[Tohosaurus]

Isn't Daimajin Kanon a TV series?

[AVERY GUERRA]

Although made here in the States, "THE MILLENNIUM BUG" is straight-up man-in-suit-vs.-miniatures and freaking awesome. Highly recommended. Also, don't forget shorts like "Roboto Supremo", "Zero Trooper-F"[and it's non-kaiju sequel 'Greenside'],"Children Of Stone", "Godaizer", "Cencoroll", "Great Space Monster Darkmatton", "Zevastator GORGAROJ", and some of the really awesome other monster flicks of late like "Outlander" and "El Monstro Del Mar" or "King Crab Attack!", or even "Rat Scratch Fever"....

[kpa]

Isn't Daimajin Kanon a TV series?

Yes. O.supreme already pointed this out, and I called it a show and a series (rather than a movie) in my last post.

[Jomei]

So, do we want to include kaiju-based series as well?

[Kaiju-King42]

Canada
Behemoth (2010)

... We have a kaiju movie? Wow, I gotta see this!

[Tohosaurus]

Canada
Behemoth (2010)

... We have a kaiju movie? Wow, I gotta see this!

It was put out by RHI, I think. I've got it and watched it a couple of times.

Jomei, you should drop Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012) under either upcoming (since it comes out in a couple of weeks) or under United States.

[Rody]

Wasn't there another monster movie that came out in 2010 or 2011, about some teenagers in an airplane who get trapped up in a storm with a tentacled beastie?

I never saw it myself, but I remember it being mentioned here, and I saw it at Target or Meijer.

[HayesAJones]

^That's Altitude you're thinking of.

[Rody]

Did anyone see it? Should it be added to the list on page 1?

[Tohosaurus]

Did anyone see it? Should it be added to the list on page 1?

Late bump but I have and I know some others on here have (there should be a thread for it lurking around somewhere). It certainly could be added to the movie list.

[Jomei]

Did anyone see it? Should it be added to the list on page 1?

Late bump but I have and I know some others on here have (there should be a thread for it lurking around somewhere). It certainly could be added to the movie list.

Got it added!

That's the Canadian film, right? Worth seeing?