post-Godzilla daikaiju films

[Jomei]

There may be a thread on this topic, but I don't see one after scanning back 15 pages, so here we are. edit: thanks to Tohosaurus for helping me with the film list and to kpa and the Sci-Fi Japan crew for their informative articles!

Film list!

Japan
ULTRAMAN: THE NEXT (2004)
TETSUJIN 28 (2005)
GREAT YOKAI WAR (2005)
SUPERFLEET SAZER X (2005)
Reigo: The Deep-Sea Monster vs. the Battleship Yamato (2005)
Negadon: The Monster from Mars (2005)
MIRROR MAN: REFLEX (2006)
ULTRAMAN MEBIUS & ULTRAMAN BROTHERS (2006)
Gamera the Brave (2006)
Big Man Japan (2007)
DORORO (2007)
The Foghorn (2007)
Monster X Strikes Back: Attack the G8 Summit! (2008)
KITARO AND THE MILLENNIUM CURSE (2008)
20TH CENTURY BOYS (2008)
SUPERIOR ULTRAMAN 8 BROTHERS (2008)
G (2008)
Demeking (2009)
Jaws In Japan (2009)
RAIGA: THE MONSTER FROM THE DEEP SEA (2009)
GEHARHA: THE DARK AND LONG HAIR MONSTER (2009)
Assault Girls (2009)
20TH CENTURY BOYS 3: REDEMPTION (2009)
MEGA MONSTER BATTLE ULTRA GALAXY: THE MOVIE (2009)
ULTRAMAN ZERO: THE REVENGE OF BELIAL (2010)
Death Kappa (2010)
Daimajin Kanon (2010)
Gantz (2011)
Kaikbutsu-kun: The Movie (2011)
The God of Clay (2011)
Ultraman Saga (2012)
A GIANT WARRIOR DESCENDS ON TOKYO (2012)

South Korea
D-War (2007)

United States
King Kong (2005)
Transformers (2007)
Cloverfield (2008)
Monster (2008)
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)
Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus (2009)
Mega Shark vs Crocosaurus (2010)
Sharktopus (2010)
Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011)
Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)

Canada
Behemoth (2010)
Altitude (2010)

England
Monsters (2010)

Norway
Troll Hunter (2010)

Upcoming
Branded (Russia, 2012)
Pacific Rim (United States, 2013)
Advancing Titans (Japan, 2013)
Jellyfish Eyes (Japan, 2013)
Godzilla (United States, 2014)





I watched Death Kappa last night and, while reading up on it, I came across the following article.

http://godzilla2012.blogspot.com/2010/0 ... s-had.html

I thought it might be good to have a topic discussing kaiju films that have come out in Japan since Toho put Godzilla on the back burner and what other films are in production/planning. Of course this would include Ultraman films to some extent, but we can leave those for the Ultra thread since it's already a well-established franchise.

Anyway, from the above article I've only seen Death Kappa, but I have Raiga and Gehara (I think) ready to watch. Which ones have TK members seen? What did you think of them? I'm particularly interested in seeing Assault Girls, which is directed by Mamoru Oshii, known for his work on Ghost in the Shell.

[Rody]

I haven't seen Reigo, Raiga, Death Kappa or Gehara. I want to, but only DK is available in the US, it seems.


I did see The Monster X Strikes Back: Attack the G8 Summit! when someone posted it on Dailymotion. That wasn't very good --- yeah, I know, it was SUPPOSED to be bad, but I think it went too far and just became stupid.

There's also Gamera the Brave, of course; that's a must-see.

[Jomei]

I did see The Monster X Strikes Back: Attack the G8 Summit! when someone posted it on Dailymotion. That wasn't very good --- yeah, I know, it was SUPPOSED to be bad, but I think it went too far and just became stupid.

If that bothered you then you might want to skip Death Kappa, too. lol

There's also Gamera the Brave, of course; that's a must-see.

Yeah, that's a great one.

[Giga Kaiju]

I havent watched any of those but i want to from a long time...
I heard great things about Gehara, is it good?

[Tyler]

I'm throwing these out at random.

Gamera the Brave is really good. So is Negadon. I thought Big Man Japan was good to a point. Monster X Strikes Back is horrible. So is Death Kappa. I'm really sick of parodies. I thought Geharha was really good, though.

Demeking isn't really a monster movie but I liked it and the sequence that does feature a monster was really well done. Psycho Shark is sort of the same case. I wish I didn't know about the shark part before seeing it. It would've made the ending so much crazier.

Haven't seen movies like Raiga, Reigo, G, Gamera 4, etc.

[Rody]

I completely forgot about Negadon, Monster From Mars!

I've only seen the dubbed version, but it's still pretty good. It's certainly worth checking out.

[starsteam]

I've only seen Gamera the Brave, Negadon, and Monster X Strikes Back. I want to check out the others soon though.

I didn't think Monster X was that bad, but it's been way over a year since I first saw it so I can't remember it too much. Some of the jokes were rather stupid and the movie was pretty silly, but that's the way it was suppose to be. But yeah, these types of movie parodies aren't my favorite, as I prefer a more serious kaiju film.

The only one of the newer Ultraman movies I've seen is the 1st of the Ultra Galaxy films.

[B34sT]

Gamera the Brave is the only one I actually like that I have seen. I have seen Negadon and Gehara but didn't really enjoy them. I couldn't get behind Negadon because it was animated and looked off and Gehara's ending ruined it for me.

I am afraid to watch any of the rest for fear of wasting my time on a horrible movie. Reiga's trailer scared me away and I know Monster X does not hold up critically at all. G looks really good though but I have no idea where to find it.

[Jomei]

Death Kappa wasn't nearly as bad as people had led me to believe. Yeah, it's silly, satirical, and heavy on parody, but it was rather amusing for what it was. The Japanese nationalists were hilarious!

But if the parody/satire type of kaiju film turns you off (I also happen to prefer more serious/sincere films but can appreciate both) I can see why you wouldn't want to waste your time.

[ZillaMaster91]

I've never been that much into parody films (unless they were made by Mel Brooks), so Death Kappa is not on my list.

However I enjoyed Gamera The Brave. It just opened up the child within me.
I liked Negadon, and it was really inspirational for me to illustrate more original kaiju. I also loved how it had that Showa feel to it.

Other than that, I haven't seen the others nor plan to.

[o.supreme]

I currently own Gamera:The Brave, Negadon (nice CG short film) and Monster X Strikes Back (solely for completeness sake with X from Outer Space). I used to own Death Kappa, but got rid of it after 1 viewing. I also used to own Garuda (the first Thai Giant Monster film). Although it was released 6 months before GFW, it was not released on DVD in the US until a couple years later. I liked it, but just didn't watch it enough to justify owning it.

I would like to see Reigo & Raiga someday if they become available in North America. I have heard bad things about Gehara, so I wont waste my money on it.

[wataru]

I got Reigo and Raiga fansubbed but I cant watch them. My love of daikaiju eiga is fading quickly!

Gamera the Brave is HIGHLY overrated, like The Host. It offers SOME interesting bits but the overall movie is MEH!

...does The Host count here? I found the human family interaction to be great,but the entire monster element to be stupid.

[Jomei]

Any specific critique? Just saying "Meh" isn't very convincing.

I think it's a great flick--one of the most character-centered kaiju films out there. It's probably my least favorite incarnation of Gamera himself, but the film gets so many other things right that I can forgive the derpy Gamera.

[wataru]

The monster just didnt seem to fit into the story. You couldve substituted the monster for a kidnapping serial murderer and it wouldve been better IMHO.

[g2kmaster]

Negadon was pretty good. It was a nice short which had a certain Showa feel to it. It's something in what they depict in the film that gives it such. Can't wait to see Planzet.

I have seen REIGO, not Raiga, and I generally liked it. Osako from the Gamera trilogy is in it and he is good as a comedic actor (he plays a bit of a perv in the film). The stylistic ending was a good toutch IMO. Not the greatest, but it is entertaining. Here is a full review:
http://journalismg2km.blogspot.com/2010 ... go-vs.html

As for the stuff Kiyotaka Taguchi has done, here is a review for "G". For an independent thing, it is good. The years at Toho helping out the SFX crew defiently helps.
http://journalismg2km.blogspot.com/2010 ... iew-g.html

Geharha should be seen by every kaiju fan. Kiyotaka Taguchi does the narrative shots while Shinji Higuchi does the SFX work (along with Kiyotaka). For those who have not seen it, here is a subtitle transcript to read along with the video link in the link:
http://journalismg2km.blogspot.com/2010 ... ehara.html
Too bad a sequel will not be made. The trailer looked epic.

GUILALA'S COUNTERATTACK wasn't that bad. I lol'd a good bit and a younger fan I am pals with laughed his ass off (Especialy when Kim Jong Il came on the scene). It's not good. It's mediocre, but it is a comedy.

DEATH KAPPA was definitely something. It was obvious that there was American prodcers (Tokyo Shock/Media Blasters is an American company after all). But there was some interesting bits, mostly with the SFX. The enemy kaiju really needs a figure made of him. Looks like a kaiju version of Gyarados from Pokemon. It is, IMO, the worse of the bunch mentioned in this post.

Gamera: The Brave was good. Except for the roar, it gets the child friendly aspect of Gamera done right. The human direction has some great choices. It ditches the documentry feel and it works (dutch tilts, the way how the children trying to get the egg shell thing to Toho at the climax, all nice with editing being a major factor). Though nice to know we have a suicidal Gamera with a messed up stock T-Rex roar... Too bad MB couldn't come up with the money needed to have Kadokawa allow MB to fix the roars for the blu-ray release.

[B34sT]

Does anyone know if God of Clay is available anywhere? I really woulld like to see thos film by Kawakita.

[Jomei]

Does anyone know if God of Clay is available anywhere? I really woulld like to see thos film by Kawakita.

I second this. It looked pretty interesting.

[Tyler]

I have heard bad things about Gehara, so I wont waste my money on it.

Really? It's certainly better than crap like Monster X Strikes Back or Death Kappa. The ending works better than Big Man Japan's did. And it has some of the best effects in a Japanese monster movie since Gamera 3.

[kpa]

Does anyone know if God of Clay is available anywhere? I really woulld like to see thos film by Kawakita.

It's not. The short was done as an FX demo reel so the filmmakers don't have the rights to distribute it. The publisher of the original book gave the producers permission to screen it one time in Los Angeles.

And I'd like to remind everyone that we've covered most of these films on SciFi Japan, often with exclusive information and images provided by the filmmakers, studios or their distributors. So if you want to know more about them you can search the site for the likes of GAMERA THE BRAVE, NEGADON, G, GEHARHA (remember the second 'h'), MONSTER X STRIKES BACK, DEMEKING, THE GOD OF CLAY, PSYCHO SHARK, BIG MAN JAPAN, REIGO, the last several Ultraman movies, non-Japanese Asian creature features like THE HOST, DRAGON WARS and CHAW, and even the daikaju-inspired German radio drama GUALAGON.

[Jomei]

Ok, I just watched Gehara, and if, as a fan of the kaiju genre, you don't enjoy this short film... then I don't know what to say to you. I thought it was great fun, skillfully blending reverent homage with some affectionate parody. The effects were fantastic as well, and Gehara is a cool monster!

I'd much rather see a sequel to this than a new Cloverfield.