Toho’s major special effect film for its winter season of 1963. Once again a gathering of the grand minds of the time, Ishiro Honda, Akira Ifukube and Eiji Tsurbruya to bring another grand story to life. It proved to be another big pay off and one of their better known Tokusatsu features outside the core Godzilla franchise and notably introduces us to sea serpent, Manda, who would appear in a handful of Godzilla films and much more appearances in mass media, books and games. While Atragon falls short of reaching its full potential due to rushed characterization and several questionable plot developments, its cast, themes, music and extraordinary effects make it one of Toho’s most memorable productions of the era.
In terms of the plot, photographers Susumu Hatanaka and Yoshito Nishibe are having a normal outdoor session with one of their models when a vehicle nearly runs them over and drives into the ocean. The next morning, the police are having a hard time solving the case when the photographers spot a young lady. They track her down to ask if she likes to pose for photographs. They learn her name is Makoto. As they go and meet her, they witness her being kidnapped the same way it happened with the vehicle the previous night. They manage to save her and her uncle, former Admiral Kosumi, from an agent of the undersea continent Mu.
Mu then quickly reveals themselves to the world and orders complete submission to their kingdom, and for the handover of the Gotengo submarine, headed, Makoto’s father Captain Jinguji who went AWOL during the final days of WWII and is thought dead. As the world decides their response before the deadline, a older man stalking Makoto is caught by the Detective Ito and integrated in prison where he reveals himself in the presence of former Admiral Kisumi as Warrant Officer Amano serving under the still living Jinguji, who sent Amano to see the well being of his daughter. He is reluctant to lead the group to the Gotengo’s location, until he is pressed by the sleazy journalist, Uoto Unno, that Makoto’s survival may rely on the Gotengo power against Mu. As the group journeys a long distance, Unno, a double agent for Mu,leaves tracks to lead Mu agents to the island. As they arrive they are met with a still Imperialist Jinguchi who intends Gotengo’s use only for Japan, until his base is attacked and Makato is kidnapped, forcing him to choose between his loyalty to a dead cause or saving all nations and his daughter..
The story, penned by Shinichi Sekizawa, is actually really quite good and action packed. It’s highly based of a Jules Vern like novel ” The Undersea Warship: A Fantastic Tale of Island Adventure” by Shunro Oshikawa which I hope to read someday. However, the script is held back by several inconsistencies and plot holes. The Mu Empire, for example, establishes itself as a major threat, claiming to be “superior in every way” while boasting about a civilization that has survived for thousands of years… so why attack now ? What suddenly motivates them to conquer the world when they could have done so during a more primitive era, before surface nations possessed advanced weaponry?
The film also raises questions about Mu’s tactics. After Unno infiltrates the base, he only bombs portions of the facility rather than destroying the Gotengo outright. So why leave it in such a state that it was easy for them to repair? And even so, why didn’t Mu invade the island and take out the crew completely if they were so “afraid” of the threat? For an advanced civilization, Mu also has an impressive number of incompetent guards that can’t even keep their Queen safe from a photographer and two salaryman. The way the story wraps is completely anticlimactic as well and almost eye raising with how easy it was to break out. The Mu Empire never felt like the actual threat they promised to be, especially on the individual level, considering they seem to have crumbled cities, fly out of volcanoes and take out powerful ships with ease.
The story has a strong anti-imperial theme and touches on the inspiration of remaining imperial holdouts that wants Japan to be the way it was during the war. It was really a great concept for a story like this, although it’s missing a defining moment in Captain Jinguji’s motivation to suppress the 20+ year urge of restoring imperial Japan, now using Gotengo to save his daughter and Japan. Although the reason does speak for itself, it really just gets thrown in there without any particular time with the character to reflect on his decision that feels it was previously being built up.
Setting aside the hard to ignore plot holes, there is still plenty to enjoy in the story, particularly thanks to its strong cast, music, and special effects. However, perhaps the biggest issue for the film is its use of the characters. At times, there are simply too many to keep track of, with several being introduced only to quickly become background figures without much reason for their continued presence. Detective Ito is a good example. You could justify his involvement by saying he was responsible for transporting the prisoner or assisting with the investigation, but he ultimately spends most of his time observing without contributing much to the story. Several other characters suffer from the same problem, appearing for a few minutes before having little or no impact on the remainder of the film. With Admiral Kosumi, Captain Jinguji, Uoto Unno, Susumu Hatanaka and Makoto being the only ones who drive anything.
On the topic, Makoto may be the most frustrating character. She has one of the film’s more interesting arcs, being separated from her father and eventually rediscovering him. However, this is also complicated by another plot hole: she is apparently told that he is dead, despite several earlier conversations suggesting that he may still be alive. She doesn’t seem to question this until she encounters her stalker. In one of the stronger moments of the film, she has a moment to express her disgust at her father’s imperial fanaticism. Unfortunately, just like the Captain’s quick decision to save her and be the savior in the world, we did not get that defining moment of their relationship as it feels unfinished. We can assume they reconcile, but it is never properly shown, leaving their arc feeling incomplete. Her romance with Susumu is similarly underdeveloped, as the two suddenly seem to be a couple with little buildup to their relationship.
Now I don’t mean to seem like I dislike this film but I just see the potential that it could have. It ultimately feels like the film was rushed through production, which negatively affected both its story and character development. Those are what really keep this from being an all-time classic.
On the positive side, one of Atragon‘s greatest strengths is its cast and overall production value. The film features an all-star lineup of Toho favorites, with several actors making particularly strong impressions. Honda seemingly enjoyed the chemistry between Tadao Takashima and Yu Fujiki in King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) enough to reunite them as a comedic duo here. Their chemistry works just as well, and their performances make you wish the two had been given an entire comedy together. Then there’s Jun Tazaki in a deserved rare lead role here as he steals the scenery. He composes well the imperial passion, confusion, confidence and anger from Jinguji, yet retains the ability to examine the situations and calmly fights his battles, such as fighting Manda calmly as he encounters an unknown beast for the first time, yet he maintains his composition to fight the battle to victory. Ken Uehara as Admiral Kosumi, plays a great role and serves as an ambassador between the regular cast and Jinguji’s radicalism. Keeping it cool when they argue the fate of the Gotengo’s use for the world vs restoring Imperial Japan. Tetsuko Kobayashi looks memorable as the princess of Mu although unfortunate she is really not given to do but be easily kidnapped and spout the superiority of her race as the weak prisoners easily sneak through. Akihiko Hirata, Kenji Sahara and Hideyo Amamoto do very well as the supporting antagonists. Their experience as character actors are always a welcome addition. Sahara truly seems unrecognizable as the Mu agent posing as a nosy reporter.
Despite the shortcomings of the script, Honda’s direction impressed me. I believe if the film was given more time to develop he would have helped improve but with what time they had, he did the very best he could. As a pacifist and war veteran himself, you sense the extra craft taken in Atragon‘s deeper scenes of discussion with the former way of Imperialism and how Japan has changed for the better beyond the ideology as shown in the stronger conversations between the characters.
The sets, special effects and action are among Toho’s finest of the decade. Eiji Tsburaya was really on top of his game. While Manda’s scenes are the weakest of the effects work, rarely making the creature feel as terrifying as intended, the rest of the film is consistently impressive. The city destruction sequences are spectacular, particularly the destruction of Tokyo, while the Gotengo’s various action scenes showcase some excellent effects work. Despite not being intimidating, Manda himself looks fantastic and, as one of the film’s most enduring elements, has certainly helped keep Atragon remembered over the years. Unfortunately, despite being the “Worshipped Guardian of Mu,” he doesn’t actually do much, and his brief confrontation with the Gotengo ends far too quickly and easily.
For the music, Akira Ifukube gives another fitting score that energizes the action perfectly and gives the voice when certain scenes needed it! Especially once the Gotengo arrives at the scene of the action. Ifukube has to me, always been excellent with many of his closing themes to the films he’s done, as demonstrated here, the particular piece he plays as the princess swims back to her dying empire, brings a touch of sympathy towards the cruel empire.
I do like Atragon overall. It has enough special effects and performance from its cast to make it worth it for the Toho catalog. Plus Manda’s debut. It’s just hard to see the potential that was there for the story and characters that could have been, especially given that it had some of the best cast in one movie of that decade.
