The first "giant monster movie" is debatable. The 1921 animated shortfilmThe Pet (1921) features a giant monster attacking a city, and the 1925 silent feature filmThe Lost World famously features a dinosaur being brought to the streets of London, subsequently inspiring the creators to make the 1933 movieKing Kong. The Japanese style of giant monster movies withsuitmation starts as early as the 1930s with movies such asWasei Kingu Kongu (1933),The Great Buddha Arrival (1934), andThe King Kong That Appeared in Edo (1938). The first Japanese "kaiju movie" to see international success is the 1954 featureGodzilla. When developing it, creators drew inspiration from the character ofKing Kong, both in its influential1933 film and in the conception of a giant monster, establishing it as a pivotal precursor in the evolution of the genre.[2] During their formative years,kaiju movies were generally neglected by Japanese critics, who regarded them as "juvenile gimmick", according to authors Steve Ryfle and Ed Godziszewski.[1]
Left, center: Illustrations fromCamille Flammarion's 1886 seriesLe Monde avant la création de l'homme ("The World Before Man's Creation") featuring bipedal dinosaurs in modern society. Right: The giant that slept for 5,000 years, byJohn Bauer (1882–1918).
The idea of giant monsters in city environments appear variously before the 20th century. A noteworthy example includesCamille Flammarion'sLe Monde avant la création de l'homme ("The World Before Man's Creation") series in 1886, which includes several illustrations that depict appearances of bipedal dinosaurs in period society.
Genre elements were present at the end ofWinsor McCay's 1921 animated shortThe Pet in which a mysterious giant animal starts destroying the city, until it is countered by a massiveairstrike. It was based on a 1905 episode of McCay's comic strip seriesDreams of the Rarebit Fiend.[10] It is likely the earliest "giant monster attacking a city" on film.[11]
The first feature films starring giant movie monsters made their debut during theinterwar period. The period is defined by its use of prehistoric creatures that survived to modern times in undiscovered natural areas or through prolonged hibernation, such as natural cryopreservation in caves and icebergs, which then come into contact with troublesome humans and then begin their rampage.[12]
The 1925 filmThe Lost World (adapted fromArthur Conan Doyle's 1912novel of the same name), featured many dinosaurs, including abrontosaurus that breaks loose in London and destroysTower Bridge. The film's layout was revolutionary and laid the foundation for future giant monster films. The film takes place on an unexplored mountain plateau like a deserted island teeming with prehistoric dinosaurs. The dinosaurs of The Lost World were animated by pioneeringstop motion techniques byWillis H. O'Brien, who would some years later animate the giant gorilla-like creature breaking loose in New York City in the 1933 filmKing Kong. The enormous success ofKing Kong can be seen as the definitive breakthrough of giant monster movies. This influential achievement of King Kong paved the way for the emergence of the giant monster genre, serving as a blueprint for future kaiju productions. Its success reverberated in the film industry, leaving a lasting impact and solidifying the figure of the giant monster as an essential component in genre cinematography.[2]
The 1942 Superman animated shortThe Arctic Giant features a cryopreservedTyrannosaurus which thaws out and attacksMetropolis. It is one of pioneering productions to depict aGodzilla-esque character to attack a modern civilization.[13]
The Japanese style of making giant monster movies, where the monster is portrayed by actors in monster suits, so called "suitmation", appears in the early 1930s. Early examples includes the 1933 King King spoofWasei Kingu Kongu, the 1934 featureThe Great Buddha Arrival, and 1938 feature andThe King Kong That Appeared in Edo.[14] Although all three films became lost during World War II, stills of the films have survived, and are some of the earliest examples ofkaiju movies in Japanese cinematic history.[14] The 1934 film presumably influenced the production of theUltraman franchise.[15]
AfterWorld War II, the roots of giant movie monsters started to shift from giant prehistoric monsters to monsters stemming from animals which had been exposed to strongradiation and then mutated into gigantic monsters, a result of the fear ofnuclear proliferation that spread around the world during theCold War.[16]
One of the early prolific examples isRay Bradbury's short story published in the Saturday Evening Post, June 23, 1951, "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms", which came to serve as the basis for the filmof the same name from 1953, featuring a fictional dinosaur, called aRhedosaurus (animated byRay Harryhausen), which is released from its frozen, hibernating state by anatomic bomb test within theArctic Circle. The American movie was released in Japan in 1954 under the titleThe Atomic Kaiju Appears, marking the first use of the genre's name in a film title.[17] It directly inspiredGodzilla, released in 1954 (subtitled: "H-Bomb Giant Monster Movie",水爆大怪獣映画,Suibaku Daikaiju Eiga), and many more giant monster movies of similar nature, such asThem! (featuring giant ants),Tarantula, andAttack of the 50 Foot Woman, etc.
Godzilla from 1954 is a rather unique example of the era, as it's not simply representing fear of nuclear proliferation, but also reflecting the experience that Japan faced upon theatomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II.Tomoyuki Tanaka, a producer forToho Studios in Tokyo, needed a film to release after his previous project was halted. Seeing how well the Hollywood giant monster movie genre filmsKing Kong andThe Beast from 20,000 Fathoms had done in Japanese box offices, and himself a fan of these films, he set out to make a new movie based on them and createdGodzilla.[18] Tanaka aimed to combine Hollywood giant monster movies with the re-emerged Japanese fears of atomic weapons that arose from theDaigo Fukuryū Maru fishing boat incident; and so he put a team together and created the concept of a giant radioactive creature emerging from the depths of the ocean, a creature that would become the monster Godzilla.[19]Godzilla initially had commercial success in Japan, inspiring otherkaiju movies.[20]
Following the success of Godzilla's first appearance, Toho followed up the following year with a sequel, calledGodzilla Raids Again, which introduced the concept of the "monster fight", in which two Kaiju fights one another.[21] In the movie, Godzilla faces off with another kaiju monster calledAnguirus, which is the first monster, aside Godzilla, to be introduced into theGodzilla franchise.[21]
With the advent of theSpace Race andSpace Age, themes of giant monsters from outer space and alien invasions started to appear in kaiju movies. Examples include the Godzilla filmGhidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, where the "space dragon"King Ghidorah is introduced for the first time, but also more obscure films such asThe X from Outer Space. Giant monsters from outer space are traditionally associated with fictional aliens who bring them to Earth to conquer the planet or similar.
During the 1960s, a rival franchise to Godzilla would also be launched by Japanese studioDaiei Film, introducing the giant monster turtleGamera, which have come to play a significant role in forming the genre along with theGodzilla franchise and theUltra Series.
InJapanese media, the termkaijū generally refers to large monsters and thereof, but in Westernpopculture it has been borrowed as a synonym for "giant (movie) monster" and thereof, but it can also specifically refer to ditto in Japanese popculture.[22]
Daikaijū (大怪獣) is the Japanese term equivalent to "giant movie monster" and literally translates as "giantkaiju" or "greatkaiju". This hyperbolic term was used to denote greatness of the subjectkaiju, the prefixdai- emphasizing great size, power, and/or status. The first known appearance of the termdaikaiju in the 20th Century was in the publicity materials for the original 1954 release ofGodzilla. Specifically, in the subtitle on the original movie poster,Suibaku Daikaiju Eiga (水爆大怪獣映画),lit.'H-Bomb Giant Monster Movie'.[citation needed]
Mecha kaiju (Meka-Kaijū) are mechanical orcybernetic kaiju. Such may be a unique character, likeMoguera andGigan, but also a robot clone of an existing kaiju, such asMechani-Kong andMechagodzilla, mainly produced by a foe to fight the real kaiju. Other forms includescyborg modifications to an existing kaiju to improve its abilities against a stronger kaiju, such asMecha-King Ghidorah andModified Gigan.
One of the first mecha kaiju was "Mechani-Kong" (Mecha-Kong) inKing Kong Escapes (1967), but the most famous example is "Mechagodzilla", introduced in the apply namedGodzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974).
"Kaijin" redirects here. For the Chinese and Japanese legendary creature, seeHairen.
Kaijin (怪人lit.'Strange person') refers to distorted human beings or humanoid-like creatures. The origin ofkaijin goes back to the early 20th Century Japanese literature, starting withEdogawa Rampo's 1936 novel,The Fiend with Twenty Faces. The story introduced Edogawa's master detective,Kogoro Akechi's arch-nemesis, the eponymous "Fiend", a mysterious master of disguise, whose real face was unknown; theMoriarty to Akechi'sSherlock. Catching the public's imagination, many such literary and movie (and later television) villains took on the mantle ofkaijin. To be clear,kaijin is not an offshoot ofkaiju. The first-ever kaijin that appeared on film wasThe Great Buddha Arrival a lost film, made in 1934. After thePacific War, the term was modernized when it was adopted to describe the bizarre, genetically engineered andcybernetically enhanced evil humanoid spawn conceived for theKamen Rider Series in 1971. This created a new splinter of the term, which quickly propagated through the popularity of superhero programs produced from the 1970s, forward. Thesekaijin possess rational thought and the power of speech, as do human beings. A successivekaijin menagerie, in diverse iterations, appeared over numerous series, most notably theSuper Sentai programs premiering in 1975 (later carried over intoSuper Sentai's English iteration asPower Rangers in the 1990s).
This created yet another splinter, as thekaijin ofSuper Sentai have since evolved to feature unique forms and attributes (e.g.,gigantism), existing somewhere betweenkaijin andkaiju.[citation needed]
Monster fights simply refers to fights in movies were kaiju fights each other or equivalent, which can be divided further. Monster fights are extremely common in kaiju movies overall, and mostGodzilla,King Kong, andGamera movies, etc, features such.
A common motif in regards to monster fights is when the main kaiju fights the opposing monsters as a defender of mankind. King Kong infamously fought atyrannosaur to defend the love interestAnn Darrow.Gamera, despite being the bad guy in the first movie, featured elements as a guardian of children, which eventually became his main trait.[25]
Monster duels refers to monster fights where two kaijuduels one another, a subgenre of its own, combining theversus movie genre with the kaiju genre. The first monster duels occurred in early dinosaur movies, such asThe Lost World (1925) andKing Kong (1933), especially the latter, whereKing Kong famously fights atyrannosaur. The first movie revolving around a monster duel wasGodzilla Raids Again from 1955, featuringGodzilla facing off with another kaiju monster calledAnguirus.[21]
Eiji Tsuburaya, who was in charge of the special effects forGodzilla, developed a technique to animate thekaiju that became known colloquially as "suitmation".[27] Where Western monster movies often usedstop motion to animate the monsters, Tsubaraya decided to attempt to create suits, called "creature suits", for a human (suit actor) to wear and act in.[28] This was combined with the use of miniature models and scaled-down city sets to create the illusion of a giant creature in a city.[29] Due to the extreme stiffness of the latex or rubber suits, filming would often be done at double speed, so that when the film was shown, the monster was smoother and slower than in the original shot.[18]
Kaiju films also used a form ofpuppetry interwoven between suitmation scenes for shots that were physically impossible for the suit actor to perform. From the 1998 release ofGodzilla, American-producedkaiju films strayed from suitmation tocomputer-generated imagery (CGI). In Japan, CGI and stop-motion have been increasingly used for certain special sequences and monsters, but suitmation has been used for an overwhelming majority ofkaiju films produced in Japan of all eras.[29][30]
Steven Spielberg citedGodzilla as an inspiration forJurassic Park (1993), specificallyGodzilla, King of the Monsters! (1956), which he saw in his youth.[31] During its production, Spielberg describedGodzilla as "the most masterful of all the dinosaur movies because it made you believe it was really happening."[32] One scene in the second movie (The Lost World: Jurassic Park), the T-Rex is rampaging throughSan Diego. One scene shows Japanese businessmen fleeing. One of them states that they left Japan to get away from this, hinting that Godzilla shares the same universe as the Jurassic Park movies.Godzilla also influenced the Spielberg filmJaws (1975).[33][34]
The popularPokémon media franchise has been inspired bykaiju culture since its inception, and many of its monster designs are based onkaiju.[35]
The music video for theBeastie Boys' 1998 song "Intergalactic", directed by band memberAdam Yauch and featuring a giant robot battling a giant octopus-headed monster, causing destruction to a city in the process, is inspired by Japanesekaiju films and TV series such asGodzilla andGiant Robo.[36]
In the Japanese-language original of theCardcaptor Sakuraanime series,Sakura's brotherToya likes to tease her by regularly calling her "kaiju", relating to her noisily coming down from her room for breakfast every morning.[37]
The Polish cartoon TV seriesBolek and Lolek makes a reference to thekaiju film industry in the miniseries "Bolek and Lolek's Great Journey" by featuring a robot bird (similar toRodan) and a saurian monster (in reference toGodzilla) as part of a Japanese director's monster star repertoire.[citation needed]
TheInspector Gadget film had Robo-Gadget attacking San Francisco à lakaiju monsters. In addition, similar toThe Lost World, it shows a Japanese man while fleeing from Robo-Gadget declaring in his native tongue that he left Tokyo specifically to get away from this.
In the second season ofStar Wars: The Clone Wars, there is a story arc composed of two episodes entitled "The Zillo Beast" and "The Zillo Beast Strikes Back", mostly influenced byGodzilla films, in which a huge reptilian beast is transported from its homeworld Malastare to the city-covered planet Coruscant, where it breaks loose and goes on a rampage.[39][40]
InReturn of the Jedi, therancor was originally to be played by an actor in a suit similar to howkaiju films likeGodzilla were made. However, the rancor was eventually portrayed by a puppet filmed in high speed.[41]
In the 2009 filmCrank: High Voltage, there is a sequence parodyingkaiju films using the same practical effects techniques used for tokusatsu films such as miniatures and suitmation.[citation needed]
The Japaneselight novel seriesGate makes use of the termkaiju as a term for giant monsters – specifically an ancient Fire Dragon – in the Special Region. Also, one of the Japanese protagonists refers to theJSDF's tradition to fight such monsters in the films, as well as comparing said dragon withKing Ghidorah at one point.[44][45]
Godzilla and Gamera had been referenced and appear many times throughout theDr. Slump series.[citation needed]
InPenn Zero: Part-Time Hero, there is a dimension that is filled with giant monsters that live on one island where they co-exist with humans that live on a city island.[citation needed]
In the "Sorcerous Stabber Orphen" serieskaiju are sent as a form of punishment for the breakage of everlasting laws of the world by the Goddesses of Fate.[46]
Batholith the Summit Kaiju (Japanese: バソリス) is a mountain (kaiju) originating from "Summit Kaiju International", an American media company based in Denver, Colorado. Batholith was first introduced to Godzilla fan during G-Fest 2017, which is an annual convention devoted to the Godzilla film franchise. Batholith the Summit Kaiju has appeared in various print media, including Famous Monsters of Filmland "Ack-Ives: Godzilla Magazine, MyKaiju Godzilla Magazine MyKaiju Godzilla Magazine, Summit Kaiju online video series, and other online media related to the Godzilla andkaiju genre.
In theNemesis Saga series of novels, Kaiju, also known as "Gestorumque", are genetic weapons sent by an alien race.
InJohn Scalzi's 2022 bookThe Kaiju Preservation Society, kaiju are a species of gigantic monsters that exist in a parallel earth accessible through radiation sources.
^Yoda, Tomiko; Harootunian, Harry (2006).Japan After Japan: Social and Cultural Life from the Recessionary 1990s to the Present. Duke University Press Books. p. 344.ISBN9780822388609.
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Media related toKaiju at Wikimedia Commons
