Kaiju

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Kaiju

from 1954 Godzilla film

Godzilla (1954 film)

is a successful landmark 1954 in film Japanese science fiction film directed and co-written by Ishiro Honda with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya, produced and distributed by Toho....
.]] monster) Half human from 1955 Half Human
Half Human

Half Human, originally released in Japan as , is a tokusatsu film produced and released by Toho in 1955. The film was made by Toho's legendary Godzilla production team of Ishiro Honda, Eiji Tsuburaya, and Tomoyuki Tanaka ....
film]] is a Japanese

Japanese language

IPA: [n?iho?go] is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is related to the Ryukyuan languages....
word that means "strange beast," but often translated in English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England and has lingua franca status in many parts of the world as a result of the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and that of the United States from the mid 20th century onwa...
as "monster

Monster

A monster is any of a large number of legendary creatures which usually appear in, legend, or horror fiction. The word originates from the ancient Latin :la:monstrum, meaning "omen", from the root of :wikt:monere and also meaning "prodigy" or "miracle"....
." Specifically, it is used to refer to a genre of tokusatsu

Tokusatsu

is a Japanese language word that literally means "special effects." It is primarily used to refer to live-action Japanese film and Japanese television drama that generally feature superheroes and make considerable use of special effects....
entertainment.

Related terms include , a film

Film

Film encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the film industry. Films are produced by recording images from the world with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or special effects....
featuring kaiju, kaijin (referring to roughly humanoid

Humanoid

A humanoid is a hybrid term formed from Latin humanus "human" and the Greek :wikt:-oid expressing likeness. The term was coined in 1918 to refer to fossils considered close to human but not strictly human, including species now classified as Homo such as the Neanderthals....
monsters) and , specifically meaning the larger variety of monsters.

The most famous kaiju is Godzilla

Godzilla

is a kaiju from the Godzilla series of science fiction films. He was first seen in the 1954 in film film Godzilla and has appeared in 28 films to date, all of which were produced by Toho As one of the most iconic characters in film history, Godzilla has also appeared in numerous Godzilla , Godzilla video games, novels and Godzilla in popula...
.

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Encyclopedia

from 1954 Godzilla film

Godzilla (1954 film)

Japanese language

English language

Monster

Tokusatsu

Film

Humanoid

Godzilla

Mothra

is a kaiju, a type of fictional monster who first appeared in the novel The Luminous Fairies and Mothra by Takehiko Fukunaga. Since her film d?but in the 1961 film Mothra , she has appeared in several Toho tokusatsu films....
, Anguirus

Anguirus

is the second Kaiju , who appeared only a year after Godzilla in the 1955 Toho film Godzilla Raids Again....
, Rodan

Rodan

is a kaiju, introduced in Rodan , a 1956 release from Toho, the company responsible for the Godzilla series. Like Godzilla and Anguirus, it is designed after a type of prehistoric reptile ....
, Gamera

Gamera

Gamera is a giant, flying turtle-like creature from a popular series of Kaiju eiga monster movies produced by Kadokawa Pictures in Japan. Created in 1965 to rival the success of Toho Studios' Godzilla during the kaiju boom of the mid-to-late 1960s, Gamera has gained fame and notoriety as a Japanese icon in his own right....
, and King Ghidorah

King Ghidorah

, sometimes spelled King Ghidrah, King Ghidra or King Ghidora, is a kaiju featured in several of Toho Godzilla films and in their Rebirth of Mothra trilogy....
. The term ultra-kaiju is short-hand for monsters in the Ultra Series

Ultra Series

The is the collective name for all the shows produced by Tsuburaya Productions featuring Ultraman, his many brethren, and the myriad Ultra Monsters....
.

Concept

Kaiju are typically modeled after conventional animals, insects or mythological creatures; however, there are more exotic examples. Choujin Sentai Jetman
Choujin Sentai Jetman

, translated into English language as Birdman Squadron Jetman, was the fifteenth entry of the Super Sentai television series. Produced by the Toei Company and Bandai, the series aired on TV Asahi on February 15, 1991 to February 14, 1992, with a total of 51 episodes....
features monsters based on traffic light

Traffic light

Traffic lights, also known as traffic signals, stop lights, traffic lamps, stop-and-go lights, robots or semaphore, are signaling devices positioned at road intersections, pedestrian crossing, or other location to control the flow of traffic....
s, faucets

Tap (valve)

A tap is a valve for controlling the release of a liquid or gas. In the British Isles and most of the Commonwealth the word is used for any everyday type of valve, particularly the fittings that control water supply to bathtubs and sinks....
and tomato

Tomato

The Tomato is an herbaceous, usually sprawling plant in the Solanaceae or nightshade family, as are its close cousins Nicotiana, potatoes, aubergine , chilli peppers, and the poisonous Atropa belladonna....
es; Kamen Rider Super-1
Kamen Rider Super-1

is a Japanese tokusatsu superhero television series. It is the seventh installment in the Kamen Rider Series. The series was broadcast on the Mainichi Broadcasting System from October 17, 1980 to October 3, 1981, lasting 48 episodes....
includes a whole army of monsters based on household objects such as umbrella

Umbrella

An umbrella or parasol is a canopy designed to protect against precipitation or sunlight. The term parasol usually refers to an item designed to protect from the sun, and umbrella refers to a device more suited to protect from rain....
s and utility ladder

Ladder

A ladder is a vertical or inclined set of rungs or Step . There are two types: rigid ladders that can be leaned against a vertical surface such as a wall, and rope ladders that are hung from the top....
s.

While the term kaiju is used in the West to describe monsters from tokusatsu and Japanese folklore, monsters like vampires, werewolves, Frankenstein's Monster

Frankenstein's monster

Frankenstein's monster is a fictional character that first appeared in Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein. In the novel, the creature has no name?a symbol of his parentlessness and lack of human sense of self and identity....
, mummies and zombies would fall into this category. But Frankenstein's Monster was once a kaiju in the film Frankenstein Conquers the World
Frankenstein Conquers the World

Frankenstein Conquers the World, released in Japan as and Toho's official English title is Frankenstein vs. Baragon, is a tokusatsu kaiju/horror film produced in 1965 by Toho....
, which was created by Toho

Toho

is a large Japanese independent film studio. It is headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group....
.

Kaiju are depicted as cannon fodder

Cannon fodder

Cannon fodder is an informal term for military personnel who are regarded or treated as expendable in the face of enemy fire. The term is generally used in situations where soldiers are forced to deliberately fight against hopeless odds in an effort to achieve a strategic goal....
serving a greater evil. Some kaiju are elite warriors which serve as the right-hand man to the greater villain and are destroyed by the heroic forces. Others have a neutral alignment, only seeking to destroy buildings and other structures. During the early eras of tokusatsu, "heroic" monsters were seen in Daikaiju Eiga films, and it wasn't until later when television tokusatsu productions began using kaiju which aided the hero, saved civilians, or demonstrated some kind of complex personality. These kaiju adopted many classic monster traits, appearing as the "Misunderstood Creature." Some kaiju hung out with the heroes and provided comedy relief, in contrast to the darker approach to these characters from more mature franchises, like Kamen Rider

Kamen Rider (franchise)

The is the overall name of a franchise of Japanese tokusatsu. The franchise began in 1971 with a show titled Kamen Rider which followed college student Takeshi Hongo and his quest to defeat Shocker....
.

Examples of kaiju

Kaiju film creators

Toho Company Ltd.
Kadokawa Pictures
Kadokawa Pictures

is a Japanese movie studio....

Major kaiju films

Godzilla (1954 film)
Godzilla (1954 film)

is a successful landmark 1954 in film Japanese science fiction film directed and co-written by Ishiro Honda with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya, produced and distributed by Toho....
Gamera (film)
Gamera (film)

is a 1965 in film Kaiju eiga about a giant turtle named Gamera. The film is similar in nature to the popular Godzilla films, and is also the first in a series of films about Gamera....
Gorgo (film)
Rodan (film)
Rodan (film)

Rodan, released in Japan as , is a 1956 tokusatsu film produced by Toho. It was the studio's first Kaiju eiga filmed in color . It is one of a series of "giant monster" movies that found an audience outside Japan, especially in United States....
Mothra (film)
Mothra (film)

is a 1961 giant-monster movie from Toho, directed by genre regular Ishiro Honda with special effects by legend Eiji Tsuburaya. It is the kaiju eiga debut of screenwriter Shinichi Sekizawa, whose fantastic yet intelligent approach to the genre grew to prominence during the 1960s....

External links

- A Boston-based group that stages Kaiju battels.
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