Daimajin (film)
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Daimajin (大魔神 Daimashin) is a 1966 tokusatsu kaiju film produced by Daiei Film Co. Ltd. It is the first film in the Daimajin trilogy, and introduces the general formula for Daimajin's films which the rest of the trilogy follows. It was released to Japanese theaters on April 17, 1966 and to American theaters on August 9, 1968.
Plot
Large tremors sent villagers scattering, as they fear that an ancient spirit, named Arakatsuma, is beginning to wake up. The entire village then gathered at their shrine to pray that it will remain imprisoned. This torchlit ceremony, led by their Priestess Shinobu was observed by the local feudal boss, Lord Hanabusa, who respected the beliefs of his villagers, but did not believe in the Daimajin. Hanabusa then sent his chamberlain named Samanosuke down to the ceremony to provide a sense of security, but Samanosuke used the distraction as a means of staging a coup. He killed Hanabusa and began to storm the castle.
A loyal vassal named Kogenta went to protect Hanabusa's children, Tadafumi and Kozasa Hanabusa, and prepared to smuggle them out of the kingdom. THey made their way to a stable with the help of some other vassals, but were cornered by Samanosuke's guards.They began to burn the stable down, and the vassals made a vow to meet back in town in ten years from that day. Kogenta and the children escaped the building, but had to be cautious of guards as Kogenta took them to his aunt Shinobu's house. They hid from the soldiers when they came to search the house, and when they had gone Shinobu took them up Majin's Mountain and left them in a cave that was believed to have once been the home of their god, on the assurance that Samanosuke's men would never look there.
Ten years later, Kogenta went down from his mountain home and into the village. On the road, he encountered a patrol of Samanosuke's guards and was captured. On hearing this, Tadafumi went into town to rescue him, and a young villager pleaded to Shinobu to let him pray at the Idol of Arakatsuma to bring his wrath on Samanosuke who was using the villagers as slaves to build an impenetrable fortress. He was denied, but was assured that their god would hear his prayers and send him, but the boy ran from her house and up the mountain where he mistook Kozasa for a god.
In town, Tadafumi sneaked through the construction site where Kogenta was being dangled from a pole, but was himself captured, as Kogenta had been used as bait for him. After learning that neither had returned, Shinobu went to Samanosuke to warn him that his continued tyrannical acts would bring the wrath of Arakatsuma on him, which caused him to fire an unloaded gun in her face to test her faith before brutally murdering her with a sword. He then ordered that a group of soldiers be sent to Majin's Mountain to destroy the idol of Arakatsuma.
As the crew traveled up the mountain, they captured Kozasa and the boy, and forced them to take them to the statue. They tried to destroy it with hammers, but saw no results, which led them to try to drive a chisel through the idol's head, which made the statue bleed. An earthquake then created a fissure that swallowed the demolition team, but not Kozasa or the boy. Kozasa then tried to awaken Arakatsuma, and even went as far as to offer her life to the god by throwing herself off a nearby waterfall, but was held back by the boy. She began to cry on the statue, and that caused it to stand up and change into an organic form resembling a giant samurai. Kozasa then offered her prayer to the statue, and informed it that Lord Samanosuke was being unjust in the city. Arakatsuma then transported himself to the village and began to destroy it in his attempt to reach Samanosuke. In the chaos, Tadafumi and Kogenta are able to escape their prison cell, and meet up with Kozasa. The three then watched as Arakatsuma reached in to the ruined palace and held up the terrified Samanosuke. He then removed the chisel that was still in his head from the earlier attempt to destroy him, and impaled him on a ruined of the palace.
Even after his mission was complete, Arakatsuma, being an immortal god of endless wrath, continued to destroy the village. Again Kozasa offered her life to the Daimajin, but once again it was her tears that brought him to a stop. After the tears hit him he transformed back into a statue before a ball of light flew out of him and disappeared into the sky before the statue crumbled to dust.
Staff
Staff role on the left, staff member's name on the right.
- Directed by Kimiyoshi Yasuda
- Written by Tetsurô Yoshida
- Produced by Masaichi Nagata and Mitsuru Tanabe
- Music by Akira Ifukube
- Cinematography by Fujio Morita
- Edited by Hiroshi Yamada
- Assistant directing by Eiji Nishizawa
- Special effects by Yoshiyuki Kuroda
Cast
Actor's name on the left, character played on the right.
- Miwa Takada as Kozasa Hanabusa
- Yoshihiko Aoyama as Tadafumi Hanabusa
- Jun Fujimaki as Kogenta
- Ryûtarô Gomi as Samanosuke
- Ryûzô Shimada as Tadakiyo Hanabusa
- Tatsuo Endô as Gunjurô
- Shôsaku Sugiyama
- Chikara Hashimoto
- Saburô Date as Ippei Cyjûma
- Otome Tsukimiya as Priestess Shinobu - The Shrine Maiden
- Keiko Kayama as Haruno
- Eigorô Onoe as Gosaku
- Gen Kimura as Mosuke
- Hideki Ninomiya as Tadafumi as a boy
- Shizuhiro Izoguchi as Take-bô
- Yûtarô Ban as Mondo
- Hideo Kuroki as Magojûrô
- Akira Shiga
- Jun Ôsugi
- Jun Katsumura
- Kazuo Moriuchi
- Akira Amemiya
- Shinjiro Akatsuki
- Kanji Uehara
- Masako Morishita as Young Kozasa
- Hatsumi Yoshikawa
- Riki Hashimoto as Daimajin
Appearances
Monsters
Gallery
- Main article: Daimajin (film)/Gallery.
Soundtrack
- Main article: Daimajin (Soundtrack).
Alternate Titles
- The Hideous Idol Majin (International title)
- Majin, the Monster of Terror (United States)
- Majin, Monster of Terror
- Majin, the Stone Samurai
- The Vengeance of the Monster
- The Giant Majin
- Majin
- Fury of Mountain God
- Majin the Hideous Idol
- The Devil Got Angry
Theatrical Releases
- Japan - April 17, 1966 [view poster]Japanese poster
- United States - August 9, 1968 [view poster]
Video Releases
ADV DVD (2002) [The Complete Daimajin Trilogy]
- Region: 1
- Discs: 3
- Audio: Japanese (2.0 Mono)
- Special Features: Trailers
- Notes: Out of print. Packaged with Return of Daimajin and Wrath of Daimajin. Reissued as a single disc in 2005.
Mill Creek Blu-ray (2012) [Daimajin Triple Feature]
- Region: N/A
- Discs: 2
- Audio: Japanese (DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0), English (DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0)
- Special Features: Trailers for all three Daimajin films, interviews with cinematographer Fujio Morita on the making of each film (28, 31, and 28 minutes).
- Notes: Packaged with Return of Daimajin and Wrath of Daimajin.
Trivia
- This films sets up several conventions that are followed over the course of the trilogy.
- Daimajin is unleashed by people to solve feudal issues, which culminate in the toppling of an oppressive leader.
- Daimajin doesn't appear until late in the film's plot.
- Daimajin's alignment is often neutral, and he will attack anything which hinders him.
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