Negadon: The Monster from Mars
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Negadon: The Monster from Mars (惑星大怪獣ネガドン is a 2005 computer-animated Japanese short kaiju film, written and directed by Jun Awazu and distributed by CoMix Wave Inc. It premiered at the Tokyo International Film Festival on October 16, 2005. Styled after the kaiju films of the 1950's and 60's, Negadon depicts a scientist piloting a giant robot to save Tokyo from a space monster ten years after an accident involving the same machine led to the death of his daughter. Wakusei Daikaijû Negadon, lit. Great Planet Monster Negadon)
Plot
In the year 2025, Earth's population has reached 10 billion, and its resources are at a breaking point.
"Man always brings about disaster by his own hand."
His last thought is, This will do, right, Emi?
Yoshizawa watches the sun set as Tokyo begins to rebuild.
Staff
Staff role on the left, staff member's name on the right.
- Directed by Jun Awazu
- Written by Jun Awazu
- Produced by Kazuki Sunami
- Music by Shingo Terasawa, Akane Yumoto ("Dream in True Color: The Sky in 2015")
- Cinematography by Jun Awazu
- Edited by Jun Awazu
Cast
Actor's name on the left, character played on the right.
- Dai Shimizu as Ryuichi Narasaki (voice)
- Takuma Sasahara as Seiji Yoshizawa (voice)
- Akane Yumoto as Emi Narasaki (voice)
- Masafumi Kishi as Narrator / TV Announcer (voice)
English Dub
Actor's name on the left, character played on the right.
- Sean Schemmel as Ryuichi Narasaki
- Dan Green as Seiji Yoshizawa
- Annice Moriarty as Emi Narasaki
- Marc Thompson as TV Announcer
- Tom Wayland, Tim Werenko as Other Voices
Appearances
Monsters
- Negadon
- Miroku
Weapons, Vehicles, and Races
- Izanami
- HHF-1
- Kagotachi
- F-104 Starfighter
- Type 74 Tank
- Honest John Missile Launcher
Development
After directing two short CG kaiju films in college (Magara: The Giant Monster and Magara: The Final Showdown), Jun Awazu embarked on a more ambitious project. Negadon: The Monster from Mars was to be an elaborate homage to Showa-era tokusatsu films, from the production design to the qualities of the film stock. He would come to call the latter, which took two years to develop, the "Awazu Filter."
Awazu began writing the script in March or early April 2003, and completed the storyboards in June.[1] The appearance of Tokyo in the film was largely based on his childhood memories of his hometown, Nagoya.
Production
http://www.scifijapan.com/articles/?s=negadon
Gallery
U.S. Release
Central Park Media acquired the rights to Negadon: The Monster from Mars in January 2005, and commissioned an English dub from TripWire Productions. The film was screened at several conventions and theaters throughout the year; in theaters, it was part of a triple feature with two other anime shorts, Cat Soup and Kakurenbo: Hide and Seek. A partial list of U.S. screenings is below:
- Anime Syracuse (Syracuse, NY) - March 25, 2006
- ImaginAsian Theater (New York City, NY) - May 9-18, 2016
- Egyptian Theatre (Hollywood, CA) - June 30, 2006
- G-Fest (Rosemont, IL) - July 8, 2006
- Alamo Mason Park Cinema (Houston, TX) - Opened July 12, 2006
The film was released on DVD by U.S. Manga Corps on July 11, 2006.[2]
Alternate Titles
- Great Planet Monster Negadon (Literal Japanese Title)
Reception
Writing for the New York Times, Neil Genzlinger remarked that Negadon: The Monster from Mars "looks great and even has a respectable dose of the character development and back story that anime sometimes spurns... The setup is lovely, but the film seems in a hurry to get to the big clash, as if desperate not to violate some anime time limit. Too bad; it might have worked at feature length."[3] Carl Kimlinger of Anime News Network gave a more muted endorsement: "Negadon is, at heart, a distillation of everything that Jun Awazu loves about the kaiju eiga. At only 25 minutes, there isn't time for anything else. Of necessity, this means jettisoning much of what gives the best kaiju movies their resonance; character depth and interaction, social commentary, and (as silly as it sounds) any depiction of the human cost of fighting a giant monster are all excised, inherently limiting the scope of the intended audience. This isn't a movie for everyone; Negadon is instead aimed squarely at those of you who stand up and cheer when a giant robot breaks out its drill arm."[4]
Awards
- 20th Digital Contents Grand Prix - Outstanding Production Award
- 9th Japan Media Arts Festival - Jury Recommended Work
Video Releases
CoMix Wave DVD (2005)
- Region: 2
- Discs: 1
- Audio: Japanese (2.0)
- Subtitles: Japanese
- Special Features: Interview with director Jun Awazu (18 minutes), making-of featurette (14 minutes), trailers
- Notes: Out of print.
U.S. Manga Corps DVD (2006)
- Region: 1
- Discs: 1
- Audio: Japanese, English (2.0)
- Subtitles: English
- Special Features: Interview with director Jun Awazu (18 minutes), two of Awazu's student films (Magara: The Giant Monster and Magara: The Final Showdown, 2 and 5 minutes), making-of featurette (14 minutes), digital liner notes, Kaiju A-Go-Go (fan-submitted original monsters), trailers, previews of other Central Park Media titles, still from the film (1:28)
- Notes: Out of print. The creations of several prominent kaiju fans appear in the Kaiju-A-Go-Go special feature: artists Matt Frank and Raf Gonzalez, and Kaijusaurus Podcast co-host Steven Sloss.
Videos
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Trivia
- Negadon: The Monster from Mars refers to the year 2025 as "Showa 100," suggesting that Japanese Emperor Hirohito lived to be 124.
- According to Central Park Media's press release, Negadon: The Monster from Mars is the first fully computer-animated monster film.[5]
- The Miroku robot in Negadon: The Monster from Mars is the second in its series; the first appeared in Awazu's earlier short Magara: The Final Showdown. However, the two films do not share continuity.
External Links
- Official site
- SciFi Japan's coverage of the New York City premiere of Negadon: The Monster from Mars
References
This is a list of references for Negadon: The Monster from Mars. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]