Kaiju Mono (2016)

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Kaiju Mono
The Japanese poster for Kaiju Mono
Alternate titles
Flagicon Japan.png Giant Monster Mono (2016)
See alternate titles
Directed by Minoru Kawasaki
Producer Hirofumi Shigemura, Minoru Kawasaki, Yutaka Sawamoto, Seiji Hamada, et al.
Written by Takao Nakano, Minoru Kawasaki
Music by Ryo Nakamura
Funded by Kaiju Mono Production Committee
Production company Rivertop
Distributor ARC FilmsJP, Sentai FilmworksUS
Rating TV-14US
Running time 93 minutes
(1 hour, 33 minutes)
Aspect ratio 1.78:1
Rate this film!
2.33
(3 votes)

Kaiju Mono (大怪獣モノ,   Daikaijū Mono, lit. "Giant Monster Mono") is a 2016 tokusatsu kaiju comedy film directed, co-written, and co-produced by Minoru Kawasaki. It is funded by the Kaiju Mono Production Committee—consisting of Rivertop and King Records—and produced by Rivertop. The film stars professional wrestler Kota Ibushi as a lab assistant who grows to giant size to combat a rampaging monster. Other starring actors include Syuusuke Saito, Miki Kawanishi, Saki Akai, and Minoru Suzuki. ARC Films released it to Japanese theaters on July 16, 2016.

Plot

A film crew for SpiritSpots.com flips through TV channels for something to watch while driving to their latest shoot. Nothing interests them: not the reports of abnormal weather around the globe, not the rumblings at Mount Myojin and the reemergence of a prehistoric flower species, not Dr. Saigo’s contentious press conference on his Setupp X Cell invention, and certainly not Sandayu Dokumamushi’s long-running radio show. Their goal is Specter Pass, where eyewitnesses have reported strange lights recently. While relieving himself, one of the hosts trips over an ancient statue and is confronted by the mysterious Professor Nindo Izumi, who warns the crew against filming at Specter Pass. They ignore his advice and are killed one by one by a massive creature with glowing yellow eyes that bursts out of the ground.

The next day, Professor Saigo’s daughter Miwa and his assistant Hideto Nitta marvel over the prehistoric flower species in question, The Juganda. Izumi, a Saigo family friend, warns them of the danger as well. After they discover an egg near the remains of the film crew, Mount Myojin begins to erupt. Dr. Saigo is elated to discover its cells contain the key to Setupp X Cells, which can jump-start the next stage of human evolution. He tries to convince Nitta to serve as a test subject. At Mount Myojin, the monster emerges before a crowd of soldiers and evacuees. Named Mono by the leader of a kaiju rights organization before she eats her, the monster lays waste to the JSDF’s tanks before burrowing towards Tokyo.

At Anti-Kaiju Mono Headquarters, Japan’s leading biologist and defense officials muse on the difficulties of fighting a monster whose presence disables electrical equipment. Professor Izumi bursts into the room to offer Setupp X Cells as a solution. Professor Saigo, well aware that his assistant is attracted to his daughter, convinces Nitta to take the Setupp X injection by showing him a bodybuilding magazine he found under Miwa’s bed. Nitta confronts Mono in Shibuya, clad only in a special pair of briefs designed to expand and contract as he changes size. After taking a few early hits, he overwhelms the kaiju with a series of advanced pro wrestling moves. Once his two minutes and 40 seconds are up and Mono withdraws, he returns to his normal size, but to the surprise of all, still retains his new muscular appearance.

Nitta becomes an instant celebrity refereed to as 'The Great Giant' by the media. His kiss with a beautiful stranger named Lisa is captured by paparazzi, depressing Miwa. That night, she discovers the egg pulsating with light. When Mono raids Shibuya again, the scientists attempt to return the egg to her. However, recovering the egg only makes her fight harder against Nitta when he tries to convince her to return underground. With electrically charged punches and poisonous fog, she handily defeats him, turning the media against him. Lisa leads him to a love hotel and steals his briefs, revealing herself as a foreign agent. To the surprise of Japanese counterintelligence, she has no interest in Setupp X Cells, as other countries developed their own super-soldier serums long ago. Nitta’s briefs, however, represent an incredible breakthrough in undergarment technology. As Professor Saigo researches an upgrade to Setupp X Cells, Professor Izumi trains Nitta in the woods, even teaching him how to stop the flow of a waterfall.

Lisa brings the briefs to her benefactor, codenamed Viper, only for him to double-cross her. She easily defeats his bodyguards, then returns the briefs to Miwa. She meets Nitta at the waterfall and they reconcile. He fares better against Mono in his third bout with her, but she bats aside his new technique and lays him low with an electrified grip. Professor Saigo injects Nitta with a version of Setupp X containing an evil gene, transforming him into a vicious fighter who trounces Mono. Before he can finish her off, the biologist Koichi Kirihara arrives with the revelation that Mono is the equivalent of a human woman in her 70s. Sandayu Dokumamushi, an expert in older woman, arrives to walk Nitta through the steps of peacefully leading Mono away from the city.

Staff

Staff role on the left, staff member's name on the right.

  • Directed by   Minoru Kawasaki
  • Written by   Takao Nakano, Minoru Kawasaki
  • Executive producers   Hirofumi Shigemura, Minoru Kawasaki, Yutaka Sawamoto, Seiji Hamada
  • Produced by   Yukihiko Yamaguchi, Kazutaka Sekiya, Minoru Kawasaki
  • Music by   Ryo Nakamura
  • Cinematography by   Makoto Matsuo
  • Edited by   Kentaro Hitomi, Takao Kawazoe
  • First assistant directors   Shingo Amemiya, Takanori Matsuoka
  • Director of special effects   Minoru Kawasaki
  • Visual effects by   Kentaro Hitomi, Takao Kawazoe

Cast

Actor's name on the left, character played on the right.

  • Kota Ibushi   as   Hideto Nitta (after Setupp X Cell injection)
  • Syuusuke Saito   as   Hideto Nitta (before Setupp X Cell injection)
  • Miki Kawanishi   as   Miwa Saigo
  • Saki Akai   as   Lisa
  • Minoru Suzuki   as   Evil Nitta
  • Eiji Ukulele   as   Vice-Minister Shuichi Oda
  • Kikurin   as   reporter
  • Ryuki Kitaoka
  • Takumi Tsutsui   as   Koichi Kirihara, biologist
  • Takagi Sanshiro
  • Makoto Aida
  • Daiki Hyodo   as   himself
  • Fuyuki Moto
  • Mitsuko Hoshi
  • Shimako Iwai   as   herself
  • Sayoko Hagiwara
  • Michiko Makino
  • Hiroshi Watari
  • Masami Horiuchi
  • Yasuhiko Saijo
  • Shinzo Hotta   as   Professor Nindo Izumi
  • Ryu Manatsu   as   Professor Jotaro Saigo
  • Eiichi Kikuchi   as   Deputy Defense Secretary Wataru Hashimoto
  • Satoshi Furuya   as   Defense Minister Yukio Kamikura
  • Sandayu Dokumamushi   as   himself
  • Hiroyuki Taniguchi   as   Mono

English dub

Actor's name on the left, character played on the right.

  • Scott Gibbs   as   Nitta
  • David Wald   as   Evil Nitta / Nakai
  • Molly Searcy   as   Miwa Saigo
  • James Belcher   as   Jotaro Saigo
  • David Harbold   as   Nindo Izumi
  • Luci Christian   as   Lisa
  • Steve Finley   as   Wataru Hashimoto / additional voices
  • Josh Morrison   as   Yukio Kamikura
  • Kregg Dailey   as   Koichi Kirihara
  • Mike Yager   as   Shuichi Oda
  • David Matranga   as   Viper / additional voices
  • Jack Hickman   as   sports announcer
  • Patricia Duran   as   Rui / Shimako Iwai / additional voices
  • Adam Gibbs   as   Wataru
  • Catherine Thomas   as   Asuna
  • Maggie Flecknoe   as   Sae
  • Greg Ayres   as   Jou
  • Andrew Love   as   male soldier C
  • Kira Vincent-Davis   as   Nishikawa / Akemi
  • Clint Bickham   as   funded A
  • Carl Masterson   as   Sandayu Dokumamushi
  • Kyle Jones   as   narrator / Daiki Hyodo / additional voices
  • Bryson Baugus   as   Arimura / Yuuto
  • Shannon Reed, Son Le, Alexandra Bedford, Pooja Amin, Ned Gayle, Samantha Stevens, Joel McCray, Ricardo Contreras, Crystal Ruiz   as   additional voices

Appearances

Monsters

  • Mono
    • Mono's Egg
  • Hideto Nitta / The Great Giant / Evil Nitta

Weapons, vehicles, and races

Alternate titles

  • Giant Monster Mono (literal Japanese title)
  • Kaijyu Mono (Fantasia International Film Festival)
  • Dai-Kaiju Mono (early U.S. Blu-ray title)

Theatrical releases

  • Japan - July 16, 2016

Foreign releases

Kaiju Mono's English-language debut was at the Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal on July 21, 2016, where it was screened under the title Kaijyu Mono. The film was released in the United States on Blu-ray by Sentai Filmworks in September 2018. Along with the Japanese audio, the disc includes an English dub by Sentai Studios. While the release is titled Kaiju Mono, early cover art instead used the title Dai-Kaiju Mono.

Video releases

King Records Blu-ray / DVD (2017)

  • Region: A/1 (Blu-ray), 2 (DVD)
  • Discs: 1
  • Audio: Japanese (2.0 Mono)
  • Subtitles: English
  • Special features: Theatrical trailer, special report, making-of featurette, premiere footage, images from the San Sebastian Film Festival

Sentai Filmworks Blu-ray (2018)

  • Region: A/1
  • Discs: 1
  • Audio: Japanese, English (DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0)
  • Subtitles: English
  • Special features: None

Videos

Kaiju Mono teaser
Kaiju Mono trailer
Behind-the-scenes footage

Trivia

  • The Juganda is based on the gigantic prehistoric flower Juran from the fourth episode of Ultra Q.

Comments

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