Kaiju Mono (2016)
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Giant Monster Mono (2016)
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
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Weapons, vehicles, and races
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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
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Trivia
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