Sandbox:Shōwa period

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Japanese political periods
Shōwa period

The Shōwa period or Shōwa era (昭和時代,   Shōwa jidai, lit. "period of enlightened peace") is a period of Japanese history corresponding to the reign of Emperor Hirohito (posthumously renamed "Emperor Shōwa"), which lasted from December 25, 1926, until his death on January 7, 1989. This period saw a transformation in the country following World War II, leading into the golden age of Japanese cinema and birth of the kaiju genre in the 1950s. Toho special effects technician Eiji Tsuburaya is credited as popularizing the use of scale models in Japanese films, employing them for several of the company's early fantasy and war films. This culminated in Tsuburaya and Ishiro Honda's 1954 film Godzilla, which pioneered the marriage of miniature sets with costumed actors to portray giant rampaging monsters, or kaiju. This technique of "suitmation", along with the use of scale props like hand puppets and wire-operated models, pyrotechnics such as gunpowder explosions, and an optical printer to combine shots or add animation, formed the basis of classic Japanese special effects, known as "tokusatsu." Godzilla went on to spawn its own franchise and motivated Tsuburaya to establish Tsuburaya Productions (TsuPro), with which he created the kaiju-infused superhero franchise Ultraman.

Kaiju and tokusatsu at large took off in popularity, peaking in Japan between 1966 and 1968 in what is today regarded as the First Kaiju Boom (第一次怪獣ブーム,   Daiichiji Kaijū Būmu). During this time, every major film studio in Japan produced at least one kaiju movie: besides Toho, Daiei began the Gamera franchise and produced the Daimajin trilogy in 1966 and began the Yokai Monsters trilogy in 1968, Toei produced Magic Serpent in 1966, Shochiku produced The X from Outer Space in 1967, and Nikkatsu produced Gappa in 1967. Kaiju also flourished on television, with shows like TsuPro's Ultraman, Ultraseven, Monster Booska (co-produced with Toho), and Mighty Jack; Toei's Masked Ninja Akakage and Giant Robo; P-Productions' Ambassador Magma; and the Tokyu Agency's Monster Prince. Tokusatsu entered a lull thereafter, but was reignited in 1971 with the coming of a Second Kaiju Boom (第二次怪獣ブーム,   Dainiji Kaijū Būmu). Despite plans to end the Godzilla series with 1968's Destroy All Monsters, Toho picked production back up again the next year with All Monsters Attack as part of a new annual film festival, which also led to the introduction of some of Godzilla's most famous foes, namely Mechagodzilla in 1974's Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla. TsuPro also revived the Ultraman series with its first show since Ultraseven, appropriately titled Return of Ultraman, in 1971. At the same time, Toei produced the smash hit series Kamen Rider, which uniquely moved away from giant aliens and monsters in favor of a shapeshifting cyborg fighting humanoid creatures called "kaijin." This alternate form of tokusatsu entertainment earned the Second Kaiju Boom the nickname Transformation Boom (変身ブーム,   Henshin Būmu). Both kaiju and kaijin media were continued to be produced en masse, with the Second Boom considered to have lasted anywhere from 1973 to 1976.

Selected films

Godzilla series

Main articles: Showa era, Heisei era.

Gamera series

Eight Gamera films were released during the Shōwa period, from 1965 to 1980. The final of these, Gamera Super Monster, was produced nine years after the previous film, Gamera vs. Zigra, due to Daiei declaring bankruptcy. Super Monster was produced by a completely separate company, Daiei Film Releasing, which was established following the acquisition of the original Daiei's assets by Tokuma Shoten. The film's monster scenes consist almost entirely of stock footage from the seven previous productions.

Other Toho films

Besides the Godzilla series, Toho produced numerous other kaiju, science fiction, and horror films during the Shōwa period, some of which would introduce monsters that would go on to make appearances in the Godzilla series.

Other Daiei films

In addition to the Gamera series, Daiei produced numerous other science fiction and horror films during the Shōwa period, including the Daimajin and Yokai Monsters trilogies.

Miscellaneous films

Selected series

Toho series

During the late 1960s, Toho began producing numerous tokusatsu television series, many featuring kaiju, in a similar vein to Tsuburaya Productions' popular Ultra Series. Two of these series, Go! Godman and Go! Greenman, often reused monsters from other Toho shows or even from some of Toho's films, including the Godzilla films. The series Zone Fighter is particularly notable for featuring guest appearances from Godzilla himself, along with his enemies Gigan and King Ghidorah. Zone Fighter is considered to be part of the continuity of the Showa era Godzilla films, set sometime after Godzilla vs. Megalon.

Miscellaneous series

See also

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