Big Man Japan (2007)

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Big Man Japan
The Japanese poster for Big Man Japan
Alternate titles
Flagicon Japan.png Great Japanese (2007)
See alternate titles
Directed by Hitoshi Matsumoto
Producer Akihiko Okamoto, Yasushi Minatoya (executive)
Written by Hitoshi Matsumoto, Mitsuyoshi Takasu
Music by Towa Tei
Distributor Shochiku, Phantom FilmJP
Magnet ReleasingUS
Rating PG-13
Box office $9,694,904
(Japan Earnings)
$70,681
(Foreign Earnings)
$9,765,585
(Total Earnings)
Running time 113 minutes
(1 hour, 53 minutes)
Aspect ratio 1.85:1
Rate this film!
2.33
(3 votes)

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Big Man Japan (大日本人,   Dai Nipponjin, lit. Great Japanese) is a 2007 tokusatsu kaiju film co-produced by Realproducts and Yoshimoto Kogyo Company and distributed in Japan by Shochiku. The film was released to Japanese theaters on June 2, 2007 and to American theaters on May 15, 2009.

Plot

A documentary film crew interviews and follows the life of Masaru Daisato, the sixth and current member in a family line of supernatural protectors of Japan who can temporarily grow into giants when infused with electricity.

Despite the fame and admiration the previous giant guardians had garnered, defending Japan from various monsters of similar heights, by Masaru's time, the tradition is viewed as old hat by the jaded Japanese public and controversial by the unfairly critical Japanese media, even though giant monsters still menace the country on a near-weekly basis and there is still a need for Masaru's service. It also doesn't help matters that Masaru himself is something of a loser: an unkempt divorced father living alone with a timid and lazy demeanor that only adds fuel to the criticisms, especially when compared to his far more successful late father, The Fifth, and still-living grandfather, The Fourth, the latter of which having succumbed to mental illness in his old age.

Staff

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

  • Directed by   Hitoshi Matsumoto
  • Written by   Hitoshi Matsumoto, Mitsuyoshi Takasu
  • Executive producing by   Yasushi Minatoya
  • Produced by   Akihiko Okamoto
  • Music by   Towa Tei
  • Cinematography by   Hideo Yamamoto
  • Edited by   Soichi Ueno
  • Production design by   Etsuko Aiko, Yuji Hayashida

Cast

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

  • Hitoshi Matsumoto   as   Masaru Daisato / Big Man Japan
  • Riki Takeuchi   as   Haneru-no-ju
  • Ua   as   Manager Kobori
  • Ryûnosuke Kamiki   as   Warabe-no-ju
  • Haruka Unabara   as   Shimeru-no-ju
  • Tomoji Hasegawa   as   Interviewer / Director
  • Itsuji Itao   as   Female Niou-no-ju
  • Hiroyuki Miyasako   as   Stay With Me
  • Takayuki Haranishi   as   Male Niou-no-ju
  • Daisuke Miyagawa   as   Super Justice
  • Takuya Hashimoto   as   Midon
  • Taichi Yazaki   as   Daisato's Grandfather
  • Shion Machida   as   Daisato's Ex-wife
  • Atsuko Nakamura   as   Bar Proprietress Azusa
  • Daisuke Nagakura   as   Daisato's Grandfather - Younger
  • Motohiro Toriki   as   Daisato's Father
  • Keidai Yano   as   Young Daisato
  • Junshiro Hayama   as   Shinto Priest
  • Koichi Kitamura   as   Commander 1
  • Norio Nakayama   as   Commander 2
  • Toshihiro Koike   as   Udon Noodle Shop Owner
  • Atsuo Tanaka   as   Kanto District Security Guard
  • Yoshio Takahashi   as   Security Guard in Mikawa
  • Yoshihiro Kasuya   as   Care Worker
  • Yumiko Ise   as   Kyoko
  • Roselyn Yoshio   as   Nina
  • Kaho Okajima   as   Daisato's Daughter
  • Jeong-Suk O.   as   Announcer
  • Yoshihisa Shimazaki
  • Katsumune Onuki
  • Norihito Kobari
  • Masayuki Sekine   as   Daisato's Ex-Wife's Boyfriend
  • Takumi Matsumoto
  • Ryushin Tei
  • Tatsuya Oba   as   Convenience Store Clerk
  • Salam Diagne   as   Super Justice's Father (as Saramu Jânyu)
  • Yasuhiro Roppongi   as   Don't Touch Me
  • Yutaka Mishima   as   Midon - CGI
  • Hidetoshi Ito
  • Ai Nagano   as   Don't Touch Me (voice)
  • Kiyozumi Honda   as   Super Defense Team
  • Satoya Ishii   as   Super Defense Team
  • Seijiro Nakamura   as   Super Defense Team
  • Shunsaku Yajima   as   Pilot
  • Hiroko Toda   as   Bandaged Handsome Boy
  • Tetsuya Kume   as   Taxi Driver
  • Yuka Kamebuchi
  • Hiroko Nohara
  • Miho Silica Nakajima
  • Keiko Kurachi
  • Sachi Igarashi
  • Katsura Otsuka
  • Ayumi Takagi
  • Nobuo Furusho
  • Satoshi Fujimura
  • Hisao Kanno
  • Daisuke Takayama
  • Sanryo Odaka
  • Katsuo Niijima
  • Takumi Akama
  • Ryosuke Makioka
  • Aya Ando
  • Natsuho Ariga
  • Sachiko Kitamura
  • Fusako Yuzawa
  • Shunji Ishii
  • Noriko Hayashi
  • Naoji Kodama
  • Tadashi Munesue
  • Mitsuko Kobayashi
  • Eiji Mochizuki
  • Fumio Kobayashi
  • Reiko Nakaoka
  • Susumu Sobue
  • Kyoko Hayami
  • Aki Miyazoe
  • Miku Yoshikawa
  • Yasuhiro Koshi
  • Kazuya Shimizu
  • Kenji Motomiya
  • Seiji Yajima
  • Ryoji Okamoto
  • Toshimichi Tazaki
  • Nobuhiro Fujita
  • Hiroyuki Hasebe
  • Takayoshi Tanimoto
  • Yasushi Kuroki
  • Daisuke Horai
  • Koichi Ito
  • Hideyuki Sato
  • Kiyohiko Imai
  • Akihiro Ugajin
  • Kazuhiko Takeuchi
  • Komei Niitora
  • Noriaki Sekiguchi
  • Takashi Hoshino
  • Masafumi Kanai
  • Tatsuhiro Kaiko


Appearances

Monsters


Weapons, vehicles, and races

  • Super Defense Team patrol car
  • Super Defense Team fighter jet


Gallery

Main article: Big Man Japan/Gallery.
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  • Big-Man-Japan-Stray-Cat-October-2020-01.jpg
  • Big-Man-Japan-Stray-Cat-October-2020-02.jpg
  • Big-Man-Japan-Stray-Cat-October-2020-04.jpg
  • Big-Man-Japan-Stray-Cat-October-2020-05.jpg
  • Big-Man-Japan-Stray-Cat-October-2020-06.jpg
  • Soundtrack

    Main article: Big Man Japan (Soundtrack).

    Alternate titles

    • Great Japanese (literal Japanese title)
    • The Demon (English working title)
    • The Electric Man (English working title)
    • The Man of Electricity (English working title)
    • Giant Japanese (Японский гигант; Russia)
    • Very Big Japanese (Πολύ μεγάλοι Γιαπωνέζοι; Greece)

    Theatrical releases

    • Japan - June 2, 2007
    • Hong Kong - November 8, 2007
    • United States - March 13, 2008 (Cleveland International Film Festival); April 3, 2008 (Wisconsin Film Festival); July 4, 2008 (New York Asian Film Festival); May 15, 2009  [view poster]American poster
    • Germany - July 17, 2008

    U.S. remake

    Because of the film's positive reception during its limited but lengthy theatrical run in America, Columbia Pictures optioned a remake with Neil H. Moritz attached as producer and Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi taking on screenwriting duties.[1] The project went silent after its initial 2011 announcement but in 2013, the screenwriters gave the online new site Collider an update on the remake; namely, that it was still in the works but not much else. Afterwards, the planned American remake virtually vanished into development hell and is widely believed to have been quietly killed off.

    U.S. release

    Big Man Japan was first screened at the Cleveland International Film Festival on March 13, 2008 and was screened in April of the same year at the Newport Beach International Film Festival and the Wisconsin Film Festival. On May 15, 2009, the film was given a theatrical release by Magnet Releasing.

    Awards

    Award Category Recipient(s) Result
    Sitges - Catalonian International Film Festival Best Film Hitoshi Matsumoto Nominated
    Cannes Film Festival C.I.C.A.E. Award Hitoshi Matsumoto Nominated
    Golden Camera Hitoshi Matsumoto Nominated
    Asian Film Awards Best Visual Effects Hiroyuki Seshita Nominated

    Video releases

    Madman Entertainment DVD (2009)

    • Region: 4
    • Discs: 1
    • Audio: Japanese (5.1 Surround)
    • Subtitles: English
    • Special features: Japanese theatrical trailer, still gallery
    • Notes: Released on January 22, 2009

    Videos

    Trailers

    Japanese Big Man Japan trailer
    U.S. Big Man Japan trailer

    Clips

    Clip #1 - "The Strangling Monster"
    Clip #2 - "Becoming Big Man Japan"
    Clip #3 - "The Leaping Monster"
    Clip #4 - "Kaiju Grandpa"
    Clip #5 - "The Evil Stare Monster"
    Clip #6 - "The Stink Monster"
    Clip #7 - "The Child Monster"
    Clip #8 - "Grandpa vs. The Evil Red"
    Clip #9 - "Baby Or Die!"
    Clip #10 - "Super Justice Beating"

    Trivia

    External links

    References

    This is a list of references for Astounding Beyond Belief/Sandbox/Big Man Japan. 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]

    Comments

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