#Haruo Takashi

[animenostalgia]

News - Animator Haruo Takashi, best known for working on classic anime like Himitsu no Akko-chan, Lupin the Third, and being a key animator on Sanrio's 1978 cult-classic The Ringing Bell has passed away. He was also an award winning manga artist for his 4-panel gag manga Iwayuru Hitotsu no Cho-san Shugi ("The So-Called Principal Cho-San"), which was serialized for 27 years. He was 76 years old. Rest in peace, Takashi-sensei.

[haveyouseenthismovie-poll]

[brokehorrorfan]

Bottleneck Gallery will release Godzilla 24x36 screen prints by Kevin Wilson and Godzilla Minus One 24x36 giclee prints by Nuno Sarnadas tomorrow, September 25, at 12pm ET.

Godzilla is limited to 100 for $50, with a black-and-white variant limited to 75 for $60. Godzilla Minus One is limited to 100 for $50. Acrylic panel prints of all three designs, limited to 15 each, will be available for $125.

[fourorfivemovements]

Films Watched in 2024: 72. 地球防衛軍/Chikyū Bōeigun/The Mysterians (1957) - Dir. Ishirō Honda

[celluloidchronicles]

生きる

Ikiru

🇯🇵 | Oct 9, 1952

directed by Akira Kurosawa

screenplay by Hideo Oguni, Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto 

produced by Toho Company, Ltd.

starring Takashi Shimura, Haruo Tanaka, Nobuo Kaneko, Bokuzen Hidari, Miki Odagiri

2h23 | Drama

out of plan

Browse through collections

Japanese Movies | director Akira Kurosawa | writer Hideo Oguni | writer Akira Kurosawa | writer Shinobu Hashimoto | studio Toho Company, Ltd. | actor Takashi Shimura | actor Haruo Tanaka | actor Nobuo Kaneko | actor Bokuzen Hidari | actress Miki Odagiri | Akira Kurosawa Collection

Browse through genres

Drama

Links

trakt.tv | letterboxd

[the-monkey-ruler]

Shinzo (2000) 爆裂战士マシュランボー

Director: Tetsuo Imasa / Kenji Nakamura / Haruo Kosaka / Toshiaki Komura / Miyo Sasaki / Mitsuo Hashimoto / Tomoharu Arata Edited by: Izumi Higashido / Makoto Kanjima / Kenichi Kaneka / Hiroyuki Kawasaki / Yukito Nonaka / Kenichi Yamada / Yōmichi Shirai Starring: Minami Takayama / Yuko Minakuchi / Yasuhiko Kawazu / Naosuke Tatsuta / Atsushi Kashiwagi / Kyoko Yamada / Ai Maeda / Tsuyoshi Hisakawa / Atsushi Kashiichi / Tomoe Sato / Junko Shimakata / Michitaka Kobayashi / Hideyuki Hori / Kenji Utsumi / Takashi Nakao / Mami Koyama / Toshio Furukawa / Keiko Han / Hiroo Egawa / Takeshi Aono / Banjo Ginga / Takashi Koda / Koji Fukusaku / Kazuko Sugiyama / Takumi Yamazaki / Horinoku / Nobutake Tatsuya / Tomohisa Aso / Norio Tsukui / Ienaka Hiroshi / Chie Seguchi / Hitoshi Domon / Akira Tahara / Kazuya Ichijo / Masaya Takatsuki / Masaharu Sato / Mitsuo Iwata / Keiko Yamamoto / Kunihiko Yasui / Hikaru Midorikawa / Mami Kanazuki / Hisaya Suganuma / Chigusa Ikeda / Hiromi Konno / Daisuke Nari / Yuko Nagashima / Nobuo Satouchi / Daifumi Tanaka / Naosuki Imamura / Takayuki Inoue / Akiki Chatan / Munehiro Ehoku / Rie Aoki / Yo Murakami / Tsuyoshi Nishi / Tsuyoshi Toshita / Higashi Genre: Animation Official website: www.toei-anim.co.jp/tv/mashura/ Country/Region of Production: Japan Language: Japanese Date: 2000-02-05 (Japan) Number of epsiode: 32 Also known as: Mushrambo IMDb: tt0293741 Type: Reimanging

Summary:

In the distant past, the Guardian of the Milky Way galaxy named Lanancuras began to harbor a desire for more power. Because of his connection to the galaxy, he was able to absorb parts of planets and add them to his strength. As a result, he began invading the worlds he was assigned to protect. In the wake of his destruction, a following of creatures from across the galaxy pledged allegiance to Lanancuras and became known as the Kadrians. Taking notice of his ever-growing power and followers, the other Celestial Guardians confronted him; however, he had become too powerful, and they were defeated. Unable to subdue Lanancuras, the Celestial Guardians each gave up a part of their power and combined it into a single new Guardian, Mushra. In a final desperate attempt, they used Mushra's core by transforming it into a powerful card with which to seal Lanancuras in a prison. The prison was created from the remains of planets that had suffered under Lanancuras' tyranny. Because planets are themselves large beings, their combined strength (along with the power of the card) was able to restrain him. Thus Lanancuras was successfully sealed in a large meteorite.

The meteorite was sent off into the galaxy to be sealed forever. Meanwhile, the way Lanancuras had increased his strength had consequences on the planets of the Milky Way On Earth, around the 22nd century, it was in the shape of a virus that merged with human DNA and destroyed the humans that way. In order to eliminate the virus, scientists worked on combining human DNA with the DNA of animals and other creatures immune to the effects. They succeeded and created a sentient race known as Enterrans (a race of engineered Earthlings) which are based on humans, insects, reptiles, birds, sea creatures, wild beasts, and phantom beasts. Eventually, a cure was found and the human race survived.

However, due to Lanancuras' influence, the Enterrans fought their human creators as well as the robots that worked with the humans, driving the human race to a near extinction state. Luckily, a scientist named Dr. Daigo Tatsuro placed his 4-year-old daughter Yakumo in a sleep chamber in hopes that she would save the human race and find the human sanctuary Shinzo and bring peace back to Earth which was then renamed to Enterra. When the meteor that Lanancuras was imprisoned in struck Earth during the earlier parts of the Human-Enterran War, its fragment had struck an infant Yakumo giving her abilities that she would later discover.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinzo

Link: https://kissanime.com.ru/Anime/Shinzo-Sub/

[ikemenfangirl]

Kenka Bancho Otome Double Pack : Switch version JP

💥 Kenka Bancho Otome: Girl Beats Boys (Fighting Delinquents Girl Leader)

Title: Kenka Bancho Otome Developer: RED Entertainment Publisher: Spike Chunsoft Langauge: Japanese Platform: Nintendo Switch Website: https://www.kenkabancho-otome.com/doublepack/ Release: January 6, 2025

💥 Otome romance ADV game about a cross-dressing girl who attends a boys high school.

💥 Heroine is shocked to learn that she has an older twin brother called Hikaru. as a yakuza, Hikaru requests Hinako to switch places with him at Shishiku Academy, an all-boys school overrun with Japan's toughest delinquents, and become the new yakuza boss.

CAST

🧡 Minowa Totomaru CV: KENN

💚 Konparu Takayuki CV: Aoi Shota

💙 Kira Rintaro CV: Hosoya Yoshimasa

💜 Mirako Yuta CV: Kakihara Tetsuya

❤️ Onigashima Houoh CV: Maeno Tomoaki

🔵 Onigashima Hikaru CV: Toyonaga Tsubasa 🟡 Sakaguchi Haruo CV: Kondo Takashi

※ female protagonist

💥 Anime version Kenka Bancho Otome: Girl Beats Boys

💥 Manga version Kenka Bancho Otome: Love’s Battle Royale

[geekgemsspooksandtoons]

I just watched the original Godzilla.

It’s been years since I’ve watched it. Don’t know if I’ll make my review very detailed. But yeah, been a long time since I’ve rewatched it.

You know, when I was watching this film. I had worried my thoughts on it might’ve been overblown. Thinking of it as a harrowing horror film that truly stands the test of time despite Godzilla changing as a character for whatever story he’s been in and with how history as gone on. I had worried about that.

But you know what?

This film is still impactful still to this day. It just only gets better as the film plays.

I’m wondering of where to start out this little review here. I think I’ll just say this is still just as powerful. Especially when I saw it as a kid. The themes are still really heavy with how the film goes on and things get more intense. With characters that are legit likable, and everyone gives a fantastic performance. A bonus mention to all the extras that give out great performances that really showcase the terror of what’s happening. Along with other excellent performances from Akihiko Hirata and Takashi Shimura. Again, everyone does a great job.

The score is fantastic and fits the mood whenever it’s played. Particularly “Prayer for Peace” that really sells the tone of this film nearing its end. Especially playing during the end.

Let’s not forget Godzilla, the scenes with him are great as well. Who is played by Haruo Nakajima, and he does a good job with what is shot on film. I gotta admit, Godzilla is truly spooky in black and white. But it’s that roar that really haunts you. 

Listen, a lot has been said about this film already. Other than that, I watched this with subtitles, and I plan to do the same with Mothra vs Godzilla and Ghidorah The Three-Headed Monster. And that while I don’t mind the 1956 version with Raymond Burr. It’s not as impactful as the original version and in my humorous way of explaining it. It’s like adding a self-insert DLC character into an existing movie. Edit update I want to say that 1956 version isn’t a bad film. But I think Up From The Depths explains it well in his review here. It’s as valid as the original 1954 version. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFkTlvYWH6E&t=206s

And having said this before. Even though this was originally released in Japan. I legitimately feel like this film is as worthy as King Kong (1933) to be in a national film registry. I’m hoping Japan has something of their own. But yeah, this film is still a masterpiece.

[byneddiedingo]

Kinuyo Tanaka in Ginza Cosmetics (Mikio Naruse, 1951)

Cast: Kinuyo Tanaka, Ranko Hanai, Yuji Hori, Kyoko Kagawa, Eijiro Yanagi, Eijiro Tono, Yoshihiro Nishikubo, Haruo Tanaka. Screenplay: Matsuo Kishi, based on a novel by Tomoichiro Inoue. Cinematography: Akira Mimura. Art direction: Takashi Kono. Film editing: Hidetoshi Kasama. Music: Seiichi Suzuki. 

I'm not entirely sure what the title, Ginza Cosmetics, means. But I think it has something to do with putting on a good face when things are troubled inside. That applies to the protagonist, Yukiko (the great Kinuyo Tanaka), a bar hostess struggling to raise her young son, Haruo (Yoshihiro Nishikubo), and at the same time trying to keep the bar she works in from going out of business. But it also applies to the Ginza itself, the bustling shopping and entertainment district of Tokyo. At one point, Yukiko is showing a young man from the country around the city, and points out how much of the area he finds oppressively noisy and crowded had been leveled during the war: The Ginza itself has put on a new face, hiding its scars. Mikio Naruse's film is an account of several days in Yukiko's life, a character study without melodrama. She has a few moments of crisis: Haruo, who is usually a quiet and studious child who looks after himself (with the aid of a few neighbors) while Yukiko goes to work, once wanders off for a few hours, to her distress. And she is almost raped by an old acquaintance whom she goes to in search of money to help the bar's owner from having to sell it. There's also some tension among the women who work in the bar when the marriageable young man from the country comes to visit one of them. At the end, life goes on without the usual narrative resolution, and if you're like me you feel you've had a privileged glimpse into another world and another life. 

[popmovie888]

Godzilla City on the Edge of Battle ก็อดซิลล่า สงครามใกล้ปะทุ (2018) พากย์ไทย

»  ที่มาจาก TMDB  «        ข้อมูลของหนัง กำกับโดย  Kōbun Shizuno / Hiroyuki Seshita บทภาพยนตร์โดย  Sadayuki Murai / Tetsuya Yamada / Gen Urobuchi ผลิตโดย  Takashi Yoshizawa นำแสดงโดย  Mamoru Miyano / Takahiro Sakurai / Tomokazu Sugita / Yuki Kaji / Junichi Suwabe บริษัทผู้ผลิต   Polygon Pictures / Toho Animation จัดจำหน่ายโดย   Toho  / Netflix วันที่วางจำหน่าย  18 พฤษภาคม 2018 (ญี่ปุ่น) เวลาของหนัง  100 นาที ประเทศ   ญี่ปุ่น ภาษา   ญี่ปุ่น บ็อกซ์ออฟฟิศ   100 ล้านเยน ภาพรวม Godzilla  City on the Edge of Battle ก็อดซิลล่า สงครามใกล้ปะทุ (2018)  การต่อสู้อย่างสิ้นหวังของมนุษยชาติเพื่อกอบกู้โลก  ยังคงดำเนินต่อไป กุญแจสำคัญในการเอาชนะ King of the Monsters อาจเป็น Mechagodzilla อาวุธหุ่นยนต์ที่คิดว่าจะสูญหายไปเมื่อเกือบ 20,000 ปีก่อน ตัวอย่าง Godzilla  City on the Edge of Battle ก็อดซิลล่า สงครามใกล้ปะทุ (2018)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuW6HURwKWg เนื้อเรื่อง Haruo รวมตัวกับเพื่อนร่วมทีมของเขาอีกครั้งในขณะที่พวกเขากำลังเผชิญหน้ากับคนที่พวกเขาเรียนรู้ที่จะเป็น Maina พี่สาวฝาแฝดของ Miana ก่อนที่จะถูกจับโดยกลุ่มล่าสัตว์ของฝ่ายหลัง กลุ่มนี้กลับมารวมตัวกับมาร์ติน ลาซซารี ซึ่งหมวดทหารได้รับการเยียวยาจากคนฝาแฝดที่รู้จักกันในชื่อ "ฮูตูอา" ลูกหลานที่รอดตายจากมนุษย์ที่ยังคงอยู่บนโลกและปกป้องไข่ของเทพที่ล่วงลับไปแล้ว ฝาแฝดและผู้นำ Houtua ว่าทำไมพวกเขาถึงเผาดินแดนของพวกเขา ปล่อยให้พวกเขาไปเมื่อ Haruo อธิบายว่าพวกเขาโจมตีมัน เท่านั้น โดยมีมีอาน่าและไมน่าเป็นผู้พิทักษ์และผู้สังเกตการณ์ ฝาแฝดที่เปิดเผยว่าพวกเขาสามารถพูดได้ด้วยวาจา กลุ่มของ Haruo ได้กลับมาพบกับ Metphies และผู้รอดชีวิตคนอื่นๆ อีกครั้งระหว่างการเผชิญหน้ากับเซอร์วัม ระหว่างการต่อสู้ Galu-Gu ตระหนักได้ว่าหัวลูกศรของฝาแฝดนั้นผูกด้วย "นาโนเมทัล" ซึ่งเป็นนาโนเทคโนโลยีที่ใช้สร้างเมชามัน ฝาแฝดทั้งสองแยกทางกับกลุ่มโดยเตือน Haruo ว่านาโนเมทัลเป็นพิษ Bilusaludo ยืนยันกับกลุ่มว่าเทคโนโลยีนี้เป็นอันตรายต่อมัน เท่านั้น.. ในไม่ช้าทีมก็พบว่าครึ่งหนึ่งของศีรษะของมัน ที่รอดตายเป็นแหล่งกำเนิดของนาโนเมทัลขณะที่ Galu-Gu เข้าถึงสมองของมันพื่อสร้างวัสดุที่จำเป็นทั้งหมดเพื่อดักจับ มัน ภายในเมือง และปิดด้วยโลหะนาโนเพื่อปิดท้ายด้วยฉมวก EMP เม็ทฟีส์แอบบอกใบ้ถึงแรงจูงใจของบิลูซาลูโดในการกลายเป็นสัตว์ประหลาดเนื่องจากการหมกมุ่นอยู่กับตรรกะ โดยบอก Haruo ให้รู้จักชื่อที่น่ากลัวกว่ามันาที่ทำลายบ้านเกิดของเขา: "กิโดราห์" เมื่อมันตื่นขึ้น สมาชิกส่วนใหญ่ของมนุษย์ก็หวาดกลัว เรียนรู้ว่า Bilusaludo ส่วนใหญ่เต็มใจยอมให้หลอมรวมเข้ากับเมืองมันเพื่อเสริมกำลังให้แข็งแกร่งยิ่งขึ้น การบุกเข้าเมืองอย่างรวดเร็วของ มัน ทำให้ Galu-Gu เสียสละการป้องกันเมืองเพื่อเบี่ยงเบนพลังเพื่อกำจัดฉมวก ในขณะที่ Haruo, Yuko และ Belu-be ใช้พวกแร้งเพื่อชะลอ มันแม้ว่าทั้งสามคนจะจับมันได้สำเร็จเพื่อให้แผนการดำเนินไป แต่มันก็รอดจากกับดักและทำให้สถานที่นี้ร้อนเกินไป Metphies เตือน Haruo ที่มีความขัดแย้งว่ามัน City จะกินโลกหากไม่หยุดยั้งและการทำลายล้างสามารถช่วย Yuko, Galu-Gu ที่โต้เถียงว่าการก้าวข้ามมนุษยชาติของพวกเขาเป็นวิธีเดียวที่จะฆ่ามัน ในที่สุด Haruo ก็ตัดสินใจที่จะต่อสู้กับมันโดยที่ความเป็นมนุษย์ของเขายังคงเดิม การทำลาย Galu-Gu และศูนย์บัญชาการที่ทำให้โลหะนาโนเฉื่อยเมื่อมัน ปลดปล่อยตัวเองและทำลายเมือง  » "หนังออนไลน์ "   « ดูหนังใหม่ GodzillaCity on the Edge of Battle / ดูหนังGodzillaCity on the Edge of Battle / ดูหนังออนไลน์ GodzillaCity on the Edge of Battle  / ดูหนังhd GodzillaCity on the Edge of Battle / ดู GodzillaCity on the Edge of Battle / เว็บดูหนัง GodzillaCity on the Edge of Battle / หนังใหม่2022 GodzillaCity on the Edge of Battle / ดูหนังใหม่ ก็อดซิลล่าสงครามใกล้ปะทุ / ดูหนัง ก็อดซิลล่าสงครามใกล้ปะทุ / ดูหนังออนไลน์ ก็อดซิลล่าสงครามใกล้ปะทุ / ดูหนังhd ก็อดซิลล่าสงครามใกล้ปะทุ / ดู ก็อดซิลล่าสงครามใกล้ปะทุ / เว็บดูหนัง ก็อดซิลล่าสงครามใกล้ปะทุ / หนังใหม่2022 ก็อดซิลล่าสงครามใกล้ปะทุ Read the full article

[screamscenepodcast]

Gojira (1954, Ishiro Honda) To hear our special double-length episode on this towering classic of Japanese cinema, check out Episode 172: “A Beefy Boy” https://screamscenepodcast.tumblr.com/post/628833462784311296/your-deadicated-hosts-travel-to-1950s-japan-to

[may8chan]

Gojira & Shin Gojira

[dweemeister]

Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964, Japan)

Godzilla’s introduction in 1954 enthralled and horrified Japanese moviegoers. That classic kaiju film, so filled with action and fantastical interest, introduced the Japanese to a monster also bearing the burdens of being a victim to something possible only in the nuclear age. Godzilla’s body is filled with keloid scars, meant to evoke the images of those who survived (if only for a time) the atomic blasts at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Created in humanity’s pursuit of a civilization-destroying weapon, Godzilla is often interpreted as nature seeking payback against humanity. Despite Godzilla’s seeming desire for natural vengeance, Japanese audiences could empathize with Godzilla, recognizing the allegory that they had been living since 1945.

In the first four films in the Godzilla franchise and the Shôwa era of Godzilla (named after the concurrent Japanese Imperial era of Hirohito’s reign), Godzilla is an antagonist – wreaking havoc upon humanity, even when fighting other kaiju foes such as Anguirus (1955′s Godzilla Raids Again), King Kong (1962′s King Kong vs. Godzilla), and Mothra (1964′s Mothra vs. Godzilla). For Ishirô Honda’s Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, Godzilla begins a rehabilitation of his image that will take three subsequent films to complete. When faced with an extraterrestrial threat to the planet, Godzilla will set aside his affray with Rodan (after both are persuaded by Mothra) to defeat King Ghidorah – who makes his cinematic debut with this film.

Princess Selina Salno (Akiko Wakabayashi) of Selgina is en route for an official visit to Japan in the midst of a winter heatwave. Just as her plane is destroyed by an assassin’s bomb, an enormous meteor impacts into the Japanese countryside near Kurobe Dam in Toyama Prefecture – considering that this same dam was destroyed by Mothra in 1961′s Mothra, all credit to the construction workers for their work in fixing the dam that quickly. Soon after, Princess Selina announces herself in the middle of a Tokyo crowd, news of her death greatly exaggerated. Claiming to be from Venus, she warns the public that Rodan – presumed dead at the end of his film debut in 1956 – will rise from Mt. Aso and that Godzilla, who has just battled Mothra in the previous movie, will destroy a ship. Away from the ears of the public, the gaze of assassins, and known only by bodyguard Detective Shindo (Yosuke Natsuki) and psychiatrist Dr. Tsukamoto (Takashi Shimura in his final Godzilla film appearance), she reveals a third prophecy. The final prophecy is prefaced by the fact that Selina’s Venusian civilization was destroyed by a three-headed dragon named King Ghidorah. She prophesies that he will attempt to destroy the Earth. Ghidorah, hailing from beyond our solar system, is the creature that emerges from the impacted meteor.

The evolving Godzilla franchise from Toho Company would soon face budget constraints and the artistic decision to make Toho’s most prized kaiju more family-friendly. Japan’s demographics in the late 1950s and early ‘60s skewed far younger than today – a time where the nation is now shrinking because of its rapidly aging population and low fertility rates. These considerations impact Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster narratively and aesthetically. Beginning with this film, Godzilla’s rampaging presence is a side effect to his ultimate defense of Japan, not an attempt to annihilate the Japanese. Nuclear allegories though mentionable to children, are likely to be beyond a child’s appreciation (in the neutral sense of the term). Thus, discussions of Godzilla’s origins and the morality of conflict against kaiju all but disappear in Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster. 

In earlier Godzilla films, the combat between monsters or between Godzilla and the Japanese Self-Defense Forces (JSDF; which does not bother getting in the way of Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra, and Ghidorah in this monstrous rumble) was portrayed as a battle between or against a titan. One can feel the weight of these enormous, lumbering (“lumbering” does not usually apply to flying beings, so Mothra should be excluded) kaiju trudging against the urban battlefields scorched by electric and nuclear fire. With Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, Honda and kaiju actors Haruo Nakajima (Godzilla), Masanori Shinohara (Rodan), and Shoichi Hirose (King Ghidorah) approach violence as if it was professional wrestling – not the Greco-Roman or freestyle wrestling associated with the Olympics. There is even a ludicrous moment where Godzilla and Rodan are batting an enormous boulder between each other with the former’s fists and tail and the latter’s wings. All that is missing in this scene are a net and a chair umpire announcing the score. A new Godzilla suit was commissioned for this film, giving Nakajima the ability to more fully personalize his character through gestures and an off-camera technician to control the direction of Godzilla’s eyes in the sockets.

These results are jarring, contributing to the perceptions of the franchise’s campiness in later Shôwa era-Godzilla films. In the West until only recently, these Godzilla films were only available in dubbed versions – readers who are anime fans know how poor some of those English dubs of Japanese media can be. These films, at least in North America, were also extensively re-edited to emphasize the increasingly cartoonish battles between and against the kaiju. With thanks to Janus Films and the Criterion Collection, the original, unedited, subtitled versions of Shôwa era-Toho Company kaiju films are easily accessible for the first time. This review is based on the original unedited and subtitled version of Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster. Beware the dubbed version of this film, which runs eighty minutes (as opposed to the original’s ninety-two minutes). But even with the restoration of all of the scenes with those supposedly boring grown-ups talking about tiresome things, the tonal dissonance between the human- and kaiju-centric scenes combined with the combat choreography is bewildering.

Debuting in Japan as San daikaijû: Chikyû saidai no kessen (translated literally as: “Three giant monsters: Earth’s greatest battle”), this is a film underselling – at least, in its title – the genius of the antagonist. Special effects wizard Eiji Tsuburaya (a co-creator of Godzilla) visualizes a serpentine dragon with, you guessed it, three heads. But to complicate things, Ghidorah also has two tails and wings – seven appendages in total. To keep all seven in motion as Ghidorah flies across screen, Honda and Tsuburaya utilized several wires (somehow, almost none of them are ever on-screen) and a handful of puppeteers to keep Ghidorah in realistic animation, even when he – screeching at Godzilla and Rodan – has his feet planted on the ground. Unlike Haruo Nakajima as Godzilla and Masanori Shinohara as Rodan, Shoichi Hirose cannot use his arms as Ghidorah. So where his fellow kaiju actor counterparts could keep their balance by maneuvering their arms, Hirose is left with no option other than to position his feet correctly and hope for the best. Future iterations of Ghidorah would look even more impressive than this first attempt. With this striking introduction into the Godzilla series (with a lower-string-heavy motif by longtime Godzilla composer Akira Ifukube... starting at 0:49 in the provided link), Ghidorah’s emergence begins the greatest rivalry in kaiju cinema.

Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, for unknown reasons, was never released theatrically in many European countries. That makes it, outside of Japan and North America, one of the lesser-known films in the Toho Studios’ kaiju canon. The film is also, in addition to Mothra vs. Godzilla, the inauguration of – dare we say it – one of the earliest cinematic universes (and certainly one of the most sprawling). How the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is acclaimed for being so narratively innovative escapes me, especially given the financial and logistical realities of studio filmmaking in 1950s/1960s Japan and the 2010s in the United States. Even when fighting against the ill-informed wishes of producers and executives, the directorial vision is almost always apparent in these Godzilla films, including Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster. The same cannot be written for numerous other cinematic universes and their respective films.

In the halls of Toho throughout the 1960s and into the ‘70s, one of Godzilla’s creators was becoming unsettled by the requests of the company’s executives. As the director who brought Godzilla to being, Ishirô Honda insisted that Godzilla be seen as a figure warning against the folly of nuclear war. The increasing demands to make Godzilla a character engage in human-like behaviors and have identifiable human emotions fit perfectly with what some social critics saw as the infantilization of Japanese audiences because of the arrival of popular Japanese television. Honda – who essentially created the kaiju film, the monster film, and the disaster film – is an underappreciated figure in cinema whose legacy is undergoing a rapid reevaluation because of the fact that the Shôwa era kaiju films (in their original unedited and subtitled forms) are being made widely available outside Japan for the first time.

Nevertheless, after Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, the pendulum would swing exactly the way Honda never wanted to witness. Honda would not live to see it, but I think he would have appreciated the fact that the pendulum has swung back.

My rating: 6.5/10

^ Based on my personal imdb rating. Half-points are always rounded down. My interpretation of that ratings system can be found here.

[brokehorrorfan]

Godzilla will be released on 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray on November 5 via The Criterion Collection. Known in its native Japanese as Gojira, Toho's 1954 Japanese kaiju classic is celebrating its 70th anniversary.

Ishirō Honda directs from a script he co-wrote with Takeo Murata. Eiji Tsuburaya (Ultraman) helmed the special effects.Akira Takarada, Momoko Kōchi, Akihiko Hirata, and Takashi Shimura star with Haruo Nakajima and Katsumi Tezuka as Godzilla.

Godzilla has been newly restored in 4K. A high-definition restoration of Terry Morse’s 1956 American reworking of the film, Godzilla, King of the Monsters, is also included. Both feature uncompressed monaural sound.

Bill Sienkiewicz designed the cover art. Special features are listed below.

Special features:

Audio commentary for both movies by film historian David Kalat

Interviews with actors Akira Takarada and Haruo Nakajima and special effects technicians Yoshio Irie and Eizo Kaimai

Interview with composer Akira Ifukube

Godzilla's photographic effects featurette, introduced by special effects director Koichi Kawakita and special effects photographer Motoyoshi Tomioka

Interview with Japanese film critic Tadao Sato

The Unluckiest Dragon - Illustrated audio essay by historian Greg Pflugfelder on the fishing vessel Daigo Fukuryu Maru, a real-life event that inspired Godzilla

Trailers

Booklet with an essay by critic J. Hoberman

Godzilla is the roaring granddaddy of all monster movies. It’s also a remarkably humane and melancholy drama, made in Japan at a time when the country was reeling from nuclear attack and H-bomb testing in the Pacific. Its rampaging radioactive beast, the poignant embodiment of an entire population’s fears, became a beloved international icon of destruction, spawning more than 30 sequels.

Pre-order Godzilla.

[anamon-book]

エラリイ・クイーンとそのライヴァルたち　名探偵読本－4　 石川喬司＋山口雅也・編 パシフィカ、プレジデント社 表紙肖像画＝滝野晴夫

[justfilms]

#77 Gojira - Ishirō Honda 1954