#kaijju

HIII ALY!!! sorry i'm late to answer this, treat be upon ye!

Just as the Marvel Studios films contain more than Captain America, the Japanese films of the monster, or kaiju, genre are more than simply Godzilla: there are other characters too!

Typhoons and shipping play massive roles in these films. Japan is an island nation, after all.

Being between Infant Island and the leading edge of a typhoon is the worst position possible: drowning and radiation. The ship is run aground and is abandoned.

Eventually, we see a very rocky and grey beach with four screaming people, who are taken to BatLabel’s side-hustle client: the National Synthesis Nucleus Centre (I honestly wish I had a screen grab of that).

The sailors think that they lived because the natives helped them survive by giving them red juice. Infant Island is the nuclear weapon testing place of the Rolisician government. Its ambassador looks… vaguely… American but its flag looks… Turkish? Apparently the fictitious country is an amalgam of “Russia” and “America.” In the English version, the Rolisician villain Jerry Nelson is sporting a heavy ‘Russian accent,’ so at least the Japanese are being more even-handed about it, as ‘Kurâruku Neruson’ basically sounds like an American guy over-pronouncing his Japanese because he’s not all that fluent yet.

[left] Jerî Itô as ‘Kurâruku Neruson’ in Mosura (1961) — — — —

So we explore the island where beyond the grey rock is… A PAINTING OF A LUSH JUNGLE! Also some caves with the coolest blown glass and crystal formations which are the hit of Star Trek TOS.

The princesses appear as Dr. Shin'ichi Chûjô is attacked by some sort of anemone. They’re about a foot tall.

Initially the twin ‘peanuts’ communicate using music-like sounds (probably created by really early synthesizers? Seems far too early, though). But they understand Japanese. Eventually we learn they communicate best by telepathy.

Anyway, Bad Rolisician Scientists capture the princesses but the natives force the Bad Guys to release the princesses.

Everyone returns to Japan, where they dissolve the expedition, and announce no findings.

But the Bad Guys go back to the island on their own to collect artifacts for the black market. You know, the princesses.

So they become part of a big stage production.

Their singing calls Mothra, and 46 minutes in we finally see the Mighty Mothra!! …in larval form. …emerging from a stripy egg.

Mothra heads to Japan, sinking a luxury liner in the process.

The airforce drops flammable materials on the water and set it alight to stop Mothra. Why they do that I do not understand: when will they learn that if they’re dealing with a massive creature, nothing is going to stop it‽

Please give me the cute brown car with four doors and a cream roof. It may be a Datsun, it could be a Toyota, I don’t know nor care, I would like one please.

The Dam bursts for no discernible reason.

The girls get put in a plastic box to stop their telepathic connection to Mother. If she doesn’t know where the twins are, she will stop her travelling to Tokyo in order to rescue them.

Ah! Mothra is behind the dam! But, we don’t get told how.

A baby in a basket falls from a cart in the path of the flood. The reporter rescues the child just in time as the bridge is torn apart.

The scientist / linguist Dr. Shin'ichi Chûjô has a son who is seen in a red ball cap; is this where we get the kid in Indy Jones and the Temple of Doom?

The red car with massive horizontal fins can go pound sand. I do not like it in the least. It is big and flashy and has no modesty. Take it away. 

Mothra is 6 stories in height and probably 100m long.

The scale of this film is incredible! The crowd, the traffic, the vehicles and models… the Patriot missiles, the matte work, the model of the Tokyo Broadcast Tower… the vehicles with mock-ups of weapons… the spray web, the burning of models, the models of fire engines and tanks…

Then there’s the weapon supplied by the Rosician Atomic Heat Ray Brigade. It is, unsurprisingly, an Atomic Heat Ray, which is used to set Mothra’s cocoon on fire.

Mothra emerges as a moth right after that; simultaneously, the bad guys arrive at Mr Nelson’s / Neruson-san’s ranch somewhere in Roliscia (where you can even hear the lowing of cattle from the comfort of the living room). Mothra flies away, heading due east across the Pacific Ocean.

Apparently Mothra has been sighted in New Kirk City, which look incredibly like Gotham, except with a beach and palm trees. And it’s on the East Coast, so… and the New Kirk City cops wear tan outfits with red silk ties… and there are very few cattle farms near Gotham City… one should stop worrying about these matter, really.

I would make a mint as an actor in Japan doing films. It seems they have a shortage of Caucasian actors with decent skills.

This is a delightful film. It’s really well done and deserves more recognition than it seemingly has. Some of the visual effects — especially the matte work — are more obvious than they ought to be, but it’s far better than some efforts from the same time. The twins are delightful, and you end up rooting for both the kaiju character and the return of the twins.

Hey! I’m having a little 20% off sale for Cyber Monday. I typically just have one once a year, so be sure to take a peak!  There are plenty of SU stuff, ponies, a couple one of a kinds, and new kaijju charms :)

(/pulls you to a stop) Something sweet, huh? Well, there’s this candy shop on campus we could go to, I guess…

her tits are fake