If you’ve been reading this blog recently, you’ll probably know that I’ve been on something of a kaiju kick, recently watching the 15 Showa Godzilla movies and Shin Godzilla and recently starting the Gamera franchise. While I’ve talked about the Godzilla franchise before as well as touching on tokusatsu, the genre of which kaiju is a subgenre of, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at some of the most important kaiju films and franchises within the genre. However, I should clarify that I’ll only be specifically talking about Japanese kaiju films and franchises. The term is sometimes used to describe non-Japanese giant monster movies such as King Kong and The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms so I believe that the clarification is necessary.
Understandably, one of the most noteworthy franchises when it comes to kaiju has to be the Godzilla franchise. However, having already discussed the franchise in its own article, I thought I might use the Godzilla franchise as a jumping off point to discuss various kaiju that initially started out in their own movies before becoming incorporated into the franchise. The earliest example of this would be the 1964 film “Mothra Vs. Godzilla”, a film that pitted Mothra, the star of her own film “Mothra” which was released in 1961, against Godzilla. Within the same year, the film “Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster” not only introduced the brand new King Ghidorah to the franchise but also introduced Rodan who had previously starred in his own film “Rodan” in 1956. Despite both Mothra and Rodan becoming incredibly popular monsters within the Godzilla franchise, Mothra would only get three more of her own films, the “Rebirth of Mothra” trilogy that were released between 1996 and 1998, while Rodan has yet to get another solo film, appearing pretty much exclusively in the Godzilla franchise.
However, the film that truly made me realise how extensive the Toho kaiju catalogue was has to be the 1968 film “Destroy All Monsters”. While very much the ninth film of the Godzilla franchise, the movie also introduced several kaiju that had starred in other Toho films. These kaiju are Varan, who appeared in the film of the same name in 1958, Manda, who had previously starred in the 1963 film “Atragon”, Gorosaurus, who had appeared as a villain in the 1967 film “King Kong Escapes”, and Baragon, who had previously appeared in the 1965 film “Frankenstein Conquers the World” which, incidentally, got a sequel called “The War of the Gargantuas” in 1966. Additionally, it’s also interesting to note that a later Godzilla film, one of the Millennium entries, “Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.” had a cameo of Kamoebas, a kaiju that had previously appeared in the 1970 film “Space Amoeba”.
Outside of Toho, one of the more interesting kaiju franchises has to be the Gamera series. Originally releasing in 1965, the film “Gamera: The Giant Monster” was produced by Daiei Film as a way to cash in on the popularity of the Godzilla films. While viewed as derivative and inferior to Godzilla, the film was very financially successful and would see yearly sequels until 1971. After the release of “Gamera: Super Monster” in 1980, a movie that’s essentially a clip show, it wasn’t until 1995 that Gamera would return with a trilogy that many consider to be amongst the greatest kaiju films ever made. Since the trilogy concluded in 1999, only one more Gamera has been produced “Gamera the Brave” in 2006 which took a more light hearted approach than the Gamera trilogy.
Speaking of Daiei Films, it’s also worth bringing up the Daimajin trilogy. All three Daimajin films were released in 1966 and are period films set in feudal Japan that follow a wrathful kami that has been sealed within a giant stone statue and, when the ritual pacifying Daimajin is disrupted, Daimajin eventually goes on a rampage, at the behest of a particular character. While the Daimajin trilogy is viewed as an important series within the kaiju genre, it’s notable that the Daimajin films weren’t particularly successful on their initial release and, since then, only one other entry in the franchise has been released, a 2010 TV series retelling of the first film in a modern setting.
Finally, I’d like to bring up the Ultraman franchise. In contrast to the other series that I’ve been talking about, the titular character Ultraman is not a kaiju but more similar to a superhero. However, the Ultraman franchise is quite often brought up in discussions of kaiju series because many of the villains that Ultraman ends up fighting are kaiju. While historically these kaiju are quite simplistic looking compared to kaiju from film franchises, probably due to the restriction in budget, many of these kaiju are still quite popular.
I confess that I’m quite entranced with the kaiju genre at the moment and quite disappointed that so many important kaiju films and franchises remain unavailable or hard to access. Still, I can only hope that I one day get to see many of the films and franchises that I’ve listed here. Let me know your thoughts on some of the most important kaiju films and franchises, if you’ve see any of these, if you think there are some other important kaiju films that I haven’t mentioned, your thoughts on kaiju overall and any additional information you might have on the topic.
Hopefully you have found this article interesting and informative and, if you wish to seek any of the works I mentioned, don’t hesitate to use amazon.co.uk or amazon.com for all of your needs!