Daimajin ( 大魔神 , Daimajin , lit. ' Giant Demon God ' ) is a Japanese tokusatsu series centering on an eponymous fictitious giant warrior god. It initially consisted of a film trilogy shot simultaneously and released in 1966 with three different directors and predominantly the same crew. The series was produced by Daiei Film and contained similar plot structures involving villages being overthrown by warlords, leading to the villagers attempting to reach out to Daimajin, the great demon god, to save them.
36-754: Gamera Rebirth (stylized as GAMERA -Rebirth- ) is a Japanese original net animation (ONA) series directed and co-written by Hiroyuki Seshita . Produced by Kadokawa Corporation and animated by ENGI , it is a reboot of the Gamera franchise following Gamera the Brave (2006), the first animated entry in the franchise and the first entry in the franchise's Reiwa era. The series was released worldwide on Netflix on September 7, 2023. During summer 1989, three elementary students witness Gamera in battle as monsters converge on Tokyo before they annihilate most of humanity. On November 16, 2022, Kadokawa announced plans for
72-519: A new Gamera production, entitled Gamera Rebirth , which will be released globally on Netflix . Shusuke Kaneko , director of the Heisei Gamera trilogy, had proposed an idea for a new film. However, Kadokawa had already proceeded with their new project by the time Kaneko presented his pitch. Regardless, Kaneko had expressed his support for the project. A figure of Gamera was exhibited at Tamashii Nation 2022 between November 18 and 20, along with
108-487: A newspaper featuring Gamera that was distributed at the event. In February 2023, Kadokawa revealed the cast and staff. The series would be animated by ENGI , with Hiroyuki Seshita directing (who co-directed Polygon Pictures ' Godzilla anime trilogy ), Tetsu Iijima producing, Atsushi Tamura designing the characters, and Kan Takahama designing the monsters. A teaser released in January debuted footage, albeit briefly, from
144-426: A series of earth tremors that are interpreted as the escape attempts of Daimajin, a spirit trapped within the mountain. These events are observed by Lord Hanabasa, and his chamberlain, Samanosuke, who are attempting to seize power in the area. As the villagers pray at a shrine, Samanosuke and his henchmen slaughter Hanabasa's family, with only his son and daughter escaping, who are assisted by the samurai Kogenta. Back at
180-463: Is the sole television series of the franchise. Originally, Noriaki Yuasa from the Gamera franchise was appointed for the director along with Mamoru Sasaki as the writer and additional film crews from Toei 's Kamen Rider franchise. Former professional baseball player Kazuhiro Sasaki was nicknamed after the Daimajin, and Sasaki has participated in collaborations and advertisements with
216-505: The Ao Oni series to feature Gamera and Boco and Gyaos as playable characters and ornaments was made where the game previously collaborated with the 2021 film The Great Yokai War: Guardians to feature Daimajin , the character re-developed from the Gamera franchise. Special collaborations with Odekake Kozame and Nights with a Cat have also been conducted. Exclusive booster pack of
252-463: The Gamera franchise, the most popular of the three, by Daiei Film's successors ( Tokuma Shoten and Kadokawa Corporation ). For example, Heisei Gamera trilogy initially started as an attempt to revive Daimajin, and the company later launched another Daimajin project along with the Heisei Gamera trilogy. This was supposed to feature Steven Seagal , the father of Ayako Fujitani who played
288-481: The 1966 film Gamera vs. Barugon . The filmmakers were also inspired by the golem that appeared in the 1936 Czechoslovakian film Le Golem . Daimon the vampire , the recurring character which made its debut in Yokai Monsters: Spook Warfare , was heavily inspired by the former professional baseball player Chikara Hashimoto 's acts of Daimajin, and Hashimoto was also appointed for
324-589: The Brave , which was allegedly cancelled due to the box office result of the 2006 Gamera film. Miike described the difficulty to revive the Daimajin franchise based on budgetary problems; Daimajin (as a character) is physically much smaller than traditional kaiju and Ultraman and directly interacts with humans. This results in necessity of increase in Daimajin's size to act among modern buildings, and expensive (large-scaled, life-sized, and detailed) models and props for filming. A rather predictable storyline of
360-591: The Internet became a reality. In the early 2000s, the Japanese anime industry began broadcasting original net animations (ONA) on the Internet. Early examples of ONA series include Infinite Ryvius: Illusion (2000), Ajimu (2001), and Mahou Yuugi (2001). Daimajin Daimajin was originally designed to be the first foe of Gamera , and the concept developed into both Daimajin and Barugon appearing in
396-463: The Monster , and Majin, the Monster of Terror . In Japan, Daimajin is found on an island in the middle of a lake which is surrounded by two peaceful villages, Chigusa and Nagoshi. In a distant third village ruled by an evil lord, the citizens flee to Chigusa to take refuge. One day, the evil lord decides to take over the two villages and attempts to do so at an annual festival. After being pursued by
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#1732782452025432-572: The United States, but was released to television by AIP-TV in 1967. It also has been released under the alternate title Return of the Giant Majin In Japan, Daimajin is found at the top of a mountain. Fathers in a village have been captured by an evil lord and forced to work in labor camps. Four of their sons decide to go rescue them, even if it means crossing the mountain where Daimajin is. The four sons pay their respects to
468-444: The animation for feeling "clunky", comparing it to a low-resolution version of The Sims and likened the characters to PlayStation 2 animations. While Dray didn't consider the series to be bingeable or a must-watch, she awarded the series a C+. Joshua Kristian McCoy from GameRant did not consider Gamera Rebirth to be an "ideal" introduction for newcomers. McCoy also criticized the animation for being "jittery" and compared it to
504-506: The animation from Robot Chicken , and found the concept to be flawed; he specifically targeted the series' tone and its depressing climax, calling them improper for a Gamera story. He concluded by ridiculing the creators for taking inspiration from Godzilla Singular Point instead of Shin Godzilla , stating that the series starts "rough, gets weird, and ends almost impressively poorly." James Beckett from Anime News Network scored
540-425: The cancellation of subsequent Daimajin productions. Daimajin along with Gamera and Daimon and Sadako Yamamura and multiple other characters from various franchises made cameo appearances in the novel series USO MAKOTO Yōkai Hyaku Monogatari by Natsuhiko Kyogoku . In 1988, Masahiko Katto produced a independent film titled The Resurrection of Daimajin . In Japan, a household of peasants cower during
576-410: The director and other executives, is willing to produce additional seasons with more budgets and increased fighting scenes, however its future is uncertain. Seshita noted that he has enough ideas for up to five seasons, and he pointed a possibility of a future live-action adaptation if the series is successful. Seshita also hopes the series to eventually become (one of) stepping stone(s) for the revival of
612-430: The early 1980s. A growing number of trailers and preview episodes of new anime have been released as ONA. For example, the anime movie of Megumi can be considered an ONA. ONAs have the tendency to be shorter than traditional anime titles, sometimes running only a few minutes. There are many examples of an original net animation, such as Hetalia: Axis Powers , which only last a few minutes per episode. But while that
648-406: The evil lord's army, the people of Chigusa and Nagoshi find themselves on the island with the Daimajin statue. The evil lord has his men shatter the statue with a large amount of gunpowder. Daimajin's shattered remains end up at the bottom of the lake. Daimajin awakens to inflict chaos to all around it, including the landscape and the evil lord. Return of Daimajin was never released theatrically in
684-485: The first scene of Gamera to fight against a flock of small Gyaos in the first episode are reused from the 2015 short film, and Katsuhito Ishii , the director of the 2015 short film was credited as the designer of Gamera. Seshita originally prepared fighting scenes twice more than actual ones, however he had to cut them in half. Japanese punk rock band Wanima provided both opening and ending songs, Natsuake and FLY&DIVE . An acoustic version of Gamera March ( ja ),
720-459: The franchise had also triggered the cancellation of the reboot attempt as a television series in 1960s by Noriaki Yuasa and Mamoru Sasaki and Yoji Hashimoto along with the budgetary requirement; Yuasa and Sasaki were also originally appointed for Daimajin Kanon . Producing three Daimajin films within the same year presumably accelerated financial difficulties of Daiei Film and resulted in
756-562: The franchise in the future. Original net animation An original net animation ( ONA ), known in Japan as web anime ( ウェブアニメ , webu anime ) , is an anime that is directly released onto the Internet . ONAs may also have been aired on television if they were first directly released on the Internet. The name mirrors original video animation , a term that has been used in the anime industry for straight-to-video animation since
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#1732782452025792-609: The half of what Seshita originally intended. Fussa City and Tsushima Island were elected for one of Anime Pilgrimage Sites of 2024 by the Anime Tourism Association as Gamera battled Gyaos and Jiger in the former, and fought against Zigra at the Omega Station . Ryan Bartley who voiced Boco in the English edition was nominated for the 2023 Voice Arts Awards . Its production committee , including
828-573: The human protagonist of the Gamera trilogy, and the plot written by Yasutaka Tsutsui and Katsuhiro Otomo was later published as a novelization. There had been additional revival attempts, such as one by Ishiro Honda in 1980s an alleged 1990s project by starring Kevin Costner , and Kadokawa, after acquiring the copyrights of Daiei properties from Tokuma Shoten, announced a Daimajin project along with Godzilla vs. Gamera crossover in 2002, however
864-512: The iconic song used in Showa films and other medias, was also inserted. Official novelization of the series consisting of two parts by Hiroyuki Seshita and Jin have been published in August 2023 and May 2024 respectively. A prequel manga illustrated by Cambria Bakuhatsutarō will begin serialization on Kadokawa Shoten 's Young Ace UP website on September 8, 2023. A comicalized version of
900-435: The mountain and exact its wrath on Samanosuke and his fortress. Daimajin's wrath begins to grow to attacking everything in sight, only stopping when Kozasa's tears land on Daimajin's feet. The film was released in the United States by Daiei International with subtitles in an English-dubbed version by Bernard Lewis. The film has been released under many English alternative titles, such as The Devil Got Angry , The Vengeance of
936-415: The offer for a crossover was turned down by Toho . Among the three franchises, only the Daimajin has not received any new film productions as of 2024 (except for Daimajin Kanon and The Great Yokai War: Guardians ). Takashi Miike , who has directed The Great Yokai War and The Great Yokai War: Guardians , had also attempted to revive Daimajin in the late 2000s along with the 2006 film Gamera
972-550: The role of Daimon. After the original film trilogy in 1966, the series was revived in 2010 as a television drama titled Daimajin Kanon , broadcast on TV Tokyo . The Daimajin character also made a cameo appearance in the 2021 film The Great Yokai War: Guardians . Since the bankruptcy of Daiei Film , all of its representative tokusatsu franchises ( Gamera and Daimajin and Yokai Monsters ) have faced repeated inactivity in productions. There existed several revival attempts of Daimajin and Yokai Monsters along with
1008-455: The series a C+, commenting that "it's a shame that the ugliness of visuals will likely turn away a good many potential fans because underneath all of that jank is a solid kaiju adventure". Insufficiency of budget is also pointed out; 3D models of humans are poor and do not fit in with 2D backgrounds. It also lacks an opening animation which is a common feature of Japanese anime . Additionally, as above mentioned, fighting scenes were declined to
1044-411: The series and revealed that it would consist of six episodes and feature five additional enemy monsters. In March, Kadokawa released a new key visual poster, a synopsis, and a full trailer. A number of references to previous films and scrapped projects and unused ideas were made, and the time setting of the series ( 1989 ) is to represent both eras of Showa and Heisei . Designs of Gamera and Gyaos, and
1080-454: The series has been released on ComicWalker and Tatesc Comics . An official collaboration with the mobile game Godzilla Battle Line was made, featuring Gamera and Gyaos and Guiron as playable characters. "Godzilla Earth", the Godzilla incarnation from Hiroyuki Seshita 's anime trilogy , was chosen for the key art of the collaboration. Another collaboration with Ao Oni Online of
1116-581: The series' child leads to be an improvement over the child leads of the Showa era Gamera films . Lê awarded the series four skulls out of five and praised it for being an "emotional, ambitious, and well-told story." Writing for The A.V. Club , Kayleigh Dray likewise found similar flaws in the series and likened Gamera Rebirth to Stranger Things . She praised the effort that went into its character development and friendship themes that results in characters that are "pretty damn likable." However, she criticized
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1152-420: The show on the card game Union Arena is released on May 31, 2024. A one time collaboration with the sake brand Shinkame was conducted as both represents "godly turtles". Bloody Disgusting 's Paul Lê criticized the animation but praised the characters. He called the animation "awkward and stiff" but felt that the visual aesthetic complimented the monster battles. Lê found the human subplot "compelling" and
1188-407: The shrine, Samanosuke's men begin to take over and forbid gatherings at the shrine. After failing to warn Samanosuke about his actions, the priestess Shinobu returns home, finding Kogenta and the two children. Shinobu takes them up the side of the mountain into forbidden territory, where the stone idol which is Daimajin stands, half-buried in the side of the mountain. The children grow to adulthood with
1224-403: The son, Tadafumi (Yoshihiko Aoyama) reaching his 18th birthday. Meanwhile, Samanosuke has enslaved the village. After several attempts to return peace and freedom to the village, Samanosuke's men travel up the mountain to smash Daimajin. Damaijin is asked by the daughter, Kozasa ( Miwa Takada ) to save her brother, with the idol removing a mask to reveal Daimajin's real face, leading it to rise from
1260-513: The statue when they pass it so that they do not incur its wrath. The evil lord eventually angers the statue, who comes to life and destroys all those who have not been paying respect to it. The children and their fathers are spared, while the work camp is destroyed. Wrath of Daimajin was never released theatrically in the United States, but received the international English title of Majin Strikes Again . The 2010 drama Daimajin Kanon
1296-539: Was true for the beginning of the 2010s, this began to change in the second half of the decade as full series began to be licensed exclusively for streaming services like Netflix , Amazon Prime Video , and Disney+ . The majority of the production of animation in Japan is made for television or for other audio-visual formats, which include ONAs that can be viewed on television, mobile devices or computers. As broadband Internet bandwidth began to increase in speed and availability, delivering high-quality online video over
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