Daimajin

Daimajin (大魔神, Daimajin, lit. 'Giant Demon God') is a Japanese tokusatsu^{[note 1]} 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.^[3] 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.^[4]

Daimajin
1984 poster for a screening of the three Daimajin films[1]
Created by	Daiei Film
Owner	Kadokawa Daiei Studio
Films and television
Film(s)	Daimajin Return of Daimajin Wrath of Daimajin (all 1966)
Television series	Daimajin Kanon (2010)

History

See also: Gamera, Yokai Monsters: Spook Warfare, and The Great Yokai War: Guardians

Sculptures of Daimajin along with an illustration of Gamera at Kadokawa Daiei Studio office, in which the Daimajin Shrine (jp) is situated, and they along with characters from the (indirectly related) GeGeGe no Kitarō series serve as mascots of Chofu.^[5][6]

Daimajin was originally designed to be the first foe of Gamera, and the concept developed into both Daimajin and Barugon appearing in the 1966 film Gamera vs. Barugon.^[7] The filmmakers were also inspired by Jötunn from the Norse mythology, the Giant of the Snows from the 1912 film The Conquest of the Pole,^[8] and the golem from the 1936 Czechoslovakian film Le Golem, which was redistributed by Daiei Film in the post-war period.^[9] Expertise obtained during the production of the 1964 film Flight from Ashiya, in which Noriaki Yuasa and others had also participated in, also contributed in the launch of the franchise.^[10]

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 acts of Daimajin, and Hashimoto was also appointed for the role of Daimon.^{[note 2][11]}

After the original film trilogy in 1966, the series was revived in 2010 as a television drama titled Daimajin Kanon, broadcast on TV Tokyo.^[12] The Daimajin character also made a cameo appearance in the 2021 film The Great Yokai War: Guardians.^[13]

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 the Gamera franchise, the most popular of the three, by Daiei Film's successors (Tokuma Shoten and Kadokawa Corporation).^[14][15] 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 the human protagonist of the Gamera trilogy, and the plot written by Yasutaka Tsutsui and Katsuhiro Otomo was later published as a novelization.^[16][17] There had been additional revival attempts, such as one by Ishiro Honda in 1980s^[18] an alleged 1990s project by Orange Sky Golden Harvest with starring Kevin Costner,^[19] and Kadokawa, after acquiring the copyrights of Daiei properties from Tokuma Shoten, announced a Daimajin project along with Godzilla vs. Gamera crossover in 2002,^[15] which followed Yasuyoshi Tokuma (jp)'s attempts to produce a crossover between the two kaiju prior to his death in 2000,^[20][21] however Toho eventually turned down the proposals and Gamera the Brave was instead produced.^[22]

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 the Brave, which was allegedly cancelled due to the box office result of the 2006 Gamera film and was eventually redeveloped into Daimajin Kanon.^[23][24][25] 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.^[26]

A rather predictable storyline of the franchise had also triggered the cancellation of the reboot attempt as a television series called Majin Ikaruga in 1960s^[10] by Noriaki Yuasa and Mamoru Sasaki and Yoji Hashimoto (jp) along with the budgetary requirement; Yuasa and Sasaki ^{[note 3]} were also originally appointed for Daimajin Kanon.^[27][28]

Producing three Daimajin films within the same year presumably accelerated financial difficulties of Daiei Film and resulted in the cancellation of subsequent Daimajin productions.^[29]

Daimajin along with Gamera and Daimon and Sadako Yamamura and characters from the GeGeGe no Kitarō series^{[note 4]} and multiple other characters from various franchises made cameo appearances in the novel series USO MAKOTO Yōkai Hyaku Monogatari by Natsuhiko Kyogoku.^[30] Additionally, Daimajin made an appearance in the 2015 novel Daimajin Denki.^[31]

Daimajin has appeared in several television advertisements such as ones by Toyota, Suntory, and Acecook (jp).^[10]

In 1988, Masahiko Katto produced a independent film titled The Resurrection of Daimajin.^[19]

Films

Official English title	Japanese title	Japanese release date	Ref(s)
Daimajin	Giant Demon God (大魔神)	17 April 1966	[32][33]
Return of Daimajin	Wrath of the Giant Demon God (大魔神怒る, Daimajin Ikaru)	13 August 1966	[34][35][33]
Wrath of Daimajin	The Giant Demon God's Counterattack (大魔神逆襲, Daimajin Gyakushū)	10 December 1966	[32][33]

Daimajin

Main article: Daimajin (film)

In Japan, a household of peasants cower during 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 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 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 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.^[32] The film has been released under many English alternative titles, such as The Devil Got Angry, The Vengeance of the Monster, and Majin, the Monster of Terror.^[32]

Return of Daimajin

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 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, and the pieces are thrown into the lake. Nevertheless, Daimajin awakens and attacks the lord and his men, destroying them, before being calmed once again.

Return of Daimajin was never released theatrically in the United States, but was released to television by AIP-TV in 1967.^[35] It also has been released under the alternate title Return of the Giant Majin

Wrath of Daimajin

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 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.

Television Drama

Main article: Daimajin Kanon

Title	Japanese release date	Ref(s)
Daimajin Kanon (大魔神カノン)	2 April 2010	[27]

The 2010 drama Daimajin Kanon 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.^[27]

Recurring cast and characters

List indicator(s)

• This table only includes characters which have appeared in more than one film.
• A dark grey cell indicates the character was not in the film, or that the character's presence in the film has not yet been announced.

Character	Film
	Daimajin (1966)	Return of Daimajin (1966)	Wrath of Daimajin (1966)
Daimajin	Riki Hoshimoto [32][34][35]

Crew

Occupation	Film
	Daimajin (1966)	Return of Daimajin (1966)	Wrath of Daimajin (1966)
Director	Kimiyoshi Yasuda	Kenji Misumi	Kazuo Mori
Producer(s)	Masaichi Nagata
Screenplay	Tetsuro Yoshida
Composer(s)	Akira Ifukube
Director of photography	Fujio Morita
Editor(s)	Hiroshi Yamada
Ref(s)	[32]	[34][35]	[32]

Home media

Title	Format	Release date	Films	Reference
Daimajin Collection: Daimajin, Return of Daimajin, Wrath of Daimajin	DVD	October 22, 2002	Daimajin, Return of Daimajin, Daimajin Strikes Again	[36]
Daimajin		February 1, 2005	Daimajin	[36]
Daimajin: Return of Daimajin		April 12, 2005	Return of The Giant Majin	[37]
Daimajin: Wrath of Daimajin		May 3, 2005	Daimajin Strikes Again	[38]
Daimajin	Blu-ray	September 18, 2012	Daimajin, Return of Daimajin, Daimajin Strikes Again	[3][39]
The Daimajin Trilogy	Blu-ray	July 26, 2021	Daimajin, Return of Daimajin, Wrath of Daimajin	[40]

Legacy

See also: Yokai Monsters: Spook Warfare

Successes of Gamera and Daimajin franchises contributed in subtle improvements of financial situation of Daiei Film (while rushed productions of Daimajin films worsened the strength of the company^[29]), and resulted in the launching of the Yokai Monsters including the creation of Daimon the vampire.^[19] Kazunori Ito had presumably inserted references to Wrath of Daimajin within his Heisei Gamera trilogy; snowscapes in Gamera 2: Attack of Legion, and taboo breaking of a mountain village and its hazardous consequences in Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris.^[27]

The aforementioned GeGeGe no Kitarō series and the Akuma-kun series by Shigeru Mizuki introduced Daimajin-based characters on occasions^{[note 5]} where Mizuki had associated with Daiei Film for the Yokai Monsters (which includes The Great Yokai War: Guardians). Kyogoku Natsuhiko also made Gamera and Daimajin and GeGeGe no Kitarō characters and Sadako Yamamura^[6] and Inuyasha and Sesshomaru (jp)^{[note 6]} co-appeared in the USO MAKOTO Yōkai Hyaku Monogatari series.^[30]

Daimajin potentially influenced other productions such as the 1967 British horror film It!, the 1984 novel series God Mazinger, the 1985 North Korean kaiju film Pulgasari influenced by the Godzilla franchise, and the 1991 film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves by aforementioned Kevin Costner.^[19] Parody characters based on Daimajin were featured in various other productions such as Urusei Yatsura,^[44] a popular variety show WHAT A FANTASTIC NIGHT (jp),^[46] video games such as Genpei Tōma Den,^[47] Ginga Ninkyouden (jp), Gekibo: Gekisha Boy series, and Magic Sword: Heroic Fantasy.^[48]

Former professional baseball player Kazuhiro Sasaki was nicknamed after the Daimajin, and Sasaki has participated in collaborations and advertisements with the franchise.^[49][50][51]

The term "Daimajin" has been increasingly used in popular cultures and other topics such as Dragon Quest,^[52] High School! Kimengumi,^[53] Martian Successor Nadesico,^[54] and production varieties.^[55][56] Former professional boat racer Masato Aki (jp) was also nicknamed as "Seto no Daimajin" (瀬戸の大魔神, lit. 'Daimajin of the strait') and a competition race was named after him.^[57] Several comedian groups such as the Daimajin (jp) also bear the term in their stage names.^[58]

In response to the repeated vandalisms targeting national treasures and important cultural properties of Nara Prefecture in 2010s (jp), the prefecture and its school committee (jp) and prefectural police (jp) designated Daimajin as the mascot character for crime prevention posters.^[59]

Notes

1. While Daimajin is often regarded as a kaiju by Western sources, it has been cited in Japan as not meeting the requirements to qualify as a kaiju.^[2]
2. Hashimoto had also participated in various Daiei Film productions including Gamera vs. Viras and The Whale God.
3. Yuasa and Sasaki had previously co-worked for various television dramas such as Princess Comet and Okusama wa 18-sai.
4. There have been occasions for models and suits of these characters to be exhibited alongside.^[6]
5. Daimajin with altered design and settings both in the 1966 live-action drama (jp) and the episode 39 of the 1989 anime adaptation of the Akumakun, and the clay warriors appeared in the episode 73 of the 1985 anime adaptation of the GeGeGe no Kitarō.^[41]
6. Gamera and Gyaos and Daimajin made cameo appearances in the Urusei Yatsura franchise,^[42][43][44] where Shusuke Kaneko and Kazunori Ito reused their ideas from Urusei Yatsura episodes for their Heisei Gamera trilogy; Kaneko participated in the anime due to an invitation from Mamoru Oshii, and Oshii was originally supposed to join the production of Gamera 2: Attack of Legion.^[27] Several references to Gamera has also been introduced in the Inuyasha franchise.^[45]