Return Of Daimajin

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.

History

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''. 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'', and the golem from the 1936 Czechoslovakian film ''Le Golem'', which was redistributed by Daiei Film in the post-war period. 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.

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.

After the original film trilogy in 1966, the series was revived in 2010 as a television drama titled ''Daimajin Kanon'', broadcast on TV Tokyo 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 the ''Gamera'' franchise, the most popular of the three, by Daiei Film's successors (Tokuma Shoten and Kadokawa Corporation).Movie Walker Press, 2021
金子修介監督、平成ガメラ三部作を語る！令和ガメラにも「やる気十分」
/ref>ZAKZAK, November 13, 2002

FUJI Evening News 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. There had been additional revival attempts, such as one by Ishiro Honda in 1980s an alleged 1990s project by Orange Sky Golden Harvest with starring Kevin Costner,Steven Sloss, 2023
Idol Threat: Daimajin's Colossal Cultural Footprint
Arrow Films and Kadokawa, after acquiring the copyrights of Daiei properties from Tokuma Shoten, announced a Daimajin project along with ''Godzilla vs. Gamera'' crossover in 2002, which followed Yasuyoshi Tokuma ( jp)'s attempts to produce a crossover between the two kaiju prior to his death in 2000,Tatsuji Nagano, May 2, 2023
夢の対決「ゴジラvsガメラ」は実現するか? BS12で、『ゴジラ』『ガメラ』一挙放映
MAG MIX ( jp) however Toho eventually turned down the proposals and ''Gamera the Brave'' was instead produced.

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''. 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 the franchise had also triggered the cancellation of the reboot attempt as a television series called ''Majin Ikaruga'' in 1960s by Noriaki Yuasa and Mamoru Sasaki and Yoji Hashimoto ( jp) 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 the cancellation of subsequent ''Daimajin'' productions.Fuminobi Hata, December 12, 2022
俺はお前を待っていた！Netflixで復活の大怪獣ガメラ、その歩みと新作への期待
IGN Japan

Daimajin along with Gamera and Daimon and Sadako Yamamura and characters from the ''GeGeGe no Kitarō'' series and multiple other characters from various franchises made cameo appearances in the novel series ''USO MAKOTO Yōkai Hyaku Monogatari'' by Natsuhiko Kyogoku.Natsuhiko Kyogoku, 2018, ''USO MAKOTO Yōkai Hyaku Monogatari'', "Kyu", 373-375, p.392, Kadokawa Additionally, Daimajin made an appearance in the 2015 novel ''Daimajin Denki''.

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

In 1988, Masahiko Katto produced a independent film titled ''The Resurrection of Daimajin''.

Films

''Daimajin''

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. 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''.

''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. 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''.

''The Great Yokai War: Guardians''

Daimajin appears as a notable character in the 2021 film ''The Great Yokai War: Guardians'', which is a sequel to ''The Great Yokai War'' and part of the ''Yokai Monsters'' series.

Television Drama

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.

Recurring cast and characters

* 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.

Crew

Home media

Legacy

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), and resulted in the launching of the ''Yokai Monsters'' including the creation of Daimon the vampire. 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''.

The aforementioned ''GeGeGe no Kitarō'' series and the ''Akuma-kun'' series by Shigeru Mizuki introduced Daimajin-based characters on occasions 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 and Inuyasha and Sesshomaru ( jp) co-appeared in the ''USO MAKOTO Yōkai Hyaku Monogatari'' series.

''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. Parody characters based on Daimajin were featured in various other productions such as ''Urusei Yatsura'', a popular variety show ''WHAT A FANTASTIC NIGHT'' ( jp), video games such as ''Genpei Tōma Den'', ''Ginga Ninkyouden'' ( jp), '' Gekibo: Gekisha Boy'' series, and '' Magic Sword: Heroic Fantasy''.

Former professional baseball player Kazuhiro Sasaki was nicknamed after the Daimajin, and Sasaki has participated in collaborations and advertisements with the franchise.

The term "Daimajin" has been increasingly used in popular cultures and other topics such as ''Dragon Quest'', ''High School! Kimengumi'', ''Martian Successor Nadesico'', and production varieties. Former professional boat racer Masato Aki ( jp) was also nicknamed as and a competition race was named after him. Several comedian groups such as the Daimajin ( jp) also bear the term in their stage names.

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.Nara Prefecture
文化財防犯ポスターの作成・配付について
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Notes

References

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{{Kenji Misumi

1966 films
Daiei Film tokusatsu films
Kadokawa Corporation franchises
Kaiju films
Kaiju
Fantasy film series
Fictional demons
Fictional golems
Fictional gods
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Japanese film series
1960s Japanese films