Halloween is a season for slashers, bashers and Universal masters of horror. But Yahoo istead came up with awards for everything that could be associated with Halloween. Some things are the same as every year: Michael Myers is still the ultimate slasher and Freddy Krueger is still the ultimate super-natural boogey man. But one thing is slightly the same: Godzilla is still the King of the Monsters. However, the runner up is not the legendary King Kong or the Rhedosaurus. It is instead the Cloverfield monster that is the runner up. King Kong's days are finaly numbered. The only think keeping the big ape in the public's eyes is the city of New York City, what pop culture refrences come our way through television shows, and the upcoming "King of Skull Island" film. Let's hope that Clover can keep up this kind of dominance over other kaiju. Maybe show JJ Abrams that we need another film?
Happy Halloween to all from JournalismG2KM and us of the Kaiju Galaxy Family!
You would think that in this time of endless information due to the invention that is the internet that inaccuracies would not be made. While I cannot say I haven’t made them myself, I would expect someone who is a professional to not makes those errors, especially with books which are used by schools. Out of the umpteen books which my school has which surround the topic of the history/culture of Japan, one of them stood out to me. Most notably because it was the only book to have information on kaiju eiga and Kurosawa. But I am going to focus on kaiju eiga here. While it is fine and dandy for there to be a paragraph on kaiju, it is not ok if there is an inaccuracy on something which has been - up to the book’s publishing year of 2005 - published many times.
The first offense was the classifying of a still from "Godzilla Raids Again" as a still from the 1954 classic "Gojira". What is even worse, then it comes to the book’s image index in the back of the book, it differs from the image’s subtitle and claims that the picture is from 1955. So if someone who did not know about kaiju eiga was to read this book thoroughly, they would be confused by the different dates which were provided and given the wrong information. The second offense is the calling of "Gorgo" as a Japanese kaiju - instead of the proper classification of a British kaiju film.
Bottom line, you who still go to school and may within the rest of your school years become assigned to do a report on Japan, do not used the book "Japan: A Primary Source Culture Guide" by Meg Greene. With two errors on just one page, I would love to see how many more inaccuracies there would be in the book. This is especially wondrous considering that Meg Greene has written two books on Japan, "Japan: A Primary Source Culture Guide" and "The Technology of Ancient Japan". According to Amazon, she has only published four books. Fail.
Well, after a bit of a wait the interview with Japanese kaiju fan and youtuber Akira01Sum is finally here! Now, I must admit that some questions were omitted when editing the interview. This is because some questions were lost in translation. Plus, I would like to give a special thanks to those who submitted questions for this interview. Not all of them came through but I hope those that did will have a fairly pleasing answer. So, without further to do, the interview with Akira01Sum…
1. How long have you bean a fan of kaiju/tokusatsu eiga?
From the time when I was born.
2. How did you become a fan?
I felt sympathy for kaiju. They have no choice but to be an outsider. All because he's a monster.
3. When was the first time Japanese kaiju/tokusatsu fans started doing activities (fanzines, fan films, fests, ect.?)
I guess that they started 1933 when "King Kong" was released.
5. How has the Japanese kaiju fandom changed over the years?
The most notable change is that their average age may be 30 or older.
6. America has G-FEST. What does Japan have?
We have UL-FES. It's an ULTRAMAN-FESTIVAL. It started on 1989. But it's for children.
7. What are the popular fan-sites with the Japanese fandom?
http://www.godzillamovies.org/index/."
8. Are there any Japanese film historians who have published books on the history of kaiju eiga?
There is Hirosi Takeuti. He published "Nihon Tokusatu eiga kenkyou 40 nen" on 2001. But it's not a study, but the author's love for kaiju.
9. Some American books, such as August Ragones Eiji Tsuburaya: Master of Monsters are sold in Japan. How has the Japanese side of the fandom responded to this?
August Ragone had researched thoroughly.
10. What is Godzillas standing in pop culture in Japan today?
Even today Godzilla is the symbol of the fetal power of the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
11. It is popular opinion over here in America that the reason why the recent kaiju films (D-WAR, Guilala’s Counterattack) is because after 13 years of continuous kaiju films being released in Japan, the general Japanese movie going audience has lost their want to see more kaiju films. What is your opinion on this matter?
"D-WAR" is a Korean movie, and "Guilala’s Counterattack" is a comedy. These are very bad movies. That's all.
12. How easy is it to get kaiju merchandise in Japan? Could you give some examples or even some memoirs?
For example I can get it as a free gift of chewing gum.
13. What misconceptions do Japanese fans think American fans have?
Probably American fans don't think that kaiju has a relationship with the terribleness of the Pacific War. [Editor’s Note: I talked to Akria01Sum when news of the LP Goji film leaked. Apparently American’s observation of Godzilla as a force of nature is not really looked upon in a positive way, rather it is strictly allegorical. -EB]
14. What is the general feeling regarding Godzilla's enforced retirement?
Probably it is a little lonely.
15. What are the most highly prized collectibles for Japanese fans?
Each one is fantastic.
16. What did Japanese audiences think of Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah? Were they offended by the WWII scenes like American WWII veterans?
Japanese audiences do not care about the WWII scenes at all. They purely and simply enjoy the movie as a entertainment.
17. How much bigger is the Godzilla franchise as a whole over there? Are there legions of fans wanting a new movie, or is it a smaller circle of fans like in America?
Perhaps it's size is 300 million fans. And most of them may want to see a new Godzilla movie.
18. Would they like to see a Godzilla vs. Gamera movie crossover be made?
I don't want to see such a movie. Gamera is a hero, Godzilla is a dark side of the humankind. They are thoroughly different.
19. What makes Ultraman so appealing in Japan? Like why is he still running so popular and Godzilla isn't as popular or forced to go into hiatus every once in a while?
It's simple. A Child always likes him. He changes to be big and strong. In any time it is a child's dream.
20. What did the Japanese kaiju fandom think of the Cloverfield monster?
I don't know how they thought. I felt that the monster was a symbol of an act of terrorism.
21. What did Japan think of the Atari Godzilla games? Were they pleased, surprised, disappointed? What did they think of the online component of the Save the Earth game? Was it very active there for playing in Japan?
They were a disappointment. In the game Godzilla wasn't Godzilla.
22. Do they like Biollante?
They like Biollante herself. She is very terrible. But her essential character is a beautiful woman. At the point they dislike her.
23. What do the Japanese fandom think of the American fandom?
No difference. There are not two fandoms. There is the only one fandom.
Today is a good day for fans in and around the Georgia region. While only a rumor, it has been uncovered that one of the possibilities being considered for the Christmas Silver Scream Spook Show is the ever-so-iconic "Destroy All Monsters". This news has been uncovered by Kaiju Galaxy forumer Gojira84, which I give special thanks for notifying me first about this news. In an e-mail to someone associated with the Silver Scream Spook Show, "Not 100% sure, but stay tuned to www.silverscreamspookshow.com." So, time will just tell if we get another kaiju offering from the Plaza Theatre and the Silver Scream Spook Show. Already this year, the gindhouse theatre has showcased the wildly popular "GMK" and hosted an excruciatingly rare showing of "Rodan", which was special because it was film historian Ed Godziszewski‘s print that was shown.
There are some variables to solve out to have this film shown - such as the current copyrights issue due to the ADV fallout and weather or not film collectors will have a print available for the legendary AIP version. But we’ll just see, shall we?
A new independent kaiju film from Japan is about to be uncovered by Avery Guerra at one of the sites he contributes to (Robojapan.blogspot.com or UnDead BackBrain.com). However, it’s release is up to us. Avery has given me a message. I think he states it perfectly.
"Hi "G", we're currently working on an article for a brand new daikaiju film from Japan that I found while searching online recently and contacted the director of it for exclusives and the details. The article should be up any day now.
Now this is why I'm actually contacting you; this film has never been released to the public anywhere before [not even in Japan] and wasn't actually intended to be released. I of course did some negotiating with the director and he has allowed us to cover the film and was even generous enough to give us lots of exclusive never-before-seen pics and details. He's excited to know that fans may want to see and own his work. The film is VERY significant to our beloved genre of Japanese daikaiju films and even American giant monster movies and just can't be allowed to be kept away from us fans, never to be released, and just to fade into obscurity.
He has decided to give us [the fans] this chance to voice our opinions of whether we want it released on DVD or not or to forever hold our peace. We've decided to do the article and give the fans a chance to post a comment below the article. It's free to post comments on our blog/website and no one has to join or create a profile or anything like that. They do have to enter just their names and an e-mail but their e-mails will not be published for others to see and they won't receive any spam in doing so. I'm just checking with you about this as I don't want it to look as though we're trying to steal or draw members away from the board or topics at hand.
Also, I'm also requesting your help-if you're interested and willing- in stressing to the other board members the importance of posting a comment in order to show that they want this film and if grateful for the opportunity to please thank the director as well. Please contact me back and let me know if this would be of interest to you. Thanks for your time and generous consideration of this request."
Be watching one of the aforementioned sites and make sure that you leave a comment so that we can see the film! Plus, it has been comfirmed that the film will be by the cast and crew of both the Godzilla and Gamera series. So please, once the article is up, express your interest in the film.
With the Heisei Gamera trilogy’s Blu-Ray box set out now for a while, I find it shocking that no one has done a review on it, much less commented on the newly produced interviews done for the DVD set. Well, though I do not think that they are the exact interviews, some new interview footage has shown up on youtube. Why not take a look? And as a bonus, more in-depth photos of the DVD box set are added. Apparently, only one of the three covers were the box set was mass produced, and it is the same image they made the holographic card with. Along with that, if you were wanting an insert with the chapter stops on it, forget it. That is with the GOTU disc, with the chapter stops for all three films on a single sheet.
One thing which is awesome is that like only a couple of other fandoms, being a G-Fan is - at least to me - something more of a lifestyle change. It's more of a complete culture than just something which you keep as a hobby. So, I have been studying the history of the American side of the fandom, but something came to be: what do we know about the Japanese side of the fandom?
I have successfully secured with a fellow YouTube-er an interview. So, if you have any questions regarding our Japanese counterparts, this is your chance to ask. I have already constructed eight questions, but I would like to know what you would like to know about the Japanese side of the fandom. So, if you would like, please submit a question or some questions via the comment feature on this blog and I will be sure to add all of them (Except for repeats, like if two people ask the same question). So let it begin!
Evan Brehany is an life long kaiju eiga fan. He currently resides in Georgia. Evan has contributed to Tohokingdom, G-Fan Magazine, and the Godzilla 2012 blog. He is also an administrator at the Monsterland and Kaiju Galaxy message boards.
JournalismG2KM is one of the three parts of the Kaiju Galaxy & Monsterland Forums community. Present on the blog is a wide range of articles reguarding news, reviews, and retrospects on different aspects of Japanese cinema, particularly kaiju eiga. Our staff is of four people, Evan Brehany, Kuroneko-Sama, Donny Winter, Logan Bombard, and Matti Keskiivari. Special thanks to Lee Merritt for the creation of the site banner at the bottom.
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