Subtitle Script for "Gehara"

Since not every one is as willing to go the grey market way I go and went to see "Gehara", "G", and "Regio", I have taken the liberty to type out a subtitle transcript for Gehara. So those of you who have not yet seen for FREE on the internet Gehara have no excuse to not see the 20 minute short. It is a really cool film, you need to see it!

Watch Gehara here, subtitles are below the link:
http://roberthood.net/blog/index.php/2009/03/05/gehara-is-here/

Subtitles:

Scene 1: Ship Sinking In Japan Sea

Steering Fisherman: Hmmm, that’s weird.
Drunk Fisherman: What is it?
Steering Fisherman: The engines are not working.
Drunk Fisherman: Something must have stuck onto it.

[Drunk Fisherman Sees Gehara]

Drunk Fisherman: What is that? Hey, come look!
Steering Fisherman: What?
Both: Oh my God, it’s….. It’s HAIR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Scene 2: News Report

TV: Early this morning, a fishing boat exploded…
Wife: Come on Hideo! Don’t be lazy and help me out!
Hideo: Shut up. It is really important for us journalists to check out news programs like this.
Wife: Whatever.
TV: Fisherman Mr. Tasaki is currently missing. The Coastal Guard has been making a rescue effort since this morning…
Hideo: It looks like it was sunken by a hairy kaiju!
Wife: God, another "kaiju" story?
Mother: There isn’t anything like that in today’s world.
Hideo: Well, we are in the age of science. We have to uncover the truth.
Wife: Hideo!
Hideo: See you later!
Mother: Good luck!

Scene 3: Examination
Fisherman: Hair… Hair… Hair…
Doctor: His hair has strangely fallen out. He must have experienced something very terrifying.
Hideo: Mr. Murakami, what in the world did you experience?
Dr. Murakami: A sea-man could have doen this. Or, we can assume that a Keukegen might have caused it. Anyways, go ahead and go through all the materials we have and conduct a thorough investigation to determine the cause…
Fisherman: HAIR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11
Murakami: Ow! Ow! Ect.

Scene 4: Tribal Scene

Tori Shrine Name: "Geharha Shrine"

[tribal music scene till Hideo opens door]

Village Elder: Who is this?
Hideo: I heard you know about the Keukegen "Gehara", and there is something which you need to know.
Village Elder: You must not go! You will be cursed by the great Geharha!

[sees destroyed land]

Village elder: Oh, no… The seal has been broken! Nobody can stop the Great Gehara now.


Scene 5: Couple with Camera scene - Yase Clift, Noto Peninsula

Boy Friend: Let’s go further.
Girl Friend: It’s scary!
Boy Friend: Don’t worry. I got you.

Scene 6: News Reports

Japanese TV: A few minutes ago, there has been a huge blackout around the Ishikawa prefecture. The feeder line has been…
[mixed talking]
Indian News: Gehara
African News: Gehara
Japanese TV: The authorities affirmed that a monster is involved in this series of disasters…
Dr. Murakami: We even thought it was done by the Gods, the old rulers of the earth. Considering all the evidence, it must be a monster. There is no question that this is all because of a kaiju.
Japanese TV: According to the authorities, the monster - now named Gehara from ancient lore - has hit the shore of the Kanazawa region. The situation of the damage is still unknown, but it is confirmed that Gehara is now heading to an urban area. Local residents should stay calm

Scene 7: Ground Zero - Kanazawa capitol

Overhead Speaker: We designate that the target is "Gehara".
Mother: Where is Hideo?
Wife: I hope he’s safe.

LOCATION: MONSTER DISASTER HEADQUARTERS

Army Commander: Will our weapons work on Gehara?
Dr. Murakami: As long as he is a terrestrial being, his antibiotic must be the same as ours.
Female Soldier: Gehara has reached Kanazawa!
Female Reporter: The Monster Gehara seems to be heading this way, demolishing building on the way. We can even hear his footsteps.

[Gehara raises hell]

Female Reporter: Gehara is now visible. It is extremely dangerous here!
Male Speaker: What, what? Going on? Oh, oh, oh hell, Damn it, run for your lives!

[tanks come in]

Army Commander: Fire!
Dr. Murakami: Yes, he’s gargantuan but his skin cannot be as hard as steel.
Soldier: What is that smell?
Soldier: I cannot breath!
Overhead Speaker: He’s excreting gas!
Army Commander: Retreat! Retreat!

[back at the headquarters]

Female Soldier: Gehara is discharging gas from his fallen hair! Our personnel are incapacitated!
Male Soldier: We can’t keep the defense line!
Commander: If we hit, he discharges gas. Plus, the long hair cushions the damage.
Dr. Murakami: "A mud wall deads a cannon bullet"
American scientist: I have a good idea! Why don’t we used the machine we developed?
[Ground Zero]

Soldiers: Evacuate!

[machine comes in "Gas Vortical Device "Fujin"]

Overhead Speaker: Gas Vortical Device: Ready!
American: Fujin, ignition! Level Max!
Dr. Murakami: There’s his weak spot!
Army Commander: Fire!

[Gehara falls]

[BACK AT BASE]

Commander: We did it!
America [in English]: We did it!
Dr. Murakami: After all, humans are the scariest.

Radio: Gehara is now escaping towards the mountains.
Man: He is coming this way!

Scene 8: Epilogue

[Gehara is bombed]

Army Commander: Is Gehara dead?
Dr. Murakami: More than likely, yes. Yet we have to remember that a second Gehara will appear soon unless we stop the environmental destruction.
Village Elder: It’s not Gehara’s fault! It’s humans who are harmful!
Hideo: Gehara is a victim as well.

[THE END]

Scene 9: "Gehara: Monster Martial Law"

Hideo: What?
Xilien: Gehara is now in our hands. Surrender Terrans! This planet is ours! Surrender or we will release Gehara into one of your metropolises!
Hideo: God, if we don’t act fast, Japan and even the world will fall prey to Gehara!
Village Leader: There is but one way - and only one way - to seal Gehara.

[trailer music starts]

Hideo: Nobody but us can stop him.
Dr. Murakami: It is us, the human species, who are destroying this Earth.
JAPANESE TEXT: Unprecedented Crisis.
Xilian: Surrender Terrans!
Village Elder: That’s our last hope.
Japanese Text: Looming Invaders
American [in English]: OH MY GOD!
Army Commander: Was it all planned?
Japanese Test: Raging Hairy Monster!
Army personnel: Do you read me!?
Japanese TV: Is this the beginning of the apocalypse?
Dr. Murakami: We will be the rulers and build the real Utopia!
Japanese Text: Will the Human Species be annihilated?
Army Personnel: We will NEVER give up!
Female Soldier: He will destroy all of the defense line!
Mother: Run sweetie!
Wife: I can’t do that!
Mother: Listen to me! Our planet needs you!
Japanese Text: The last hope reveals itself
Multiple People: We are… the TERRANS!

Japanese Test: "THE LAST CHAPTER: GEHARA: MONSTER MARTIAL LAW"

Review: "Gehara: The Long And Dark Haired Monster"

^The closest thing to "Gehara, Garemon, Giant Robot: Japan SOS" we will ever get.

The last of the kaiju films I have been meaning to review for a while is "Gehara" or as the legal title is, "Geharha" (though if that was the actual translation, then Godzilla would be Gojirha). Technically, I am re-reviewing it. The original review didn’t survive the blog transition so here we are. So, since most have already seen the film, I am going to skip to the review. Though I should mention, it is awesome finally seeing the film subtitled.

This film is one of two films Kiyotaka Taguchi directed in 2008/2009. The other is "G". Though this film is vastly more superior to "G" in every way. Now sure, Shinji Higuchi was on board for the SFX work here, but I am talking about other things. "G" was directed in a very erratic sense. "Gehara" isn’t and for good reason. With this we do not waste the talents of Shiro Sano, a Godzilla veteran. With this, we get a more traditional and well rounded kaiju film. Gone is the gore and nut shots of "G". Instead, this film is just one big tribute. From the Ifukube music to the "Ultraman", "War of the Gargantuas", and "Mysterians" and other reverences to the ending which is inspired - if not copied - from Takeshi Shimura’s final lines from the original "Gojira", this is a cool kaiju short that pulls out all of the stops, including bringing on destruction a single kaiju hasn’t brought on since "Gamera 2: Advent of Legion".

Now we can just hope that the faux trailer for "Gehara: Monster Martial Law" isn’t as faux as some think it is.
Score: 4.7/5

Review: "Deep Sea Monster Reigo vs. The Battleship Yamato"

Shinpei Hayashida. It is sad that not too many people in the fandom know his name by heart. Sure, they know about his most famous film - "Gamera 4: Truth" - but sadly, they do not know too much about him and his other works. Here is one thing about him: he is a major kaiju fan. He has made a fan film on Godzilla before he did one on Gamera. Another thing is that Shinpei: he is skilled in rakugo. These factors, put together, is some of the reasons why "Deep Sea Monster Reigo vs. The Battleship Yamato" works and even has an edge of originally against it’s amateur CGI work. Again, I saw this film un subtitled so I relied on SciFiJapan to help me out here.

The story is an untold chapter of the legendary Yamato battleship’s short story. Human wise, the story is set around Yukijiro Hotaru‘s character, a navy commander of some sort and the young Taiyo Sugiura’s character. Yukijiro is playing a character far from the Mr. Osako we know him of the Gamera trilogy. This character is crude and perverted while trying to deal with a creepy encounter with an old man who tells him the legend of Reigo. Taiyo Sugiura is the love interested of the story. A pretty boy, he is one of the young men sent out, leaving his mother and childhood sweet heart behind. The movie revolves around those two characters.

Now, time for the review. The SFX are something that need to be discussed first since many people have taken note of them. Now, the fact that this film is a collaboration of Tomoo Hariguchi (of Gamera 3 and Death Kappa fame) and Keita Amemiya (I have no idea what he has done) has been publicized as a big deal is not a factor here. I mean, even Shinichi Wasaka worked on the film (I am watching the making of segment when they are painting the Bonefish props and I have seen Wasaka on screen accouple of times along with the Finaro-Goji suit). But I bet due to it’s low budget, CGI was used. And those thinking that YONGGARY was bad needs to think again. Though I liked this film, I have no doubts that the CGI usage will drive some American tokusatsu otaku away from this production. Though the puppets and models are some of the most detailed I have seen, the CGI battleships and ocean scenery are a turn off. Watcher be aware.

I do not know who directed the SFX model-wise, but I got three guesses: Kazuaki Skiyama, Katsuo Kawazoe, or Hajime Matsumoto. Maybe all three did their own parts of the SFX shots. However, the direction with the SFX is very nice. Some moments are a little questionable, like why they chose to shoot the scene with the bonefish the way they did, but there are some awesome shots. Such is one of Reigo rising out of the water, does a turn in the air, and goes back down in the water. The little maneuver take a little off the Yamato’s top and causes a little explosion. It is like a Matrix-kaiju scene done right. Some explosion scenes are also done beautifully. Another beautiful shot is when Reigo first comes up out of the water full body. SciFiJapan actually has this scenes broken down frame by frame in their coverage of the film. I suggest you go see it.

The directorial style of the human scenes is good. But it is nothing too special. It is nice to see some black and white scenes through the film, but overall it is nothing too special. The plot is executed well though. The romantic side of the story is executed well, enough to touch a person emotionally. The comedy bits are good enough to make you laugh with it, even without subtitles. And Hayashida’s experience in rakugo shows, especially in the end with Hayashida showing his version of the Yamato’s downfall, which includes a cameo by famous Kabuki performer Ukon Ichikawa. The downfall of the Yamato battle ship is something which obviously is something very spiritual and that is captured completely.

Overall, unless you see it subtitled, I see a lot of kaiju fans not wanting to take the time to watch this film. And it is sad since it is a good film. There really is no reason why NOT to watch the film. It is one of the more original kaiju films that has NOT been made by anyone named Kaneko or Higuchi in a long time - in fact, it is one of the best since Biollante. But of course this film is not as good as GMK. But it is defiantly worth a watch.

Score: 4/5

Review: "G"

Special Thanks to my friend Keith for making this review possible

One of the reasons why people love the Showa series is because of the amount of "variety" the series had, mostly from the fact that over seven kaiju had their premiers in the Showa series with their own film or television series. Even Toei did one with Dragons and such. Hell, make it 8 if one wants to remember "Agon, The Atomic Dragon". And there’s even more with that, if you count the other non-Goji kaiju films Honda directed and Tsuburaya did the SFX for ("Dogora" and "Yog" I think Nakano did though). But you get my point. Now, that trend was abandoned in the Heisei series. The only kaiju which got their own films are Godzilla, Gamera, and Mothra with Yamato-No-Orochi appearing once in 1994. But now with the Millennium series going underway, we got the variety trend going on again. It’s mostly because of this digital age which makes making films a lot easier. With this, kaiju eiga is not filled with only Gamera/Godzilla/Ultraman films anymore. There is now a growing series of independent kaiju films being made. Not including "Gamera 4: Truth", "Negadon" was the first of this wave if I recall. Of recent times, films like "Gehara", "The Fog Horn", and "G" have continued the trend and the most successful of these is Shimpei Hayashida’s "Deep Sea Monster" series (which currently runs with "Deep Sea Monster Reigo" and it’s sequel, "Deep Sea Monster Raiga"). And I now own three of the aforementioned films, "Gehara", "Reigo", and "G". The film I shall be reviewing is "G". Here it is:

The movie starts off with three military guys running around in a forest in the past. One of the guys is shot to death. Now in present times, one of the military guys is still beating himself up for letting one of his partners die. Meanwhile, a lab experiment goes wrong as a scientist injects himself with a special serum. It causes him to go out on a "Quarantine"-esque rampage on a fellow scientist before escaping. Accouple of minutes later, the ground opens up with the giant monster "G" running amok in his Iris-esque-ness. The military tires everything and though the weapons do have an effect on the monster, G just won’t quit and continues to attack. The aforementioned tormented army guy decides to redeem himself of the mistake years ago by saving Japan from G by piloting a giant robot. Together with a misfit female soldier, a business man, and a military general, the robot takes down G leaving the sky to be years latter filled with numerous giant robots.

Well, this film "G" is going to be quite a hit or miss for many kaiju fans. In fact, I bet some wouldn’t hesitate comparing the film to the likes of "Guilala’s Counterattack". This movie first of all beats "Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla" (1974) as being the bloodiest kaiju film to date (which is something not every kaiju film can do, with the only one coming close in my mind is "Godzilla vs. Destroyah"). Really, G - the kaiju - is shot at so much that most of his body is skinless by the end of the film and we just have big, red blotches. The comedy content with the film is a lot something of a shock (in a positive or negative way is the viewer to decide, though I think of it as positive). First, when was the last time there was a kaiju nut shot (yes, nut shot)? Last time I remember, it was Ghidorah blasting at Godzilla’s in 1964. Well, "G" takes that cake when a military guy takes a bazooka and gets under G and blasts his nuts. It even gets weirder when in an act of desperation decides to take two JR cards and connect them, using them as nunchaku. Very odd. The SFX and directing style is a little off but it is ok none the less. Overall, the film is not for the faint of heart. Those looking for a wild ride of a kaiju film less than an hour long knows where to look.

Overall: 3/5

Heisei Gamera TV Specials On Youtube

For those who love the Gamera trilogy, youtube member Onyasai21 has uploaded Japanese unsubtitled television specials for each film in parts complete with the commercials they were shown with (David Copperfield is among those advertised). Here is my analysis of the special for "Gamera: Guardian of the Universe" which I wrote on Kaiju Galaxy forums:

"And I got to say, the TV special - which I also found ones for G2 and G3 - already on their respective discs - is very revealing. First, it is interesting to see how G1 was promoted just as Gamera's return, while the second film was promoted as the tour de force of the Japanese SFX film, and the third film was like a Japanese "Tranformers".

To be more specific, it is interesting in the little details these things old. For the TV special for GGOTU, you see stuff like the inside of Daiei's production studios (decorated in GGOTU memorabilia), a figure contest for a Marmit figure (they film the winner and a kid crying because he lost), and extra footage from the Yabari International Fantastic Adventure Film Festival. Wanna know something which the ADV disc left out in that footage at the film festival? Acclaimed actress Michelle Yeoh saying how much she liked the film's SFX and how she wished that films made in Hong Kong can reach the same level of technical excellence. Mind blowing stuff in these things!"

Here is the URL to his homepage. Onyasai21also has some other rarities which are worth seeing - not to miss out.

http://www.youtube.com/user/onyasai21

Full Report: Teruyoshi Nakano SFX Film Festival

From December 26, 2009 to January 29, 2010, Japan’s HUMAX CINEMA (the same cinema which in 2009 held a Koichi Kawakita/Heisei Godzilla film festival) is celebrating the SFX films which had one man as their special effects director: Teruyoshi Nakano. Known primarily for his work on the 70’s Godzilla films, Teruyoshi was involved with the series since "Mothra vs. Godzilla". His best work however is in destruction films like "Submersion of Japan" and "War in Space". It is such "destruction" and non-kaiju tokusatsu eiga works that the Humax Cinema is celebrating. Here are the fallowing films which have been showcased so far:

1. Monkey (TV series, SFX director for some episodes)
2. Zoku ningen kakumei (English title unknown to the author)
3. Conflagration
4. Admiral of the Grand Fleet: Isoroku Yamamoto
5. The Secret of the Telegian (NOTE: Nakano-san was only a special effects assistant on this film)
6. Firebird: Daybreak Chapter
7. War In Space
8. Submersion of Japan

To this day, Teruyoshi Nakano keeps active. He has been graced with three award wins: two Japanese awards for best special effects ("The Return of Godzilla" and "Princess of the Moon", Teruyoshi’s final work) and a Mangled Skyscraper award presented by the staff of "G-FAN" magazine. Nakano-san keeps a good life today, occasionaly doing interviews and writing books on his memoirs on the set of many tokusatsu productions.

Teruyoshi Nakano To Be Honored

By the same cinema which lead the 2007 Koichi Kawakita honor. Similar poster and memorabilia produced for the Kawakita festival is to be produced for Nakano-san's. More information to come.

http://www.humax-cinema.co.jp/cinema/special/meigaza/ginza_meigaza4.html

Thanks to Cody Himes for the correction of the "Nakano-san" phrasing (originaly Teruyoshi-san).

AMC and Godzilla

2010 seems to be getting at a good start with Godzilla. A new book in Japan and this year’s Christmas ornament has been revealed. Not to mention the release of Armand Vaquero’s "Monster Movie Fan’s Guide To Japan" and the soon release of a new issue of "Monster Attack Team" fanzine. It seems now that AMC has hopped on the band wagon as well. As number one on their list on "movies that spawned too many sequels", AMC has chosen the Big G of that honor. While I wouldn’t say there have been to many films (28 isn’t that many), it is nice to see the Big G still get recognition. Kudos AMC.

Note, another hint given that I did not record was that the host said that his [Godzilla’s] first film did not become widely available until 2006. Thank god we got Classic Media.

New Find

Well, it is kind of amazing how much Godzilla iconography one can find. I could list all of it that is at my school. This is the newest one: my Physical Fitness book has a picture of two girls checking out the cult movie part of a VHS store. Lo and behold one of the VHS tapes is of the original VHS for "King Kong vs. Godzilla". Check it out here:
http://tohokingdom.com/articles/images/boxart_kkvsg_goodtimes.htm

Very awesome! Especialy with "Grease" also making an apperance. Though check it that it just happens to be an Asian girl who is holding it...

2010 Goji Ornament Revealed

Well, I decided to go over to KaijuHQ since I haven't been there in a while and their most attractive feature is their nice gallery of making of stills. Lo and behold, they have news on the 2010 Godzilla ornament which is a cool embodiment of the Desu-Goji suit. This is a quote from the site:

"From Jeff over at Long Island Treasures...
This year American Greetings / Carlton Cards will again be releasing another Godzilla ornament, this time from 1995's "Godzilla vs. Destroyah". It seems to represent Godzilla stomping his way through Hong Kong in his burning stage, will play Godzilla sound effects, and will light up (assuming the burning patches on Godzilla's skin will glow). This ornament will be available for pre-order in May 2010 and is pictured below."

Thank you KaijuHQ/Jeff of Long Island Treasures. Maybe this Christmas, I will buy all of the ornaments

New Book

I do not know what it is called due to my limited Japanese, but the title seems to be titled "Tokusatsu 魂 ~Toho 特撮奮戦記~". I do not know much more than that. It goes for $24. And again, it seems that someone is happy with Koichi Kawakita's work. The cover is beautiful to say the least.

UPDATE:
My friend KaijuNoMura has posted some information reguarding this publication here:
http://kaijucollector.b1.jcink.com/index.php?showtopic=309&view=findpost&p=3569

UPDATE NO. 2:
Turns out I got two diffrent translations of the title. Both from friends, one is "Koichi Kitagawa, The Spirits of Special Effects, The brave fight of Toho SFX Team" and the other being "Toho Tokusatsu - Tokusatsu Brave(ly) Souls". Take it as you wish.

Gamera Music Videos

Below are the music videos for Bufuku Slump's song "Myth" from "Gamera: Giant Monster Mid-Air Showdown" and Julliana's "Tell Me Once Again" from the masterpiece "Gamera 3: Incomplete Struggle".

West Kenji Model Kit Exhibit

Finaly news is picking up again, and this time I am blogging about something which this blog hasn't covered yet - the model/resin kit industry. In this case, it seems to be that a fan has chosen to show off his collection of model kits, most of them seeming to have come from West Kenji, one of the more popular popular companies which has been producing resin/model kits with high prices (rightfully so). Though the translated version of the original article does mention there may be more figures on display, including some non-West Kenji memorabilia. Links will be at the bottom. The exhibit is open for the next 11 days!

For more about tokusatsu model/resin kits, visit the fallowing links:

http://www.kaijukits.com/

http://kaijucast.com/2009/08/20/08-19-2009-east-west-see-eye-to-eye-for-kaijucast-epsiode-8/

Original Article:
http://www.chunichi.co.jp/article/aichi/20100105/CK2010010502000027.html

News From Monster Attack Team

When the news surrounding Godzilla was going slow (and most news reguarding Godzilla in Japanese news is of baseball player Hideki Matsui, who has the nickname "Godzilla"), turns out news from the fandom has arised. Now avaliable is the look of the cover of the new issue of "Monster Attack Team"!

The features include:

The History of Kamen Rider

Working for Ultraman

An exclusive interview with Tak Sakaguchi

The Last Dinosaur Partying Godzilla-style

The Fantastic cinema of Kinji Fukasaku

Japanese monster toy mayhem

Fantastic tokusatsu poster retrospective

Monsters!

Super Heros!

Japanese rock and roll!

So much more!

The source of this information though is the official websites for MAT. Keep going to the official websites for updates. Once everything is in order, you can order your copy of issue 8 off the site and even two back issues! "Monster Attack Team" is a fanzine which started in 1989 and died out in the middle 1990's. But now they are back!

http://monsterattackteam.com/

Also of mention, Godzilla fan and political commentator Armand Vaquer is going to have his book "The Monster Movie Fan's Guide To Japan" released sometime this month. The exact date is unknown due to some complications. Be looking at Armand's blog for more updates on this exciting publication!

Essay By A Japanese Otaku

In this day and age, the majority english written material on tokusatsu eiga has been writen by American otaku. Very rarely does one find a piece composed by a Japanese tokusatsu otaku which is eye opening. Today is an exception - for all of you who read this blog. By clicking the link below, you will go to a page which in adobe format is an english language version of the paper "Signs Taken For Monsters: What Made Godzilla So Angry Then" by Hiromi Nakano. In this paper, you will be exposed to a great analysis of GMK with the fallowing:

-look into some alternate dialogue from the GMK script

-where Kazunori Ito got his ideas

-information from rare information sources, such as the "GAMERA PERFECT BOX" (a limited 2 book set)

-and alot more!

Happy reading and make sure to leave a comment!

http://kamome.lib.ynu.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/10131/3792/1/1-Nakano.pdf