Preface To G-FAN Article: "Gamera 3 – Ten Years Later"

Well, it is spring, and all of those who have subscribed should have by now G-FAN issue 91. It seems like a good issue. About 20 pages less than the previous two, but the cover is more kick ass in my opinion due to it’s simplicity and clarity. In Issue 91, I had a work of mine published. Ultimately it was an article of mine that got published. One on my favorite films of all time, "Gamera 3: Incomplete Struggle". It was a worrisome work. While my previous entry into the G-FAN cannon wasn’t edited (actually added to since the photos with Dana weren’t even included in any of the e-mails given to JD, rather JD must have asked some for them, AKA Brett Homenick who must have asked Dana himself since I thought the interview was going to be edited - which thankfully it wasn’t except for some grammar mistakes), it could happen here. I do not currently know if it was edited or if the final draft was the version used (the time between the initial e-mail and final publication had some surprises for me in terms of learning more about the film). I was also worried for the set standard. Now, G-FAN is not any "Markelite" or "Monster Attack Team" per se, but issue 89 had an awesome write up on the effect Star Wars had on Japanese cinema. While I do not want to try to make my work better than anyone else’s, I do want to reach a certain benchmark of quality, one which many people testify that I do not reach. But now it is out and I am currently waiting for the reviews.

Another thing I wanted to point out is the sources I used for this paper. Well, first, I bet the paper would become a controversy for many. Mostly because at the end of my final draft I did indeed include an exact calendar of G3’s production. Someone out there is going to ask "How the fuck do you know all that?" Well, thanks to the brilliant Shinji Higuchi, he had actually pre-dated Peter Jackson’s production diaries for his King Kong remake by having Amuse Factory and Amuse Video release production diaries of the production of the Gamera trilogy (Media Factory only released "GAMERA 1999", Amuse released "THE MAKING OF GAMERA 1999" and "THE G2 PRODUCTION FILE", along with the VHS releases of the first two films and even had a part in the creation of GAMERA THE BOX: 1995-1999). So, that is new information I am pretty sure no English publication has had on the film (Kaiju Fan or G-FAN, both had an issue pretty much devoted to GAMERA 3, so you may want to check those for the accuracy of my statement).

Second, another claim which I know people will fault me for is the assumption that the Moribe family used to practice sacrifice in a deleted scene from the film. Deciding on which draft of the article they used, I used a quote from a Japanese essay on GMK to back me up on that. It’s actually the same essay in which I had written a blog post on for some time. Go look for it. From there, you will see the article I quoted got the fact from official books on the film. It is not an assumption.

Third, I used for sources some pretty rare resources. Two, in fact. One - which all would agree with me on - are a bunch of interviews which were originaly ran in the now deceased Kaiju-Fan magazine which were re-published up on Monster Zero news site. Now, I did not have all of the interviews. I think I had one with Fuyuki Shinada and another with Tomoo Hariguchi. I include quotes from both abstemiously throughout the article. It is just too bad the photos which I also have saved from MZ have the "Club Daikaiju" water mark on them, it would have been nice to have them re-published for the next generation. I mean, a photo of Shinji Higuchi sitting back with a fishing rod is just awesome in its own little way. Another source I used is the Gamera: Guardian of the Universe DVD. The US DVD. The interview with Shinji Higuchi was great. As well was the G3 US DVD. Or at least it’s special features which I got to thank Gorizard4 for posting a while back. It was a great source of information which I got which helped a lot. Now, how is this a rare source you may be wondering. Well, there must be a lot of new fans out there. And the Gamera trilogy DVDs were pressed only twice - 2003 and 2004. I doubt the good majority of fans who weren’t around for that six to seven years ago missed out therefore if they get G-FAN, they can now access the information till Section23 will hopefully will re-release the trilogy.

Now, onto another source. Such as something which was an interesting group of information: information regarding the G3 Kyoto Train Exhibit and GAMERA SFX STUDIO events. Truth be told, it was mostly photos which helped me with that endeavor. Photos, the official Shusuke Kaneko webpage dedicated to the event (well, the first one anyway), and what event exclusive items I own (which pics of the items should be in the article as I was told by a friend). That was all.

Now, time for the final piece: the criticism of the film’s script. Most of it is what people have talked about over the internet. That plus some of my own interpretation of those theories and what else I noticed in the trilogy and the specific film. Now, already when I first posted my theorem that the trilogy gives enough evidence to prove that Gamera and Irys are in fact, full blooded gods (actual gods in the universe, like if we were living in the Gamera trilogy, we could pray to Gamera type of thing), I was told it made no sense by one person (Cody Himes) and told by another it made sense (Donny Winter). So, make of it as you will. There is some other stuff. However, thanks for the specific quotes from the subtitle transcript from the Box Version of the R2 DVD for G3 goes to James Ballard. I wish him well, especially with some of the burdens his time in Japan is currently making him carry.

Last, but not least, I got to give some major thanks. First, I would like to thank Anthony Chin AKA KaijuNoMura. He was the one who gave me one of the items (for free I might add) from the Kyoto JR Exhibit. I also got Donny Winter, Lee Merrit, and any of the other forums who have given me genuine encouragement for my work. I think I have evolved in the year and two months since my first real work regarding "Yonggary 1999/2001" and I hope to continue, especially since I am officially enrolled in my school’s journalism class for next year (something you got to fill out a questionnaire and turn in a writing example for). Then I also got to thank Keith Aiken and August Ragone for what support they have given me in the few PM’s which we have exchanged over the time I have been a forumer. And a shout out to Brett Homenick. I still like how he put it when he revealed the line up of work for G-FAN 91: "This celebrated film arguably has no greater champion in the United States than Evan."

With this mouthful being said, I hope that everyone will buy G-FAN issue 91 and read what is in there. There seems to be a lot of material in there which is just interesting. Verry interesting. And enlightening. Hell, I think totorom, Brett Homenick’s interview partner-in-crime is gonna be covering the Kawakita film festival which was done to promote his book, "The Heisei Godzilla Chronicle" . So go buy it! Support G-FAN! These are touch economic times we are in, ya know? Give alittle.