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 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.[5] The filmmakers were also inspired by the golem that appeared in the 1936 Czechoslovakian film Le Golem.[6]
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).[10][11] 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.[12][13] There had been additional revival attempts, such as one by Ishiro Honda in 1980s[14] an alleged 1990s project by starring Kevin Costner,[15] and Kadokawa, after acquiring the copyrights of Daiei properties from Tokuma Shoten, announced a Daimajin project along with Godzilla vs. Gamera crossover in 2002, however the offer for a crossover was turned down by Toho.[16][17]
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.[18][19] 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.[20]
A rather predictable storyline of the franchise had also triggered the cancellation of the reboot attempt as a television series in 1960s by Noriaki Yuasa and Mamoru Sasaki and Yoji Hashimoto along with the budgetary requirement; Yuasa and Sasaki were also originally appointed for Daimajin Kanon.[21][22]
Producing three Daimajin films within the same year presumably accelerated financial difficulties of Daiei Film and resulted in the cancellation of subsequent Daimajin productions.[23]
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.[26] 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.[26]
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. Daimajin's shattered remains end up at the bottom of the lake. Daimajin awakens to inflict chaos to all around it, including the landscape and the evil lord.
Return of Daimajin was never released theatrically in the United States, but was released to television by AIP-TV in 1967.[29] 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 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.[21]
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.
^Shinichiro Inoue, 2010, Daiei Tokusatsu Film Encyclopedia: Daikaiju Fantasy Battle Gameva vs Daimajin, "Wrath of Daimajin", p.8, Newtype, Kadokawa Shoten
^Steve Ryfle, Ed Godziszewski, 2017, Ishiro Honda: A Life in Film, from Godzilla to Kurosawa, p.285, Wesleyan University Press
