Kaiju

Feb272020 by Billy "TaJa" DoyleNo Comments

North America’s Official Ultraman Website, “Ultraman Galaxy”

Last weekend, Tsuburaya Productions launched their official North American website for the Ultra Series. Titled, Ultraman Galaxy, this website feature various updates on the franchise and products. In addition, the site will eventually expand into being a database for the various heroes, aliens, and kaiju in the franchise. Furthermore, there is an entire section dedicated to how companies can contact Tsuburaya to license Ultraman for projects, as well as their current partners. Now, Tsuburaya Productions' licensing agency in North America is The Licensing Group; the company works to assist Tsuburaya Productions in its various business ventures. However, the site itself is produced by Starlight Runner Entertainment. For those unaware, Starlight Runner is a production company that spe...

Nov72018 by Team HJUNo Comments

GODZILLA vs GUNDAM – Battle of the Big’uns

Animation, Anime, Blog, Culture, Fantasy, godzilla, Kaiju, monster, Movies & TV, News, Sci-Fi, toku, tokublogs, tokusatsu, Uncategorized, Video Update, Videos

Not content to pass up the opportunity for a little cross-promotion, Toei Animation is having some fun with two of the big names among its fleet of mega-franchises. Sadly, this crossover is only here as a marketing tool for two separate releases, which have basically nothing to do with each other except they both involve giant things blowing stuff up. We'll take it! Godzilla: Planet Eater is the third and final act in the 3D animated trilogy for the giant lizard in his first fully-animated film saga. Its release this month just happens to coincide with that of Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative, the next installment for the ongoing super robot anime legend. So, Toei Animation is letting their promotional powers combine, and giving them their own commercials and artwork to hype fans of both ...

Nov12018 by Team HJUNo Comments

KAIJU WARD GALLAS: A Monstrous New Show From Toei Co

Blog, Culture, Kaiju, monster, Movies & TV, News, Toku, toku, tokublogs, tokusatsu, Uncategorized, Video Update, Videos

HurricaneYellow isn't out of the monster-fighting biz just yet. Actor Yamamoto Kohei, known to many Super Sentai fanatics as super-ninja Bito Kota on Ninpu Sentai Hurricanger, is hard at work on a new project for Toei Company. The developing TV series will feature a new hero not affiliated with the likes of Toei's usual suspects from the long-running Kamen Rider and Super Sentai franchises. Kaiju Ward Gallas, as the name implies, is a kaiju show, with giant monsters as a centerpiece. Not a first for Toei, but after years of focusing heavily on their Big Two, this comes as somewhat of a surprise. Kaiju action is more Tsuburaya Productions' thing. With their ongoing Ultraman franchise, they've defined the look and feel of giant monster action on the small screen for decades now. Elsewhe...

Oct242018 by Justin MullisNo Comments

Scholars Talking Toku: Interview with Seth Kim – Pt. 2

Anime, Articles, Blog, Comics, Culture, Interviews, Kaiju, Kamen Rider, Super Sentai, Toku, toku, tokusatsu, Ultraman

Welcome to the second installment of Scholars Talking Toku's interview with Seth Kim; Assistant Professor in the Program of Cinema and Media Arts and Asian Studies at Vanderbilt University. Kim is the author of several essays on Japanese superheroes and tokusatsu including “Kamen Rider vs. Spider-Man and Bat-Man” which appeared in the book Giant Creatures in Our World: Essays on Kaiju and American Popular Culture (2017, McFarland Press) edited by Camille D.G. Mustachio and Jason Barr. My own essay, “Notes from the Land of Light: Observations on Religious Elements Seen in Ultraman”, was also published in this same collection so we both recommend you pick it up! In the first half of our interview, we discussed Kim's essay “Kamen Rider vs. Spider-Man and Bat-Man” as well as his thoughts

Oct232018 by Justin MullisNo Comments

Scholars Talking Toku: Interview with Seth Kim – Pt. 1

Anime, Articles, Blog, Culture, Interviews, Kaiju, Kamen Rider, Super Sentai, toku, tokusatsu

Welcome to a brand new installment of Scholars Talking Toku. My name is Justin Mullis and I’m a scholar working in the academic field of religious studies who also happens to harbor a life long love of Japanese pop-culture. Last year an essay I wrote, “Notes from the Land of Light: Observations on Religious Elements Seen in Ultraman”, was published in the book Giant Creatures in Our World: Essays on Kaiju and American Popular Culture (2017, McFarland Press) edited by Camille D.G. Mustachio and Jason Barr. I recommend you pick it up! One of my fellow contributors to Giant Creatures in Our World is scholar Seth Kim who is an Assistant Professor at Vanderbilt University. Kim's contribution to our book was a fascinating and provocative essay on the kaijin from the original Kamen Rider (19

Oct112018 by DocNo Comments

GODZILLA: PLANET EATER Trailer Summons King Ghidorah for Earth’s Last Stand

Animation, Anime, Articles, Blog, godzilla, Kaiju, monster, Movies & TV, News, Sci-Fi, Toku, toku, tokublogs, tokusatsu, Uncategorized, Video Update, Videos

One last battle remains to decide the fate of a post-apocalyptic Earth in Godzilla: Planet Eater, the third and final film in this 3D animated giant monster trilogy. From Toho Animation and Polygon Pictures, the series plays out as a three-act storyline for the King of Monsters, which finally reaches its conclusion this year, featuring one of Godzilla's most famous foes, the golden dragon King Ghidorah. There's no shortage of kings among the kaiju, are there? This time, King Ghidorah's looking a bit different, as the anime tale brings us a new vision of the beast whose divergent sights are about to be set against his enormous, reptilian co-star. If nothing else, you can't fault this series for lack of ideas. They've got more imagination packed into this thing than several live-acti...

Sep242018 by DocNo Comments

GODZILLA vs Expectations: The Anime Trilogy Roars to a Close

Animation, Anime, Articles, Blog, Gallery, godzilla, Kaiju, monster, Movies & TV, News, Sci-Fi, Toku, toku, tokublogs, tokusatsu, Uncategorized

Godzilla: Planet Eater, the third and final film in the animated experiment that is Toho's giant monster trilogy is nearly here. And its first imagery insists that we'll get some action with one of the atomic lizard's most fearsome foes, the great King Ghidorah. But it wouldn't be the G-trilogy without some unique spin on the classics, so we'll not be going in expecting the same three-headed space dragon we've known for decades. The anime three-parter's first installment stomped across Japanese cinema screens and international streaming monitors to a mixed array of reactions, ranging from "I loved it", hailing Godzilla: Planet of Monsters as a fresh visionary take, to "I hate it", dismissing it as a failure in concept and execution, and a whole gamut of emotions somewhere between the ...

Sep122018 by Team HJUNo Comments

Trailer: SSSS.GRIDMAN Goes to Battle Next Month

Animation, Anime, Articles, Blog, Kaiju, Movies & TV, News, Sci-Fi, Ultraman, Uncategorized, Video Update, Videos

Watashi wa Hyper Agent Gridman. After a long wait, Tsuburaya Productions is finally ready to unveil the new SSSS.Gridman. This animated effort inspired by the live-action original bears many similarities to its tokusatsu predecessor, but also a few differences. For one, the impending monster mayhem doesn't seem to be confined to a digitized world within computers, as seen in the 1993 series Gridman the Hyper-Agent. Those look like physical buildings getting smashed to pieces as enormous kaiju tangle with the hero of the hour, in a populated area. Among them is a cast of angsty youngsters whose paths may be inextricably linked to the red and white savior known as Gridman. https://youtu.be/kZdZmbvln4g SSSS.Gridman begins October 6, 2018. You might also like: Watch: Th...

Aug162018 by Team HJUNo Comments

Trailer: EARTH DEFENSE FORCE 5

Blog, Culture, Fantasy, godzilla, horror, Kaiju, monster, Movies & TV, Tech, Toku, toku, tokublogs, tokusatsu, Uncategorized, Video Games, Video Update, Videos

The Earth Defense Force series continues to stomp across the video game world with its take on classic sci-fi, giant monster action with its fifth iteration. In this English-language trailer for the ongoing franchise, we see more of the familiar critters laying waste to our world, with a squad of heroes mobilizing to take them on once again. https://youtu.be/pOZfDS1fZio Earth Defense Force 5 will be available to English-speaking gamers in 2018 for the Playstation 4 console. You might also like: CASTLEVANIA Season 2 Trailer: The Nightmare Continues Game On: KAMEN RIDER SUMMONRIDE Game On: EARTH DEFENSE FORCE Series

Aug12018 by Team HJUNo Comments

GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS Gets an Atomic Blast From the Past

Blog, godzilla, Kaiju, monster, Movies & TV, Toku, toku, tokublogs, tokusatsu, Uncategorized, Video Update, Videos

Now that the first official trailer for Godzilla: King of the Monsters is out, fans finally know a little about what lies in store for us in the latest addition to the giant monster movie franchise, and that includes the MonsterVerse debut of beloved daikaiju Mothra, Rodan, and King Ghidorah. But one fan decided to do a little remix on the Legendary Pictures trailer, editing the piece to resemble the vibe from classic Toho Studios promos for the old school films, complete with big, animated title cards and voiceover explaining what you're about to see as those unmistakable sound effects ring out. Good times. https://youtu.be/C5VL6WNh2cM Truly, few things in life beat hearing the Japanese word "nani" (what) come from the mouth of Charles "Game of Thrones" Dance. The Michael Doughe...