Daimajin: The Complete Daimajin
(ADV Films Region 1 DVD Boxed Set)
(2003)
review by Big McLargehuge

I’ve always had a soft spot for the Daiei Pictures Majin properties,
and I was very happy to hear that the gang at ADV secured the rights sometime in 2002. ADV has released all three of the Majin films in a single, budget priced, boxed set on DVD.

However, ADV’s Daimajin Boxed set offers several caveats.

If the two words “budget priced” give you pause, then you are a wise
consumer. Now, don’t be me wrong, it’s entirely possible for a company to release a budget priced set, MGM’s Midnight Movies does it all the time, but ADV, and their live action division, Rubbersuit Pictures, skimped badly on the release.

But before we get to the nuts and bolts of the DVD itself, let’s look
for a moment at the three films in the series.

Daimajin (1966) Dir: Kimiyoshi Yasuda

Kikmiyoshi Yasuda’s Daimajin offers a glimpse into the enormous
potential squandered by poor bookkeeping and corruption at Daiei Films. The evil Samanosake and his henchman Gonjuro overthrow the otherwise happy Hanabusa Clan and send the prince and princess into hiding. Traveling with them and offering protection is the Hanabusa vassal Kogenta. The three hide out for ten long years beneath the shadow of a huge stone samurai representing the Mountain God, Majin.

Ten years after the overthrow a small band of vassal’s returns to the
Hanabusa village intent on freeing their people from slavery under
Samanosake. However, their numbers are low and resources few, so within a few hours Gonjuro crushes the rebellion and captures both Kogenta and the prince.

When the aged priestess who’s helped care for the prince and princess is murdered while trying to negotiate for Kogenta and the prince’s release, Majin brings his fury down upon the village and all who dwell within.

Return of Daimajin (1966) Dir: Kazuo Mori

An evil samurai lord enslaves all the men of an otherwise peaceful
village and forces them to work in a dangerous sulphur mine, four
children trek into the mountains to summon Majin and bring his
vengeance to the evil men.

Wrath of Daimajin (1966) Dir: Kenji Misumi

The warlike clan of Mikoshiba led by the evil samurai warlord Danjo
overruns the peaceful clans of Nogoshi and Chibusa and imprisons prince Katsushige of Nogoshi. Prince Juro of Chibusa manages to escape to the island of Majin set in the center of an enormous lake. However, Danjo is not one to be superstitious and orders the statue destroyed and Juro captured.

Danjo’s men destroy the Majin statue, which released the curse to all those who desecrate his image. Juro manages to evade capture during a failed rescue attempt of Katsushige and draws all of Danjo’s soldiers to the island for a final showdown.

Majin, awakened by the exiled princesses prayers makes a believer out of Danjo and restores balance to the three clans.

What’s great about the Daimajin films:

There is something magical about the storytelling of these three films, the strongest tale being the second, Return of Daimajin, as it presents the most mature tale, though ironically, features four prepubescent boys as leads.

Majin as a character is neat too. Not content to merely appear from
stone and do the bidding of she/he who prays hardest, once Majin is
loose he destroys everything, evil and good alike. In that respect he
is clearly the most Shinto inspired of the kaiju-eighah and represents that balance between good and evil. Yes, Majin ends the oppression of the three villages in the film, but Majin also deliberately continues destroying the villages after the defeat of the villains.

The special effects in the Majin series are the best that Daiei ever
managed. Special effects in all three films come via Yoshikuki Kuroda and feature a single great stone samurai costume and what appears to be a smaller articulated stone dummy of enormous scale. Many of the visual effects are, as the year 1966 suggests, done with classic optical printing, matting, and rear projection. Kuroda manages to pull off some of the best destruction sequences of the era without calling much attention to the effects style used. His work exceeds even the better Toho offering of the time, and while he doesn’t have to deal with explosions and modern skylines, he manages to give great weight, heft, and realism to the Majin costume.

Majin is slow and simple lumbers into the villages of the film, musket balls ricochet off his chest as do catapult stones and all manner of arrow. Preceding his arrival are ominous footsteps. Kuroda lets Majin take his own pace so even the effects laden finale never feels rushed.

The tone of the films is really interesting too, closely resembling the
storytelling pace of the Daiei classic Zatochi series; each samurai
laden story could have easily existed without the stone god aspect of the story. However, being a kaiju flick most of the characters are
essentially one dimensional which sets the audience up for the eventual chaos of Majin’s dues-ex-machina bringing the revenge tales full circle.

ADV’s DVDs:

I do not know what process ADV used to bring Daimajin to DVD, but
whatever it is, stop. Stop it right now.

Each film in the Daimajin boxed set is blurry, murky, bleached, and
contains more artifacts than the King Tut’s Tomb Exhibit at the
Metropolitan Museum of Natural History. I have the ADV VHS copy of Return of Daimajin and it’s nearly flawless, the colors are vibrant and beautiful. So what in the hell went wrong with the digital transfer? In some spots (lots actually) it almost appeared that the movie showed the texture of a screen over the entire presentation. I don’t know how to make a digital transfer, and I don’t want to suggest that they simply recorded a screening on a DV camera, but in a whole lot of places that’s exactly what it looked like. The images were so indistinct and lossy at times I had trouble determining which characters were who.

It’s not quite unwatchable, but damn close.

Like their handling of Destroy All Monsters, this boxed set comes sans extras (save for a trailer for Daimajin), so anyone looking for
historical or production information about these films has to do so
somewhere else.

Each film comes with only a Japanese language track and English
subtitles, so dubbed movie fans (and little kaiju-kids like my son) are out of luck until they are willing or old enough to read.

The Daimajin series deserves a better release than this.