Kaiju
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Kaiju (怪獣 kaijū?) is a Japanese word that means "wierd beast", but usually translated in English as "monster". Specifically, it is used to refer to a genre of tokusatsu entertainment.
Related terms include kaiju eiga (怪獣映画 ? giant monster movie), a film featuring kaiju, kaijin (referring to roughly humanoid monsters) and daikaijū (大怪獣? big monster), specifically meaning the larger variety of monsters.
The most famous Kaiju is Godzilla and other well known Kaiju include Mothra, King Kong, Gamera, and King Ghidorah. The term Ultra-Kaiju is short-hand for monsters in the Ultra Series. Though kaiju and kaijin are typically modelled after conventional animals, insects or mythological creatures, there are more esoteric examples, featured primarily in the Super Sentai and Kamen Rider television franchises. For example, Choujin Sentai Jetman features monsters based on popcorn boxes, traffic lights, faucets and tomatoes[1]; Kamen Rider Super-1 includes a whole army of monsters based on household objects such as umbrellas and utility ladders.[2]
[edit] Notes
[edit] External links
- Daikaiju! Giant Monster Tales, book anthology, edited by Robert Hood and Robin Pen, published in 2005 by Agog! Press
- Gallery of Kaiju
- Godzilla Stomp
- Henshin! Online
- Kaiju Big Battel A wrestling show with Kaiju as fighters.
- Kaijuphile
- Toho Kingdom
- Twisted Kaiju Theatre
- SciFi Japan
- Ultraman Lah!
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