“The Year of Gamera” is officially over. As a Gamera kid—a “Kenny,” if you will—I’m going to miss it. Mostly because I was entertained by Nate’s cringing as he watched those movies. Well, until he got to the good ones, anyway. He may rant about the Heisei Trilogy and The Brave, but nothing compares to the dramatization of me and Masao helping Gamera save the world from that dastardly bastard Viras. Regardless, here are my notes from episode 54 on Gamera the Brave.
- You’d be surprised who I know, Nate. The organizers for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade are just a few. I’ve lived a storied life and met many storied people. I have quite the network.
- I’m clueless on Pokémon gens. Mostly because I was way too old to get into it. (I know, I know—“Okay, boomer,” right?)
- I started a tradition. Hot damn! I’m still going to insist that Nate reading my Entertaining Info Dumps be kept in his contract. Speaking of which, both his and mine are coming up for renewal soon.
- The Leotard Ladies are playing the Denham Theater on Monster Island next spring. 😛
- You kept mixing up Toru and Toto, Nate. It’s easy to confuse them, I know, but still, one is a kid and one is a cutesy turtle.
- Here’s that “proof of concept” Gamera film Nate mentioned:
- I’ll see what I can do about instant-instant ramen. That will probably require consultation with physicists, engineers, and cooks. But we would give humanity one of its greatest gifts.
- Bangiku (Late Chrysanthemums) was directed by Mikio Naruse and released in the U.K. with two more of his films. Criterion doesn’t have it.
- It turns out there are two versions of Oodles the ramen cup Funko Pop: regular and “spicy.”
- I tried to build a lead zeppelin once. Jimmy Page saw it and started a band based on it.
Now, to fulfill my contractual obligations (or keep with MIFV tradition?), here are Nate’s leftover notes with my riff-tastic annotations.
- It says Kadokawa and not Daei.
- SFX director: Isao Kaneko. Any relation? (Given that no relation was mentioned in the film’s commentary, I’m guessing, no. –Jimmy)
- Talk of the Monster Council is similar to the Heisei Trilogy. Pays lip service to government response but is focused on Toru. (They’re still around and quite busy. But this is Japan, after all. –Jimmy)
- I thought Toto would bite Toru’s finger to wake him up. (I pet-sitted a lizard one time that did that. I dumped that girl the next day. –Jimmy)
- I love how little Toto likes to sit on Toru’s head. “Kawaii!” (Nate…you sure you didn’t turn into a certain magical girl? –Jimmy)
- The scene with the sailor getting pulled under and killed—with the sea turning red with blood—is effectively eerie, especially since it has no dialogue or music. Let that be a lesson to horror filmmakers.
- I wonder if the disbanding of the Monster Council was a bit of a commentary on the kaiju genre/fandom?
- There’s also a weird Ultra Q episode about a boy and a flying turtle.
- This works very well as a self-contained story.
- The animatronics for “adult” Toto are quite good. The CGI for little Toto is good, too.
- The red stone reminds me of the opal egg from Gamera vs. Barugon.
- The kids wear lots of English-language shirts.
- I love the shot of Toto poking his head out of his shell while in a house. Lots of detail.
- Toru connects with Toto, but it’s earned and makes sense. (And my connection to Gamera wasn’t?! –Jimmy)
- Poor Toto gets stabbed in the hand like any good Gamera.
- The glow of the stone was added in post.
- The kids stand against the adults to protect Toto. Again, it feels earned. The innocence and faith of children.
COMMENTARY BY KEITH AIKEN AND BOB JOHNSON
- A novelization called Friends: Gamera the Brave was released as a tie-in. Gyaos blew off Gamera’s jaw. Other Showa Gamera kaiju were present in it but didn’t make it due to budget constraints.
- The executive producer wanted to make an original monster for kids, but the studio insisted on a Gamera film.
- The actor playing Toru’s father was also in Masked Rider: The First and Shin Godzilla.
- The actress playing Toru’s mother (Megumi Kobayashi) was Moll in Rebirth of Mothra.
- Kadokawa did try to make a Godzilla vs. Gamera film before this.
- They had 13 different turtles on this, including a real turtle: an African spur tortoise. They also used a vinyl turtle for the stunt scenes. When he gets big, Toto is based on a loggerhead turtle, which is native to Japan and the only turtles that have teeth. The real turtle didn’t listen to direction.
- This film had a tie-in with the Ministry of the Environment, who told people not to abandon their pets. They used Toto as an example. (But what if your pet is a kaiju? –Jimmy)
- “Why did the turtle cross the road?”
- The special effects director—Kaneko—was a former animator and assistant director.
- They were wrong about Spock’s blood color. They said it was blue, but it was green! (Nice call there, Nate! You get 50 nerd points. –Jimmy)
- Kadokawa wanted to make another Daimajin movie, but they scrapped it and made a TV show instead after this movie flopped.
- The commentarors played the old Showa music during the relay, and it ruined it! (Agreed—except, you know, my life story. –Jimmy)
ARROW VIDEO SPECIAL FEATURES
- Director Tasaki has a lecture as a special feature where he explains the filmmaking process by comparing it to cooking and restaurants. This also has interviews with the unsung heroes from departments like lighting, cinematography, and the physical effects. I recommend watching it.
- They interviewed the kid actors, and the boy was surprisingly thoughtful. Kaho even said it was different because she doesn’t have a kid brother.
- The full-size Toto puppet was operated by a technician with a hand up its rear, it looks.
- The director says they portray Toto’s feelings toward Toru ambiguously, but he does say Toru is special to him. (Duh? I’m a bit confused by this. Does he care or not? –Jimmy)
- It was unusual to film a kaiju movie mostly in the day.
- Some audiences thought the film was “too cute.” This was compared to kids being too scared of the Heisei films.
- They at first couldn’t get cooperation from the JSDF, so they had to put limitations on them to avoid discrepancies.
ARROW BOOKLET
MACIAS
- Daiei changed ownership again in 2002 when Kadokawa bought them. The trilogy’s creative team had moved on to other projects, so they brought in a new one to do what hadn’t been done since 1980: a Gamera film for children.
- Magical realism of the trilogy with kids’ POV of Showa series.
FLOWERS
- The first editions of the Media Blasters dub had an error that misaligned the music and sound effects. That was corrected by Arrow.
OTHER SOURCES
LEMAY – Big Book Vol. 2
- The concept of a child raising Gamera may have come from a 1993 Ito script that had a group of children do it.
Toku Topic: Japanese Ramen Culture
- “Although ramen is now an iconic Japanese dish, it’s actually an immigrant, and the names originally used for it made that perfectly clear. Chūka soba and Shina soba both basically mean “Chinese noodles” but have very different connotations. Chūka soba became the most-used term after World War II and is having something of a revival. It replaced shina soba as the political connotations of “shina” became controversial, since it was the word used for China when Japan was an imperialist power in Asia. But there’s no dish in China that closely resembles today’s Japanese ramen, so the story is much more complicated than a simple borrowing.” (Fransisco)
- “Ramen soup began gaining its huge popularity in the 1920s and the 1930s due to the great demand for food that is both hearty and quickly cooked. The industrialization encouraged thousands of Japanese people to work in the cities and have no time for preparing food. Eating outside became more common, and nutritious food was needed to give enough strength to the workers. Ramen soup became a successful solution as it was widely served all over the country and had more calories than traditional Japanese meals did. Therefore, ramen became an essential part of urban culture.” (IvyPanda)
- Jordan: “Nearby in Yokohama is the Cupnoodles Museum. This location is similar, but focuses on Nissin Foods and their inventions of Instant Ramen and Cup Ramen. Here, you also have the opportunity to try ramen from around Japan, as well as customize your own Cup Noodles (both the exterior cup and the flavors of the ramen inside)! Lastly, if you’re lucky enough to be in Tokyo around late October through early November, you’re in time for one of my favorite food festivals, the Tokyo Ramen Show! In 2020, the event will host 18 ramen vendors for the first 6 days, and a completely different set of 18 ramen vendors for the last 5 days! That’s 36 different ramen shops to try! Entry into the park’s grounds is free, and a ticket for a delicious bowl of ramen is only ¥800!”
There you go. More information about than you ever wanted to know about the food we all ate in college because we couldn’t afford anything else. Do you feel enlightened or entertained?
The next episode is the season two finale—and I don’t know what it is. All I know is it’s courtesy of Michael Hamilton on MIFV MAX (Patreon). That should theoretically make it more exciting—assuming I let Michael come here. Then again, he’s one of the many guests attending Nate’s Board-funded Kaiju Podcasters Banquet, so I guess I can’t stop that. Oh well. Michael just needs to stay out of my garage. Then in January, we begin season three—Ameri-kaiju!
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