Hello, Kaiju Lovers! The South Korea leg of the Monster Island World Tour begins with arguably the first true Korean kaiju film: Yongary, Monster from the Deep. Author Neil Riebe, who might very well be this film’s biggest fan, pays yet another visit to MIFV’s mobile studio in Uber-Moguera to enlighten us with his copious research on the movie. Released in the “Year of the Kaiju,” 1967, it borrows some from Showa Godzilla films but way more from Showa Gamera—complete with a Korean Kenny! Ironically, only the dubbed version of the movie survives. It was once the most expensive film ever made in South Korea (until that record was broken by its remake) and is considered one of the country’s most important films, but does it have the artistic merit to warrant such acclaim, or is it truly just MST3K fodder? Since the film had Japanese technicians from Toei and X Productions working on it, our Toku Topic is Japan-Korea relations.
Read Jimmy’s Notes on this episode on the MIFV website.
Additional Music:
- “Kuwanga Banga” by PirateCrab
- “Here We Go” by Chris Classic
Check out Nathan’s spinoff podcasts, The Henshin Men and The Power Trip.
We’d like to give a shout-out to our MIFV MAX patrons Danny DiManna (author/creator of the Godzilla Novelization Project); Damon Noyes, The Cel Cast, TofuFury, Eric Anderson of Nerd Chapel, Ted Williams, Wynja the Ninja, Brad “Batman” Eddleman, Christopher Riner, The Indiscrite One, Eli Harris, Jake Hambrick, Edwin Gonzalez, Matt Walsh (but not that Matt Walsh), Jonathan Courtright, Robert Kidd, Leon Campbell, and Michael Watson! Thanks for your support!
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This episode is approved by the Monster Island Board of Directors.
Timestamps:
- Introduction: 0:00-7:24
- Entertaining Info Dump: 7:24-15:52
- Toku Talk: 15:52-1:26:59
- Ad (Toku Toy Town): 1:26:59-1:28:22
- Toku Topic (Korea-Japan relations): 1:28:22-1:57:52
- Outro: 1:57:52-2:23:35
- Credits: 2:23:35-end
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Bibliography/Further Reading:
Note: This list does not include Neil’s sources.
- Commentary by Steve Ryfle and Kim Song-Ho. Yongary, Monster from the Deep blu-ray. Kino Lorber.
- “Great Monster Yonggari: Artist Shin Dong-Woo’s…” Pennyway. 17 Jan. 2019. https://pennyway.net/2291.
- “History of Japan–Korea relations.” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Japan–Korea_relations.
- “History of South Korea.” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_South_Korea#.
- “Korea under Japanese rule.” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korea_under_Japanese_rule.
- LeMay, John. The Big Book of Japanese Giant Monster Movies, Vol. 1: 1954-1982.
- Riebe, Neil. “Yongary: A Critique of His Critics.” Kaiju Ramen Magazine, no. 6, pp. 10-16. Jan. 2023.
- Riebe, Neil. “Yongary, back from the Deep.” The Big Book of Japanese Giant Monster Movies: The Lost Films (Mutated Edition) by John LeMay. Bicep Books, pp. 92-95. 2019.
- Sneider, Daniel. “Different Wartime Memories Keep Japan and South Korea Apart.” United States Institute of Peace. 24 Aug. 2022. https://www.usip.org/publications/2022/08/different-wartime-memories-keep-japan-and-south-korea-apart.
- “South Korea and Japan’s feud explained.” BBC. 2 Dec. 2019. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-49330531.
- “Yongary, Monster from the Deep.” IMDb. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061549/.
- “Yongary, Monster from the Deep.” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yongary,_Monster_from_the_Deep.
- “Yonggari.” Namu Wiki. https://namu.wiki/w/%EC%9A%A9%EA%B0%80%EB%A6%AC.
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