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wittypenguin · 5 years

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“San daikaijû: Chikyû saidai no kessen” (1964) or Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster

Literal title of Japanese: Three Giant Monsters: The Greatest Battle on Earth, AKA: Monster of Monsters: Ghidorah or… Okay, there are more titles, but look for yourself here.

So… There’s a lot going on in this film.

No, far more than usual! I had to watch this like three times before I could wrap my brain around all of the matters laid out in this film. I tried to focus on plot threads, rather than action this time, but the result is longer than usual as there’s lots of material here.

The titular character isn’t seen until past the half-way mark, but we get some glorious kaijû battle sequences before hand, so all is forgiven. Also, we get a few sneak peeks of what’s to come under the title and opening credits (which is unusual), so we have better expectations as a result.

New cover illustration by Monarobot — — — —

There are a series of unexpected meteors which appear, which scientist are unable to explain. The UFO group is certain these are aliens, but these people are dismissed as lunatics.

There’s a princess of a Foreign Country® who is travelling to Japan, because there’s an assassination plot. She’s next in line to the throne, so her job description includes that inevitability instead of ‘other duties as assigned.’ As she’s flying to the island of Nippon, she looks out the window, sees a flash of light, then is immediately possessed by some spirit which tells her she is in danger and must leave. She does, using the door to the outside. Immediately thereafter, the æroplane explodes. Later, her lack of death is explained away through invocation of some sort of rift between dimensions of reality, the details of which involve much hand-waving.

An asteroid has crashed near a dam high in the mountains, which is then monitored and studied by the Scientific Institute (possibly a stand-in for the prestigious Tokyo University). Eventually it will open and reveal King Ghidorah in a fiery ball.

A prophet appears in Tokyo, proclaiming that the destruction of Earth is imminent, but the people do not heed her warning. Why? Well, for one thing, she’s dressed as a poor fisherman from the distant coast (which is exactly where she got her clothes, so as to disguise her identity, for she is really the Princess who decided to get some fresh air at 20,000 metres).

Mothra’s twin Priestesses appear on a TV show (which actually existed, by the way), and sing a beautiful song to Mothra which I don’t like as much as the original song to Mothra. The next day they’re on a ship which will take them back to Infant Island, where they’re talking to the press. Into the crowd of reporters wades the prophet, who warns that ‘the ship must not sail, it is in great danger, why are their warnings not heeded’ and so on. The ship sails anyway, with one reporter taking the prophet to a hotel so that the story can be exclusive to their particular programme. The ship is destroyed by Godzilla (whose appearance comes right after a pod of whales surfacing). The ship was warned, they knew the danger, what were they thinking going anywhere near Godzilla in the first place?

By this point Rodan has appeared, owing to a meteorite breaking him free from a mountain. He busts things up. This is the first time I’ve seen Rodan (or Radon, as it’s spelled in some instances), so I wasn’t aware he’s got supersonic speed, which then explains the fact he can wave his wings and throw heavy objects around with the resultant wind. Godzilla appears, spots Rodan, and they begin beating each other up.

Meanwhile, the princess has been spotted at the hotel by the assassination squad, and the TV reporter’s brother, a police officer who happens to be there, engages the assassins in a gun battle, then both siblings help get the Prophet/Princess to safety and for an examination in a well-respected psychiatrist’s laboratory near the base of Mount Fujiyama. The assassins learn of her location from a presentation they see of a Parliamentary discussion of all of this on TV, and go to kill her there, but they are repulsed in another gun battle.

[left to right] Yôsuke Natsuki and Takashi Shimura in San daikaijû: Chikyû saidai no kessen (1964) — — — —

In her larval form, Mothra appears, which brings about a 2½ minute scene in which the Priestesses translate the discussion Mothra has with Godzilla and Rodan about the necessity of dealing with the imminent danger of King Ghidorah. Godzilla and Rodan say they will not help (maybe they’re having too much fun to bother?). Mothra argues they should help the people, but they respond that people just bother them when they appear, which isn’t wrong (humans would probably respond that their widespread destruction of infrastructure is what causes that, but at least we get to hear the monsters’ side of the experience). Mothra goes on to argue Ghidorah is a danger to all of Earth, not just humans, to no avail.

In the middle of this, Ghidorah arrives, so Mothra basically gives up on the stupid boy monsters, then shuffles toward Ghidorah on the attack. Ghidorah zaps Mothra with his gravity-defying lightning beam thing, throwing her in to the air a bunch of times. This gets Godzilla’s attention, then Rodan’s, and they join in the battle. Some rocks are knocked off a cliff edge, which causes a rock slide that wipes out the one remaining assassin.

The battle of the three kaiju (kaijin? not sure of the plural) ends with the four of them rolling into the ocean, after which King Ghidorah surfaces and flies away, hopefully never to be seen again.

Honestly, that’s a fairly restrained, reduced version. This is easily the most convoluted thing in the series thus far.

Shôichi Hirose and Haruo Nakajima in San daikaijû: Chikyû saidai no kessen (1964) — — — —

The unity of the trio to defeat a common enemy of Earth is a turning point for Godzilla (and Ronan), as it makes him at least neutral towards the citizenry. He’s defeating King Ghidorah to save himself (or maybe it’s fun?), but it benefits the people. His automatic hatred of humanity is lessened each time we see him in a film for the next few outings.

This ‘danger from outside’ plot is also new: we are the ones who have created the dangers of war and radioactivity, but there are now dangers of which we knew not, but which we must wrestle. While bordering on paranoia at this point, this ‘new danger’ may be seen as environmental concerns, or potentially the fear of the unknown of outer space, what with the USSR’s Sputnik and NASA’s Mercury missions demonstrating the ability of danger to be rained down upon the people from the heavens. Additionally, the dangers which may exist in space were of increasing concern, as little of practical variety was known about ‘what is out there?’ It ends up being a benign, cold, unforgiving vacuum, but at the time, Gamma Rays, X-Rays, and a myriad of other dangerous sounding things talked about by scientists on TV were suddenly entering the awareness of people. So, why not a golden, three-headed dragon monster with two tails?

It’s best to switch off the brain and cheer on the monsters as they smash the bejeezus out of everything around them. Godzilla seems quite funny here, but holding his tummy when it gets zapped by Ghidorah — and then gets zapped in the bum — just go a bit far for me. Granted, he and Rodan do very much comport themselves as pre-teen boys, so perhaps it’s apt? Certainly when Godzilla falls down and waves his legs around it’s good, and I think this is the right amount of mobility for the grey-skinned King of Monsters.

How many times must the Tokyo Broadcasting Tower be destroyed before someone learns to place it somewhere the monsters don’t get to destroy it?

★★★★☆

#King Ghidorah #Godzilla #Gojira #Criterion Collection #Mothra #Mosura #Dear God What Have I Done to Myself?

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songedunenuitdete · 6 years

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Nombre de page : 176 pages Editeur : Pika Edition Date de sortie : 11 avril 2018 Collection : Pika Shôjo Langue : Français ISBN-10 : 2811629149 ISBN-13 : 978-2811629144 Prix éditeur : 6,95€ Disponible sur liseuse : oui à 4,49€

De quoi ça parle ?

Chôko Manaka est l’héritière d’un grand groupe industriel. Elle déteste la vie qu’elle mène, entourée de gardes du corps et préférerait une vie de lycéenne normale. Pour que son père lui laisse sa liberté, Chôko doit tout d’abord trouver son propre shinobi, la personne qui deviendra son bras droit lorsqu’elle prendra la suite des affaires familiales… C’est pourquoi elle intègre l’école Mizonoo, une institution qui forme les “shinobis”, qui deviendront les plus proches collaborateurs des personnalités du monde politique et de la finance.

Mon Avis :

Avec Shinobi Quartet, j’ai retrouvé tout ce que j’aime dans les mangas ! De l’humour, des combats et des messages forts, le tout dessinait avec finesse ! Je suis ravie de cette découverte !

Tome 1

Chôka Manaka, fille héritière du puissant clan Manaka, ne souhaite qu’une chose avoir une vie normale. Son père lui propose alors de rejoindre le lycée Myzonoo, une institution où se mêle les héritiers ainsi que les Shinobis. Chôko a en effet pour objectif de trouver le shinobi qui pourra la protéger toute sa vie et devenir ainsi son bras droit.

Chôko se trouve rapidement un allié puissant en la personne de Ujô Togo. Ujô est l’héritier du Clan Tûgô et il est déjà entièrement dévoué à la jeune femme.

Mais cette place de bras droit est très convoitée et d’autres Shinobis convoitent le titre.

Tome 2

Chôko s’est très bien intégrée à son nouveau lycée. Entourée des quatre Shinobis les plus puissants, elle cherche l’assassin qui a blessé son amie Kurumi. Quel choc pour la jeune femme de découvrir que cet assassin n’est d’autre que le très jeune Tsubaki.

Chôko en est certaine, Tsubaki n’est qu’un instrument et elle est bien décidée à aider son ami et à dévoiler tout le complot.

Tome 3

Chôko se retrouve à devoir accepter un rendez-vous arrangé avec l’héritier de la puissante famille Hirose : Shôichi Hirose. Bien décidée à en profiter, Chôko invite son amie Kurumi ainsi que le jeune Tsubaki à se joindre à elle.

Bien sûr les Shinobis Ujô, Rentarô et les frères Sûo et Akane se joignent aussi à la petite troupe.

Chôko apprend alors que Kurimi fait parti aussi du monde des Shinobis. Son clan Takasu a un lien spécial avec les oiseaux et surtout Kurime devait devenir le bras droit de Shôichi.

Mais tout ne s’est pas déroulé comme prévu et Kurimi a du abandonner la vie de Shinobi.

Je dois dire que j’ai adoré ces trois tomes ! Même si Chôko m’a un peu énervé à cause de son attitude envers le dévoué et très sexy Ujô. Je ne désespère pas qu’elle ouvre un jour les yeux !

Les personnages sont tous très bien développés et chacun à une capacité bien à lui. Ils forment tous ensemble une équipe complète et l’humour qui sort des situations de rivalité est très agréable. Même si je souhaite que Chôko se décide sur le choix de son bras droit (#TeamUjô), ils forment une belle bande d’amis et leurs aventures semblent prometteuses.

Shinobi Quartet est donc un manga que je prendrai plaisir à suivre ! J’adore ce monde des Shinobis avec une jeune fille qui ne se laisse pas faire ! N’hésitez pas à tenter l’aventure !

[Chronique Manga - Mady] Mon avis Shinobi Quartet de Tohru Himuka chez @pikaedition : Une très chouette découverte que je vais suivre de très prés ! Nombre de page : 176 pages Editeur : Pika Edition Date de sortie : 11 avril 2018…

#Amitié #bras droit #Pika éditions #Pika Shôjo #shôjo #shinobi #Shinobi Quartet #Tohru Himuka

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