Daimajin

Daimajin's prototype concept was originally designed as the "Space Iceman" (宇宙氷人), an extraterrestrial humanoid monster and the first foe of Gamera. Its concept was redeveloped into both Daimajin and Barugon appearing in the 1966 film Gamera vs. Barugon.^[7] The filmmakers were also inspired by Jötunn from the Norse mythology, the Giant of the Snows from the 1912 film The Conquest of the Pole,^[8] and the golem from the 1936 Czechoslovak film Le Golem, which was redistributed by Daiei Film in the post-war period.^[9] Expertise obtained during the production of the 1964 film Flight from Ashiya, in which Noriaki Yuasa and others had also participated in, also contributed in the launch of the franchise.^[10]

Daimon the vampire, the recurring character which made its debut in Yokai Monsters: Spook Warfare, was heavily inspired by the former professional baseball player Chikara Hashimoto acts of Daimajin, and Hashimoto was also appointed for the role of Daimon.^{[note 2][11]}

After the original film trilogy in 1966, the series was revived in 2010 as a television drama titled Daimajin Kanon, broadcast on TV Tokyo.^[12] The Daimajin character also made a cameo appearance in the 2021 film The Great Yokai War: Guardians.^[13]

Following the bankruptcy of Daiei Film in 1971, all of its representative, post-Gamera tokusatsu franchises (Gamera and Daimajin and Yokai Monsters) have faced repeated inactivity in productions. There existed several revival attempts of Daimajin and Yokai Monsters along with the Gamera franchise, the most popular of the three, by Daiei Film's successors (Tokuma Shoten and Kadokawa Corporation).^[14][15] For example, (aside from previously cancelled Gamera projects after Gamera: Super Monster) the Heisei Gamera trilogy initially started as an attempt to revive Daimajin, and the company later launched another Daimajin project along with the Heisei Gamera trilogy. This was supposed to feature Steven Seagal, the father of Ayako Fujitani who played the human protagonist of the Gamera trilogy, and the plot written by Yasutaka Tsutsui and Katsuhiro Otomo was later published as a novelization.^[16][17] There had been additional revival attempts, such as one by Ishiro Honda in 1980s^[18] an alleged 1990s project by Orange Sky Golden Harvest with starring Kevin Costner,^[19] and Kadokawa, after acquiring the copyrights of Daiei properties from Tokuma Shoten, announced a Daimajin project along with Godzilla vs. Gamera crossover in 2002,^[15] which followed Yasuyoshi Tokuma [ja]'s attempts to produce a crossover between the two kaiju prior to his death in 2000,^[20][21] however Toho eventually turned down the proposals and Gamera the Brave was instead produced.^[22]

Among the three franchises, only the Daimajin has not received any new film productions, except for the television drama Daimajin Kanon and the 2021 Yokai Monsters installment The Great Yokai War: Guardians. Takashi Miike, who has directed The Great Yokai War and The Great Yokai War: Guardians, had also attempted to revive Daimajin in the late 2000s along with the 2006 film Gamera the Brave, which was allegedly cancelled due to the box office result of the 2006 Gamera film and was eventually redeveloped into Daimajin Kanon.^[23][24][25] The 2021 film was the first direct theatrical appearance of the character since 1966, and its prequel side story involved Gamera's cameo appearance.^[26] Miike described the difficulty to revive the Daimajin franchise based on budgetary problems; Daimajin (as a character) is physically much smaller than traditional kaiju and Ultraman and directly interacts with humans. This results in necessity of increase in Daimajin's size to act among modern buildings, and expensive (large-scaled, life-sized, and detailed) models and props for filming.^[27]

Along with the budgetary requirement, a rather predictable storyline of the franchise had also triggered the cancellation of the reboot attempt as a television series Majin Ikaruga (魔人斑鳩, Majin Ikaruga; lit. 'Demon Man of Ikaruga') in 1960s^[10] by Noriaki Yuasa, Mamoru Sasaki, and Yoji Hashimoto [ja]; Yuasa and Sasaki ^{[note 3]} were also originally appointed for Daimajin Kanon.^[28][29]

Using two studios in Tokyo and Kyoto, Daiei succeeded in simultaneously producing Gamera, Daimajin, and Yokai Monsters franchises, exceeding Toho in production rates.^[30] However, budgetary and staff shortages prevented Daiei from establishing a stable film production system,^[28] and producing three Daimajin films within the same year (1966) presumably accelerated financial difficulties of the company and resulted in the cancellation of subsequent Daimajin productions.^[31] On the contrary to this, Noriaki Yuasa rejected the request from Daiei to produce two or three Gamera films annually due to the production constraints and impoverishments of staffs from budgetary constraints.^[32][30]

Daimajin along with Gamera and Daimon and Sadako Yamamura and characters from the GeGeGe no Kitarō series^{[note 4]} and multiple other characters from various franchises made cameo appearances in the novel series USO MAKOTO Yōkai Hyaku Monogatari by Natsuhiko Kyogoku.^[33] Additionally, Daimajin made an appearance in the 2015 novel Daimajin Denki.^[34]

Daimajin has appeared in several television advertisements such as ones by Toyota, Suntory, and Acecook [ja].^[10]

In 1988, Masahiko Katto produced a independent film titled The Resurrection of Daimajin.^[19]

The 2010 drama Daimajin Kanon is the sole television series of the franchise. Originally, Noriaki Yuasa from the Gamera franchise was appointed for the director along with Mamoru Sasaki as the writer and additional film crews from Toei's Kamen Rider franchise.^[28]

List indicator

• This table only includes characters which have appeared in more than one film.
• A dark grey cell indicates the character was not in the film, or that the character's presence in the film has not yet been announced.

Successes of Gamera and Daimajin franchises contributed in subtle improvements of financial situation of Daiei Film (while rushed productions of Daimajin films worsened the strength of the company^[31]), and resulted in the launching of the Yokai Monsters including the creation of Daimon the vampire.^[19] Kazunori Ito had presumably inserted references to Wrath of Daimajin within his Heisei Gamera trilogy; snowscapes in Gamera 2: Attack of Legion, and taboo breaking of a mountain village and its hazardous consequences in Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris.^[28]

The character and the term "Daimajin" became influential among Japanese popular cultures, and has appeared or has been referenced among numerous mediums both as direct appearances and parodies, such as manga and anime,^{[note 5]} video games,^{[note 6]}, variety shows,^{[note 7]} production varieties,^[52][53] and so on. A number of figures were nicknamed after the character; such cases are various professional baseball players most notably Kazuhiro Sasaki,^{[note 8]} a boat racer Masato Aki [ja] and a competition race related to him,^[57] and several comedian groups.^[58]

The aforementioned GeGeGe no Kitarō and Akuma-kun series by Shigeru Mizuki, who had associated with Yokai Monsters,^[59] and Urusei Yatsura,^[45] introduced characters based on Gamera and Daimajin franchises.^{[note 9]} Kyogoku Natsuhiko made Gamera, Daimajin, GeGeGe no Kitarō characters, Sadako Yamamura^[6] Inuyasha and Sesshomaru (jp) to co-appear in his USO MAKOTO Yōkai Hyaku Monogatari series.^[33]

Daimajin's influences can be seen in other productions, such as It! (1967), God Mazinger (1984), Pulgasari (1985) which itself was produced under the influences from Godzilla, and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991) by aforementioned Kevin Costner.^[19]

In response to the repeated vandalisms targeting national treasures and important cultural properties of Nara Prefecture in 2010s (jp), the prefecture and its school committee (jp) and the Nara Prefectural Police [ja] designated Daimajin as the mascot character for crime prevention posters.^[63]