Review: The Daimajin Trilogy
Blu-ray: The Daimajin Trilogy (1966)
A trilogy of films by Daiei Studios, all shot within the same year with predominantly the same crew, albeit with different directors and various cast members.
All 3 films follow the same basic structure: people are terrorised by bad guys for 2 thirds of the film, and then in the final act the mighty Daimajin rises up to inflict some ass kicking (and building stomping) justice.
The 3 films have decent enough stories which kept me engaged, with Wrath of Daimajin being my favourite, which follows a similar path to the latter Gamera movies and focuses more on the younger members of the cast and takes things in more of a “Goonies” direction.
While the narratives are fine and the samurai action is good to watch, all 3 come into their own during the final act when Daimajin appears and begins to destroy things.
Well designed (reminding me somewhat of a Samurai version of Talos from Jason and the Argonauts) and well “eye acted”, Daimajin’s scenes are by far the highlight of all movies.
I’ve always loved the Godzilla and Gamera movies, but for some reason had never even heard of Daimajin before this Arrow Films box set, and I’m very pleased that they have made it yet another fantastic package for newcomers such as myself, as well as long time fans .
The audio commentaries are a goldmine of information, while the interviews and new introduction by Kim Newman flesh everything out in an informative and entertaining way that draws you into the Daimajin world even more.
Well packaged, and with special features that will keep everyone busy for a long time, this trilogy of films looks superb on blu-ray and is yet another Arrow Films box set that is a worthy addition to anyones collection.
LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS
- High Definition Blu-rayTM (1080p) presentation of the three Daimajin films
- Lossless original Japanese and dubbed English mono audio for all films
- Optional English subtitles – Illustrated collector’s 100 page book featuring new essays by Jonathan Clements, Keith Aiken, Ed Godziszewski, Raffael Coronelli, Erik Homenick, Robin Gatto and Kevin Derendorf
- Postcards featuring the original Japanese artwork for all three films
- Reversible sleeves featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Matt Frank
DISC ONE – DAIMAJIN
- Brand new audio commentary by Japanese film expert Stuart Galbraith IV
- Newly filmed introduction by critic Kim Newman
- Bringing the Avenging God to Life, a brand new exclusive video essay about the special effects of the Daimajin films by Japanese film historian Ed Godziszewski
- Alternate opening credits for the US release as Majin
- The Monster of Terror
- Trailers for the original Japanese and US releases
- Image gallery
DISC TWO – RETURN OF DAIMAJIN
- Brand new audio commentary by Japanese film experts Tom Mes and Jasper Sharp
- My Summer Holidays with Daimajin, a newly filmed interview with Professor Yoneo Ota, director of the Toy Film Museum, Kyoto Film Art Culture Research Institute, about the production of the Daimajin films at Daiei Kyoto
- From Storyboard to Screen: Bringing Return of Daimajin to Life, a comparison of several key scenes in Return of Daimajin with the original storyboards
- Alternate opening credits for the US release as Return of the Giant Majin
- Trailers for the original Japanese and US releases
- Image gallery
DISC THREE – WRATH OF DAIMAJIN
- Brand new audio commentary by Asian historian Jonathan Clements
- Interview with cinematographer Fujio Morita discussing his career at Daiei and his work on the Daimajin Trilogy
- Trailers for the original Japanese release
- Image Gallery
The Daimajin Trilogy Limited edition is released 26th July 2021.
Review by Dave from discs kindly supplied by Arrow Films via Fetch Publicity.
