Beat Takeshi saves the Earth as a 300-foot monster!

Just like Tokyo on the verge of being destroyed by Ghidorah, Japanese cinema's kaiju (giant monster) genre was on the verge of dying out. Rushing to the rescue is director Minoru Kawasaki, who this summer released the decidedly-tongue-in-cheek Monster X Strikes Back—Attack the G8 Summit!


The film revives the kaiju Guilala, who first appeared in 1967.


Lending a hand — several, actually (see photo below) — is famed director Kitano "Beat" Takeshi, who provides the voice and face of "good" monster Takemajin.


Why Beat Takeshi? Director Kawasaki says Takeshi had previously donned monster suits in various TV appearances and "was the only one who could save this dying genre" [source (Japanese)].


Takemajin — who has already started appearing at conventions — also borrows part of Takeshi's name and the meme of the "village guardian deity idol who grows to gigantic size to wipe out the bad guys" from the Daimajin trilogy of the '60s.


See high-resolution stills of the new Guilala flick here. See a trailer here. See a clip from the old Guilala movie here.



Beat Takeshi (a.k.a. "Takemajin") to the rescue! (He looks like he's about to go into his trademark "Komanechi" pose.)


—Mellow Monk

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