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Killer Whale (film)

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Killer Whale
Japanese name
Kanji鯨神
Transcriptions
Revised HepburnKujira Gami
Directed byTokuzō Tanaka, Chikara Komatsubara (special effect)[1]
Screenplay byKaneto Shindo
Based onThe Whale God
by Kōichirō Uno
Produced byMasaichi Nagata
Starring
CinematographySetsuo Kobayashi, Toru Matoba, Hiroshi Ishida
Edited byTatsuji Nakashizu
Music byAkira Ifukube
Production
company
Release date
  • July 15, 1962 (1962-07-15) (Japan)
Running time
100 minutes
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese

The Whale God (鯨神, Kujira Gami), alternatively as Killer Whale,[2] is a 1962 Japanese tokusatsu (kaiju) film[3] produced by Daiei Film based on the 1961 Akutagawa Prize winning novel of the same name by Kōichirō Uno. It was presumably inspired by the 1851 novel Moby-Dick by Herman Melville.[4][5][6]

Plot

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The story takes place in early Meiji era when large-scale shore-based whaling was still in operation along the Japanese Islands. Somewhere down the line, an unusually large and powerful North Pacific right whale drew attentions among whalers as no one had been able to hunt this extraordinary whale for years while the whale outsmarts humanity and instead killed a number of whalers. Spontaneously, the whale was entitled the "Whale God".[7]

On Hirado Island, dozens of whalers were killed by the Whale God and villagers became vengeful to slaughter the whale especially Shaki who lost his grandfather and father and brother for the whale. One day, the boss of fishermen declared that he will give his myōseki and properties and land and daughter Toyo to the person who succeeds to capture the whale. However, a barbarous whaler named Kishū from the Kishū region suddenly appeared and unilaterally perceived Shaki as a rival, and raped a girl named Ei, who is in love with Shaki, to warn and provoke Shaki. When the hostility between the two became decisive, a sighting of the Whale God approaching the village was reported.[7]

Cast

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Production

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Yonesaburo Tsukiji was originally appointed for the tokusatsu filming of The Whale God, however he was suddenly appointed for the 1962 film The Great Wall, and Toru Matoba instead became a tokusatsu director for The Whale God.[7]

Manga

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The three-episode comicalization by Takao Saito was released on Weekly Bokura Magazine in January, 1979. It was later made into a Tankōbon in 2008.[8]

Legacy

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See also: Gamera

Although not strictly depicting a fictional monster (kaiju), The Whale God was the first Daiei Film production to feature a rampaging megafauna. It predates the Gamera franchise[note 1] where the successes of Gamera, the Giant Monster in 1965 and Gamera vs. Barugon presumably influenced the sudden increase of Non-Toho kaiju productions and the prosperity of the genre, while the Six-Company Agreement led by Masaichi Nagata, one of creators of Gamera, restricted non-Toho companies to easily engage in kaiju productions.[note 2] A number of film makers and actors who had participated in The Whale God later worked for Daiei Film's representative tokusatsu franchises, Gamera, Daimajin, and Yokai Monsters.[note 3][11]

Fuminori Ohashi and Ryosaku Takayama co-worked for The Whale God, and the production of Tsuburaya Productions's Ultra Q was presumably influenced by The Whale God as Ohashi lessoned Takayama on tokusatsu techniques right after The Whale God.[13]

The Dai-kaiju, the right whale-based kaiju with an alias of "Whale God" from GeGeGe no Kitarō franchise, which is by Shigeru Mizuki and later yielded connections to the above-mentioned Daiei tokusatsu franchises due to Mizuki's involvements in Yokai Monsters,[14][15] was presumably influenced by The Whale God.[16] Shigeru Mizuki also made "Whale God" the right whale to appear in a non-Kitarō story Kaidan Kaeribune in 1964.[17]

The yokai manga series Mononoke Soushi by Yōsuke Takahashi has an episode The Whale God (鯨神, Kujira Gami) to feature a supernatural right whale,[18] being somewhat reminiscent of Uno's The Whale God in which the titular right whale was briefly suggested to be a supernatural being at the end.

Notes

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  1. ^ The 1999 Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris had presumably tried to insert a reference to The Whale God as Gamera was supposed to encounter a cow-calf pair of North Pacific right whales in the final draft of the film.[9] Additionally, the 1995 book, in which Noriaki Yuasa and Niisan Takahashi and Masao Yagi participated, features a scenario based on a scrapped film due to the bankruptcy of Daiei Film for Gamera and Whale God along with Pairan and Nezura and some resurrected kaiju to protect the Earth.[10]
  2. ^ For the production of its own tokusatsu franchises, Daiei Film intentionally avoided receiving any assistance from Eiji Tsuburaya, and the sudden increase in non-Toho kaiju productions after The Whale God and Gamera, the Giant Monster made film makers suspicious of Tsuburaya's involvements in non-Toho productions such as Gappa: The Triphibian Monster (Nikkatsu) and The X from Outer Space (Shochiku) in 1967 despite the Six-Company Agreement.[11]
  3. ^ Shusuke Kaneko who is known for his involvements in the Gamera franchise, made a debut as a film director with the 1984 film Kōichirō Uno's Wet and Swinging.[12]

References

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  1. ^ 鯨神（くじらがみ） Archived 2024-07-11 at the Wayback Machine on allcinema
  2. ^ Killer Whale on FilmAffinity
  3. ^ John Squires, May 25, 2023, ‘The Whale God – Practical Killer Whale Kaiju Movie from 1962 Finally Being Unleashed in North America! Archived 2024-07-11 at the Wayback Machine, Bloody Disgusting
  4. ^ 鯨神 Archived 2024-07-11 at the Wayback Machine on Natalie
  5. ^ "鯨神（昭和37年）". Archived from the original on 2024-07-11. Retrieved 2024-07-11.
  6. ^ "THE WHALE GOD Limited Edition Blu-ray Now Up For Preorder From SRS Cinema". SciFi Japan. Archived from the original on 2024-07-11. Retrieved 2024-07-11.
  7. ^ a b c Hisayuki Ui, January 1, 1994, From Gamera to Daimajin: all of Daiei tokusatsu films, p.64, p.72, Kindaieigasha
  8. ^ SPコミックス 鯨神 - さいとう・たかを時代劇セレクション on Books Kinokuniya
  9. ^ ASCII MEDIA WORKS, 2014, Heisei Gamera Perfection, p.264, Kadokawa Shoten
  10. ^ OMEGA Flying Squadron, Yasuyoshi Tokuma (issuer), 1995, Gamera is Strong!, pp.82-87, Tokuma Shoten
  11. ^ a b Shunichi Karasawa, April 14, 2006, Gamera Genesis: Movie Director Noriaki Yuasa, pp.283-284, Enterbrain
  12. ^ Shuntaro Ono, December 28, 2018, Geistesgeschichte of Gamera: From Showa to Heisei, p.140, Takanashi Shobou
  13. ^ Kodansha, 1988, テレビマガジン特別編集 巨大ヒーロー大全集 (TV Magazine Special Edition: Giant Heroes Compendium), p.224
  14. ^ Hirokazu Minemori, Yusuke Watanabe, 2021, The Great Yokai War: Guardians: Side Story: Heian Hyakkitan, pp.265-271, Media Works Bunko, Kadokawa
  15. ^ Natsuhiko Kyogoku, 2018, USO MAKOTO Yōkai Hyaku Monogatari, "Kyu", 373-375, p.392, Kadokawa
  16. ^ Shigeru Mizuki, 1964, Dai-kaiju Part 3 from The Secret Story, p.1, Tōkōsha
  17. ^ Shigeru Mizuki, 1964, Kaidan: Kaeribune, p.46, Tōkōsha
  18. ^ 高橋葉介傑作集　もののけ草紙　一ノ巻 Archived 2021-09-07 at the Wayback Machine on Bunkasha
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