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Daimajin Ikaru
Return of Daimajin
The Return of Giant Majin / Daimajin - Frankensteins Monster kehrt zurück / Majin
Japan 1966
produced by Masaichi Nagata for Daiei
directed by Kenji Misumi
starring Kojiro Hongo, Shiho Fujimura, Takashi Kanda, Taro Marui, Jutaro Hojo (= Jutaro Kitashiro), Koichi Uenoyama, Asao Uchida, Chikara Hashimoto, Sei Hiraizumi, Koji Fujiyama, Kiyokazu Kagatsume, Koichi Mizuhara, Gen Takasugi, Hyosuke Kanbe, Yusaku Terashima, Kimiko Tachibana, Yuji Hamada, Hideo Kuroki, Tsuyotake Matsuda, Yoshitaka Ito, Kayo Mikimoto, Keiko Koyanagi
written by Tetsuro Yoshida, music by Akira Ifukube, special effects by Yoshiyuki Kuroda, fight choreography by Shohei Miyauchi
Daimajin
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!
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The Chigusa clan and the Nagoshi clan are pretty much the best of
neighbouring ruling families, so much so that Lord Juro (Kojiro Hongo) of
Chigusa is promised Lady Sayuri's (Shiho Fujimura) hand in marriage - a
relationship borne from love rather than necessity. But then Lord Danjo
(Takashi Kanda) of the Mikoshiba clan attacks the Chigusa home village,
and Juro only just excapes being executed thanks to his loyal bodyguard
Hayato (Sei Hiraizumi). But this means the two have to go into hiding, and
Danjo, when not finding Juro, attacks the Nagoshi hometown next, takes
Lady Sayuri's brother Katsuhige (Koishi Uenoyama) captive, and announces
he'll release him only in exchange for Juro. Thing is, nobody, not even
Sayuri, knows where Lord Juro is. Without having enough fight in them
left, Sayuri and her people pray to their stone idol in the lake for help,
but upon noticing that, Lord Danjo has it blown to pieces. Eventually,
Juro does show up on the idol's island, but manages to always elude
captivity, so much so that Danjo announces Katsuhige's execution shouldn't
Juro turn himself in. But Juro uses all his cunning to not just stay out
of Danjo's reach himself but also see to it that Katsuhige is freed - and
then everybody walks into a trap set up by Danjo. But as it looks like all
is lost, the Nagoshis' stone god Daimajin (Chikara Hashimoto) rises from
the lake and metes out justice as only a stone giant with rage in his
heart can ...
Now despite sharing the general theme and the giant monster
central to the story, this movie and the first Daimajin
are not at all narratively linked - and yet it's rather safe to say, if
you liked the first one you will like this one, as it's once again a
fusion of period drama full of lintigue, lies and betrayal, and giant
monster thriller, with the customary big scale destruction, and if
anything this one is more complex in story and more dynamic in pre-monster
action, as director Kenji Misumi is a specialist in period action pieces
as such. And the outcome, well, it might not be a masterpiece in the
traditional sense of the word, and not even Misumi's best, but it's lots
of fun to watch for sure.
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