Noriaki Yuasa: On Gamera

"It's the children, after all, who say they watch Gamera films, not adults. For me, Gamera just bubbles over and flows straight out of my heart, ... and fills me with nostalgia."

-Noriaki Yuasa, 2001, Gamera: The Giant Monster, DVD liner notes-

(Gosh, me too.)

"The first Gamera was a B-movie, but that turned out to be a big hit, so the second one [War Of The Monsters] was promoted to an A-budget. I think Daiei thought I wouldn't be able to handle such an A-movie. It was the most expensive one; it cost $225,000. Return Of The Giant Monsters was about $167,000, the black and white Gamera was about $111,000. Destroy All Planets and Attack of The Monsters were about $67,000, and Monster X and Zigra about $97,000."

-Noriaka Yuasa, Monsters Are Attacking Tokyo! (p.75).

With it's bigger budget, Gamera Vs. Barugon (1966; aka War Of The Monsters), in the hands of director Shigeo Tanaka, was not the success Daiei likely intended despite its immense spectacle and fine production values for the genre. It's a much more impressive film than genre critics say.

As a result of the picture's poor reception, Noriaka Yuasa's (1933-2004) initial removal from the series, despite his novice credentials, was in effect reinstated for Gamera Vs. Gyaos (1967).

Perhaps this was owed in part to the man's sheer enthusiasm for Gamera as a character. Along with Gamera's debut film, Yuasa would direct the remaining Showa era pictures for the beloved turtle monster. His joie de vivre for the character genuinely shined throughout his run despite the dwindling budget from which he had to work for the underappreciated creature feature.

I've always been partial to the great terrapin over the big lizard. Gamera was always just kind of my kaiju. Maybe Gamera's lesser renown as a kind of monster underdog created empathy and some of us just connected. Afterall, he connected with the kids. That concept/ aspect of the Gamera series even carried over into the Godzilla pictures. Certainly he was beloved by this kid and still is today by anyone who is a kid at heart. I've got some decent collectibles of Gamera to prove my adoration for the character, but I wish I had even more especially of those X Plus figures.

This post serves as a bridge between the two aforementioned films. Gamera Vs Gyaos will be coming soon right here at Musings Of A Sci-Fi Fanatic.

Additionally, despite having all of the Blu-ray releases for my favorite BIG G it's exciting to learn Arrow will be releasing a Gamera box set with a full color reprinting of the Dark Horse comic book series, an unprinted prequel and a proper critical book about the historic character.

This writer is looking forward to supporting that release for those books alone and hopefully solid prints of the films to boot.