The Big Book of Japanese Giant Monster Movies: Vol. 1: 1954-1980 (Volume 1)

The first edition of this book was somewhat crudely written (a sentiment jokingly referred to on the back cover, but accurate), so when a second revised and expanded edition was announced I anticipated essentially a brand new edition, free from all of the flaws that marred the first edition. Sadly, such is not the case. I am a huge fan of the subject matter, Japanese scifi and special effects films (primarily but not exclusively from Toho Studios), and like my books on the subject to be comprehensive and factual (even in an 'encyclopedic' format). I also love to read prose that follows a logical flow and is, well, readable. Therein lie my biggest peeves with this book (and the others in this series). I would wholeheartedly recommend to the author that he take some courses in English composition and grammar, along with the purchase of a good dictionary/thesaurus. At least, to hire a proofreader to look over the material before it's published. The number of misspellings (e.g. 'grizzly' instead of 'grisly'), bad grammar and vocabulary misuse are a constant annoyance throughout the book and bring the prose to a jarring halt each time they appear. In particular, the author needs to learn the use of the phrases 'en route' rather than 'in route', and 'based on', or 'based upon', rather than 'based off of'. The format of the book is well set up, in the fashion of an encyclopedia, except that the entries do not begin at the start of a page, but are part of a continuously rolling text, which seems like an effort to reduce page count. Film title in large font is succeeded by a small credits section for each film, followed by a synopsis, commentary, last word and trivia section. A minor complaint about this format is the producing studio is not included in the credits section, but left for the reader to discover for himself later on, which is unlike most film encyclopedias that I've seen. This makes it difficult for the reader to follow the output of a single studio, should he be inclined. Another complaint is that the reviews seem too subjective. Rather than a total critical analysis, we are treated to the author's personal opinions of the films, which in many cases I do not share. This creates a frustration in the reader, especially if one is inclined to look up and view some of the films reviewed, but may be affected by the opinions stated. The expansions, in many cases, comprise mini reviews of films that are covered more comprehensively in the unofficial third volume of this series, 'The Lost Films', making it puzzling as to why they are included here. In addition, even though the series is titled 'The Big Book of Japanese Giant Monster Movies 1954-1982', several 'bonus' reviews are included of horror, scifi and fantasy films as well, including those based on television series, e.g. he includes Toho's excellent 'Vampire Trilogy' (which he pans, for some strange reason), which are patently horror films. With so many extras, one wonders why the author doesn't include Toho's remaining 'Mutant Man' films 'Invisible Man' (1954), Secret of the Telegian (1960), and 'Human Vapor' (1960), as well as their horror films 'Vampire Moth' (1956) (more of a murder mystery) and 'Horror of the Wolf' (1972) and the 1975 disaster film 'Fire in Tokyo Bay' aka 'Conflagration', and thus make the Toho monster/scifi canon complete? The author at times doesn't seem to be familiar with the films that he is reviewing. For instance, he misunderstands the nature of the collapsed dwarf star in 'Gorath', misses the connections between 'Frankenstein Conquers the World' and 'War of the Gargantuas' (even though the makeup for the Sanda suit is based on the original Frankenstein, and apparently meant to be said creature. The film was originally titled 'Frankenstein Brothers', but changed to 'Frankenstein Monsters: Sanda vs Gaila', which, considering that Sanda & Gaila are mythological brothers similar to Gog and Magog, firmly cements the two 'Gargantuas' as brothers, one an offshoot of the other as mentioned in the film. As the filming progressed and the focus changed, scenes involving a baby Gargantua were included in flashback, but the Frankenstein connection strangely remains), puzzles over why the Gryphon in 'Latitude Zero' is called 'Black Moth' (the author seems oblivious to the character 'Black Moth' Kuroiga, captain of the Black Shark, Malic's henchwoman, played by Hikaru Kuroki, whose brain is transplanted into the Gryphon), or why the character of Lucretia turns to dust upon dying (all of the characters who live in Latitude Zero are ancient, including MacKenzie, since time passes differently in the city, hence the original ending where Perry Lawton returns to the surface to discover 50 years have elapsed!), and doesn't know where the giant slugs came from in 'Great Prophecies of Nostradamus' (even though they appear in a chemical waste dump, which is also mentioned in the dialogue), etc... The author at times also doesn't seem to understand or be aware of the peculiar Japanese style of storytelling. Having taken apart the book this way, one would think that I hated it. Truthfully, if one corrects the various errors and can put up with the bad grammar, the book is quite serviceable for what it was intended for: an encyclopedia of movies. It is very handy to have a mini sized book filled with the essentials of the genre, without being a massive scholarly text. It puts me in mind of the long out of print 'Age of the Gods' by Guy Mariner Tucker, itself structurally flawed but one of the best books on the films of the Showa era. Le May has done a phenomenal amount of research for the series, and should be congratulated. It is only those blasted errors and omissions that lead to my giving this a 3 star rating, rather than 5. He has collected a massive amount of material, but doesn't seem to know how to present it. It makes me wonder why all three volumes were split up, but instead combined into a truly big book of Japanese giant monster movies, with one continuous thread? But perhaps this would end up looking like one of those 'scholarly' texts! Perhaps one can hope for a third revised edition someday? Third time is the charm! For the record, following is a list of errata from the book. This is really unfortunate, as this information is readily available on the internet, which makes the book come across as sloppily or speedily written. There may be others, but these are what I'm aware of: * 'The Mysterians' is based on a story by sci fi author Jojiro Okami. The screenplay should also credit Shigeru Kayama. * Screenwriter Kaoru Mabuchi was a pseudonym employed by Takeshi Kimura from about 1965 onwards, but previous to this he is credited on film as Takeshi Kimura. * Momoko Kochi (Godzilla, Half Human) is also in the cast of 'The Mysterians' as Shiraishi's fiancée. * Mothra is a moth, not a butterfly. * The Last War's Japanese title is more akin to 'World War III' or 'Third World War'. 'The Last War' is the Western title. * The composer for 'Gorath' is Kan Ishii, not Akira Ifukube. * In 'Whale God' Ei's rape by Kishu is presented onscreen, so to state in the commentary that is was done by 'a stranger' is misleading. * Actor Yu Fujiki's name is constantly misspelled Yu Fujuki. * The composer for 'Matango' is Sadao Bekku, not Akira Ifukube. * In 'Atragon' Manda was made to look like a Chinese dragon because the original Manda was a Chinese god. * In 'Mothra vs Godzilla' Hiroshi Koizumi's character is prof. Miura, not Murai. He is Murai in the followup 'Ghidorah the Three Headed Monster', but is for all intents and purposes the same character. * The US versions of 'Frankenstein Conquers the World' and 'War of the Gargantus' contain scenes or versions of scenes made strictly for those versions. * 'Gappa the Triphibian Monster', not 'Triphibean (a constant misspelling). * The female character's name in 'Son of Godzilla' is Saeko, not Reiko. * The Japanese title for 'The Green Slime' should translate as 'Gamma No. 3 Operation Outer Space'. * Similarly the Japanese title for 'Latitude Zero' is 'Operation Latitude Zero'. * The full title for 'All Monsters Attack' is 'Godzilla-Minilla-Gabara: All Monsters Attack' * Ganime and Kamoeba are misspelled with an 's' added to the ends of the names throughout. * Monster toys are glimpsed onscreen for the first time in 'All Monsters Attack' not 'Godzilla vs The Smog Monster'

I don’t think that I’ve ever enjoyed reading a movie review book more than I have this collection by author John LeMay. LeMay has an obvious fondness and a studied awareness of kaiju cinema and it seems that often what impressed or delighted him he passes on with equal aplomb to his readers. LeMay tackles all of the early Godzilla, Gamera, and other closely associated sci-fi cinema by way of movies that came out of Toho, Daei, and other Asian (mostly Japanese) movie studios. Is it a complete or exhaustive list? No but it seems pretty close and, technically speaking, some of the films reviewed aren’t strictly kaiju films (like Toho’s Trilogy of Blood films). As for the reviews themselves they are all on average 4-6 pages and all follow the same format: movie title identification with alternate titles (what was up with Germany constantly referring to Godzilla as Frankenstein?) and director, spfx supervisors, actors and some brief technical info; a synopsis of the film which he managed to squeeze down to be very concise and brief while still getting at the heart of the film; a lengthier and always fascinating background section on the film that often had him sharing more of his personal thoughts of the film; a conclusory statement which I didn’t always agree with but appreciated how he is able to see each movie in both its own light and as it stands against its contemporaries; and finally a fun trivia section that addressed issues surrounding the movie versus talking about the movie itself.All of this is printed in an easy to read and magnanimous fashion; while he acknowledges deficiencies of many of the films he never comes down hard on any of them. He also has ***BONUS REVIEWS*** and it makes the kaiju enthusiast reader feel like they’re really getting a bonus! When, in fact, he simply could have included the review without highlighting it in any fashion. This was a smart technique that makes the reader feel like they’re getting more than they should or deserve. LeMay reviewed just a few movies that I wasn’t familiar with but I am familiar with the vast majority of the movies that he has reviewed in this tome and I can say that I read with a great deal of pleasure these snack-sized reviews, the wealth of them making the book feel fairly substantial, and I learned a lot about one of my favorite movie categories. In fact early on in reading the book I decided that I must have Vol. 2 and so I ordered it well before finishing Vol. 1! Fun fun fun.

The book is fantastic. I saw complaints that there are no pictures, this is accurate, but it would be a copywrite nightmare for the author. The list is exhaustive, with plot synopsis, cast, trivia, and background information on multiple franchises of monster movies. I drag my family to the entertainment room and we watch Godzilla and Gamera movies, and then me and my stepson will go back and read the articles about the movie in this book.He wrote a second book completing the long list, which I also have, and also recommend.

This two volume set compendium is a must have for any Kaiju or Tokusatsu fan. It gives a concise two page plot synopsis, production crew credit, production back ground and some trivia for both well know and obscure Kaiju movies. The next edition needs to add the responsible Production Studio Company to the introduction credits. Sometime but not always do you find it was a Tsuburaya Productions, Toho, Daiei or other until you read the production back ground.Volume 2 covers films up to 2017. So why did not included Shinji Higuchi's live action Attack on Titan movies? Given the movies included in the volumes it would have been a natural fit.But if not for these two comments, my review would have been 5 stars. Regardless if you a serious about your Kaijus, then you need these books on your shelve next to your Kaiju and Tokusatsu movie collection.