This picture of Takemajin — the giant statue animated to defend the Earth from the terminally weird Gilala in Girara-no Gyakushuu Touyaku Samitto Kiki Ippatsu [lit. Guilala’s Counter Attack: the Touyaku Summit One-Shot Crisis] (Japan, 2008; dir. Minoru Kawasaki) — has hit the blogsphere in the past few days. The character is played by famous actor and personality Kitano Takeshi.
It appears to have gone back to the conceptual drawings that first appeared rather than reflecting the more Takeshi-reminiscent statue that came later.
In a moment of planned synchronicity, Guilala’s Counter Attack: the Touyaku Summit One-Shot Crisis premiered last weekend in Sapporo where the G8 Summit was also being held. The only review that has appeared so far is by a British journalist who was there to cover the Summit and thought it would be a lark to see the film in conjunction with his other duties. His review is packed with all the usual misinformation, artistic prejudice and lack of understanding that blights “appreciation” of the daikaiju eiga genre when it is written about by mainstream critics, so his negativity need not be taken as an accurate reflection on the film. However, if you want to read what he thought, Ken Hulsey of Robo Japan gives it a run.
- Picture source via Kaiju Search-Robot Avery
