Great Space Monster Darkmatton

He’s made of dark matter, he’s really big, he destroys cities with bursts of destructive energy. He’s Darkmatton, a new kaiju created by director Yohei Miyawaki for his short animated film, Great Space Monster Darkmatton.

Yohei Miyawaki (pictured below) is 23 years old and a student at Tama Art University in Tokyo. He says he made this film as a project because of his love of daikaiju eiga (giant monster films) and wanted to experiment with the techniques. He also does the voice of an elderly doctor — “the one with the white beard” (as you’ll see when you watch the film below). It goes for a total of 13 minutes and in three parts — two in colour and the third in black-and-white.

Great Space Monster Darkmatton was first screened “in a very small gallery in Shibuya, Tokyo in January, 2010”. Though he doesn’t have the means to create DVDs for sale at this stage, Miyawaki is currently creating an international version, with English subtitles, which he will upload to YouTube when it is completed. He estimates that it will take about a month, but the Backbrain will let you know as soon as it happens.

He added that he would like to make another daikaiju-themed animated film in future, but nothing has been finalised yet.

As giant monsters go, Darkmatton is not your typical kaiju. Not reptilian or even chimeran in appearance (at first), its black spherical form, glowing eyes and energy beams are nevertheless the stuff that city-destruction is made of…  But then… many daikaiju are liable to metamorphose into a different form.

The animation is not high-level CGI, but a stylised and relatively static form of frame-animation — very Japanese in its minimalist beauty.

Synopsis:

An orbiting international space station is mysteriously destroyed. The army asks Dr Kawanaka, an expert in astronomy, to undertake an investigation to ascertain the cause. The doctor tries to find the cause, under the scrutiny of the army. Suddenly a black globe appears in the sky over Tokyo and Dr Kawanaka recognises it as the cause of the ISS’s destruction. “That is Great Space Monster Darkmatton!” he declares. Military action proves futile. The doctor develops the ultimate weapon [see below] — the end result of his previous own research — uses it to confront the monster. The future of humanity hangs in the balance!

Above: conceptual sketch of the ultimate weapon

Trailer:

More of Director Miyawaki’s Conceptual Sketches:

In the Gallery below, there are also four storyboard/continuity pages. Check them out.

Meanwhile, here is the complete film, in three parts. You can also watch it larger on Yohei Miyawaki’s website.

Great Space Monster Darkmatton (in Japanese): Part 1

Great Space Monster Darkmatton (in Japanese): Part 2

Great Space Monster Darkmatton (in Japanese): Part 3

• Source: Yohei Miyawaki via Kaiju Search-Robot Avery
• Writer: Robert Hood  |  Research: Avery Guerra