Yôkai daisensô (2005)

Director:

Takashi Miike

Writers:

Hiroshi Aramata (novel)
Takashi Miike (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

6 August 2005 (Japan)

Genre:

Adventure | Comedy | Family | Fantasy | Horror

Plot:

A young boy is chosen as the defender of good and must team up with Japan's ancient spirits and creatures of lore to destroy the forces of evil.

Plot Keywords:

Japan | Machine | Based On Comic | Manga | Supernatural Power

Awards:

2 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Ryûnosuke Kamiki	...	Tadashi Ino (as Ryuunosuke Kamiki)
Hiroyuki Miyasako	...	Sata
Chiaki Kuriyama	...	Agi
Bunta Sugawara	...	Shuntaro Ino
Kaho Minami	...	Youko Ino
Riko Narumi	...	Tataru Ino
Etsushi Toyokawa	...	Lord Kato Yasunori
Kiyoshiro Imawano	...	General Nurarihyon (as Kiyoshirô Imawano)
Mai Takahashi	...	Kawahime, the River Princess
Masaomi Kondo	...	Shojo, the Kirin Herald (as Masaomi Kondô)
Sadao Abe	...	Kawataro, the River Sprite
Takashi Okamura	...	Azuki-Bean Washer
Naoto Takenaka	...	Lamp-Oil
Ken'ichi Endô	...	Ou Tengu
Renji Ishibashi	...	Ou Kubi
Toshie Negishi	...	Sunakake Baba
Asumi Miwa	...	Rokuro-Kubi
Hiroshi Aramata	...	Demon Prince
Natsuhiko Kyôgoku	...	Demon Prince
Shigeru Mizuki	...	Demon King
Toshiya Nagasawa	...	Abe no Seimei
Shirô Sano	...	Sata's Editor
Akira Emoto	...	Screaming Farmer
Minori Fujikura	...	Bake-Neko
Mame Yamada	...	Noderabô
Hiromasa Taguchi	...	Ippon Tadara
Tokitoshi Shiota	...	Mouryo / Gozu
Rei Yoshii	...	Yuki Onna
Miyuki Miyabe	...	School Teacher
Yu Tokui	...	Police Officer
Kanji Tsuda	...	Tadashi's Father
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Honkon
Tôru Hotohara
Itsuji Itao
Arimasa Ohsawa
Salmon Sakeyama		(as Sakeyama Saamon)
Mao Sasaki	...	Sune-kosuri (voice)
Yôji Tanaka	...	Yoichi's father

Directed by
Takashi Miike

Writing credits
Hiroshi Aramata		(novel)
Takashi Miike		(screenplay) &
Mitsuhiko Sawamura		(screenplay) &
Takehiko Itakura		(screenplay)

Produced by
Fumio Inoue	....	producer
Tsuguhiko Kadokawa	....	executive producer: Kadokawa Eiga

Original Music by
Kôji Endô

Cinematography by
Hideo Yamamoto

Film Editing by
Yasushi Shimamura

Production Design by
Hisashi Sasaki

Makeup Department
Kakusei Fujiwara	....	special makeup effects artist
Tomo Hyakutake	....	special makeup effects artist
Yûichi Matsui	....	special makeup effects artist

Sound Department
Peter 'Duck' McDonald	....	sound mixer
Jun Nakamura	....	sound

Special Effects by
Tomo Hyakutake	....	special effects makeup

Casting Department
Natsuhiko Kyôgoku	....	casting: monsters

Other crew
Miyuki Miyabe	....	production consultant
Shigeru Mizuki	....	production consultant

Production Companies

• Kadokawa Eiga K.K.
• Nippon Television Network Corporation (NTV)

Distributors

• Media Blasters (2006) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Shochiku Company (2005) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Siren Visual Entertainment (2006) (Australia) (DVD)
• Tokyo Shock (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Versus Entertainment (2006) (Spain) (DVD)
• e-m-s the DVD-Company (2007) (Germany) (DVD)

Special Effects

• Hyakutake Studio (special make-up effects)

Other Companies

• Tottori Film Commission  film commission

Also Known As:

"The Great Yokai War" - Canada (English title) (festival title), International (English title) (imdb display title), UK (subtitle)
"Hobgoblins & the Great War" - (literal English title)
"Spook Warfare" -
"The Great Hobgoblin War" - (literal English title)
"A Grande Guerra Yokai" - Brazil (festival title)
"Great Yokai War" - Finland (festival title)
"Krieg der Dämonen" - Germany (TV title)
"Krieg der Dämonen - The Great Yokai War" - Germany (imdb display title)
"La guerra dei fantasmi" - Italy (imdb display title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for fantasy violence and scary images

Runtime:

USA:124 min | UK:104 min (Leeds International Film Festival)

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital EX

Certification:

USA:PG-13 | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Japan

Company:

Kadokawa Eiga K.K.

Trivia:

Shigeru Mizuki himself appears briefly in the film as the Demon King.

Quotes:

Kawahime, the River Princess:People live in ignorance. Constantly turning a blind eye. Those that let go of their past, have no future.

Movie Connections:

References Daikaijû Gamera (1965)

The Great Yokai War

One of director Miike Takashi's very best. It's so good it's difficult to put into words. At nearly fifteen years older than the target audience it thrilled me from beginning to end.

It recalls similar children's films from the 1980s in the sense that (unlike today) those films weren't afraid to scare - there's a lot of nasty detail here that I initially found jarring but soon realised it's nothing different to what I grew up on. The film is a compilation of '80s kid's films conventions. You name it, it's there: a young boy hero thrust from his own unhappy/dysfunctional world into another, inhabited by mythical and mystical goblins; a quest to save both worlds from an evil force; a beautiful heroine he has a crush on; a sadistic henchwoman (Go-Go Yubari from Kill Bill Vol. 1); a lead villain who draws his evil power from something everyone in the world can relate to. But all these genre conventions are given a fresh spin and added depth.

One of the IMDb reviews begins "Where was this film when I was a kid?" and it's a sentiment I agree with wholeheartedly. Even while watching it I lamented the fact that I hadn't grown up on it; that it wasn't a part of my childhood like Labyrinth, Masters Of The Universe and, to a much lesser extent, The Neverending Story. Those films, and others like The Goonies are recalled but never copied - Miike relentlessly offering us a new take on things.

Poor CGI is a staple of many of his films, sometimes due to budgetary limitations but just as frequently an artistic choice - a desire to present things in an outlandish way. Here the CGI is mostly average, solely due to budgetary limitations, but nevertheless he does a fantastic job of putting on a spectacle. The CG effects combine with traditional puppets, animatronics and truly extraordinary make-up to create a world filled with rich characters (and characterisation) that frequently borders on the visionary.

This ranks as one of the greatest children's films ever made. Not for younger or more sensitive kids though.

Just jaw-droppingly wonderful. See it for yourselves and if you think your kids can handle/appreciate it then show it to them. Let them grow up on The Great Yokai War as some small compensation for the fact you couldn't.