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:

This is the story of a young boy who moves to a small town after the divorce of his parents. At a local festival...

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 Ôsawa
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

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

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)

Other Companies

• Tottori Film Commission  film commission

Also Known As:

The Great Yokai War (Canada: English title) (festival title) (International: English title) (UK) (subtitle)
Hobgoblins & the Great War (literal English title)
Spook Warfare
The Great Hobgoblin War (literal English 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:

The film contains several direct references and homages to the work of Shigeru Mizuki, the manga artist who is generally credited with bringing the tradition of yokai tales into the modern day via the comic-book medium. The young hero researches yokai by traveling to Mizuki's birthplace of Sakaiminato and visiting the museum dedicated to his work there; the actual museum, and its bronze statues of his most famous characters, including GeGeGe no Kitaro, are shown in the film. Later in the plot, when the yokai Ittan Momen shows reluctance to fight, another scolds it by saying "You're always really brave in those comics with Kitaro!"

Quotes:

Red-Hooded Yokai: Rejoice! It would seem we have won the war.
Youkai Daiou: Won the war? Don't be a fool! There is a limit even to foolishness. Wars must not happen. They only make you hungry.

Movie Connections:

References Daikaijû Gamera (1965)

gorgeous and imaginative fun fantasy adventure!

Wow! So much fun! Probably a bit much for normal American kids, and really it's a stretch to call this a kid's film, this movie reminded me a quite a bit of Time Bandits - very Terry Gilliam all the way through. While the overall narrative is pretty much straight forward, Miike still throws in A LOT of surreal and Bunuel-esquire moments. The whole first act violently juxtaposes from scene to scene the normal family life of the main kid/hero, with the spirit world and the evil than is ensuing therein. And while the ending does have a bit of an ambiguous aspect that are common of Miike's work, the layers of meaning and metaphor, particularly the anti-war / anti-revenge message of human folly, is pretty damn poignant. As manic and imaginatively fun as other great Miike films, only instead of over the top torture and gore, he gives us an endless amount of monsters and yokai from Japanese folk-lore creatively conceived via CG and puppetry wrapped into an imaginative multi-faceted adventure. F'n rad, and one of Miike's best!