"Kyoshinhei Tôkyô ni arawaru" may not give you the best deal of information unless you are fluent in Japanese, but the English title ("Giant God Warrior Appears in Tokyo") does as it perfectly summarizes the contents of the story. We hear a female narrator tell us about the day when an ancient not so friendly deity descended from the skies and destroyed the city of Tokyo. While it was a terrible tragedy, there is also a sense of hope and future in here. Destruction leads to a very rough road, but it also breeds creation like a famous band once said. It's an okay watch all in all and gets better the further it progresses during these slightly over 10 minutes. Cannot say anything about the films this is connected to as I haven't seen either. Some interesting questions arise. Why couldn't other Gods stop it or at least intervene? How did the girl survive and what will future bring to her? Is she really the only survivor? How did her brother know? And so on. This one had its 5th anniversary last year. It's not really about the animation and the visual execution may be slightly worse than the audio side (i.e. narration mostly) that was pretty good and also the plot idea in general. I am kinda curious about how the story goes on. Another Studio Ghibli production that certainly deserves to be seen. By the way, Miyazaki is a voice actor in here, but even without that little interesting fact you should give this one a go. Just like I give it a thumbs-up. Don't miss out.
4 Reviews
New direction mixed with old methods
trysnr30 November 2022
The ending of this work leads to the opening scene of the animated and manga version of "Nausicaa on the Valley of the Wind" by Hayao Miyazaki.
The Giant Warriors appear in "Nausicaa on the Valley of the Wind.
The climactic scene in "Nausicaa on the Valley of the Wind" where the Giant Warrior appears was animated by Hideaki Anno, who was still a student. He also wrote the screenplay for this film.
The destruction scene tested in this film will be more effectively recreated in "Shin Godzilla," also by Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi.
In this film, the atmosphere of old special effects is preserved by daring to use models and panelizing the figures in a way that is possible with computer graphics at a time when this was possible.
For a generation like mine, born in the 60's, this work was nostalgic and the sharp direction was a surprise not found in the old tokusatsu productions.
The Giant Warriors appear in "Nausicaa on the Valley of the Wind.
The climactic scene in "Nausicaa on the Valley of the Wind" where the Giant Warrior appears was animated by Hideaki Anno, who was still a student. He also wrote the screenplay for this film.
The destruction scene tested in this film will be more effectively recreated in "Shin Godzilla," also by Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi.
In this film, the atmosphere of old special effects is preserved by daring to use models and panelizing the figures in a way that is possible with computer graphics at a time when this was possible.
For a generation like mine, born in the 60's, this work was nostalgic and the sharp direction was a surprise not found in the old tokusatsu productions.
Where's the feature film version, please
Jeremy_Urquhart28 January 2024
Giant God Warrior Appears in Tokyo joins the likes of The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford as a film that uses its title to more or less explain the plot. Beyond the title, what also jumps out is the surprising fact that this nightmarish short about the end of the world was produced by Studio Ghibli, and Hayao Miyazaki apparently has his voice in there somewhere, too.
I feel like I could watch a whole film not necessarily with this exact plot, but with this overall feel. It kind of just gets into the horror and awe of it all a little quickly, and even though short films featuring giant monsters sometimes work by cutting straight to the chase, in this instance, I think I would've liked more of a build-up and more dread.
If they were to somehow make a feature film out of this without it just necessarily feeling like another End of Evangelion (it's hard not to think of that one while watching this, admittedly), I think it could be something honestly really cool.
I feel like I could watch a whole film not necessarily with this exact plot, but with this overall feel. It kind of just gets into the horror and awe of it all a little quickly, and even though short films featuring giant monsters sometimes work by cutting straight to the chase, in this instance, I think I would've liked more of a build-up and more dread.
If they were to somehow make a feature film out of this without it just necessarily feeling like another End of Evangelion (it's hard not to think of that one while watching this, admittedly), I think it could be something honestly really cool.
Big robot
jamesfiddy27 January 2021
Big robot destroys Tokyo with cool laser and explosions everywhere. Huge robot, large even, materialises and destroys Tokyo with the Atomic Breath from Shin Godzilla. Sizeable man monster blows up Tokyo with laser.
No complaints.
10/10
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