"KAIJU BIG BATTEL REVIEW"
by duke radule
(www.kaiju.com)
"Kaiju Big Battel is a modern conflict of epic proportions. Unbeknownst to most humans, planet Earth is under threat. Scattered throughout the galaxy is a monstrous mob of maniacal villains, menacing alien beasts, and giant, city-crushing monsters that are waging war against one another...Presiding over this mayhem is the Kaiju Commissioner, an enigmatic human-arbiter appointed by a clandestine cadre of world leaders to regulate Kaiju rage."
I was speechless when I witnessed my first Kaiju battel in badly rendered quicktime glory...the only alternative for us westerners, or anyone not living in the northeast corner of the atlantic coast...Apart from a pathetic two minute segment on Jimmy Kimmel live, this three ring celebration of classic japanese monster movies can only be witnessed live in New York, Boston and occassionally Chicago.
Kaiju, meaning "mysterious beast", began as a series of concept art sketches in 1994 and evolved into a massive exhibition involving monster suits, 15m x 15m chain cages, foam cities and pure adrenline. Fighters develop their suits over the course of several months and then decide whether to fight with the people's champion, Silver Potato, or join
Dr. Cube's evil faction.
As for the monsters, the aforementioned Silver Potato arrives in a round-ish silver costume resembling a capri-sun drink bag turned inside out. His efforts to maintain his title of reigning champion are thwarted only by Dr. Cube's gang, Cube appearing as a guy in overalls with a surly look painted on box-head. Other battel-ers such as American beetle, Uchu Chu (the space bug) and Hell Monkey, my personal favorite, tackle one another and perform some of the most painful looking body slams you'll ever see off the sides of the arena cage. Why Hell Monkey resembles the illegitimate love child of Elmo and a pig, I'll never know...
Not eccentric enough for you? Ok, try this...ever seen a club sandwich put the ham-on-rye smackdown on a walking can of chicken noodle soup before? Not sober I'll wager...Kung Fu Chicken Soup was getting wailed on by the Club, and I mean a Club-wielding club sandwich. I'm also a fan of the tag team "los plantanos", twin banana brothers (Pedro and Pablo) with a little south american flair.
The special moves are classic, very reminiscent of early japanese tv shows like Kikaida and Spectreman...take Silver Potato's Au-gratin kick for example, it catches monsters like Unibouzu off guard every time. Check out their grueling battle in the video section under "live battels".
Some might try to write this whole concept off as a pro-wrestling hybrid, one part WWE to two parts old-school japanese mass-media culture, but damn, you just can't stop watching as the insanely stupid tale unfolds...not that I concur with Jimmy Kimmel's grim assessment, as if this were a late-night
fixture on CH or the new VI (like that recent "BONZAI!"), I'd have the VCR or TiVo set.
Cheers,
Duke
No comments:
Post a Comment