Negadon: The Monster from Mars
By Jmaruyama

Film Production Information

Japanese Title: Wakusei Daikaiju Negadon
American Title: Negadon – The Monster From Mars”/”Galaxy Monster - Negadon” (Lit.)
Original Air Date:10/16/05
DVD Release Date: 7/11/06

Producer(s): Sunami Kazuki Screenwriter(s): Awazu Jun Director of photography: Utsumi

Masaharu Director: Awazu Jun Cinematography: Awazu Jun Film Editing: Awazu Jun

Casting: Yano Takeshi Design Coordinator: Ohishi Makiko SFX (Visual Effects): Studio

Magara (Awazu Jun) VFX Supervisor: Kato Kenjiro Animation/Modeling: Miyahara Shin

Music/Sound Effects: Terasawa Shingo

Lyricist: Kato Kenjiro

Theme Song: Yumoto Akane

Produced by: Studio Magara

DVD Released/Distributed by: Central Park Media Corporation, CoMix Wave Inc.

Cast:
Shimizu Dai (Narasaki Ryuichi)
Sasahara Takuma (Yoshizawa Seiji)
Yumoto Akane (Narasaki Emi)
Kishi Masafumi (TV Announcer/Narrator)

The Story

"It is the near future, in the 100th year of Showa (year 2025). The population of the world is more than 10 billion, and a world-class space development project called "Mars Terraforming Project" is in process. One day, the spaceship Izanami crashes in Japan on the way from Mars, and this revives the monster Negadon, which was captured by the spaceship. Can the human race knock down the monster?!? Under the desperate situation, a middle-aged man, Ryuichi Narasaki, rises up against the monster. He is an expert of robot engineering who lost his daughter in an accident which happened during his experiments. Now, a desperate struggle of Narasaki and Negadon begins!!!"
-- Summary from Website

Review

Toho Studios, could be seen as the “father” of the “Kaiju Eiga” (monster movies). It was their original “Godzilla” (1957) movie which revolutionized sci-fi fantasy films in Japan and whose subsequent sequels gave birth to a long running franchise which has survived nearly five decades. Toho’s peak is firmly set in the late 50’s and mid 60’s when director Ishiro Honda and SFX wizard Tsuburaya Eiji helmed such movies like “Chikyu Boei Gun” (The Mysterians; 1957), “Kaitei Gunkan” (Atragon; 1963), “Mothra Tai Gojira” (1964), “Kaiju Daisensou” (Monster Zero; 1965) and “Kaiju Soshingeki” (Destroy All Monsters; 1968) which have become cult classics.

Kaiju Eiga has come a long way from the Toho “man-in-a-suit” movies. With the rapid advancement of computers, digital effects technologies and software, Japanese studios have caught up with Hollywood and have produced visually stunning movies utilizing the best in CGI graphics. Kaneko Shusuke’s “Gamera: Daikaiju Kuchu Kessen” (Gamera: Guardian of the Universe; 1995) and rousing sequel “Gamera 2: Legion Shurai” (Gamera 2: Advent of Legion; 1996) redefined and raised the bar for monster movies. Yet, the Toho movies of the 60’s are still endeared by fans with loving nostalgia. One such fan is CGI Effects Artist Awazu Jun who realized his dream of directing the ultimate Toho “Kaiju” tribute film with “Wakusei Daikaiju Negadon”.

Awazu was formerly a visual effects artist with a post production company in Tokyo, where he helped supplement the CGI effects for such Tokusatsu projects as “Kamen Rider 555” (2003) and “Bakuryu Sentai Abaranger” (2003) as well as feature films such as “Gojira x Mecha Gojira” (2002) and “Gojira Mosura King Ghidora – Kaikaiju Kosougeki”. “Negadon” has been a long standing dream project for Awazu ever since he graduated from the Aiichi Art Academy and Nagoya’s “Trident Computer” Art School were he majored and specialized in Computer 3-D design.

“Negadon” is basically an update of his earlier CGI work “Magara” which won a special award in Japan’s CG-Animation & Film Festival in 2000. The story can simply be described in one sentence – “Alien monster attacks Tokyo but is stopped by a brilliant scientist and his giant robot”. The plot doesn’t go beyond this premise aside from short flashbacks of the scientist with his young daughter who tragically is killed in a freak accident.

The movie itself only runs a scant 30 minutes which is not even feature length and is more along the lines of a short film and curio piece than movie. However, within those minutes, Awazu creates a world that is visually stunning – a Japanese “Gernsback” retro world populated by technology and weaponry spanning several decades. Not surprisingly the alien “kaiju” looks very similar to both “Legion” from “Gamera 2” and “Iris” from “Gamera 3” which may have been intentional considering Awazu’s love for these movies. The robot is also reminiscent of retro robots of the past like “Tetsujin 28 Go” and “Giant Robo”.

Awazu’s film is very similar in style to Kerry Conran’s “Sky Captain & The World of Tomorrow” which oddly enough was also based on a project Conran independently created using his own computer equipment and software much like Awazu and “Negadon”.

While nowhere near as groundbreaking as Pixar’s various features or Nomura Tetsuya’s recent “Final Fantasy – Advent Children” (2005), “Negadon’s” CGI work is still impressive, all the more so considering that this short film was done solely by Awazu himself. There are some instances where the short film looks like “game cinema” but on the whole Toho Sci-Fi fans will appreciate and admire the film’s “retro” look and style.

Menus
The menus are simply stated and very easy to maneuver but are nothing really great or impressive. Each menu option leads to different scenes, background and images from the film. News footage from the film are played in a continue loop on the main menu and does get a bit irritating at a point. For some reason I’ve encountered some image distortions on the main menu when playing the DVD from a regular player. This might be just a random problem (playing the movie on my DVD-Rom does not seem to cause any problems).

Languages
The original Japanese soundtrack is available with or without subtitles. The subtitles are fairly easy to read and aren’t overly distracting. In addition to these options, there is also an option to display digital linear notes with trivia and cultural notes. The notes here get somewhat silly at points but there are some interesting trivia notes and I found it a good substitute in place of director’s commentary.

Video
The video is stunning and very vibrant. Even in instances where there are scenes in rain, in space or in the dark, the video is crisp and clear.

Audio
The DVD features a Stereo audio track (not Dolby Digital). The audio is clear and audible, rendering the dialogue and action sound effects perfectly clear. The BGM, ED song all sound great. Other than that, the audio here is nothing special but quite sufficient. While I mainly listened to the Japanese language track, the English dubbed dialog track sounds professional and is serviceable but gets somewhat silly at points.

Extras
Since the film is so short, Central Park Media really went all out with extra material and supplements for this DVD (in an effort to pad out the DVD). Awazu’s first CGI project, “Magra” is included as reference. A lengthy interview with director Awazu is also included. I found the interview itself to be pretty fascinating and Awazu is himself is a very interesting person (a Tokusatsu “fan-boy” and film buff in the same vein as possibly Quentin Tarantino).

The “Making of Negadon” feature is definitely my favorite special feature as it went into the technical aspects of how Awazu generated all the fantastic images in the film from the people and animals to the military hardware, cityscape, monster and robot. There is no audio with the feature and it basically is a step-by-step review from wire frame to finished image.

The “Kaiju A Go Go” feature is also very interesting. It features a slideshow of fan and “kaiju” design art by various Japanese Sci-Fi and Tokusatsu fans and artists (many of whom also frequent Japan Hero). I found the submitted kaiju art to be really good on the whole.

On the whole CPM really went out of their way to produce a great DVD for “Negadon”. While I did not like the looping news footage for the Main Menu and the dubbed dialog track, the rest of the DVD is great and I really enjoyed the short film.

Easter Eggs
None reported thus far.

DVD Specs

Color
Running Time: 70 min.
NTSC/Region 1
Dual-Layer Format
Audio Track 1: Japanese, Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Audio Track 2: English, Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
ASIN: B000FDFSYU
UPC: 719987252028 Rating: Not Rated

Jmaruyama