The Great Yokai War
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| The Great Yokai War | |
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| Directed by | Takashi Miike |
| Produced by | Fumio Inoue |
| Written by | Takashi Miike Mitsuhiko Sawamura Takehiko Itakura Hiroshi Aramata (novel) |
| Starring | Ryunosuke Kamiki Chiaki Kuriyama Mai Takahashi |
| Distributed by |  Tokyo Shock (DVD) |
| Release date(s) |  Aug 6, 2005 Jun 30, 2006 |
| Running time | 124 min |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
| IMDb profile | |
The Great Yokai War (妖怪大戦争 Yōkai daisensō?) is a 2005 Japanese horror-fantasy children's film directed by Takashi Miike and produced by Kadokawa Pictures. In the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival and on its June 30, 2006, American premiere, in New York City, it was released under the international English title The Great Yokai War by Tokyo Shock.
The Toronto festival site defines Yokai as "bizarre-looking monsters and supernatural beings from Japanese folklore who like to play tricks on unsuspecting humans". Daisensō literally means "great war".
It borrows the title of a 1968 film, which was released in the US by ADV Films as Yokai Monsters: Spook Warfare, part of the Yokai Monsters series and directed by Yoshiyuki Kuroda. The only common element shared by the 1968 and 2005 films is the concept of a yokai war: for example, the original is a period piece about a Babylonian demon that migrates to Japan, where it is opposed by the local spirits; the new version is set in contemporary times, and the villain is a a spirit of refuse / waste. Whereas the original used tokusatsu special effects, the 2005 version makes heavy use of stop-motion puppet animation and CGI.
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[edit] Plot
A young boy moves to a small town after the divorce of his parents. At a local festival, he is picked to be that year's "Kirin Rider," a protector of all things good. He soon discovers that his new title is quite literal, as a nefarious spirit of waste begins to wage war with the local yokai and human populations.
[edit] Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Ryunosuke Kamiki | Tadashi Ino |
| Hiroyuki Miyasako | Sata, The Reporter |
| Chiaki Kuriyama | Agi, The Bird-Catching Sprite |
| Bunta Sugawara | Shuntaro Ino |
| Etsushi Toyokawa | Tasunori Kato |
| Kiyoshiro Imawano | General Nurarihyon |
| Mai Takahashi | Kawahime, The River Princess |
| Masaomi Kondo | Shojo, The Kirin Herald |
| Sadawo Abe | Kawataro, The River Sprite |
| Takashi Okamura | Azuki-Bean Washer |
| Naoto Takenaka | Lamp-Oil |
[edit] Some yokai that appear in this film
[edit] References
- Official site
- Yokai Daisenso at the Internet Movie Database
- Yokai Daisenso at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival
