by Nippon » Mon Apr 12, 2010 12:42 pm
I've watched the first episode and a chunk of the second, and I gotta' say, I REALLY wish this was subtitled! I'm getting a strong Bio Planet WOO vibe from this series, as it's steeped heavily in character development and quirky, fun moments. It's great to see a new tokusatsu series without the bland, by-the-numbers malarky of sentai or Kamen Rider.
The original Daimajin trilogy was pretty smart to mix the standardized elements of the samurai and kaiju genres into a new product, even though all three films are practically interchangeable. The new series looks as though it's taking the Daimajin premise and not only expanding on it, but adding in some fresh blood and taking in a more low-key, high-quality artistic direction.
I was personally a bit concerned that this new series would in fact simply adhere to the popular and vapid "monster of the week" formula that only Ultraman can usually get away with. Of course, to do that would have simply MADE Daimajin into Ultraman, and that is NOT how it should be. Granted, I'm not 100% on what's going on, since I don't speak Japanese fluently, but I am able to take a few rough stabs at the plot. I very much like the inclusion of what I assume are heroic yokai against evil yokai, and the focus on this central female character whom is surely the key to reviving "Bujin," the new Daimajin. I'm not totally clear on the nightmare-rock-band thing yet and I think the little girl singing in episode 2 is a little too saccharin and painfully "sweet" for my tastes (like it's trying WAY too hard), but this does look like a series I could get into!
Of course, I did skip around a bit for episode 2, and damn, that is one badass fight between Bujin and the white yokai! The martial-arts choreography is also really cool too between the yokai, and the effects overall are pretty good!
I'm also getting a very Gamera The Brave vibe from this series: recasting an established series into a mix of modern Japanese light drama with overarching fantasy/scifi elements, and ANYTHING that takes a step towards The Brave is to be commended.