怪獣kaiju
Quick definition:Kaiju is a Japanese word for giant monsters, and it refers both to the huge creatures that attack cities in films and series and to the genre built around them.
Meaning
Kaiju means strange beast, and it describes enormous monsters that rise from the sea, wake from beneath the earth or arrive from space. They tend to be taller than buildings, trample cities and battle one another or the military. Some are destructive forces of nature, while others become protectors or even popular mascots.
The genre began in film, where actors in suits, miniature sets and special effects brought monsters to life. The creatures were often used to express national fears, from nuclear weapons to natural disasters. Anime and manga picked up the tradition, adding giant robots, human defenders and monsters designed to look very different from ordinary animals.
A related phrase worth knowing is kaiju eiga, meaning monster film, the name for the original run of Japanese films about giant creatures. In anime, the word is often paired with mecha, as in series where giant robots fight the monsters.
Origin:Kaiju is written with characters meaning strange and beast. The word existed before the genre, but it became famous in the 1950s and 1960s, when Japanese films about giant monsters, led by Godzilla, were released and imitated worldwide. The term then passed into English as the general name for such creatures.
Example:Godzilla is the most famous kaiju, a giant creature awakened by nuclear testing that destroys cities in the original Japanese film. In anime, Neon Genesis Evangelion features giant beings called Angels that attack a city, and many other series pit enormous creatures against human defenders or piloted robots.
Did you know?Early kaiju films relied on suitmation, a technique in which an actor in a rubber costume walks through a miniature city. The skill of the performers, who had to move slowly and carefully to suggest enormous size, became a celebrated part of the genre's charm.
