"Kaiju" is a Japanese word that literally means "strange creature" or "monster". Typically in modern times, the word is used specifically to describe giant monsters from films and other media. A common movie trend, especially in Japan, is the concept of enormous, skyscraper-sized beasts attacking cities and destroying everything in their path until they are engaged in battle with other giant monsters or even giant robots (mecha).
Overview[]
Kaiju themselves vary wildly in size, anywhere from 20 to 500 feet. Their bodies are typically an amalgam of reptilian, cephalopod and ichthyological traits. Nearly all kaiju observed to date are pentaradially symmetrical, with body parts that typically come in pairs instead coming in sets of five.
Kaiju have been observed to be highly aggressive, attacking most other entities on sight as well as frequently battling each other. Although spectacular, these fights are rarely fatal as kaiju possess both supernatural durability and regenerative abilities. They also possess a variety of offensive thaumaturgical abilities as well, such as being able to exhale spellfire that does not extinguish underwater.
The exact population of kaiju is unknown, but as they have yet to deplete their primary food source, it appears that the kaiju kill significantly fewer whales than humans did during the era of industrial whaling. Given both the size and aggressive nature of the kaiju, this is somewhat perplexing.
In addition to the problem of food, the colossal size of the kaiju clearly violates the square-cube law, as well as introducing a variety of other scale related problems. In addition to possessing extensive non-Euclidean biology and abnormally thaumaturgically active cells, the kaiju have a relatively low internal Hume value, lessening the effect of our reality's laws of physics on its body.
History[]
Myths and Legends[]
The term kaiju can refer to the giant monsters themselves, which are usually depicted attacking major cities and engaging the military, or other kaiju, in battle. The kaiju genre is a subgenre of tokusatsu (特撮, "special filming") entertainment.
In the Pop Culture[]
- Common examples of kaiju in modern media include Godzilla, the gargantuan radioactive prehistoric reptile from the film series of the same name, and other gargantuan monsters from the same series such as Ghidorah and Mothra. Another notable example is Gamera, a gigantic turtle. The term "kaiju" can also be applied to other giant monsters that don't necessarily originate from Japanese media, such as King Kong, a gigantic ape, Clover from the Cloverfield film, a giant unknown amphibious creature, and the extra-dimensional Kaiju race from the Pacific Rim franchise.
- In the MonsterVerse franchise, kaiju are referred to as Titans, and are primordial beasts that predate mankind.