Editing Gamera (section)

===Productions===
{{see also|Five-Company Agreement|Keizō Murase}}
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 | footer = Japanese posters of the re-released edition of ''[[King Kong (1933 film)|King Kong]]'' in 1952 and ''[[The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms]]'' in 1954 by Daiei Film. The former was the first [[post-war]] release of [[Monster movie|monster films]] in Japan.<ref name=Noma /><ref name=Ui>Hisayuki Ui, 1 January 1994, ''From Gamera to Daimajin: all of Daiei tokusatsu films'', p.27, pp.58-63, [[:ja:近代映画社|Kindaieigasha]]</ref>
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[[Daiei Film]] produced and [[Film distribution|distributed]] films that played major roles in forming [[tokusatsu]] and [[kaiju]] genre under [[Masaichi Nagata]], one of creators of Gamera.

Nagata's intentions made the company to distribute foreign films, such as [[Disney]] productions due to Masaichi's connections with [[Walt Disney]],<ref name=Ui /><ref>Isao Ogawa ([[:ja:小川功 (経営学者)|jp]]), June 2015, [https://cir.nii.ac.jp/crid/1050282677716756736?lang=en The Study of Fictitiousness in Theme Parks : True-False Discussion of Nara Dream Land from a Tourism-Sociological Viewpoint], The Hikone ronso, vol.404, pp.64-79, [[Shiga University]]</ref> and to produce innovative productions, resulting in the productions of the first post-war [[science fiction]] [[tokusatsu]] films in Japan; ''Rainbow Man'' ([[:ja:虹男|jp]]) and ''[[The Invisible Man Appears]]'' in 1949. [[Eiji Tsuburaya]], who had repeatedly associated with Masaichi Nagata since early 1930s,{{refn|In 1930, Masaichi Nagata from [[Nikkatsu]] suggested Eiji Tsuburaya and [[Minoru Inuzuka]] from [[Shochiku]] to Nikkatsu. However, they eventually quitted Nikkatsu due to various troubles. In 1948, Nagata from Daiei Film again approached Tsuburaya, who was exiled from [[Toho]] due to the [[Purge (occupied Japan)|purge]]. and suggested that if it goes well, Tsuburaya will be able to join Daiei Film.<ref name=Cercle />|group="note"}} and Sadamasa Arikawa ([[:ja:有川貞昌|jp]]) and Shuzaburo Araki ([[:ja:荒木秀三郎|jp]]) participated in these and other Daiei productions before the signing of the [[Five-Company Agreement|Six-Company Agreement]] in 1953 (which was also led by Masaichi),{{refn|Tsuburaya's other Daiei careers include ''Kakute kamikaze wa fuku'' in 1944, ''Ikeru Isu'' in 1945, ''Ghost Train'' in 1949, and so on.|group="note"}} and they intended to join Daiei Film with the 1949 films after Tsuburaya's exile from [[Toho]] because of the 1948 [[Purge (occupied Japan)|purge]] due to his involvements in war [[propaganda]]s, and Arikawa and Araki's voluntary resignations after [[Toho strikes]]. However, Tsuburaya was rather dissatisfied with the tokusatsu production (or effects) in ''The Invisible Man Appears'' (or their attempts to join the company didn't materialize), and eventually didn't join Daiei Film. Tsuburaya and Arikawa and Araki later participated in ''[[Godzilla (1954 film)|Godzilla]]'' and various other Toho tokusatsu productions.<ref name=Ui /><ref name=TohoSF93 /><ref name=Godzilla60 /> The 2020 biopic ''[[Nezura 1964]]'' ambiguously portrayed Tsuburaya's association with Daiei Film before ''Gamera''.<ref name=Furuya>{{Cite web|title=古谷敏インタビュー|url=https://www.nezura1964.com/news-11|access-date=2021-05-09|website=映画『ネズラ1964』公式サイト|language=ja|archive-date=2023-03-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230316212212/https://www.nezura1964.com/news-11|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Daiei Film, along with its own productions of various tokusatsu films, also distributed the re-released edition of ''[[King Kong (1933 film)|King Kong]]'' in 1952, making it the first [[post-war]] release of monster movies in Japan, and also distributed ''[[The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms]]'' in Japan in 1954, and these presumably influenced the productions of the 1954 film ''[[Godzilla (1954 film)|Godzilla]]'' by [[Toho]] and Daiei Film's own tokusatsu productions including the ''Gamera'' franchise.{{refn|The term "appear" (現わる, ''arawaru'') were repeatedly used by Daiei Film at that time, for the Japanese title of The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms and aforementioned ''[[The Invisible Man Appears]]'' and ''[[Warning from Space]]''.<ref name=Ono2018 />|group="note"}}<ref name=Noma /><ref name=Ui />

The [[Five-Company Agreement|Six-Company Agreement]] led by [[Masaichi Nagata]] prevented other companies from easily chasing after the success of Toho, and the ''Godzilla'' franchise didn't have notable competitors until the ''Gamera'' franchise;{{refn|As below mentioned, Non-Toho kaiju productions suddenly increased after Daiei's ''[[The Whale God]]'' and early Gamera films.|group="note"}} the agreement ironically made Daiei Film's own ''Dagora'' and ''[[Nezura]]'' to fail by using live animals ([[octopus]]es and [[rat]]s) to avoid the Toho-style, and Daiei Film changed the direction for ''Gamera, the Giant Monster''.<ref name=Karasawa /><ref name=BraveGuide />

Due to the [[Five-Company Agreement|Six-Company Agreement]], other companies, including Daiei Film itself, could not "openly" use [[tokusatsu]] techniques and staffs and actors of [[Toho]]. However, according to [[Keizō Murase]], [[Eiji Tsuburaya]]'s teams were secretly appointed for ''[[Gappa: The Triphibian Monster]]'' by [[Nikkatsu]] and ''[[The X from Outer Space]]'' by [[Shochiku]],{{refn|Eiji Tsuburaya and [[Minoru Inuzuka]] once joined Nikkatsu due to the invitation from [[Masaichi Nagata]], when they were in Shochiku.<ref name=Cercle />}} and other subsequent productions, and Toho's techniques were secretly used in these films. For ''[[Gamera, the Giant Monster]]'', some crews who had previously participated in ''[[Godzilla (1954 film)|Godzilla]]'' and other Toho kaiju films{{refn|Such as [[Keizō Murase]], Masao Yagi ([[:ja:八木正夫|jp]]), Fuminori Ohashi ([[:ja:大橋史典|jp]]), Toru Suzuki ([[:ja:鈴木昶|jp]]), and Michio Mikami ([[:ja:三上陸男|jp]]).|group="note"}} joined its production despite the agreement, and [[Eiji Tsuburaya]] gave a tacit approval to their actions. However, while there had been suggestions to seek Tsuburaya's help, even by an executive who is a friend of the father of Yonejiro Saito ([[:ja:斉藤米二郎|jp]]) and Tsuburaya,<ref name=Treasured /> filmmakers intentionally avoided receiving any technological assistances from Tsuburaya for the ''Gamera'' franchise to differentiate their productions from Toho, and produced ''Gamera'' and other tokusatsu films without Toho-based techniques, choices of materials, direction, and so on.<ref name=IGN2022 /><ref name=Karasawa />

Successes of ''[[Gamera, the Giant Monster]]'' and ''[[Gamera vs. Barugon]]'' resulted in sudden increases of non-Toho kaiju productions, such as afroementioned ''[[Gappa: The Triphibian Monster]]'' and ''[[The X from Outer Space]]''.<ref name=Karasawa /> Film makers were suspicious of Tsuburaya's involvements to these non-Daiei productions{{refn|Aside from Tsuburaya, Fuminori Ohashi ([[:ja:大橋史典|jp]]), who has participated in various Daiei Film tokusatsu productions, and [[Shinichi Sekizawa]] participated in ''[[Giant Phantom Monster Agon]]'' by [[Nippon Television]], and Toho withdrew a complaint against the tv series regarding close resemblances of Godzilla and Agon the titular monster, due to the involvements of the two. Agon was presumably a reused idea of the kaiju Aron from ''[[Ambassador Magma]]'' by Ohashi himself; these two productions involved Sekizawa and Ohashi and Tomio Sagisu ([[:ja:うしおそうじ|jp]]) and others, who had direct and indirect connections with ''Gamera'' and ''Daimajin'' and ''[[The Whale God]]'' and other Daiei Film productions.<ref>TV Magazine ([[:ja:テレビマガジン|jp]]), 25 September 1988, ''TV Magazine Special Edition: Gigantic Hero Complete Works'', p.224, [[Kodansha]]</ref><ref>[http://park8.wakwak.com/~tokusatsu/agon.htm アゴン]</ref>|group="note"}} despite the [[Five-Company Agreement|Six-Company Agreement]] because of sudden increases in non-Toho kaiju productions after Gamera films, despite the only non-Toho [[tokusatsu]] film of that time before the 1965 Gamera film to feature gigantic creature was [[Daiei Film]]'s ''[[The Whale God]]'' (''Killer Whale'') in 1962.<ref name=Karasawa />{{refn|''[[The Whale God]]'' was written by [[Kōichirō Uno]], and ''[[Kōichirō Uno's Wet and Swinging]]'' was the first career of [[Shusuke Kaneko]] as a film director.<ref name=Ono2018>Shuntaro Ono ([[:ja:小野俊太郎|jp]]), 28 December 2018, ''[[Geistesgeschichte]] of Gamera: From Showa to Heisei'', pp.8-9, pp.11-14, pp.21-23, p.29, p.41, p.43, p.78, pp.97-98, p.112, pp.115-126, p.140, p.190-193, pp.196-197, p.199-205, p.207-208, p.218, pp.221-222, Takanashi Shobou ([[:ja:小鳥遊書房|jp]])</ref> Fuminori Ohashi ([[:ja:大橋史典|jp]]) and Ryosaku Takayama ([[:ja:高山良策|jp]]) co-participated in ''The Whale God'', and Ohashi lessoned Takayama for [[Tsuburaya Productions]]'s ''[[Ultra Q]]'' after ''The Whale God''.<ref>[[Kodansha]], 1988, ''テレビマガジン特別編集 巨大ヒーロー大全集 (TV Magazine Special Edition: Giant Heroes Compendium)'', p.224</ref>|group="note"}}{{refn|''[[Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris]]'' had presumably tried to insert a reference to the 1962 film for Gamera to briefly interact with a cow-calf pair of [[North Pacific right whale]]s.<ref name=Perfection /> Additionally, the 1995 book, in which [[Noriaki Yuasa]] and [[Niisan Takahashi]] and Masao Yagi ([[:ja:八木正夫|jp]]) participated, features a scenario based on a scrapped film due to the bankruptcy of Daiei Film for Gamera and Whale God along with [[Warning from Space|Pairan]] and [[Nezura]] and some resurrected kaiju to protect the Earth.<ref name=OFS1995 />|group="note"}}

Involvements of foreign cast members and enhanced childish direction began in ''[[Gamera vs. Viras]]'' due to requests from global buyers, because of governmental attempt to acquire foreign currencies<ref name=Futaesaku>Masamitsu Futaesaku, February 11, 2023, [https://news.yahoo.co.jp/expert/articles/91110ba8b3b98f4ce0b63db01be51948d87b055d 【なぜゴジラやガメラはアメリカで支持された？】日本の怪獣映画が受け入れられた知られざる背景とは？], Yahoo! News ([[:ja:Yahoo!ニュース|jp]]), [[Yahoo! Japan Corporation]]</ref> and to support struggling Japanese film industries of that time, partially due to the recession of Japanese economy and the prosperity of [[television]] including Tsuburaya's ''[[Ultraman]]''<ref name=Denner /> by increasing film exports to global market;<ref name=Fantasy /> ironically [[#History|the success of the ''Gamera'' franchise indirectly contributed in this situation]] and the arise of the "Yokai Boom" for cost-effectiveness.<ref name=Ono2018 /> {{Nihongo|The Japanese Film Export Promotion Association|日本映画輸出振興協会|Nihon Eiga Yusyutsu Shinkō Kyōkai|lead=yes}} was established, and ''[[Gamera vs. Gyaos]]'' obtained a loan from the association.<ref name=Fantasy /> The establishment of the association was largely influenced by Daiei Film's [[Masaichi Nagata]] who had connections with political circles,<ref name=IGN2022 /> and the subsequent kaiju and tokusatsu films, not only ''Gamera vs. Gyaos'' and ''Wrath of Daimajin'' and other Daiei Film productions, but also others such as aforementioned ''[[Gappa: The Triphibian Monster]]'' and ''[[The X from Outer Space]]'' by [[Eiji Tsuburaya]]'s team, obtained tax-based loans from the association.<ref name=Tanigawa>Takeshi Tanigawa, August 2014, 海外輸出向けコンテンツとしての怪獣映画と日本映画輸出振興協会（輸振協）の活用, [[International Research Center for Japanese Studies]]</ref><ref name=Cercle>{{cite web |author=Kazuyuki Suzuki |date=2024-03-01 |title=日本映画輸出振興協会 怪獣映画製作に税金が使われた時代 |url=http://www.cercle.co.jp/blogs/?p=1028 |website=Cercle |access-date=2024-12-20}}</ref>

Showa Gamera films, especially since ''[[Gamera vs. Gyaos]]'', were intended to appeal to children. This was to deal with budgetary problems and the [[Five-Company Agreement|Six-Company Agreement]] to differentiate from the ''Godzilla'' franchise. Due to the agreement and the direction to differentiate from Toho, Gamera's characteristics such as to [[fire-breathing monster|breathe traditional non-atomic fire]], occasional [[quadrupedalism]] along with his foes and brutal and animalistic fight scenes,{{refn|Showa Gamera films intentionally featured quadruped antagonists; Barugon, Guiron, and Jiger.<ref name=Treasured /> Noriaki Yuasa also prioritized these aspects to not to personify monsters easily.<ref name=YuasaInterview />|group="note"}} his personality as both a friendly creature and a hero rather than [[Godzilla]]'s theme to represent a "[[Shinto#Kami|god of destruction]]",{{refn|Filmmakers paid attentions to zoom in on Gamera to feature as a character with personality, and his roars were designed to emotional with several variations to depict his emotions.<ref name=Treasured /> During the production of the 1965 film, [[Noriaki Yuasa]] and others "became fond of" Gamera, therefore they decided not to kill him and developed a friendly side of him. A number of crews and audiences initially did not favor the idea of Gamera becoming a hero, as [[kaiju]] were generally regarded to be fearsome beings at that time.<ref name=BraveGuide />|group="note"}} Material choices for suits and miniature models were devised to avoid duplicates with the Toho productions. Plots of Showa Gamera films intentionally avoided to focus on "standards" of kaiju films by Toho, such as [[Japan Self-Defense Forces|the JSDF]] and other military forces, weapons, scientific explanations, destructions of urban areas, and so on. Instead, subsequent films since ''[[Gamera vs. Viras]]'' featured simple, childish, and eccentric plots for young audiences.{{refn|Filmmakers focused on how not to bore child audiences, and scenes depicting Gamera performing bizarre behaviors such as [[Horizontal bar|acrobatic]] (due to the popurarity of the [[1964 Summer Olympics]]<ref name=YuasaInterview />) and musical acts, and [[Everyday life|daily life]] of people, such as having [[meal]]s, were also inserted to attract attentions of children.<ref name=Karasawa />|group="note"}} In the films, children play significant roles with the eccentric ideas presented, and children, unlike adults, always believe in Gamera,<ref name=Karasawa /><ref name=OFS1995 /> partially due to [[Noriaki Yuasa]]'s [[antithesis]] against war and political [[propaganda]]s and [[nationalism]].<ref name=YuasaInterview /> This direction was initially decided because a number of children watching ''[[Gamera vs. Barugon]]''{{refn|The only Showa Gamera film being not directed by Noriaki Yuasa, and the only Showa film not specifically involving children.|group="note"}} got bored with the plot and left their seats,<ref name=IGN2022 /> and also to deal with drastically decreased budgets due to the financial situation of Daiei Film; the budget of ''[[Gamera vs. Viras]]'' was ¥24 million compared to budgets of ''[[Gamera vs. Barugon]]'' (¥80 million) and ''[[Gamera vs. Gyaos]]'' (¥60 million), with limitations of further elements such as designs and abilities of monsters, amounts of [[special effect]]s, destructions of urban areas, limited locations,<ref name=Denner>{{cite web |author=Elwood Red Denner |date=2025-01-20 |title=Gamera - Celebrating 60 Years of the Kaiju Genre's Invisible Hand |url=https://kaijuunited.com/2025/01/20/gamera-celebrating-60-years-of-the-kaiju-genres-invisible-hand/ |website=Kaiju United |access-date=2025-01-22}}</ref> and so on.<ref name=Karasawa /><ref name=Treasured /> Yuasa and others didn't intend to make ''Gamera'' films to be "good in quality", but being "good in performances", by appealing to young audiences for additional revenues.{{refn|Unlike today where sales of video and DVD also contribute, theater attendances were more important at that time, therefore child-friendly films were effective to attract additional audiences (accompanying adults), and margins between tickets for children and adults were recoverable with sales of merchandise and snacks and drinks.<ref name=Karasawa />|group="note"}}

On the other hand, a number of new tokusatsu expertise were obtained through productions of Showa Gamera films to compensate for lack of resources and avoiding Toho-based techniques and materials,<ref name=Treasured /> however those were lost due to the bankruptcy of the company and influenced the production of the Heisei trilogy; expertise from the ''Ultraman'' franchise, most notably ''[[Ultraman 80]]'' in which Noriaki Yuasa participated in as one of directors, were instead used for the production of the trilogy.<ref name=EigaHiho2021 />

As below mentioned, declined public recognition of the franchise due to repeated hiatuses in productions and limited marketing and media attentions,<ref name=Perfection /> along with misconceptions among new audience segments, such as Gamera being a cheap and inferior imitation of Godzilla and Gamera belonging to the Toho franchise, might have negatively affected box office results of the post-Daiei productions by [[Tokuma Shoten]] and [[Kadokawa Corporation]].<ref name=Vanishing /><ref name=KanekoDiary /> Additionally, negative reactions by global audiences towards the franchise in comparison to the Toho franchise were also presumably influenced by the ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]''.<ref name=EigaHiho2021 />

[[Shusuke Kaneko]], and [[Shinji Higuchi]], who have previously participated in ''[[The Return of Godzilla]]'', respectively directed ''GMK'' and ''Shin Godzilla''<ref name=Ono2018 /> where Kaneko and [[Kazunori Ito]] originally wanted to take the 1992 film ''[[Godzilla vs. Mothra]]'' (the relationship between [[Mothra]] and Shobijin ([[:ja:小美人|jp]]) might have influenced the depictions of Gamera and Asagi Kusanagi in the Heisei Gamera trilogy),<ref name=Ono2018 /><ref name=GMK /> however Kaneko and Ito and Higuchi's preferences of ''Godzilla'' and other Toho productions, along with their disfavor of Showa Gamera and dissatisfactions for the Heisei Godzilla continuity, resulted in [[#Influences of the Heisei Trilogy|controversial outcomes of the Heisei trilogy]].<ref name=Perfection />