The Great Yokai War

I have always been fascinated by Japanese demons (yokai), ghosts, and legends. I often see yokai pop up in anime, manga, and video games and always find myself wanting to know more about them.

I recently got this game. It’s the newest Taiko Drum Master game for the DS and as you can tell from the cover it heavily features yokai. My love for these little guys was rekindled and I sought out to learn more about them and where I could find them.

In my bingeing of Wikipedia I found a movie called The Great Yokai War. And when we were at the movie rental store I casually mentioned to Eric that it was a movie I wanted to see. I couldn’t remember how the kanji in the title were pronounced or what they looked like, only what they meant. But that was enough and Eric found it with very little difficulty. It was actually easier for us to find this movie than most American movies in the store (mostly because we are never sure if the titles have been changed for the Japanese release).

With the help of the plot synopsis on Wikipedia we were able to piece together most of what was going on. The main character is a young boy named Tadashi who has just moved to a small town. At a festival he is named that year’s “Kirin Rider,” a protector of all things good. And wouldn’t you know it, a protector of all things good is desperately needed as a yokai named Kato is set on revenge against humans and is planning to attack Tokyo. But in order to do so he also betrays his own kind as he captures yokai and feeds them to a vengeful fire spirit to turn them into a mechanical army. A group of yokai seek out Tadashi in order to help him defeat Kato.

I fancied myself pretty familiar with Japanese demons and ghosts, but I was sorely mistaken as to the scope of what I was dealing with. Of the main group that helps Tadashi I only knew about the Kappa. The other three were completely new to me, and two of them don’t even have entries on Wikipedia. I knew a lot of the demons that made cameo appearances or had smaller roles along the way, but I was clearly reminded that I have a lot to learn. And that actually really made me excited to know more.

I found out that this movie was released in America by a company called Tokyo Shock back in 2006, so if this article has caught your interest you might be able to find it. I’m certainly going to look for it once I get back to the states. It isn’t the greatest movie you’ll ever see. The special effects are lame at points and the acting probably won’t blow you away. It’s a movie for kids, so it’s not especially deep or unpredictable. But the movie is fun, and if you want a glimpse into this side of Japanese culture it is definitely worth a look.