ADV released all three Daimajin movies (which were all made in 1966) in a triple keepcase set back in 2002.  Though it was a very nice set, the movies weren't anamorphically enhanced and the picture quality was just average.  Now ADV has remastered these three films and are releasing them individually.  The second movie in the series, the Wrath of Daimajin, is the first of the remastered films that I've seen.  I was very happy with the way the picture was cleaned up, but very disappointed that the film wasn't presented with its OAR the way the earlier realease was.

Though this is the second movie in a trilogy of films, this one stands alone, much the way Godzilla and Gamera films do.

There are two neighboring domains in ancient Japan.  One is ruled by the cruel Lord Mikoshiba who works his serfs mercilessly and taxes them heavily.  The region just over the mountains, Chigusa, is ruled by Lord Juro, a fair and generous leader.  Chigusa is a much richer area, having better land and water access, and many of Mikoshiba's serfs are fleeing there.

Through trickery and deceit, Mikoshiba attacks, and conquers, Chigusa, but Lord Juro escapes.  Mikoshiba assumes that Juro ran to the region of Nagoshi, where his fiancee Lady Sayuri is sure to give him sanctuary.   Mikoshiba invades that province with little trouble, kills their Lord and  Lady Sayuri's father, and imprisons her brother.

Lady Sayuri isn't worried though, her city has a patron god, Daimajin, a giant statue that stands on an insland in the middle of a large lake.  When Mikoshiba hears about this protector, he declares that he's more powerful than the god and has the statue destroyed.  Then, assured of his victory, he concentrates on finding Juro.  It is a grave mistake however to underestimate the power of Daimajin.

The is a very enjoyable movie.  Though the story is fairly predicable it's still a lot of fun.  Plot is more satisfying than most of the early Godzilla movies, with a lot of the film being devoted to the background story of the warring regions.  The beginning of the film, before Daimjin makes his appearance, really plays like a period samurai movie, with intrigue, betrayals and a good amount of action.

Daimajin doesn't make an appearance until the last quarter of the film, with only about 20 minutes left, and that works very well.  You could make the argument that he's really a deus ex machina ending, arising out of the lake to smite the villains of the picture, but it doesn't quite play like that.  He's the reason everyone is watching the movie in the first place, and it's exciting to see him finally arise.

The music by Akira Ifukube is very similar to the instrumental pieces heard in the Godzilla movies.  This isn't too surprising since Akira has worked on many of Godzilla's films, starting with the original in 1956.  Akira's music works very well with this film, the ancient setting lending itself to hsi style of music a little more than modern pictures.

Director Kenji Misumi did a wonderful job with this film.  Best known for his Lone Wolf and Cub series, as well as directing several Zatoichi films, Misumi gave the film the look and feel of a samurai film rather than a rubber suited monster flick.  Actually, Misumi and special effects director Yoshiyuki Kuroda did a splendid job making this film look very much unlike a rubber suited monster movie.  They used superimposistion and limited movements by Daimajin to set the movie apart from Godzilla and other monster movies.  Since Daimajin didn't fight any other monsters, there wasn't the need for a miniature city set for him to walk through.  Instead they just superimposed him on a the actual set.  This made the film look much more realistic and consequently added to the fun.

Audio:

This movie comes with the original Japanese soundtrack, in two channel mono.  There isn't an English dub, though there are optional English subtitles.  The disc sounds very good, with Akira Ifukube's soundtrack coming through wonderfully.  There isn't a lot of range of course, given the age of the film, but the sound engineers did the best with what they had.  A solid track for a nearly 40 year old film.

Video:

The anamorphically enhanced widescreen image is very good.  The colors are strong, and there is a very good amount of detail.  When compared to the original release, this image looks much better, though a little bit on the dark side.  The first release was good, but the colors were washed out and the image was a little soft.  This version fixes those errors, but at a cost.  This new remastered version has an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, where as the first release, and the OAR is 2.35:1.  Why ADV went to the trouble of remastering this disc, and then not present the movie with its OAR is beyond me.  It simply boggles the mind.  For that reason, I'm not able to recommend this disc.
 
 

The original ADV release presented the film in its OAR of 2.35:1, though it wasn't anamorphic.

This new release is looks better and is anamorphic, but it's also a pan and scan version, which cuts off some of the frame.  Where'd the other two guys go?

Extras:

There are no extras on this disc aside from a series of trailers.

Final Thoughts:

I really enjoyed this movie.  While I like just about all of the Japanese giant monster movies that I've seen, this one play better than most, having a plot that focuses on something other than the monster.  The newly remastered disc looks very good, but it is a shame that this movie isn't presented with its OAR.  We shouldn't have to chose between picture quality and having all of the picture.  I'm keeping my original set.  Skip this release.