Review: Kaiju Guy!

For my final screening of Japan Cuts 2025, I decided to go with the obligatory film about amateur filmmakers—a staple of the festival experience (see also: Single8, Retake, and It’s a Summer Film!). While Kaiju Guy! isn’t necessarily the best example of this extremely niche genre—One Cut of the Dead is, to be fair, stiff competition—it is undeniably a bona fide crowd-pleaser, judging by the audience’s enthusiastic response (the venue was, it should be noted, filled to capacity).

The premise delivers precisely what you’d expect from this sort of story, rarely deviating from the stock “celebration of the creative spirit” formula. Which is not, of course, a negative criticism; indeed, that sense of familiarity provides the perfect narrative framework for the film’s effortlessly humorous tone. The protagonist is Ichiro Yamada, a meek, mild-mannered civil servant sleepwalking through a stiflingly unfulfilling career. When the tyrannical mayor of Seki City assigns him the task of producing a promotional video that will attract tourists to the region, however, our hapless hero rediscovers his long repressed directorial ambitions. Taking advantage the situation (as well as the various resources that it affords—an actual budget, local sponsors eager to advertise their businesses, a veritable cadre of captive collaborators), he quickly resolves to abandon his employer’s cloyingly conventional script and instead shoot the spectacularly explosive monster movie of his dreams—much to the dismay of his comparatively straight-laced colleagues and the more traditionally-minded members of the quaint community.

Naturally, chaos ensues.

The results are hilarious and heartwarming in equal measure, featuring comedic timing reminiscent of Airplane! and Top Secret! (i.e., a relentless barrage of brilliantly staged visual gags) and an emphasis on elegantly structured setups and payoffs evocative of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. Elevated by superb performances (especially Natsume Mito as the delightfully sardonic Furukawa—and I’m not just saying that because the actress was in attendance), a genuinely unpredictable climax, and a sincere affection for the setting (director Junichiro Yagi’s own hometown) and its quirky inhabitants, Kaiju Guy! is a true cinematic treasure. I won’t soon forget the electric atmosphere in that jam-packed theater; the crowd’s energy was, in a word, gargantuan.

Not unlike Godzilla himself, if you’ll excuse the obvious analogy.