Watch the short film ‘Giant God Warrior Appears in Tokyo’

Giant God Warrior Appears in Tokyo is a 10-minute short film, co-produced by Studio Ghibli, that acts as a live-action prequel of sorts to Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. I stumbled upon this rather obscure film while falling down the Hideaki Anno rabbit-hole.

In case you are not familiar with Hideaki Anno, he is the writer and director of so many iconic productions such as Neon Genesis Evangelion and Shin Godzilla, among others.

While Anno merely acted as producer on this production you can see his fingerprints all over the place. Not only did Anno work as a key animator on Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, creating the very giant Gods in that film, but you see variations on his Neon Genesis angels, as well as what feels like pre-production special FX tests for Shin Godzilla.

The director of this short film, Shinji Higuchi, would also go on to co-direct Shin Godzilla with Anno and direct the recent Shin Ultraman, also written by Hideaki Anno.

Okay enough of the Anno lovefest! I super nerded out when I finally found this film online. If you have seen any of the early works mentioned above and are a fan, you will love this creepy, cool short film.

5 responses to “‘Giant God Warrior Appears in Tokyo’ (2012): Live action Studio Ghibli short film”

  1. Huh, I didn’t know Studio Ghibli ever did anything live action. Also, I don’t think I would’ve been quite as blasé about a giant robotic monster type thing stomping through downtown as the folks who lived in that city were …

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    1. Ha! Yeah I think that was stunned silence. I imagine there is a shock that just freezes you in place. I had no idea either. I mean it was a co-production but I definitely never ran across until this year.

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  2. RisefromAshes Avatar
    RisefromAshes

    And here I thought I was good at sniffing out live-actions from animation studios! Thanks for putting this one on my radar. I hadn’t heard about it before, but it sounds right up my alley.

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    1. You’re welcome! I was floored when I read about it and was finally able to find it. It’s pretty amazing. Hope you dig it.

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  3. […] project from Studio Ghibi? Neither did I. Thanks to Cinematic Point Of View via their post “‘Giant God Warrior Appears in Tokyo’ (2012): Live action Studio Ghibli short film“. Be sure to give the post a read, and take a look around for a link to watch it […]

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