Tokyo: The Last Megalopolis

Tokyo: The Last Megalopolis
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Akio Jissoji
Produced by	Takashige Ichise Akio Jissoji
Written by	Kaizo Hayashi Hiroshi Aramata (Novel)
Starring	Shintaro Katsu Kyūsaku Shimada Mieko Harada Junichi Ishida
Music by	Maki Ishii
Cinematography	Masao Nakabori
Editing by	Keniichi Uraoka
Studio	Exe
Distributed by	Toho
Release date(s)	January 30, 1988 (1988-01-30)
Running time	135 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese
Budget	¥1,000,000,000
Box office	¥1,050,000,000

Tokyo: The Last Megalopolis (帝都物語, Teito monogatari) is a tokusatsu historical fantasy epic produced in 1987 by Exe and distributed in 1988 by Toho Studios. It is the first live-action adaptation of the Teito Monogatari series by Hiroshi Aramata.

Synopsis

The live-action film is an adaptation of the first 1/3rd of the original novel or the first four volumes (out of a total of 12).

The movie begins in 1912 with Yasumasa Hirai demonstrating to Baron Eiichi Shibusawa the presence of powerful spirits beneath Tokyo. He specifically warns Shibusawa that the onryo Taira no Masakado must not be disturbed, as its spirit is powerful enough to destroy the city. In response to this heeding, Shibusawa allows the Tsuchimikado Family to advise him on how to make a Tokyo a blessed city. However, both Hirai's and Shibusawa's efforts are opposed by the majin Yasunori Kato who wants to destroy Tokyo by awakening Masakado's spirit. To do this, he attempts to kidnap Yukari Tatsumiya, the descendant of Masakado, to use as a medium to communicate with the spirit. However, his plans are brought to attention to the Tsuchimikado Family by Koda Rohan. Hirai and his followers lock Yukari inside the Tsuchimikado temple and defend her with onmyodo magic. Kato and his followers launch a frontal assault against the temple with shikigami. Kato escapes with Yukari and uses her as a medium, but Masakado rejects his offer. Ogai Mori diagnoses Yukari as pregnant with Kato's child. Emperor Meiji passes away, marking the end of the Meiji Era. Feeling that his time is over, Hirai commits seppuku to divine the year of Tokyo's destruction; which turns out to be the Year of the Boar.

The setting moves to 1923. Kato retreats to Dalian, China and he and his followers use magic to cause artificial earthquake waves that are amplified to Japan. Kato returns to Tokyo to awaken Masakado's spirit by himself, but is interrupted by Koda Rohan and Junichi Narutaki, who use Kimon Tonkou magic against him. Kato fails to awaken Masakado, but manages to stimulate the Great Kanto Earthquake.

The setting moves to 1927. Torahiko Terada has been appointed by Noritsugu Hayakawa as manager of the construction of Japan's first Tokyo Metro Ginza Line. Hayakawa's construction workers run into Kato's shikigami provoking Terada to seek out the aid of Dr. Makoto Nishimura to use his creation Gakutensoku to finish construction for them. Masakado summons Keiko Mekata, a miko, to defend his grave from Kato. Keiko joins forces with feng shui master Shigemaru Kuroda, who discovers the location of Kato's hideout. Keiko rushes to stop Kato, but Kato summons his Gohō Dōji to fend her off. Kato attempts to awaken Masakado through Yukari's child, Yukiko, but even this is unsuccessful. Keiko explains to Kato that Yukiko is not his child, but rather the result of an incestuous union between Yukari and her brother Yoichiro making her uncontrollable by Kato. Gakutensoku self destructs, cutting off the spiritual energy veins connected to Kato's temple. Kato tries to use onmyodo magic one last time to stimulate an earthquake, but this is insufficient and he is severely wounded from the effort. Though his plans are foiled, Kato kidnaps Keiko and takes her with him to Manchuria. The film ends with the Tatsumiya Family hoping for Keiko's return, and Kyoka Izumi predicting Kato's return.

Cast

• Shintaro Katsu as Eiichi Shibusawa: The famous industrialist of Japan. In the story, he is head of the Tokyo Improvement Project, an ambitious enterprise, involving the minds of specialists from many different fields, with the ultimate goal of making Tokyo a more prosperous, wealthy and blessed city.
• Kyūsaku Shimada as Yasunori Kato: An evil sorcerer wielding the power of several long dead mystics (such as Abe no Seimei) who wants to destroy Tokyo in order to fulfill a 2000 year old curse.
• Mieko Harada as Keiko Tatsumiya: A shrine maiden summoned by the spirit of Taira no Masakado to defend the city from the activities of Yasunori Kato. She also channels the power of the bodhisattva Kwannon.
• Junichi Ishida as Yoichiro Tatsumiya: An important figure with influence in Tokyo's Ministry of Finance. He is the distant direct descendent of Taira no Masakado, the husband of Keiko Tatsumiya, the brother of Yukari Tatsumiya and the unstated father of Yukiko Tatsumiya. A central figure who serves as the intermediate between the industrial and spiritual conflicts of the story.
• Shiro Sano as Junichi Narutaki: The close friend of Yoichiro Tatsumiya, he is in love with Yoichiro's sister, Yukari Tatsumiya. He participates in the defense of the city by fighting with the Tsuchimikado Clan against Kato as well as guarding the grave of Masakado. He would reappear again in the side story Teito Monogatari Gaiden.
• Koji Takahashi as Koda Rohan: The famous writer of the Meiji era. He is filled with an inner hatred for Kato and his destructive ambitions and vows to stop him using any means possible. After the death of Yasumasa Hirai, he takes great pains to learn the secret spiritual techniques of the Onmyoji to use as a defense against the forces that threaten the megalopolis.
• Haruka Sugata as Yukari Tatsumiya: The sister of Yoichiro, also a direct descendent of Taira no Masakado, and the mother of Yukiko Tatsumiya. Kato attempts to use her body as a medium to awaken the spirit of Masakado, but fails in his attempt. She continues to serve a central purpose to the story when she gives birth to Yukiko Tatsumiya, whose father is initially believed to be Kato, but revealed later to be a much closer relative.
• Ko Nishimura as Makoto Nishimura: The renowned biologist and technician of Japan who invented Japan's first functional robot, Gakutensoku. In the story, he serves a similar purpose, but he uses Gakutensoku as a tool to help in the construction of the Underground Subway system (which Kato sees as an interference to his attempts to upset the spiritual veins beneath Tokyo). In the film, Makoto is portrayed by his real-life son, Ko Nishimura.
• Ken Teraizumi as Torahiko Terada: The historically significant Japanese physicist and author. In the film, he is a member of the Tokyo Improvement Project who is initially rebuffed by his peers for suggesting the radical concept of creating an underground metropolis as a defense against earthquakes that might threaten Tokyo. Later, he is appointed by Noritsugu Hayakawa as head of the underground railroad project beneath Tokyo.
• Mikijiro Hira as Yasumasa Hirai: A master onmyoji who is leader of the Tsuchimikado Clan. For the first part of the story, he serves as the primary foil to Yasunori Kato, having all his spiritual knowledge and complete understanding of his magics. After the death of Japan's emperor (at the end of the Meiji Era), he sacrifices his life to commit a final act of divination that will foretell the year of Tokyo's destruction so that Koda Rohan can make plans to stop it from occurring.
• Sanshi Katsura as Shigemaru Kuroda: An expert in the area of Feng Shui, who in investigating strange spiritual disturbances occurring beneath Tokyo. He serves as Keiko's assistant in the final battle against Kato. At the end of the story, he plans to go back to his homeland to study Feng Shui some more in order to prepare for even more dangerous unseen forces that might threaten Tokyo. The character would reappear in the side story film Tokyo Dragon.
• Jo Shishido as Noritsugu Hayakawa: The businessman who founded Japan's first underground railroad system. During construction of the railway, his engineers run afoul of shikigami set by Kato. Faced with this obstruction, Hayakawa must seek out aid to see his project go through to completion.
• Katsuo Nakamura as Ogai Mori: A classic Meiji era writer who was also a physician in the Japanese army. In the story, he performs an unsuccessful abortion on Yukari Tatsumiya after she has supposedly been impregnated by Yasunori Kato.

Production

The film began going into production in 1987. At the time, it was one of the most expensive cinematic productions that Japanese studios had ever undertaken, with a budget of around 1,000,000,000 yen. An open set of 150 meters in length of the early Showa era Ginza district was created just for the film and cost around 300,000,000 yen. This open set alone also featured about 3000 extras.

H. R. Giger was commissioned to design creatures for the movie. Originally, he showed interest in working directly on set, however his schedule would not permit it. His main contribution was the conceptual art for the Gohō Dōji.

The movie was also one of the first Japanese productions to employ Sony HDVS technology for filming. Approximately six minutes of the final movie was filmed using this equipment.

Music

In addition to an original score, composer Maki Ishii remixed a few pieces of classical music for use in the film. These include:

• The prelude of Wagner's Das Rheingold (used for the opening theme)
• The first movement of Symphony No. 2 by Gustav Mahler (used for Kato's passage over the Sumida River)
• The operetta Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss (used for the ending credits)

Reception

When it was first released in theaters, the film was both a critical and commercial success. Peer Magazine, Japan's leading cinema publication, went so far as to praise the film as being the "best Japanese science fiction production of all time".. The movie had an annual revenue of 1,050,000,000 yen, making it the eighth highest grossing Japanese film of 1988. Other reports claim that it was the third highest grossing Japanese film of 1988 earning a profit of $8.4 million. Likewise it was undoubtedly the most financially successful production for acclaimed director Akio Jissoji.

Although the film was never released theatrically overseas, critical reception of the VHS and DVD release of the film in Europe has also been generally positive. Ian Shutter of the website videovista.net gave the film an 8/10 describing it as a "surreal yet always fascinating gothic urban nightmare" with "a blend of urban historical and fantasy horror centered on the great disaster of 1923, which plays like Capra meets Argento, with an oriental twist.". Lee Broughton of the website DVD Savant rated the film as "Excellent", claiming it was "a highly original mystical epic" containing "great characters that we really come to care about and take an interest in as they weave in and out of each others lives.". French website DeVilDead.com pointed out that the film's plot, being very compressed and very ambitious, might be "indigestable" for viewers not already familiar with the original novel. However their review was also positive, describing it as a "visually elegant film" containing a "rich history", with Kyusaku Shimada "incredible" in his role as Yasunori Kato .

By contrast, the DVD release of the film in North America has been generally received very negatively. Anthony Romero of Toho Kingdom described the film as having “production values being noticeably high for a 1980's Japanese film” but “simply tries to cover far too much ground in too short a time”. He ultimately gave the film 1.5 out of 5 stars . Japanese enthusiast website GenjiPress chided the film as "absolutely ridiculous from beginning to end" with a plot that was amazingly "confusing".. There was some general confusion from North American audiences as to whether the film was a live-action remake of the anime, Doomed Megalopolis as it had been released after Streamline Pictures had released the latter. Consequently some reviewers accused the live action film of cashing in on the success of the anime adaptation, when in reality the reverse was true. The confusion even extends to incredibly popular film databases, such as IMDB, where the cover of the anime is shown over the entry of the live-action version and the North American cover of the live action version is shown on the entry of the sequel, Tokyo: The Last War.

In contrast to the majority of North American reviews, the film website Sarudama praised the film calling it "incredibly ambitious and well-cast" with "superb" scenery and acting. Although Sarudama also conceded that the film's plot was confusing. Patrick Macias in his film book Tokyoscope also gave the movie a mildly positive review, describing it as "overcooked", but "far from a bust".

All in all, the film is generally considered to be very obscure to English speaking audiences, as indicated by the lack of reviews on major film sites such as RottenTomatoes.com. In Japan however, the film is still remembered by the general public and retrospectives of its production and legacy still continue to be written.

Sequel

In 1989, the film was followed by a direct sequel, Tokyo: The Last War, set 20 years after the climactic events of this film. The sequel however, was a loose adaptation of the eleventh book of the Teito Monogatari novel instead of the fifth book. To this day, there have been no cinematic or visual adaptations of books 5-10 or 12.

Legacy

Upon initial release, the character of Yasunori Kato (as portrayed in here by former stage actor Kyūsaku Shimada), the primary antagonist of the story, left a profound impression on audiences and artists. The interpretation of the character was so popular that in subsequent visual adaptations of Teito Monogatari, Kato was illustrated in the style of Shimada's portrayal of the character. In turn, this version of Yasunori Kato went on to directly inspire a number of similar characters in manga, anime, and video games, including Washizaki from the manga/anime Riki-Oh and M. Bison/Vega of the Street Fighter video game series. The film and franchise it is part of has been referenced consistently (either directly or indirectly) in many other anime and video game franchises including the Tokyo Babylon series by Clamp and the Shin Megami Tensei franchise (specifically the Devil Summoner spin-off series).

Home Releases

In Japan, the film is available in both VHS and DVD editions. In 1995, Manga Live released a VHS edition of the film in the UK which was edited, as well as dubbed. In 1998, ADV Films released a translated VHS copy of the film in the North American market. In 2003, ADV Films released a proper subtitled DVD edition of the film to the North American market.

Sources

• Harper, Jim (2008), Flowers from Hell: The Modern Japanese Horror Film (illustrated ed.), Noir Publishing, ISBN 0953656470 
• Weisser, Thomas; Yuko Mihara (1998), Japanese Cinema Encyclopedia (2nd ed.), Vital Books, ISBN 1889288519 

External links

• Tokyo: The Last Megalopolis at the Internet Movie Database