[Mesnick]

I watched "The God Whale" from 1962. In principle, this is not a tokusatsu, but a jigaigeki about whalers. The whale itself is shown for at most 20 minutes of the film, and the rest of the time is devoted to drinking, fights, funerals, relationships between different characters and their obsession with this whale. The film is brutal, dirty, bloody and hopeless. As a result, everyone is unhappy, and the living are even more unhappy than the dead. However, I only feel sorry for the protagonist’s poor wife. The ending simultaneously refers to the concept of transmigration of souls and to the fairy tale: “By defeating the dragon, you yourself will become a dragon.” It also shows very well how obsession works. I know some will disagree with me, but a lone extremist is nothing more than a local idiot. Problems begin when the radical ideas he birthed capture the masses and even those who do not support them are forced to reckon with them. To sum it up, although this film is listed as Daei's first tokusatsu, fans of the old toku should skip it. But if you want to watch jidaigeki without katanas and samurai, and also see a short, but detailed and well-filmed whale hunt, this film is for you.