Super Giant


Super Giant is a fictional Japanese superhero featured in a successful series of serial-like tokusatsu short feature films produced between 1957 and 1959 by Shintoho. He is also known in Japan as Giant of Steel, is known in America as Starman, and known in France and Italy as Spaceman.

Japan's first onscreen superhero

Whereas Takeo Nagamatsu's 1930 kamishibai The Golden Bat was Japan's first modern superhero, Shintoho's Super Giant was the first celluloid superhero, and the role model for many Japanese superheroes to come, especially Ultraman and Kamen Rider.

Named "Super Giants", although the main character was only one person and obviously human-sized, the series' title was no doubt inspired by the American Adventures of Superman and the famous Japanese baseball team, the Yomiuri Giants.
Moonlight Mask became Japan's first made-for-television superhero when his TV show debuted in 1958, but Super Giant was Japan's first theatrical superhero series.

Character background

Super Giant is a human-like being created from the strongest steel by the Peace Council of the Emerald Planet. He is created to destroy evil and restore peace in the universe. Resembling a Japanese man in white tights/cowl and capes under his arms, he is virtually indestructible. He wears on his wrist a "Globe-Meter" device, which enables him to:
He can also use it to disguise himself as an Earthling to walk among them. When sent to Earth to fight evildoers, he disguises himself as a Japanese man wearing an ordinary suit and fedora hat, but still uses his "Super Giant" name. His secret identity is not that secret, as he works with the Japanese authorities to help them fight evildoers. He is just as powerful in his civilian form. He also gets along with Earth children, and saves them from danger, as he knows that children represent the Earth's future. After accomplishing his mission, Super Giant always flies back to the Emerald Planet.
Super Giant was played in all nine films by respected film/TV actor Ken Utsui. However, Utsui hated playing Super Giant and, right up to his death, always played down the role. This was partially on account of the somewhat embarrassing costume, especially the overstuffed crotch area.

Films

''Super Giant''

Super Giant a.k.a. The Steel Giant, is a 1957 black and white Japanese film directed by Teruo Ishii.
Plot: Super Giant first appears on Earth to stop foreign terrorists who threaten to destroy Japan with an atomic bomb..
This film is part of the U.S. version Atomic Rulers of the World.
Actors in the film include:
Super Giant Continues is a 1957 black and white Japanese film directed by Teruo Ishii.
Plot: Super Giant continues his battle against the foreign terrorists. In return, they frame him for murder.
This film is part of the U.S. version Atomic Rulers of the World.

''Super Giant 3''

Super Giant - The Mysterious Spacemen's Demonic Castle is a 1957 black and white Japanese film directed by Teruo Ishii.
Plot: The reptile-like Kapia-Seijin prepare to conquer the Earth, and Super Giant must stop them..
This film is part of the U.S. version Invaders from Space.
Trivia: The Kapia-Seijin are based on the Japanese mythical creatures known as kappa.

''Super Giant 4''

Super Giant - Earth on the Verge of Destruction is a 1957 black and white Japanese film directed by Teruo Ishii.
Plot: Super Giant continues his battle against the Kapia-Seijin, who not only send a mysterious witch after a group of children, but summon their almighty leader to alter Earth's rotation..
This film is part of the U.S. version Invaders from Space.

''Super Giant 5''

Super Giant - The Artificial Satellite and the Destruction of Humanity is a 1957 Japanese film directed by Teruo Ishii.
Plot: Super Giant pursues a Nazi-like army that operates on a huge satellite in space. The satellite is armed with weapons that could destroy whole cities on Earth from afar.
This film is part of the U.S. version Attack from Space.

''Super Giant 6''

Super Giant - The Spaceship and the Clash of the Artificial Satellite is a 1958 black and white Japanese film directed by Teruo Ishii.
Plot: Although he was believed to be destroyed by the Nazi-like army, Super Giant breaks into the satellite, and a long, riotous battle ensues.
This film is part of the U.S. version Attack from Space.
Trivia: It was after this film was made that director Teruo Ishii left the series, upon hearing of a child who imitated Super Giant by jumping out of a window and landing on the street below, seriously injuring himself. This became a controversial liability issue with Japanese superhero programs, until shows like Android Kikaider added a safety bumper at the end of each episode, telling children not to imitate the impossible feats performed by the title superhero.
This was the last Super Giant film with a two-part story arc; the remaining films were stand-alone episodes, and none of them from this point on were directed by Teruo Ishii.

''Super Giant 7''

Super Giant - The Space Mutant Appears is a 1958 black and white Japanese film directed by Akira Mitsuwa.
Plot: Super Giant battles a marauding brain-like alien creature created by a mad scientist and an alien army.
This film is part of the U.S. version Evil Brain from Outer Space.
Trivia: The last Super Giant film shot in full screen.

''Super Giant 8''

Super Giant Continues - The Devil's Incarnation is a 1959 Color/Scope Japanese film directed by Chogi Akasaka.
Plot: Super Giant copes with a mad scientist who uses science and sorcery to turn his deceased daughter into an evil witch that murders women.
This film is said to be part of the U.S. version Evil Brain from Outer Space, but since it was filmed in color and Scope, it is not clear how footage from this episode was incorporated into the English-language film.
Trivia: The only Super Giant film made in both color and widescreen.

''Super Giant 9''

Super Giant Continues - Kingdom of the Poison Moth is a 1959 black and white widescreen Japanese film directed by Chogi Akasaka.
Plot: Super Giant fights against an Arab terrorist army which plots to assassinate its nation's peaceful crown prince for his treasure.
This film is part of the U.S. version Evil Brain from Outer Space.

Manga adaptations

Towards the end of the film series' run, there were manga adaptations of the Super Giant adventures. Artists included Tatsuo Yoshida and Jiro Kuwata.

American adaptations

The American company Walter Manley Enterprises purchased the international rights to Starman and with Medallion Films, repackaged the nine Starman films into four films for U.S. television in 1964.
The first six installments were re-edited into three films -- Atomic Rulers of the World, Invaders from Space, and Attack from Space. The final three Japanese films were all re-edited into Evil Brain from Outer Space. The English dubbing was handled by Titra Studios of New York, using many of the voices common in dubbed films of the time, including Peter Fernandez. The original music soundtrack was largely replaced by library tracks.

US syndications