The Daimajin Series Reviewed

[StatCat]

The Daimajin Series Reviewed  

Some spoliers

Three films which start with...

Daimajin (1966)

An evil emperor has enslaved and forced the people of a village to work day and night. Majin the montain god watches for years as his village is overturned into hell on earth. Soon the time comes when Majin will let his wrath be known and crush the empire.
Well done movie with a mixed bag of samurai fighting and kaiju with Majin who is a giant stone statue who comes to life. ADV released a letterboxed verson with subtitles. A very crisp and nice looking transfer on all three films. Definitely worth checking into. My second favorite of the series.
4 and half out of 5

The Return of Daimajin (1966)

A seperate story from the first involving a group of young children who see their village under harsh slavery and cruelty and pay a visit to Majin, risking their lives to save their people. Majin soon awakens and goes after the warlord and his troops.
Sort of a remake of the first film with a slightly different story. It's missing the samurai fighting of the first but still is a well made Japanese film. This time around Majin has a hawk who is sort of his seeing eye to indicate trouble.
4 out of 5

Wrath of Daimajin (1966)

A village under its evil warlord conquers its neighbors and takes their land. The conquerers soon destroy the Majin statue and kill the emperor and many of the high ranking officials. The people pray for Majin to return and he does to fight the evil empire. This is probably the best out of the series surprisingly. The sets and battles are all very nicely done and I think the story is the most interesting out of the three. Majin crushes and kills a lot of people like usual towards the end but he has a special death for the lead warlord.
5 out of 5

[Musukogoji]

Your titles are backwards. The one with the hawk and with Majin in the snow is the third and last film. The one with Majin in the lake is the second film.
 
The second film was called "Majin Grows Angry" in Japan and was known internationally as "The Return of Majin." It was released to US TV as "The Return of Giant Majin" and in some markets as "Majin Strikes Again."

The third film was titled in Japan "Majin's Counterattack" and known internationally as "The Revenge of Majin." It was never released in the U.S. until ADV put it on video. This film has often been mistakenly called "Majin Strikes Again", but it has never ran under this title.

ADV's titles and order of the films are wrong.

[StatCat]

I wonder why they put them in the wrong order or at least I think they did. I'm not sure if on the back it says the second film or third. But with a title like return of Daimajin you could assume it's the second film. I've heard something about this wrong order before but not specifically. I just posted this in the order I saw them then I guess...