Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Pachimon Kaiju Showcase: Shirako

Whoa...That last article on the giant primate Nink was really, really long!

So for today's Pachimon Kaiju Showcase, I'm going to keep things as simple as 'Enshohmaly Possible', and discuses a fairly simplistic reptilian named Shirako!

Shirako (name translated from the katakana at the upper left corner)

While going through all these different Pachimon Kaiju, I've come to discovered that even the fully illustrated characters, are taken from preexisting sources. Including some from American comics, and picture books. Such as "Boris Karloff's Tales of Mystery", and the works of science fiction illustrator Edd Cartier.

Despite my initial hopes, it looks as if these vintage bromide cards, really do live up to their modern nickname of Pachimon ('Stolen Monsters').

However, Shirako here (along with past showcase Danopura) appear to be fully original designs, made exclusively for these offbeat cards. Or at least until I stumble onto said monsters' origins, within some obscure Japanese source. Courage.


Alternate Shirako file, take #1

Not much to say on Shirako himself, other than he's a old school reptile monster, done with a healthy amount of appealing goofiness. And the chosen colors of violet-blue skin, piercing red tongue, and bright yellow eyes are nice touches.

But poor Shirako would still disappear among all the other reptile and dinosaur-inspired beasts from the golden age of Japanese giant monsters.

The photo background before Shrako, is clearly New York from the same time period (possibly the '60's). But Shirako's placement within the image raises some visual confusion for me; is Shirako standing on a skyscraper, looking down onto an already massive Big Apple, via King Kong?

Or is Shirako so ridiculously colossal, that even skyscrapers hundreds of meters in height, are literally beneath his titanic foot?

I favor the former theory, due to my appalling habit of applying logic to silly fantasy monsters, without denying base silliness.

And here's Take #2

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