00:42They're a facet of global pop culture, beloved by audiences around the world.
00:46Behemoths of unimaginable size and power, blazing a trail of destruction and mayhem in their path.
00:52From the movie theaters to television screens and even video game consoles and literature, giant monsters are everywhere.
00:58There are so many different types of giant monster, but only one specific one rises above the rest when it comes to global recognition.
01:06Kaiju.
01:07A word most people have probably heard thrown around when discussing these types of disaster stories, but what exactly are kaiju?
01:14What does this term mean?
01:15In a most literal sense, the word kaiju is a Japanese word roughly translating to strange beast, and is used to describe, well, giant monsters.
01:25Whether it be from movies, TV shows, comic books, etc., it's affixed to almost any type of big, nasty creature.
01:32But let's think for a second.
01:34It's a distinctly Japanese word, and yet we use it in our English dialogue to describe a phenomenon that spans around the world.
01:40Why is that?
01:42Well, that's the subject of this documentary.
01:44A deep dive into the history of the kaiju genre, its roots in Japanese and American culture, and the distinctive attributes that encompass all entries in its index.
01:53Consider this a crash course, if you will, on kaijuology.
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