The Great Yōkai War: Guardians

The Great Yōkai War: Guardians (妖怪大戦争ガーディアンズ, Yōkai Dai-Sensō: Gādhianzu), is a 2021 live-action Kadokawa film directed by Takashi Miike, making it the second reboot installment of the Yōkai Monsters Series by Daiei Film by Miike following the 2005 film The Great Yōkai War.

About[]

Hiroshi Aramata served as an executives producer and the writer of the official novelization.Although not being a direct sequel, it has minor relevance with the 2005 film, featuring recurring staffs and casts.

The Dai-Majin made a cameo appearance, making the character's first theatrical appearance since 1966.^[1] During the time of the previous film, Miike was also developing a Daimajin project, however following the commercial failure of Gamera the Brave, it was eventually cancelled and was redeveloped as the 2010 television drama Daimajin Kanon.

Its prequel novelization The Great Yōkai War: Guardians: Side Story: Heian Hyakkitan features Gamera as "Genbu", and Daimon was also referenced indirectly as the alias of Abe no Seimei.

Production[]

Synopsis[]

Cast[]

Humans
- Kei Watanabe - Kokoro Terada
- Dai Watanabe - Rei Inomata
- Watanabe no Tsuna - Kazuki Kitamura
Yōkai
- Fox-masked Woman - Hana Sugisaki
- Gyōbu-Danuki - Takao Ōsawa
- Nurarihyon - Nao Ōmori
- Shuten-Dōji - Noritaka Hamao
- Ibaraki-Dōji - SUMIRE
- Ama-no-Jaku - Eiji Akaso
- Ubume - Sakura Andō
- Sunekosuri - Etsuko Kozakura
- Hideki Tōgi - Hideki Tōgi
- Hikakin - HIKAKIN
- Yasunori Katō - Ryūnosuke Kamiki
- Makura-Gaeshi- Mame Yamada
- Kappa- Futa Kimura
- Futakuchi-Onna- Asuka Hamaru
- Te-no-Me- Hihio Iwanaga
- Zashiki-Warashi- Riri Ai Yamada
- Kawauso- Aya Kitai
- Satyr- Julian Jolivet
- Cyclops- Taichi Shimizu
- Yeti- Takayuki Nishimura
- Rokuro-Kubi- Myra Arai
- Togakushi no Kijo- Kuroiwa Yoshie
- Kuroneko- Kōta
- Tengu Elite- Koji Ohkura, Yoshito Momiki, Kazuya Murakami, Tarō Nakatani, Kazuki Miki, Mitsuki Takeda
- Kamikiri- Yūji Takanashi
- Kijimuna- Takashi Ōta
- Count Dracula- Laurier Tiernan
- Witch- Marina ZH.
- Han-Gyojin- Makoto Nagatomo
- Azuki-Arai- Takashi Okamura
- Xingtian- Ryōsuke Yusa
- Gadogawa-san- Shinsuke Abe
- Wanyūdō- Bob Suzuki
- Hyōsube- Shinya Nakano
- Hitotsume-Kozō- Mayu Hanayoshi
- Nuppeppō- Kōsuke Nakamichi
- Mermaid- Angelina D.
- Medusa- Irina Rigostaeva
- Sunakake-Babaa- Suwa Tarō
- Tofu-Kozō- Sakichi Sato
- Mummy- Amon Ishida
- Mae Nak Phra Khanong- Ayaka N.
- Ubaga-Bi- Kae Onuki
- Abura-Sumashi- Yuzuna Satomi
- Shibaten- Kazunori Hashimoto
- Seto-Taishō- Ryusei Kitagawa
- Frankenstein- Chris D.
- Killer Clown- Daniel M.
- Zombie- Katō Kyūmi
- Nakatomi no Kaze Yōkai- Natsu Hinata
- Yuki-Onna- Yuko Oshima
- Oni- Ryuji Kasahara, Catcher Nakazawa, Koji Kurosawa, Takashi Kitadai, Hiroki Suetsugu, Amon Mochizuki, Takuma Sugawara, Hayato Takenaka, Hajima Yoshihisa, Justice Iwakura
- Amefuri-Kozō- Hiroshi Aramata

Other Yōkai in the Film[]

Tanuki
Gyūki
Ungaikyō
Ippon-Datara
Ittan-Momen
Konaki-Jijii
Security Yōkai
Werewolf
Statue-like Foreign Yōkai
Faceless Foreign Yōkai wearing a cloth around their head
Fat, Long-Nosed, Humanoid, Foreign Yōkai wearing a red shirt
Long, White-Haired, Female, Foreign Yōkai
Plant-Headed Foreign Yōkai
Brown-Skinned Foreign Yōkai
White-Haired Foreign Yōkai with a kettle on their head
Hooded Foreign Yōkai
Brown-Haired, Big-Eared, Foreign Yōkai
Foreign Yōkai wearing tan clothing with foliage on his head
Foreign Yōkai wearing black clothing with foliage on his head
Hag Foreign Yōkai wearing a red sweater
Pineapple-Headed Foreign Yōkai
Knotted-Haired, Female, Foreign Yōkai
Red-Skinned, Foreign Yōkai covered in foliage
White-Haired, One-Eyed, Horned, Foreign Yōkai
Pale-Skinned, Cyan-Haired, Humanoid, Foreign Yōkai wearing a suit and tophat
Long-Haired, Foreign Yōkai with deer-like antlers
Gray and Black-Haired, Pale-Skinned, Female, Foreign Yōkai covered in foliage
Female Foreign Yōkai with white markings and wearing a red shirt
Elephantine Foreign Yōkai
Gray-Skinned, Child-like, Foreign Yōkai wearing a red shirt
Flat-Faced, Long-haired, Foreign Yōkai
Owlman
Shōmenki
Warai-Jishi
Oni-Musume
Yamida
Urushi-Tsubo
Kamanari
Yumemakura
Tateyama-Gaeru
Tokkuri-Korogashi
Jichiyo
Atama-Yama
Ryū-Modoki
Tetsudai-Oni
Hakuzōsu
Ryū-Damashi
Shibaten
Nunogarami
Kamikiri
Okepokkun
Okeosa
Tsuchi-Gumo
Kago-Otoko
Mitsume-Gumo
Yobuko
Dark-Skinned, Long-Haired, Female Yōkai
Red-Skinned, ong-Haired, Hag Yōkai
White-Faced, Humanoid Yōkai
Furu-Dansu
Koma-Ō
Tetsudai-Oni
Tetsubin-Kajiri
Jūkanbō
Makizappō
Benitōrō
Mehitotsubō
Oni-Dōji

Other characters in the Film[]

Dai-Majin
Yōkaijū
Suiryū
Daidarabotchi (major figure without direct appearance)

Staff[]

Manga[]

The Great Yokai War: Guardians (2021) - Kadokawa Shoten manga adaptation

Novelization[]

The Great Yokai War: Guardians (2021)
The Great Yokai War: Guardians (illustrated novelization) (2021)

Spinoff[]

The Great Yōkai War: Guardians: Side Story: Heian Hyakkitan (2021)

DVD[]

Awards[]

Trivia[]

The film featured the collaboration with the mobile game Ao Oni Online in which Dai-Majin and Yōkaijū and Hikakin appeared as playable characters and skins where UUUM is co-funded by Hikakin who works as the supreme advisor of the company.^[2] The game later collaborated with the 2023 Netflix series Gamera Rebirth to feature Gamera.^[3]^[4]
The village the yōkai temporarily take refuge in was filmed in the abandoned Western Village amusement park in Tochigi Prefecture.