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You've joined his fan club, now own his single.
Patrick Macias was kind enough to post MP3s of Riki's 1995 single, "Yokubou no Machi," or "Town of Desire." Lots of wailing guitar, thick synth strings, and one gravely voiced bad ass. There's even a karaoke version so you can do your own Riki.
Japanese Title: Uchu kaiju Gamera
Director: Noriaki Yuasa
Actors: Mach Fumiake, Yaeko Kojima, Koichi Maeda
Year Released: 1980
Genre: Kaiju
See Also: Gojira, Gappa the Triphibian Monsters, Dogora
Otaku Alert: The Belgian video title for Gamera, Super Monster is Phoenix Dominator. I think I just found my new DJ name.
Gamera, Super Monster is the "clip show" of Gamera movies, comprised of stock footage sequences from all six previous Gamera films. Battle sequences from the earlier films have been shoe-horned into a seriously odd sci-fi adventure film about three super women from space and their mission to befriend a boy with short-shorts, making this 1980 entry into the kid's kaiju series a sort of "greatest hits" of Gamera and pretty much the only Gamera movie you need to see.
OK, that's not entirely true. I really do enjoy Gamera. Not as much as Godzilla, of course, the big lizard being my childhood hero and introduction to Japanese culture. But there's just something so endearing about Gamera. I mean, he's a turtle. Who stands. He's like those mariachi frogs you buy in Tijuana, glued into position so they look like they're standing and playing instruments. A turtle shouldn't be standing on two legs, but there he is. Oh, and now he's sticking telephone poles into his ears—how cute!
Sadly, that telephone pole sequence isn't included in the clips (so you really do have to watch more than one Gamera film) but the general weirdness of the past Gamera films is maintained in Gamera, Super Monster. This, I believe, is due to the fact that director Noriaki Yuasa was sitting in the folding chair with "kantoku" printed on the back. The man helmed all of the Gamera films to this point save one and was obviously the driving force behind the general weirdness of the series.
A ship that looks suspiciously like the Imperial Star Destroyer from The Empire Strikes Back wants to take over the Earth, so it begins sending monsters to attack the cities of Japan. Gamera, of course, rises to the occasion, as do three women in Jazzercise tights and capes, inspired, no doubt, by the Superman movies. There's lots of Yamaha organ product placement and plenty of cool Xanadu-like visual effects as well. Ultimately Gamera triumphs over little-boy-hating aliens, and flies off into space with (inexplicably!) clips from Starblazers and Galaxy Express 999 running under him.
Gamera, Super Monster was released as part of the Elvira's Movie Macabre series, packaged in a double-disc set with They Came From Beyond Space. The film is in widescreen, the only domestically available Showa-era Gamera film in such a format, although it's still dubbed into English. It's also obviously a VHS port. You can watch it with or without the original Elvira TV show segments. I opted for with, as I never saw her show back in the day. Sushi and geisha jokes abound.
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