2013-08-21

Sendai Annhilated.

It's pushing 3 am. and I just finished watching the tail-end of Gamera 3 and it reminded me of a tale from several years ago. The scene is a Sayonara party for a long-time Sendai guy (if memory serves, it was Ed who was shuffling off to Russia or England or some such exotic land.) He was giving an extremely moving speech elaborating on his love for Sendai and the many heartfelt memories he'll have of her. One line in particular stands out, he asked, "Who had even heard of Sendai before they arrived here?" I meekly rose my hand and said, "I had." Perhaps a little annoyed because I had responded to his rhetorical question, he insisted that I expand upon my statement. "Sendai was destroyed in a battle between Gamera and Legion in Gamera 2." There were a few giggles but mostly an awkward silence. He went on with his speech.

I'd now like to back up my claim with a little proof and let the naysayers swallow their words!

Take a peek at Gamera 2 to see if you can spot Sendai.


Oops, that's the wrong link. That is of a human-powered helicopter dubbed Gamera 2.

This is the link I meant:


You have to look pretty carefully to see any scenes of Sendai's demise, but there may be one or two. Try the 40 second mark. Is that one? Or just after the 2-minute mark?

Or check out this clip from a badly dubbed trailer with a catchy singalong tune. Is that Sendai at the 20 second mark?



No real definitive proof, therefore I have to go to my resource material. Fortunately my copy of the movie program was near at hand, though at the bottom of a box.


Ah, here we go. A two-page spread about Sendai.


Let's delve a little closer, shall we. (You can click on the pic to Gamerasize it.)



Cool! That's the SS30 building and elsewhere in the magazine, it's the very familiar Sendai Station!


There's even a newspaper headline (though I think they need to fire their proofreader.)


So the next time, I wax nostalgically about my particular field of expertise, don't question my authority!

(Sadly, Sendai had its fair share of a more natural disaster on 3/11/11 but we've come a long way since then.)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Greetings, my excellent friend.
I'm Don Chan @ Hong Kong, a fellow Canadian and Gamera fan (see below).
.
FYI, in 2014 May, I went to Toukyou, Sendai, and Aomori for Rokehan (location hunt), including "Heisei Gamera 2" (1996) locations at Toukyou and Sendai, after almost two decades, at last.
If you're bored sleepless, you may gawk at the Rokehan photos (without Steven Seagal's daughter) at my blog.
.
photo.xuite.net/gamera_3000/13029912*1
.
The photo captions are Japanese, the interface is Chinese, because it's Xuite Taiwan, and I write/post blog articles in English. XD
Despite my homework, I still haven't found some of the glass-panel buildings and street corners.
If you're having a boring Sunday afternoon, for fun, maybe you try to recognise the nameless avenues and buildings?
.
BTW, in the article title, you probably meant "Sendai *Annihilated*".

Michael Jones said...

Nice pics. If I get a chance I'll view them in more detail.
BTW, "Sendai Annhilated" is intentional. Look at the very last picture, it was a newspaper headline taken from the movie.

Don Chan said...

Actually, I saw the newspaper spelling mistake after I posted the comment. 8b
Maybe you add a "[sic]" to the article title? 8D
.
Months ago, I captured the screen shots from an ancient Heisei Gamera 2 VCD liberated from somewhere in my room.
FYI, I of course tried the police office (sweat) and TIC at JR Sendai Station, but the cops and two of the old dudettes on duty didn't recognise the avenues and buildings amongst the screen cap print-outs either.
.
Later, at Toukyou, at the hotel at Ichigaya, I asked the front desk staff if he recognised the room type in the print-outs, as the hotel has different classes/types of rooms in its east and west wings, and the current room decor looks different according to photos in the hotel pamphlets; but the mature dude claimed the B&W print-out was too blurry, and I didn't have a colour version in the smart phone.

Don Chan said...

Anyway.
My next pilgrimage (maybe 2015 summer) is Sapporo City and Dekkaidou (Dekkai Hokkaidou), and the Rokehan includes Heisei Gamera 2 locations at Sapporo... maybe even the heroine's parents' pharmacy.
On second thought, I already went to JR Kyouto Station and JR Nagoya Station a few times, but haven't posted the Heisei Gamera 3 (1999) and 4 (2006) Rokehan photos.

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