Good morning folks,
Once more let us dip our toes into the surprisingly deep waters that are Japanese low-budget giantess cinema. Personally, I like to spread the word about pertinent movie studios which are not widely known outside of their country of origin.
Studios, like Gallop and Giga Co. Ltd, have the financial resources to fund the construction of elaborate miniature city sets, craft custom wardrobes to include large monster suits, hire multiple male and female performers, and render computer-generated imagery (CGI). That may not sound like a lot compared to the Big Five major film studios in Los Angeles, California. Nor do they have the deep pockets of national heavyweights Kadokawa Daiei (current owner of the Gamera franchise) or Toho (owner of the Godzilla franchise). Nonetheless, these small studios have budgets which are larger than the individually-operated companies selling size-oriented clips via Clips4Sale, ManyVids, and OnlyFans. These small studios, influenced by tokusatsu in general but mostly by Ultraman, have the means to make CGI and practical special effects beyond the capability of one-man operations.
However, there is only a little discussion of Japanese giantesses movies in English-language forums despite the fact that they have larger budgets than the typical American or European amateur movie maker. For example, in late November 2024 a search for today’s studio “ZEN Pictures” at Giantess City Forum only found two related threads. The newest of which was more than 15-years old.
Similarly, a search via X/Twitter only returned Japanese results as did a Google search. (SIDE NOTE: There She Grows previously reviewed another ZEN Pictures film, Gigantic Heroine Flare Lady, in November 2022.)
So, with that background in mind, let us now explore this corner of cinema with a review of “Giant Heroine Ericia.”
ZEN Pictures released Giant Heroine Ericia on February 23rd, 2024. It has a 70-minute runtime and features Sakura Tsuji 辻さくら as the lead actress. Sakura has appeared in three productions so far for ZEN Pictures. Additionally, Taiyasu Goto 梧桐大靖 is the director.
The DVD included a 10-minute “Special Movie” segment which included an interview with Sakura as well as behind-the-scenes snippets. “Special Info” was a number of trailers for super-heroine movies.
Ericia has many parallels with Ultraman. In Ultraman, Science Patrol member Shin Hayata was accidentally killed in a mid-air collision with an Ultra alien’s spacecraft. In Giant Heroine Ericia, the villain Desperide デスペライド killed high school girl Nozomi. Nozomi came back to life and merged with Ericia like Shin Hayata came back to life and merged with an Ultra alien.
Furthermore, Ericia’s appearance and powers resembled Ultraman, albeit Ericia had a bit more exposed skin. Nonetheless, Ericia could only maintain her giantess form for a limited time and wore a gem on her chest which made noise and flashed just like Ultraman’s color timer. Most importantly Ericia and Ultraman both fought giant monsters via melee and energy beam attacks. Not for nothing, but the energy beam attacks in this movie look pretty good!
Ericia fought a few of Desperide’s monsters in an urban setting consisting of multi-story buildings and city streets. The gigantic monster designs were creative and included a cyborg gorilla, a two-headed reptilian humanoid (maybe part bird too because he had beaks), and an alien with a bat-like mask. Furthermore, the production crew even dabbled in a little demolitions work and actually exploded one of the monster costumes! No mistaking that the creatures were really men in suits, but if you’re a fan of campy kaiju battles then they fit the bill.
Perhaps the production would have benefited if the monsters had shared a common theme to unite them. Ergo, make them all part robot or based on gorillas, etc. As they were it could come across as incohesive or random.
Their non-articulated faces could not move to express emotions. Although, the half-metal ape man was quite vigorous in his destructive endeavor so it could be argued he let his fists do all the talking (or emoting). Put differently, roars and punches convey great feeling.
Our protagonist’s transformation from normal-sized Nozomi to giantess-sized Ericia was quick. Furthermore, she never interacted with regular people or cars. The surrounding city was empty without crowd noises, moving vehicles, pedestrians, etc.
To boil this down to its purest essence this production, similar to Gigantic Heroine Flare Lady, was created to satisfy viewers who want to see a cute girl physically punished. Please do not misunderstand this was not a gratuitously gory affair, but rather the sequences in question showcased light hitting followed by the actress voicing displeasure. Bloodless punishment caused the girl to cry out in pain without visible physical damage, red marks, or signs of bruising. If you’re not into that then these scenes run for too long and are boring.
Overall, I recommend Ericia to people who like mild sadomasochism (S&M) commingled with giantess versus monsters action. If you’re interested, click here for a 30-second trailer. Readers looking for similar movies which focus more intently on the giantess aspect should enjoy “Giant MILF Attack!” or if they prefer shrunken men they’ll enjoy “Yui-chan’s Lover.”
That’s it for now. With some luck the next blog post will announce a video review of 1965’s “Village of the Giants.” Until then, keep growing!
This review was written by SolomonG and is protected under Fair Use copyright law.
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There She Grows 