Shopping Guide
Currently on the Tokyo Otaku Mode Premium Shop, you can find ULTRA KAIJU Humanization Project goods for sale. It’s a fun and colourful set of goods featuring Kaiju that have been changed into young girls. Do you know how the illustrations used to make these goods were made? A few dozen TOM Special Creators put their artistic skills to the test and submitted these Kaiju girls to a contest – and these are the winning entries!
The ULTRA KAIJU Humanization Project is based on the audacious concept of taking the Kaiju (monsters) that appear in the Ultraman series and anthropomorphizing them into young girls. In the summer of 2013, Tsuburaya Productions, the group behind the ULTRA KAIJU Humanization Project, and TOM decided to collaborate by having a contest in order to make new Kaiju girls. Many registered TOM Special Creators submitted fantastic works of art. After gathering all of the high quality works and scrutinizing them thoroughly, six Special Creators’ entries were chosen. They were then made into the six different products which are being sold now. Here, we’d like to introduce you to the six lucky winning creators of the contest.
EKMkim
Selected Kaiju: Windom
I am extremely grateful to have had the opportunity to be part of such a great project.
For this piece, I tried to create a bright, friendly, and energetic feel. I based the clothes she is wearing off of a cardboard suit that a child might make.
Toro Octani
Selected Kaiju: Zamusher
I looked at Zamusher from the Ultraman series and thought that if I took the red ponytail-like thing on top of its head and made it into an actual ponytail, I just might be able to get a cute girl out of it. I paid a lot of attention to how the hair flows.
sousou
Selected Kaiju: Vakishim
I picked Vakishim because I thought its contrasting colors of dark blue and orange looked cool. In order to emphasize its hard image, which is unlike any other Kaiju or Super Kaiju, I decided to make him into an android character. I tried to avoid the original round, bug-like figure in favor of a more curvy silhouette. It was my first time working doing a full digital illustration, so it was truly a great experience for me. Thank you!
Akira Hashiribe
Selected Kaiju: Antlar
Antlar’s resistance to Spacium rays makes it a formidable opponent, but despite that strength it always seems to be fated to have its pincers cruelly bent. I recreated it as a girl in a mysterious, old folk tale setting. I thought of an ill-fated and intriguing character and wanted to draw it. I strived to make the design coherent, but I struggled with the pincers. The initial drawing I did with them placed properly near the jaw was too scary looking so I gave up on that. But I still wanted to maintain the Kaiju elements in the character’s body, so in the end I settled on a pair of well-balanced horns. I was very happy to have this opportunity. Thank you!
gi
Selected Kaiju: Lidorias
Lidorias has a good personality and is used to being around humans. Therefore, I imagined it as a loveable, personable, and charming character.
nekonomimiko
Selected Kaiju: Gatanozoa
Thank you for letting me do this Gatanozoa illustration! In terms of the design, I took the characteristic ammonite part and attached it to its head like a sheep’s horns, and then made its hair resemble the original tentacles. I tried to combine all of the Gatanozoa-ish bits and draw it more like a mermaid than a villain. In the process, it ended up looking quite different than how it appears in the show (laughs), but I hope you enjoy this slightly different take on Gatanozoa.
Reading these TOM Special Creators’ comments about their work gives us a bit of a glimpse into the process of coming up with these Kaiju girls. Click the link below to check out the unique Kaiju girls that these six came up with. Also, try comparing each illustration to what the original Kaiju look like. It’s pretty interesting!
To learn more about the original Kaiju, click here!
This is a Tokyo Otaku Mode original article.
