
These challenges prompt simple, but disarmingly engaging rock-paper-scissors battles, where the loser becomes the winners servant. Like his schoolmates, hes obsessed with the hero shows of the time, and bonds with his peers over games of monster cards. It follows the ten-year-old Sohta, as he attempts to acclimatise to his new home. This tale of a rustic town visited weekly by monsters in ∗0s Japan eschews bombast and spectacle for an intimate fable that casts an electrifying spell. Both game and film feature kaiju, the colossal creations popularised by the Japanese movie industry in the 1950s, though the two couldnt be less alike.

That Kaz Ayabes coming-of-age tale should arrive at the same time as Guillermo del Toros Pacific Rim could either be considered fortuitous or unfortunate timing, depending on your perspective.
