What to Do with the Dead Kaiju?

What to Do with the Dead Kaiju? (Japanese: 大怪獣のあとしまつ, lit. 'Aftermath of the Giant Monster') is a 2022 Japanese comedy-drama kaiju film directed by Satoshi Miki, starring Ryosuke Yamada, Tao Tsuchiya and Gaku Hamada. It is a co-production between Toei and Shochiku, the first between the two.

What to Do with the Dead Kaiju?
Directed by	Satoshi Miki
Written by	Satoshi Miki
Produced by	Hiroko Furukubo Yuta Nakai [ja] Yasushi Sutô Umihiko Yamao
Starring	Ryosuke Yamada Tao Tsuchiya Gaku Hamada
Cinematography	Haruyuki Takada
Edited by	Takashi Tominaga
Music by	Kōji Ueno
Production company	Toei Company
Distributed by	Toei Company Shochiku
Release date	4 February 2022 (2022-02-04)
Running time	115 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese

Story

The great kaiju that struck fear to Japan has died. The public cheers and is relieved. The carcass is nicknamed "hope" for the various potentials it could have. However, the carcass rots as it laid there, and fears of an explosion arose. Thus, in order to dispose of the body, the young men and women of the Tokumutai faces the dangerous disposal as the fate of Japan hung on its success.

Cast

• Ryosuke Yamada as Arata Obinata
• Tao Tsuchiya as Yukino Amane
• Gaku Hamada as Masahiko Ame
• Joe Odagiri as Ryo 'Blues' Aoshima
• Toshiyuki Nishida as Kan Nishiotachime
• Hidekazu Mashima [ja] as Seiichiro Shikishima
• Eri Fuse [ja] as Sayuri Renbutsu
• Seiji Rokkaku as Hiroto Sugihara
• Toshihiro Yashiba as Manabu Takenaka
• Yoshiki Arizono [ja] as Murasaki Kawanishi
• SUMIRE [ja] as Yamaneko Kunugi
• Kenzo Ryu [ja] as Tsukuru Michio
• Megumi as Yuko Amaguri
• Ryo Iwamatsu [ja] as Bokudo Ioroi
• Yōji Tanaka as Hayato Nakajima
• Gin Pun Chou [ja] as Yukino's mother
• Kyusaku Shimada as Wataru Nakagaichi
• Takashi Sasano as Jiro Zaizen
• Rinko Kikuchi as Sen Masago
• Fumi Nikaido as Sayoko
• Shota Sometani as Denki Mukogawa
• Yutaka Matsushige as Noboru Yamikumo
• Taisei Kido as Suda

Release

What to Do with the Dead Kaiju? was released in Japan on 4 February 2022^[1] and on Blu-ray and DVD on 13 July.^[2]

Reception

The film has received negative reviews from both the critics and audience.^[3] On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 29% based on 7 reviews, with an average rating of 4.7/10.^[4] Japanese audiences took to social media and dubbed this movie "The Devilman of the Reiwa Era", another tokusatsu movie that was received poorly.^[5][6][7]

Kyle Anderson of Nerdist gave the film a rating of 3.5/5 and wrote that it "deftly straddles the line between satire/parody and legitimate disaster film."^[8]

Whang Yee Ling of The Straits Times rated the film 2 stars out of 5 and wrote that despite its "promising" premise, the film is "at once hectic and plodding" and "fares no better even as a parody of Japan's political inertia and bureaucracy."^[9]

James Hadfield of The Japan Times rated the film 2 stars out of 5 and wrote that while Fuse "gets the balance just right" and Hamada "has obvious fun playing a villain for a change", the film "seems oblivious to whether any of the ideas it flings against the wall are sticking."^[10]

Christopher Stewardson of Our Culture Mag rated the film 2 stars out of 5 and wrote that despite the "solid" first 10 minutes, it "loses itself to clumsy comedy and contrived endings."^[11]

Yuichi Maeda [ja] criticized this movie on a J-CAST interview; stating that audiences of this movie were expecting a more dramatic political thriller and military thriller similar to those of Shin Godzilla, only to be met with unfunny gags and a screenplay with little to no realism.^[3] Hinataka on Netlabo shared similar sentiments, comparing the movie unfavorably to Don't Look Up.^[12]