Kickstarter has blossomed into a truly epic library for the avid kaiju fan. Comic books, novels, and even rpgs have found their investors through the avenue. It’s a haven for creators to find their audience and funding that otherwise might not happen. The latest to do so in the giant monster world is Daikaiju Rumble – a new “light novel series” being introduced by author Chris McDonald. Some of you in the community might recognize Chris’ name, as he has served as the longtime co-host of kaiju podcast Gargantucast. McDonald also has numerous author bylines at places such as the now defunct Kaiju Ramen Magazine. Chris has been involved in community projects for a very long time, and DKR is just the latest in his creative library!
Chris and his team have filled Kaiju United in with the latest details pertaining to Daikaiju Rumble for our readers to learn more about this project and what it all entails:
Art by Lyle Speck
Daikaiju Rumble is a love letter Kaiju light novel series that takes the decades of Kaiju narratives and builds a world that has been molded by the presence of giant monsters and how that would forever alter society and humanity as a whole. In this world, gone are the days of screaming in terror, jumping over cars, and piling up traffic. Now, kaiju attacks are just another weather occurrence, such as a rainy day. Rather than the apocalyptic measurement scenarios in media like Pacific Rim, it’s just a way of life for the characters that in habit this story.
The first three stories will give readers a good look into the world of Daikaiju Rumble showcasing each of the Counter-Kaiju Combatants as they deal with the many giant monsters humanity has to contend with on the daily. The fourth story, however, begins the overarching plot of Daikaiju Rumble as now alien Sin’Siri begin to make their move on humanity after a fifty year ceasefire. Daikaiju Rumble aims to give the Kaiju genre its own long-running epic book series with the trappings of shonen battle anime and manga as well. Imagine the narrative fusion of Godzilla and One Piece!
The first volume not only will be filled with pages of this ambitious story written by Chris McDonald, but feature incredible artwork to help enrich readers into narrative. Featuring splash illustrations by Lyle Speck showcasing vital scenes from the book and striking story title art drawn by Marcel Rocha paying homage to the silhouettes from the original 1966 Ultraman series.
SYNOPSIS
Set in the year 2104 ADE, humanity had banded together after not one but two near apocalyptic events fifty years in the past. First was the arrival and war with the invading insectoid aliens The Sin’Siri and second was the immediate aftermath known as The Awakening, in which Kaiju from all across the Earth rose from across the bowels of the Earth to unleash their newly awakened wrath. As such most of the human race banded together to form the United People of Earth aka The UPE where most of surviving population live in gigantic walled continent-sized cities known as The United Series
Daikaiju Rumble follows The Counter-Kaiju Force, the UPE’s elite task force whose mission is to confront any and all Kaiju and similar supernatural threats towards the people of Earth.
Led by the veteran war hero General Harold “Harry” Hausen with the world’s foremost (and first) Kaijuologist, the Counter-Kaiju Force aka the CKF is a team filled with the bright minds, strongest fighters, and biggest hearts. The membership includes the world’s first trained Kaiju Rhayadon AKA Rhay, highly trained Counter-Kaiju Response and Rescue OMEGA Squadron in their Counter-Kaiju Mecha OMEGA Susanoo, and the bubbly yet extremely powerful human/Kaiju hybrid Marna.
Together this colorful band of characters take on any and all colossal-sized comers as while at this point stopping a rampaging Kaiju is all part of the job, the machinations of a larger threat looms in the shadows as the alien Sin’Siri, who had made a ceasefire “truce” with humanity, began the machinations of something truly dangerous.
You can back Daikaiju Rumble on Kickstarter HERE. Stay tuned for further updates on Daikaiju Rumble and other awesome indie projects in our community only on Kaiju United!
