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Daikaiju Yuki #1
Daikaiju Yuki
On a mysterious mission to the temple of an ancient god, Yuki uncovers a high-stakes play for power that leads to her becoming the host of a gargantuan beast that once saved humanity from annihilation. With the help of her daikaiju companion, she must gather the rest of its pantheon from across the planet and stop a war that threatens the existence of life on Earth, as long as she can acclimate to her new allies. In its final hour, a shattered world has called on a new kind of monster. DAIKAIJU YUKI delivers a fast-paced, fantastical post-apocalyptic adventure thriller with a globe-spanning story and kinetic, earth-shattering action. For fans of rousing adventure stories and giant monster series like Godzilla, Ultraman, Gamera, and Pacific Rim.
213 pages, Paperback
Published May 30, 2017
11 people are currently reading
224 people want to read
About the author
Raffael Coronelli
23 books15 followersRaffael Coronelli is a Chicago-based world adventurer and writer. His works include the How to Have an Adventure in… travel book series, several novels, and essays for Anime News Network and blu-ray releases from Arrow Video.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
June 1, 2017
If I had to sum it up I'd say – Giant Monster Movies meet Avatar the Last Airbender
Daikaiju Yuki is a rip-roaring adventure and the latest product of this Revival Era of Kaiju media. In 2013 we saw the return of Ultraman, the birth of Pacific Rim, and more Godzilla is now coming than we can shake a stick at. It's only proper that we see Kaiju invade the pages of literature.
Yuki is a story that is fast-paced and mythic. I liken it to the pacing of the original Star Wars or some other adventure story. The author drops you into a world familiar but ornamented with the unique mythos that these beasts bring. I find it most interesting because it blends post apocalyptic and fantasy in a pleasing way that is hard to really compare. The fun of the book is how it slowly unveils its Pantheon Colossi and the cultures that hold them in such high esteem.
More than anything I think the book represents the versatility of giant monsters. The genre doesn't merely have to be BIG THINGS FIGHTING or ARMY FIGHTING LARGE THINGS. Here we see an entire world reshaped by Kaiju. It doesn't feel like anything I've seen on the big screen, and that's the beauty of it! It's something new in the genre which an appeal which reaches beyond the fans of classic Godzilla and Gamera.
The world of Daikaiju Yuki should even please Godzilla purists, as it embodies the core of Honda's concerns as portrayed in his films. The amount of action packed in is kind of remarkable as I think on it. The finale is, absolutely, not something you see coming. The villain is perfect, and the promise of further explorations of this Universe are more than welcome. The characters are, as is true of all good Kaiju media, the literal heart of the story. They each conflict with one another in ways that allow their unique traits to shine. A lot of characters that'd be worth following on any other adventures.
Daikaiju Yuki is a rip-roaring adventure and the latest product of this Revival Era of Kaiju media. In 2013 we saw the return of Ultraman, the birth of Pacific Rim, and more Godzilla is now coming than we can shake a stick at. It's only proper that we see Kaiju invade the pages of literature.
Yuki is a story that is fast-paced and mythic. I liken it to the pacing of the original Star Wars or some other adventure story. The author drops you into a world familiar but ornamented with the unique mythos that these beasts bring. I find it most interesting because it blends post apocalyptic and fantasy in a pleasing way that is hard to really compare. The fun of the book is how it slowly unveils its Pantheon Colossi and the cultures that hold them in such high esteem.
More than anything I think the book represents the versatility of giant monsters. The genre doesn't merely have to be BIG THINGS FIGHTING or ARMY FIGHTING LARGE THINGS. Here we see an entire world reshaped by Kaiju. It doesn't feel like anything I've seen on the big screen, and that's the beauty of it! It's something new in the genre which an appeal which reaches beyond the fans of classic Godzilla and Gamera.
The world of Daikaiju Yuki should even please Godzilla purists, as it embodies the core of Honda's concerns as portrayed in his films. The amount of action packed in is kind of remarkable as I think on it. The finale is, absolutely, not something you see coming. The villain is perfect, and the promise of further explorations of this Universe are more than welcome. The characters are, as is true of all good Kaiju media, the literal heart of the story. They each conflict with one another in ways that allow their unique traits to shine. A lot of characters that'd be worth following on any other adventures.
September 12, 2018
One of the popular concepts of kaiju storytelling that isn’t often translated when the genre crosses the Pacific is the idea of a link between monster and man. You see this in Ultraman, the 90’s Gamera trilogy, and an assortment of other tokusatsu entertainment. The closest we get to some approximation of that in Western Kaiju is the link between man and machine as seen in Pacific Rim and (the Americanized) Power Rangers. Raffael Coronelli’s Daikaiju Yuki is one of the only examples I can recall of the man/monster concept in an American kaiju tale. It’s a refreshing new take on the kaiju novel with an old school twist.
Daikaiju Yuki takes place in the distant future after our world succumbed to nuclear war and the advent of the kaiju. The world we know is something of the distant past. Now most the world is split into four warring nations, some simply looking to live in peace and others vying for superiority on a global scale. The new weapons of mass destruction are the kaiju. The nemesis nations have used their links with kaiju (a giant bear and a giant bird, in this case) to destroy armies and cities as they continue their conquest. Our heroine Yuki is sent to a temple to check on the progress of raising her nation’s kaiju, Narajin. As she sneakily inspects the temple, Yuki accidentally performs the task necessary for linking her body/mind/soul with that of the kaiju, thus waking the giant lion god from its deep slumber.
There are stumbles and self-doubt as Yuki tries to talk her way out of the enormous responsibility she has inherited. The kaiju Narajin, seen as a god to many, believes that Yuki is worthy to be sharing the fight to save the world with him. They communicate telepathically, as depicted with lots of italic text, giving Yuki (and the reader) the lowdown on how the kaiju ‘pantheon’ works and their role in the world. Yuki and the kaiju then march across the globe looking to unite others like them in preparation for the coming battle.
Daikaiju Yuki is enormous fun. It’s like an anime take on kaiju storytelling, with a big cast of characters and new details explored with each new chapter/episode. I had pleasant flashbacks to Saturday morning cartoons like Digimon and Sony’s Godzilla: The Series (the movie sucked but the cartoon was good, yo). The heroes that Yuki meets along the way are a diverse bunch, each with big personalities (there is an emphasis on diversity which I took great joy in. Yuki is a lesbian kaiju superhero badass and I love her). There’s big kaiju rumbles on a regular basis and the monsters are each original and easy to take a liking to.
The novel is a little on the short side this appears to be by design. A sequel and a spinoff are already available. I will be reading them both shortly. In a time when kaiju fiction is going through a surprise boom of popularity, many authors (myself included) have used the opportunity to tell dark tales that mainstream kaiju entertainment was reluctant to give us. Coronelli goes the other direction and embraces the fun and fantasy of kaiju spectacle. Ishiro Honda, who directed a number of the best Godzilla movies, frequently used the kaiju threat as a way to bring people together to accomplish common goals. Honda believed in the good of mankind. Daikaiju Yuki is similar in that way. Evil accomplishes much in its time on earth and even the people who mean to do good are not without their faults, but ultimately if we find a way to come together then perhaps peace will win out. I dig it.
Daikaiju Yuki takes place in the distant future after our world succumbed to nuclear war and the advent of the kaiju. The world we know is something of the distant past. Now most the world is split into four warring nations, some simply looking to live in peace and others vying for superiority on a global scale. The new weapons of mass destruction are the kaiju. The nemesis nations have used their links with kaiju (a giant bear and a giant bird, in this case) to destroy armies and cities as they continue their conquest. Our heroine Yuki is sent to a temple to check on the progress of raising her nation’s kaiju, Narajin. As she sneakily inspects the temple, Yuki accidentally performs the task necessary for linking her body/mind/soul with that of the kaiju, thus waking the giant lion god from its deep slumber.
There are stumbles and self-doubt as Yuki tries to talk her way out of the enormous responsibility she has inherited. The kaiju Narajin, seen as a god to many, believes that Yuki is worthy to be sharing the fight to save the world with him. They communicate telepathically, as depicted with lots of italic text, giving Yuki (and the reader) the lowdown on how the kaiju ‘pantheon’ works and their role in the world. Yuki and the kaiju then march across the globe looking to unite others like them in preparation for the coming battle.
Daikaiju Yuki is enormous fun. It’s like an anime take on kaiju storytelling, with a big cast of characters and new details explored with each new chapter/episode. I had pleasant flashbacks to Saturday morning cartoons like Digimon and Sony’s Godzilla: The Series (the movie sucked but the cartoon was good, yo). The heroes that Yuki meets along the way are a diverse bunch, each with big personalities (there is an emphasis on diversity which I took great joy in. Yuki is a lesbian kaiju superhero badass and I love her). There’s big kaiju rumbles on a regular basis and the monsters are each original and easy to take a liking to.
The novel is a little on the short side this appears to be by design. A sequel and a spinoff are already available. I will be reading them both shortly. In a time when kaiju fiction is going through a surprise boom of popularity, many authors (myself included) have used the opportunity to tell dark tales that mainstream kaiju entertainment was reluctant to give us. Coronelli goes the other direction and embraces the fun and fantasy of kaiju spectacle. Ishiro Honda, who directed a number of the best Godzilla movies, frequently used the kaiju threat as a way to bring people together to accomplish common goals. Honda believed in the good of mankind. Daikaiju Yuki is similar in that way. Evil accomplishes much in its time on earth and even the people who mean to do good are not without their faults, but ultimately if we find a way to come together then perhaps peace will win out. I dig it.
June 27, 2017
Beautifully written adventure story with roots in ancient mythologies combined with futuristic fantasy. One of my favorite chapters, Autumn of the Earth, begins:
"A dance of swirling red and gold was performed through the crisp air. Two parts of a living whole had reached the end of their lives and now tumbled end over end, fluttering around each other in a descending spiral as if to evade separation in their final moments. Life itself would continue without them, but first would come the cold winds and bitter grey of the time between."
In another chapter Yuki, the young woman protagonist who joins forces with the monster kaiju and other brave humans to save the earth, swims in the lifesblood of the earth, pure energy. There is suspense and humor as we follow her on the road to becoming a Daikaiju, an unstoppable force of nature.
"A dance of swirling red and gold was performed through the crisp air. Two parts of a living whole had reached the end of their lives and now tumbled end over end, fluttering around each other in a descending spiral as if to evade separation in their final moments. Life itself would continue without them, but first would come the cold winds and bitter grey of the time between."
In another chapter Yuki, the young woman protagonist who joins forces with the monster kaiju and other brave humans to save the earth, swims in the lifesblood of the earth, pure energy. There is suspense and humor as we follow her on the road to becoming a Daikaiju, an unstoppable force of nature.
October 13, 2020
I saw promise and I would consider reading the next one, despite this first book being poorly paced, and suffering from a major tone problem resulting in an unclear audience.
With my point of references, I’m assuming this was written by someone who’s a fan of Heisei Gamera trilogy, NGE, and Digimon Frontier. I got a lot of Shonen vibes with the way characters spoke and behaved. It all felt very silly and unrealistic, but appropriate for a book written on a young adolescent or middle grade level.
However some of the dialogue choices and actions made by the character felt a bit too mature and out of place compared to everything around it.
I was never quite clear on the conflict, which didn’t help with an over abundance of characters introduced too quickly and wind up underdeveloped.
I think this book could have really benefitted from some workshopping or editing. I hope that the author got some feedback before writing the second one because I really want to root for more kaiju literature after reading the fantastic novels published for the MonsterVerse.
With my point of references, I’m assuming this was written by someone who’s a fan of Heisei Gamera trilogy, NGE, and Digimon Frontier. I got a lot of Shonen vibes with the way characters spoke and behaved. It all felt very silly and unrealistic, but appropriate for a book written on a young adolescent or middle grade level.
However some of the dialogue choices and actions made by the character felt a bit too mature and out of place compared to everything around it.
I was never quite clear on the conflict, which didn’t help with an over abundance of characters introduced too quickly and wind up underdeveloped.
I think this book could have really benefitted from some workshopping or editing. I hope that the author got some feedback before writing the second one because I really want to root for more kaiju literature after reading the fantastic novels published for the MonsterVerse.
July 16, 2022
The last book I finished in my twenties.
This is a fantastic and fun Kaiju tale that isn't afraid to delve into some dark subject matter.
The battles are incredibly exciting and the kaiju all have very distinct personalities. The world is unique with a rewarding bits of lore dolled out at just the right intervals.
My only complaint is that it was occasionally tough to envision some of these kaiju, as you only get a littttle bit in terms of their appearances, still it was just enough to let my imagination run wild.
If you are at all a fan of Tokusatsu then this book is 100% for you.
This is a fantastic and fun Kaiju tale that isn't afraid to delve into some dark subject matter.
The battles are incredibly exciting and the kaiju all have very distinct personalities. The world is unique with a rewarding bits of lore dolled out at just the right intervals.
My only complaint is that it was occasionally tough to envision some of these kaiju, as you only get a littttle bit in terms of their appearances, still it was just enough to let my imagination run wild.
If you are at all a fan of Tokusatsu then this book is 100% for you.
May 29, 2021
The old gods awake and the Pantheon Colassi must join forces once more. The book introduces Yuki, a young soldier who is sick of fighting and wants to make the world a better place. The reader becomes captivated by Yuki's strength and determination as she works to find the other Kaiju and save the world. Raffael Coronelli's love of giant monsters creates a world of high action and deep characters guaranteed to please anyone looking for who needs more Kaiju in their life.
April 22, 2019
Found this via a random Amazon search of kaiju titles, saw the good reviews and got a Kindle version for myself.
What a fun book! If you love giant monsters and fast-paced sci-fi, this will satisfy.
The writing sometimes reads like a really smart high schooler is your storyteller, and there are several awkward phrases that will give some readers pause. Characterization other than Yuki can be weak. Also needs a thorough line edit. None of this should stop you from enjoying the ride. (Raffael Coronelli, sign me up as a beta reader and I will line edit for FREE.).
I can't remember the last time I received so much pure enjoyment from a book. I had to devour the next two books in the series. Highly recommended for other readers who enjoy this sort of thing.
What a fun book! If you love giant monsters and fast-paced sci-fi, this will satisfy.
The writing sometimes reads like a really smart high schooler is your storyteller, and there are several awkward phrases that will give some readers pause. Characterization other than Yuki can be weak. Also needs a thorough line edit. None of this should stop you from enjoying the ride. (Raffael Coronelli, sign me up as a beta reader and I will line edit for FREE.).
I can't remember the last time I received so much pure enjoyment from a book. I had to devour the next two books in the series. Highly recommended for other readers who enjoy this sort of thing.
May 26, 2020
3.5 or so would be my preferred review score, and there's nothing in here that really makes me want to demote it but I do want my scores to reflect that I like Tyrantis better. I like the series well enough to keep following along, but there is generally a few months between release date and me getting the next book.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews