Japan Synopsis
大怪獣バラン
“A giant monster greater than Godzilla or Rodan!”
When a rare species of butterfly is found in a mysterious valley in Japan, a pair of entomologists go to investigate and find more. They discover Varan, a giant monster, Who decided to leave the valley and head straight for Tokyo.
Titles With Overlapping Themes
Films and series that share thematic tags with Varan. Number on each card indicates how many keywords overlap.
Other Titles From TOHO
Science Fiction + Horror in Japan
93 Japan titles in our catalog blend the Science Fiction and Horror genres. Below: the top-rated of them (excluding Varan itself).
The 1957–1959 Japan Window
In the crowded 1957-1959 Japan release window, Varan sits at #25 of 32. The leaderboard below contextualises its neighbours.
The 1950s Japan Landscape
1958 was the decade’s peak output year for Japan — 12 titles released, including Varan. Bars below show how the 1950s stacked up year by year (76 total).
Position in Catalog
Released alongside 11 other Japan films in 1958.
The 113th Japan title from Japan we index (earliest catalogued entry: 1899).
Our Japan catalog contains 4,579 titles in total (2,908 films).
Audience Engagement
17 audience reviews — more than 30% of Japan films in our index.
Popularity sits at the 3th percentile among Japan films.
Thematic Fingerprint
Tags on Varan, grouped by how common each theme is across the full Asian catalog. Rare tags are more distinctive signals.
- daikaiju · 2
- butterfly · 1
- military · 23
- bomb · 15
- 1950s · 15
- giant · 9
- monster movie · 6
- japan · 454
- japan · 454
- monster · 91
- tokyo · 78
- kaiju · 77
- giant monster · 64
Reception Benchmarks
Ranked #3,501 of 4,579 Japan films indexed here (24th percentile by TMDB audience score).
Rating is -0.6 points below the Japan average of 6.9/10.
Among Japan Science Fiction productions specifically: #363 of 566 (top 64%).
Production Details
| Primary Country | Japan |
|---|---|
| Original Language | Japanese |
| Production Companies | TOHO |
| Runtime | 1h 27m |
| Release Date | October 14, 1958 |
| IMDb | tt0051512 |