View source for MAZE☆Bakunetsu Jikuu: Tenpen Kyoui no Giant (partially found limited-time anime film sequel to series; 1998)

{{NSFW|explicit nudity content}}
{{InfoboxLost
|title=<center>MAZE☆Bakunetsu Jikuu: Tenpen Kyoui no Giant</center>
|image=MAZEposter.jpg
|imagecaption=Theatrical poster for the film.
|status=<span style="color:orange;">'''Partially Found'''</span>
}}
''Chousekitan Maze☆Bakunetsu Jikuu'', simply known as ''MAZE'', is a Japanese fantasy-adventure manga series written by Satoru Akahori which follows a girl named Maze on her life and adventures in another fantasy world and whom by night, has an oddity to change into the opposite sex.<ref>[https://myanimelist.net/manga/11416/Chousekitan_Maze%E2%98%86Bakunetsu_Jikuu MAL Page for the ''MAZE'' manga]</ref>. The manga series later received a two-episode OVA series, followed by a TV adaptation with the same name spanning 25 episodes, produced by J.C. Staff in 1997<ref name="TV">[https://myanimelist.net/anime/1161/Maze%E2%98%86Bakunetsu_Jikuu_TV MAL Page for the ''MAZE'' anime series.]</ref>.  

Apart from the TV series, a theatrical film following up the events from the series was also produced and made by the same studio. It was then released in Japanese cinemas on April 25th, 1998. '''Unfortunately, the film never had any physical or home video release and has never been seen outside of the original limited theatrical run.'''<ref>[https://myanimelist.net/anime/8442/Maze%E2%98%86Bakunetsu_Jikuu__Tenpen_Kyoui_no_Giant MAL Page for the movie.]</ref><ref name="haze" />

==Background==
The theatrical film '''''MAZE☆Bakunetsu Jikuu: Tenpen Kyoui no Giant''''' was originally released in cinemas on April 25th, 1998<ref name="haze" /><ref name="listing">[http://jcstaff.co.jp/sakuhin/nenpyo/1998/02_maze_mov/maze_geki.htm J.C. Staff's listing of the film]</ref><ref name="noinfo">[https://web.archive.org/web/20001002095701fw_/http://www.jcstaff.co.jp/hpdata/jc_sakuhin/jc_sakuhin.html An archived of J.C. Staff's 2000 catalog, which displays ''MAZE'' and confirms that it was released in Spring 1998]</ref>, that reportedly has a runtime of 42 minutes, which came from a blog post review of the film when it was originally being test screened<ref name= "run">[https://web.archive.org/web/20021223225028/http://www.eiga-kawaraban.com/98/98032602.html March 3, 1998: A review of the film that contains numerous information, plot, and details about the film, by K. Hattori.]</ref>.

A short synopsis for the film from various sites<ref>[https://eiga.com/movie/75635/ Eiga.com's move listing on ''MAZE'']</ref><ref>[https://movie.jorudan.co.jp/film/31251/ Jorudan.co's listing on ''MAZE'']</ref><ref>[https://allcinema.net/cinema/153530 Allcinema's listing on ''MAZE'']</ref>, goes as follows:
<blockquote>
An erotic short film that revolves around an ancient titan who leads everything to destruction, depicting the activities of the Maze and the Light Magicians. The director is Iku Suzuki, who has been in charge of the ''MAZE'' TV series. The script was written by Satoru Akahori himself, who is also the original author. It was shot by Katsuyuki Otaki of ''Slayers Gureeto''. The voice cast includes Kotono Miishi from ''Neon Genesis Evangelion Theatrical Version'' and Tomokazu Seki from ''Doraemon: Nobita's Nankai Great Adventure''.
</blockquote>
==Plot==
Most of the information for the plot of the film comes from the latter blog post of a review of the film during its test screening<ref name="run" />. The website, [https://web.archive.org/web/20101105064324/http://askwhatyouneed.webs.com/ Maze of The Haze], an archived fan site dedicated and containing mostly news about the ''MAZE'' franchise, gives us a brief rundown of the plot of the film<ref name="haze" />, taken from the latter review for the film<ref name="run" />:

<blockquote>
Long time ago, there was peace until the giants decide to wake up after years and years of slumber. The three priestesses, "The Del sisters", who were guarding their shrine had to retreat to seek help and who better to ask Maze for help. Obviously, Maze and company investigate the whole incident and they find themselves fighting against the giants. With the help of the shrine maidens, they finally save the fantasy world. The end.<ref name="haze">[https://web.archive.org/web/20101112164206/http://askwhatyouneed.webs.com/mazemovie.htm Maze of The Haze's page on the movie]</ref>
</blockquote>The film also reportedly contained a lot of scenes that heavily feature uncensored nudity among its female characters<ref name="haze" />, which is evident in how it was promoted in magazines, trailers, and advertisements<ref name="goo">[https://blog.goo.ne.jp/rinjirinji_2007 A blogpost containing various advertising posters for how the film was promoted in magazines; and two known videos with footage from the film.]<span style="color:hotpink;">'''[NSFW]'''</span></ref>.

[[File:MAZEPoster2.jpg|thumb|left|<span style="color:hotpink;">'''[NSFW]'''</span>Promotional poster for the film.]]
==Cast==
The film was directed by Iku Suzuki<ref>[https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%88%B4%E6%9C%A8%E8%A1%8C Iku Suzuki's wiki]</ref>, who also had directed the anime series, and was written by the author himself, Satoru Akahori. The cast for the film has the same voice actors that starred in the anime series reprising themselves with the characters they had originally voiced<ref name="cast" /><ref name="TV" />.
*Kotono Mitsuishi as Maze (female)<ref name="cast">[https://animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=7403 ANN Article on the cast.]</ref>
*Tomokazu Seki as Maze (male)<ref name="cast" />
*Sakura Tange as Princess Mill Varna<ref name="cast" />
* Aya Hisakawa as Jan Del<ref name="cast" />
* Miki Nagasawa as Yun Del<ref name="cast" />
* Omi Minami as Yon Del<ref name="cast" />

==Availability==
Having never been released on home media<ref name="haze" />, footage from the film is incredibly scarce and hard to find. As of 2022, there are only two known videos with footage from the film that are available online. One is the official trailer for the film, which was uploaded to NicoNico in 2009, and another one was found in a commercial compilation from 1998 that contained a 13-second promo spot for the film, with additional scenes that were not on the trailer, that was also uploaded to NicoNico in 2010<ref name="goo" />.

A petition was made and signed by various users for an official physical release of the ''MAZE'' movie back in 2005, but the petition never went anywhere.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20050314032510/https://www.tanomi.com/metoo/naiyou.html?kid=33413 Archived petition for a home media release of the film]</ref> Aside from the promotional posters and known footage for the film, some of the songs in the soundtrack used for the film are also available online<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20100106183632/http://www.esnips.com/web/MazeMegaBurstSpace-ThreatoftheGiantOST Archived eSnips page for the soundtrack of the film]</ref><ref name="haze" />.

There had been beliefs that the film's master negatives were destroyed and/or thrown away due to the film and franchise's poor sales, but these are rumors that have yet to be confirmed, and no source for the reels being destroyed is reliable.<ref>[https://collectr.blogspot.com/2019/02/bonbon.html Blogpost about the film's masters being destroyed hypothesized by a now-deleted YouTube video.]</ref>

==Footage ==
{{Video|perrow  =2
  |service1     =nico
  |id1          =https://nicovideo.jp/watch/sm8842694
  |description1 =Official trailer for the film; uploaded in 2009. <span style="color:hotpink;">'''[NSFW]'''</span>
  |service2     =nico 
  |id2          =https://nicovideo.jp/watch/sm10967169
  |description2 =Commercials from 1998 that contained a 13-second promo spot for ''MAZE''. (0:30 - 0:43); uploaded in 2010. <span style="color:hotpink;">'''[NSFW]'''</span>
}}
==External Links==
*[https://forums.lostmediawiki.com/thread/864/bakunetsu-tenpen-kyoui-giant-anime LMW Forums about the film.]
*[https://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q1462083284 A Yahoo! Japan thread asking about the film.]
*[https://myanimelist.net/forum/?topicid=1744420 MAL Thread about the film.]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20101105064324/http://askwhatyouneed.webs.com/ Archived website for ''Maze of The Haze'']
*[https://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=anime&aid=3374 AniDB page for the film.]
*[https://home.gamer.com.tw/creationDetail.php?sn=1182539 HomeGamer blog post about ''MAZE''.]
*[https://youtu.be/04yEfrOyx9c "Big Fight" - The movie soundtrack's single.]
*[https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAZE%E2%98%86%E7%88%86%E7%86%B1%E6%99%82%E7%A9%BA#.E6.98.A0.E7.94.BB Japanese Wikipedia page about the ''MAZE'' movie.]
*[https://archive.org/details/maze-movie-ost/ ''MAZE'' Movie OST]

== References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:NSFW]]
[[Category:Lost animation]]
[[Category:Lost films]]
[[Category:Partially found media]]