Giants and Toys

, also titled The Build-Up, is a 1958 Japanese satirical comedy film directed by Yasuzo Masumura based on a story by Takeshi Kaikō. Plot Candy manufacturer World competes with companies Giant and Apollo over caramel sales. While looking for a poster girl for a new promotional campaign, chief of advertising Goda discovers Kyoko, a working class girl with bad teeth, and makes her World's mascot, dressed up in a space suit and wielding a ray gun. Meanwhile, Goda's assistant Nishi, at the instruction of his boss, has an affair with Apollo's advertising lady Kurahashi to learn about their campaign plans. As Kyoko's popularity rises to unprecedented heights, the young woman is less and less inclined to go along with World's plans for her, working on a career as a singer and dancer. After Kyoko terminates their contract, Goda, sick from professional stress to the point of coughing up blood, wants to take over her role. Nishi, worried about his boss's health, stops him and takes over the role of the mascot himself. Dressed in Kyoko's spacesuit and wielding a ray gun, Nishi patrols the streets, followed by Kurahashi who prompts him to smile a bright smile for the passers-by. Cast Hiroshi Kawaguchi as Yōsuke Nishi Hitomi Nozoe as Kyōko Shima Yūnosuke Itō as Junji Harukawa Michiko Ono as Masami Kurahashi Kyu Sazanka as Takakura Higashi Kinzō Shin as Kōhei Hideo Takamatsu as Ryuji Goda Production Giants and Toys originated as a short story written by Takeshi Kaikō. After Kaikō won the Akutagawa Prize in 1957 for The Naked King, Daiei Film bought the rights to Giants and Toys. The story was an entry in the "business novel" (経済小説, keizai shōsetsu) genre, which satirizes Japanese workers' devotion to their corporations.