Films: Tamoto Takeru (1994)

Alias: Amano Shiratori (White Bird of the Heavens), Kumasogami, Kaishin Muba, Orochi (Tsukuyomi), Utsuno Ikusagami

Type: Mystical

Location: Eldritch location/Mountains/Cave/Ocean

Height/Weight: Ranges from 6.3 meters and 1.5 metric tons (Amano) to 66 meters and 50,000 metric tons (Orochi)

Affiliation: Good (Amano, Utsuno), Neutral (Kaishin), Evil (the rest)

Summary: Eastern folk stories are some of the coolest things. Okay, you could say that about any mythology, but there's quite a lot to dig up with these. One of the most fascinating stories has to be the one involving the evil eight-headed dragon, Yamata no Orochi. And what better way to incorporate him into cinema than a story full of sorcery, swordplay, and grand tokusatsu effects?

History: Long ago, the evil death God Tsukuyomi, or Orochi, was sealed away in the moon for his destruction of the Earth out of jealousy over his sister, the life Goddess Amaterasu. Now, he's back thanks to his fanatical supporters, and ready to reign doom upon the lands again. But a prophecy tells of a great warrior destined to unlock the secrets of the Lights of Yamoto. That warrior is Yamoto Takeru, a young man about to go on a daring quest filled with events such as defeating the demonic God Kumasogami, confronting the water God Kaishin Muba, and battling the evil Orochi himself.

Notable Kills: Nothing special

Final Fate: After seemingly being defeated by Orochi, Yamoto comes back, having harnessed the power of the Gods to become Utsuno Ikusagami, a heavenly warrior more than capable of bringing the beast down. After doing so, Yamoto seals Orochi away, ending it all.

Powers/Abilities: Orochi has access to standard magic in his human guise, and as his true form he can breathe fire and shoot eye beams. Kumasogami can make weapons out of his hands, Kaishin can fire a beam of energy from the jewel on his forehead, Amano can teleport, and Ikusagami has a big magic sword named Karasai, can create reflective force fields, and can fire pure concentrated sunlight from his head.

Weakness: Beings of equal and greater power.

Scariness Factor: 4.5-Considering that most of the villains are gigantic kaiju, it's not hard to see why they'd best be avoided. But while Orochi is terrifying in a majestic way, Kumasogami might be one of the scariest-looking kaiju yet, looking like tokusatsu's answer to Satan. At least Amano and Ikusagami are strictly on our side.

Trivia: -In the original story that Orochi was in, he was fed so much sake by the legendary warrior Susano that he couldn't hold his heads above the ground, giving the man a chance to cleave all of his heads off in one fell swoop.

-Orochi had made a previous appearance in a Toho movie, as a minor antagonist of 1959's "The Three Treasures".