'The Great World War') is a 1961 Japanese epic tokusatsu science fiction disaster film directed by Shūe Matsubayashi, with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya.

The film begins with a narration over shots of a modern-day Tokyo, noting that 16 years have passed since the end of World War II, and Japan has achieved rapid recovery.

Tensions reach a critical level; dogfights between Federation and Alliance fighters over the Arctic Ocean (with both sides using nuclear-tipped air-to-air missiles) are just the beginning of a renewed conflict.

Although Japan calls on both sides to seek peace, government officials think that the country could be ripe for Alliance retaliation in light of its open support for the Federation.

Additional launches (from submarines at sea and/or under the Arctic) are shown, suggesting that either that the destruction of the five cities escalated into a global nuclear war.

The following morning, Takano and his crew change the course of their ship to travel towards Tokyo's ruins, prepared to die en route from their own exposure to the intense radioactive fallout.

The last shot shows Tokyo, now an immense crater, with the remains of the Diet Building situated near the centre, surrounded by cooled lava flows.

As work progressed, it was discovered that Toei had produced a similar film, World War III Breaks Out: 41 Hours of Fear (1960) (第三次世界大戦 四十一時間の恐怖, Dai-sanji sekai taisen: Yonju-ichi jikan no kyofu), dealing with identical subject matter.