Godzilla Kaiju Popularity Overview And The New Monster General Election

 

By Joe Gibson

 

Recently on our YouTube page, I ranked the kaiju in Johnny Sokko And His Flying Robot (Ranking The Kaiju, Robots And Seijin In Johnny Sokko And His Flying Robot)as I had done for the Gamera series a while ago. For a little while now, I have been planning on ranking the Godzilla series kaiju, but since Godzilla as an IP has an extraordinary amount of kaiju compared to Gamera, Kong, Giant Robo, or one season of Ultraman even put together, I knew I would have to approach it in a different way. I realized I would be better off grouping the kaiju in subdivisions for the rankings based on more objective metrics.

 

But I had other projects I wanted to work on first. Toho, in some ways, has forced my hand with the New Monster General Election that already has the fanbase in a state of frenzy. If you are unaware, for the past few years, every Godzilla Day (November 3rd) Toho has released a tokusatsu short featuring refurbished suits and puppets usually including a kaiju battle. I have loved watching these, and others in the fandom share this sentiment. The original wave of these reached their climax with the Godzilla from Final Wars teaming up with a Jet Jaguar with Gigan claws to defeat the King Ghidorah from GMK, and that series is no longer available on YouTube, but the relaunch started with a refurbished Godzilla 2000 suit rampaging and attaining a Burning form. That video is still up, and the ending teased that another monster would arrive through the smoke and fog to fight Godzilla next (now this) year. 

 

Monster X, a Ghidorah variant from Godzilla Final Wars (2004), has been confirmed to be the first opponent for Burning G2K, but Toho has more ambitious plans for next year’s short. The New Monster General Election features eight sketches of monsters that the general public can vote on, and the winner will fight Godzilla. It is still technically unclear if next year’s short will be live action tokusatsu in this new series or something akin to Gemstone’s animated specials Godzilla vs Gigan Rex and Godzilla vs Megalon, but I really want these new designs immortalized in suitmation.

 

 

With this new marketing campaign from Toho, the Godzilla fanbase is excited but puzzled. I have heard wild speculation that Toho’s larger plans for these new eight kaiju to appear in a new Ultraman style show no matter who wins the election, and furthermore the topic on everybody’s mind is that somehow the winner will get an immediate boost to the top of franchise importance, rising to place alongside the Big Five (Godzilla, Mothra, Ghidorah, Mechagodzilla, and Rodan) in Toho’s in-house productions. I find that part, at least, unlikely, but it serves as a fair segue into my approach for ranking the Godzilla series. This article will explore the concept of Toho’s Big Five and beyond as well as the limitations of such a schema to more effectively introduce these new eight upstarts.

 

Last year, I tried to use Toho’s Big Five to frame discussion of Gamera’s costars (https://planninecrunch.blogspot.com/2025/09/who-are-big-five-kaiju-in-gamera.html). I was able to mostly map a one-to-one comparison, but the entire premise needed some disclaimers that I should reproduce here. Ostensibly, the objective measure for the Big Five is box office appeals in Toho’s filmography. This was purposeful and helped return on investment in the Heisei and Millennium films after the films with new kaiju underperformed. Consequently, it resulted in a larger market share in popular culture, which translated into numerous mainline appearances, merchandise, other ancillary media and outside references in pop culture. As I explained, that means that it is really a Big 7 that adds in Kong and a child for Godzilla (which meant that I could include Daimajin and nonspecific baby kaiju for Gamera’s Big 5 but actually 7), but the current anthology approach to kaiju storytelling in the East means that the Reiwa Era is not likely to have a Big 5 that actually interacts with each other. Furthermore, the box office disappointment of Godzilla King of The Monsters and extenuating Covid circumstances of Godzilla vs Kong means that, by box office, the Monsterverse box office positions Godzilla, Kong, Mothra and nebulous swappable villainous doppelganger (Mechagodzilla, Skar King, Shimo, Spacegodzilla) as its Big Four.

 

The Big Five as a concept only really made sense in the decade between Godzilla: Final Wars and Godzilla 2014. That is the only time in history that those 5 uniquely were set aside for their “prophesied importance.” When the original films were coming out in the 60s and 70s, there certainly was a drive to revisit Rodan, Mothra, Ghidorah and Mechagodzilla in Godzilla sequels, but Gigan also got an immediate follow-up, as was also initially planned for King Kong and Hedorah. The Heisei series only relied on Ghidorah, Mothra and eventually Mechagodzilla and Rodan when Toho lost money introducing new kaiju, and Anguirus almost made it into what eventually became Godzilla vs Destoroyah while a different son of Godzilla than Minya also existed. The Millennium series, as the third time for Mothra, Ghidorah, Mechagodzilla and Rodan, finally set the pattern that The Big Five were the only Godzilla kaiju to reappear in every era (even if Mechagodzilla and King Ghidorah were excised to elseworlds continuities from each other). With Godzilla Final Wars as the end of the franchise and Godzilla 2014 a surprising new beginning, that 10 years codified the Big Five as a group that we expected to see in any sequels to G14. The issue is that announcing Godzilla vs Kong kind of screwed with things on that front as Kong has always had more marquee value than the other four of the Big Five, and his remakes, though divorced from Godzilla, also mapped closely enough on to the Showa, Heisei and Millennium Series. 

 

 

Secondly, you may also notice that the order of that Big Five kept changing, pushing Rodan further and further down essentially. Though of the KOTM crew, Rodan was the only survivor, he only reappeared after Ghidorah’s corpse created Mechagodzilla, Mothra was reborn to help Godzilla and Kong and the new Titan X grounded a whole season of television. Rodan may very well be the central kaiju in season 3 of Monarch Legacy of the Monsters or the Cold War themed spinoff, as he was arguably the main kaiju in Godzilla Singular Point, but he is also the only one in the Big Five that has not appeared outside of an offscreen fridging with Anguirus in a recap section (Planet of the Monsters) in a Japanese feature film since 2004. Ranking the kaiju by importance honestly is difficult because Rodan has this spot no matter what, unless Toho does restructure to include the election winner.

 

Mothra has not appeared in the flesh since then outside of the Monsterverse, but the same trilogy that reduced Rodan to a generic Pteranodon corpse kept her spirit as a central Deus ex machina. Still, there is a valid argument that Ghidorah and Mechagodzilla may be surpassing Mothra overall, and even so, the recent confirmation of Ghidorah’s role in Godzilla Minus Zero, produces an interesting dialectic in regards to his overuse. 

 

Ghidorah is the most overused antagonist, appearing directly in Ghidorah The Three Headed Monster, Godzilla vs Monster Zero, Destroy All Monsters, Godzilla vs Gigan, Godzilla vs King Ghidorah, Rebirth of Mothra, Rebirth of Mothra 3, GMK, Godzilla Final Wars, Godzilla: The Planet Eater, Godzilla King Of The Monsters, and Godzilla Minus Zero with ample stock footage cameos and multimedia presence (Godzilla vs Evangelion, Godzilla The Ride, etc.). These appearances all fall into a variety of contextual subsets based on if Ghidorah is in control of his own mental faculties, if he is from outer space or not, if he is King Ghidorah or a different type, etc. to the point it is simultaneously true that both the Monsterverse and Reiwa had a Ghidorah within a year of each other and that the last time Godzilla fought a villainous King Ghidorah in a Japanese live action film was 1991 (last time Godzilla fought a villainous extraterrestrial King Ghidorah in a Japanese live action film was 1972). There is equal parts hunger for and fatigue of Ghidorah’s role as Godzilla’s eternal archenemy.

 

 

Mechagodzilla has the most unambiguous universal appeal/significance. “X vs Mecha-X” is a trope bordering on cliche at this point, and Mechagodzilla himself somehow made it into Ready Player One’s film without Godzilla (or Ultraman who Mechagodzilla fought in the book). Mechagodzilla has also made similar strides to what I pointed out for Viras in my Gamera Big Five video. Mechagodzilla was the last straight up villain and second to last antagonist to Godzilla introduced in the Showa series, and still came after Ghidorah in sequence in the Heisei, Millennium and Monsterverse series. Godzilla’s Reiwa series adapted Mechagodzilla before Ghidorah, and after Ghidorah and Rodan had to share Yamazaki’s first Godzilla the Ride, before Mothra has gotten any treatment from Yamazaki, Mechagodzilla gets the second Godzilla the Ride to himself to explore his fight against Godzilla. (This is especially significant because it took until 2002 for Mechagodzilla to be the only other kaiju/mech Godzilla interacted with in a film, and that has still only happened once since then.) Similarly, the first kaiju/mech to interact onscreen with both Godzilla and Kong was Gorosaurus, but the second one and first in an American film was Mechagodzilla, with Mothra next and Ghidorah and Rodan still not having achieved this. Despite making the least sense in the real world, a mechanical version of Godzilla has the smallest buy-in of any concept.

 

My own personal ranking based on enjoyment would be 1. Rodan, 2. Ghidorah, 3. Godzilla, 4. Mechagodzilla, 5. Mothra, but as I hope I have justified sufficiently, this is almost meaningless to say. If I do videos or later blog points following up on my Godzilla kaiju ranking, the most productive next step would be to rank the incarnations of each of the Big Five against each other, ranking the top 20 Ghidorahs for instance. And that should wait until after Minus Zero comes out for the sake of being thorough.

 

 

Expanding the Big Five into a Big 10 or Big 15 is something numerous people have tried to do, and I am still not sure that I have succeeded, but hear me out. Box office appeal is the primary metric for the Big Five, and so, logically movie attendance in Japan should be a consideration for expanding the Big Five, in which case the top 10 films are King Kong vs Godzilla (12.55 million), Godzilla 1954 (9.61 million), Godzilla Raids Again (8.34 million), Mothra vs Godzilla (7.20 million), Shin Godzilla (5.69 million), Ghidorah The Three Headed Monster (5.41 million), Invasion of Astro Monster (5.13 million), Godzilla Minus One (5.04 million), Ebirah: Horror of The Deep (4.21 million) and Godzilla vs Mothra 1992 (4.20 million) (https://www.reddit.com/r/GODZILLA/comments/1o75xmh/godzilla_series_japanese_box_office_charts/). 

 

In addition to the Monsterverse’s US and international appeal, KKvsG’s top placement means we can certainly keep Kong in the 6th slot, and while this list keeps Ghidorah, Mothra and Rodan pretty central, Anguirus’ debut film is in the top 3. I am hesitant to give Anguirus a slot here because he is not that popular in Japan (especially compared to Baragon, who, in turn, is less popular in the US), but he has been in as many films as Rodan and serves a similar role as “dinosaur inspired friend to Godzilla,” and he is the only one we can promote from this data. (For the American side of things, Anguirus has an almost cameo in the Monsterverse where a skeleton with his head appeared in Godzilla’s temple when it exploded, and Anguirus won the 2024 Toho Kingdom Hall of Fame vote, beating out Hedorah and Gigan.)

 

If we adjust and take out the films that only featured members of the Big Five, the top 10 films are KKvsG, Godzilla Raids Again, Ebirah Horror Of The Deep, Godzilla vs Destoroyah, Godzilla vs Spacegodzilla, Destroy All Monsters, Son of Godzilla, GMK, Godzilla 2014, and Godzilla vs Biollante, but GvB is about the point where we are getting into box office disappointments. This list confirms my other suspicion that the Son of Godzilla character, be it named Minilla or Godzilla Junior, is important glue in the franchise, so the 7th place spot I have earmarked for him stays (Anguirus being number 8). Put a pin in Spacegodzilla, Destoroyah, and Biollante for a moment; it makes more sense to get back to them after another Toho Kingdom indulgence. In a poll from 2020 with over 100 votes as to which kaiju should be considered the next five in a Big 10, Anguirus earned first place with 22 votes, Gigan second place with 20, Minya 12 (but Godzilla Jr 3 so our combined Son of Godzilla archetype gets 15), then Baragon with 11, Destoroyah 8, Biollante 7, and that is enough for the sake of this discussion. 

 

 

Gigan is another strong contender for a Big 10. He first appeared prominently in a film featuring King Ghidorah (though low attendance overall, it is the highest attendance of the Champion Fest era of the Showa series) and then got a direct sequel (kind of) and multiple appearances on Zone Fighter. The addition of Godzilla and Gigan together into Jet Jaguar vs Megalon and Zone Fighter indicates that, at least of the available suits, Toho considered them the quintessential hero and villain…for at least one year in the 70s. Gigan was prominent in Godzilla Final Wars, but there was no Heisei appearance, and the other continuities of Gigan have been in expanded multimedia material similar to Viras in the Gamera series. Still, multiple creatives working on the Monsterverse have voiced desire to bring Gigan into the universe, and the various repaints of Gigan are carrying the Godziburst toyline on their back, so the number 9 spot going to Gigan seems fair to me.

 

On April 10th, 2021, there was a Japanese popularity ranking, surveying modern favorites in the franchise. With 5730 votes and a two-week survey period, this is the most objective of the sources I have brought into this investigation today. The top ten films according to a modern audience (which should thus influence a modern Big 10) were Shin Godzilla (914 votes), Godzilla 1954 (662 votes), Godzilla vs Destoroyah (655), Godzilla vs Biollante (645), GMK (288), Godzilla Final Wars (274), Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla II (212), Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (208), Mothra vs Godzilla (202) and Godzilla vs King Ghidorah (183). 

 

The Heisei series has been integral to Toho’s internal marketing of the character ever since they came out, and its new creatures Biollante, Spacegodzilla and Destoroyah deserve consideration for the last spot because even with no reappearances (yet), they have greater staying power than the Millennium kaiju (Orga and Megaguirus). GMK’s position vindicates Mothra and Ghidorah’s popularity, but also implicates Baragon as a profitable asset, and it is probably fairest to have Anguirus and Baragon share the number 8 spot, because where one is popular, the other is an afterthought basically. It is very difficult to narrow down who of the three Heisei kaiju should get that lost slot. The Monsterverse would otherwise be a kingmaker, but I do not really know if the confirmed impending revival of Spacegodzilla in Godzilla x Kong Supernova matters as much to the overall state of the franchise. Toho is introducing the eight new monsters this month before the new Spacegodzilla has the chance for so much as a trailer, and IF Toho truly does intend for the winner of the contest to be a new franchise mainstay, they would supplant Spacegodzilla here. 

 

Biollante and Destoroyah each have interesting rhetorical situations, Biollante being the result of a similar contest that actually also inspired the Ultra series kaiju Leogon, while Destoroyah was the (retconned) logical extension of the Oxygen Destroyer and also went through several drafts that would have seen him interact with Anguirus. Godzilla vs Biollante is consistently a critical darling in Japan and America, and I would give Biollante the edge just for having half the theatrical attendance of Godzilla vs Destoroyah but as much, if not more, staying power.

 

So, with these next five, I would rank them a little differently. Kong should really have his own ranking inclusive of his opponents, but Son of Godzilla includes Minya, the three different suits for Godzilla Junior, Zilla Jr, Godzilla Filius, etc, so that would be its own post or video, as would the different incarnations of Anguirus. I will just rank the rest now. I like Biollante more than Destoroyah, but then Gigan, Spacegodzilla, and Baragon.

 

There are, of course, a few more secondary kaiju in the franchise: Ebirah, Kumonga, Kamacuras, Hedorah, Jet Jaguar and Megalon had multiple appearances across films, series or official shorts. And Titanosaurus, Orga, Megaguirus, the MUTOs, Skar King and Shimo are still prominent in their own films. The tertiary kaiju and Toho expanded catalog would add Varan, Moguera, Oodako, the giant lizard, the Giant Condor, Shukra, Momagon, The Griffon, Sanda, Gaira, Frankenstein, and so, so many more. That would be its own video to parse. Let us know which of those you would like to see first (a video ranking the incarnations of Ghidorah, the same video but with a kaiju the caliber of Anguirus or a wild obscure ranking like what half of my Gamera kaiju picks were).

 

 

In the meantime, we have a new bottom eight with the potential of rising stars, so let us go through the new contenders, knowing that they will either rise to the top of our lips or die in obscurity like Firelion and Lightning Bug.

 

Though this post is technically more about grouping the different Godzilla kaiju than ranking them, I still did include my best guess of the order of importance of the Big Five as well as my own ranking of the major stars. As we know little about these new kaiju, the order of importance seems to be their billing on the website and the order their silhouettes were first revealed. This is like how, in my Gamera ranking, I had to rank Vaora, Sohra and Bodera fairly low, as I only had access to their designs in a still image. So, the objective ranking is Gigasecto, Candyroy, Gilx, Sagius, Xenolhu, Madomuh, Minacias and Rigedoh, but, for fun, I will introduce them to you in the opposite order.

 

 

Rigedoh is ostensibly a triceratops but resembles a roided up fusion of Godzilla Evolved, Shimo and the Ultra series kaiju Gomora. Rigedoh thawed out of ice, due to global warming, and went through an evolution into its final form, per the information provided on the election website. A whole movie’s worth of context already exists just leading up to Rigedoh using his Dino Trident energy move against Godzilla, so I voted for Rigedoh rather early on in this election process (the first block of voting allows one vote per day between September 16th and October 4th, at which point the top 4 advance to midterms). I like Rigedoh, and I could see him as a suit very easily, but I kind of hope he does not win. 

 

Still, we must recall that the most likely Godzilla for these kaiju to face is Burning Godzilla 2000, and I must admit that a jagged, spiky Burning Godzilla in black and orange would contrast nicely with a muscular, spiky white and pink triceratops. I also appreciate the recent trend of bringing herbivore kaiju into the fray with Therizirus in Ultraman Omega being a Therizinosaurus. I have not voted for Rigedoh a second time, but my second vote was for him.

 

 

My fourth vote overall was for the 48 meter ancient mecha Minacias, which resembles a thorny unicorn. Evidently, it was the peacekeeping guardian of an ancient prehistoric society that they used as a weapon, which wiped them out (bringing to mind Heisei Gamera and Gyaos). Upon its awakening, it passed judgement on modern day weapons testing, misconstrued Godzilla for a weapon of destruction and sought him out to make an example of him. In this case, it feels like the “movie pitch” here necessitates Godzilla, especially as its ‘Electric Damned’ unicorn electricity could beam clash with Godzilla and would effectively target the infrastructure Godzilla would not attack (siphoning energy from communication networks and causing total electrical gridlock). The spindly appendages make this difficult for me to visualize as a suit, but the silhouette is strong; of all the creatures here, I recommend flipping through the front, back and side profiles provided most of all.

 

 

I have joined consensus in declaring that Madomuh is the least unique, clearly just a copyright-able version of Cthulhu (Xenohlu, who we will get to, takes the concept of an eldritch horror interacting with Godzilla to a more fresh place), but Cthulhu vs Godzilla has always been a popular match-up that I would not mind seeing, and Toho inevitably was always going to make their own Cthulhu for this match-up to make money. Madomuh has arisen from the sea, following a period of dormancy, to re-establish itself as a ruler of earth. It can brainwash other lifeforms, is 50 meters tall (these new opponents range from 40 to 60 meters for the most part), and has a self-destructing mutagenic Grand Spore that can enter a creature to bring it under Madomuh’s control.

 

 

So far, Xenohlu is especially popular in the West, and even though I voted for it only third, this is probably my favorite to win and favorite overall. It has telekinesis, causes hallucinations and arrives, seeking out Godzilla out of a “sinister curiosity” about Godzilla’s atomic breath. This is easily the most bizarre and alien concept, as its Abyss Gaze uses a giant eye to override a person’s willpower and disintegrate them. Also, Xenolhu can fly by warping reality with his tentacles. This is almost too inventive to waste on a short film, but the odds of a feature film from a visionary director featuring this kaiju is next to nothing if he loses the poll I would think, so I still hope he wins. Starfish squid is how I would describe this design, and I think they could realize it in suitmation pretty similarly to Pestar from the Ultra series. The 58-meter height also makes Xenolhu more imposing than Madomuh, and the marquee value of “Godzilla vs Cthulhu" is present no matter which of the eldritch abominations wins this election.

 

Sagius is the other mecha, with the general shape being a cross between the Gamera monsters Iris and Legion, as is the centaur to Minacias’ horse. It was seemingly made to fight Godzilla and has drones that can come off its back as well as a variable maser attack from its chest or from its drones in an array. I would wish to actively campaign against Sagius making top 4, because it is a less cool version of the scrapped Asuka Fortress Mecha Mobile Facility with tentacles and smaller ancillary robots. I still voted for Sagius out of the interest of fairness, but I would not do so again.

 

 

Gilx feels like a Spacegodzilla offshoot concept, an extraterrestrial world destroyer that goes to earth to seek Godzilla’s energy (that already has Godzilla’s general build just with Ghidorah inspired features, in this case twin tails, and if he gets his hands on Godzilla’s energy, I suspect he would assimilate him further). Gilx’s goal with Godzilla’s energy is to destroy Earth with a beefed-up version of its Planet-Destroying ray. This is a cool enough monster and seems perfect for a short film (as opposed to a feature), but I find it weird to make Godzilla’s big 70-meter opponent that weighs over 40,000 tons only capable of destroying Earth by using Godzilla’s power. Godzilla’s victory would be ensured in the premise if his power exceeds Gilx’s already.

 

 

Though I cannot verify this, I have heard that Candyroy is especially popular in Japan, and I can see why. A Hedorah type creature composed of candy wrappers in this huggable exterior is the most “late Showa Ultraman” coded thing imaginable, and it satisfies the itch for Hedorah to return in a suitmation format while not making a CGI reimagination irrelevant. Candyroy is exceptionally weird. He looks like Alien Zamu but with a Hedorah skin texture and ranges from 0 to 55 meters. Like Hedorah, he came from space but assimilated an earthly pollution problem upon arriving. Still, like Hedorah, he seems to be a powerhouse, able to turn him body partially into particles to make a Particle Cannon shockwave or turn his arms into swords. Candyroy is neat, and I would like to see him in something. Now may be his best chance, but I figure if he makes it top four, he still has a chance to appear later on down the road.

 

 

Gigasecto was my first vote in this race, because I think he was one of the better concepts, and leading with him in the marketing tied my hands. If, after reading this whole article, Gigasecto still grabs you, then he has a unique appeal that could lead to him landing top 4. I certainly hope so, though he may be too close to Megalon (Megalon appeared in Gemstone’s Godzilla Day short in 2023, so we could do without Megalon lite this soon after). This is a detailed beetle design with six limbs and a tail, and he spent 65 million years feasting on nutrients in the Amazon rainforest before sensing Godzilla and becoming territorial. Like Megalon, his backstory could make him the lesser or greater of two evils, and if we are drawing from Megalon to make Gigasecto, I think it would be neat if Gigasecto and Gilx develop an inexplicable friendship. The Sonic Blade attack seems a little bit out there if it truly is a “vacuum blade that slices through spacetime,” but Megalon’s firepower was on par with that of King Ghidorah, so I should not complain too much. The four arms would make for interesting grappling choreography as well.

 

Well, that is the overview of the Godzilla kaiju as best as I can group them. Let us know if you agree with my drafts for the Big 10 and which of those Big 10 you would like to see ranked individually first. Also, let us know which, if any, of the new eight kaiju appealed to you in the comments below. Stay tuned for more kaiju coverage from a variety of angles in a variety of styles.

Part 2 - Godzilla vs Megaguirus: Strengths, Stupidities and Sophistry, Transcript version

By Joe Gibson

 

The following is the second and final part of my review and literary criticism of Godzilla vs Megaguirus. (Here is part one: Plan 9 Crunch: All About Cult Films: Transcript Version - Godzilla Vs Megaguirus: Strengths, Stupidities, And Sophistry PART ONE). If you would prefer to watch this essay, here is the link to the YouTube upload Godzilla vs Megaguirus: Strengths, Stupidities and Sophistry. If you are stumbling on this without the context of either the first part on the blog or the full video, this part will pick up discussing Kiriko Tsujimori’s standout scene climbing on Godzilla’s back, but you really should look at the setup I described for getting to this point so you can understand my analysis getting to this moment.

 

The G-Graspers take samples of the felled Meganula, and Godzilla approaches the raft where Tsujimori and Okamura are. Tsujimori relocates Okamura back to the ship and puts on her protective gear in the same manner with the same confidence as she puts on her sunglasses. She swims over to Godzilla, the being that terrified her before she lost her commanding officer, and she clings to his back even though the radiation exposure registers on her suit. She shoots the micro transmitter into Godzilla and jumps off into the ocean, so that they can track him without using his energy. Finally, she calls him a lizard just as her CO did.

 

That scene is, for many, a stand out moment in the entire Godzilla franchise, but I seldom hear discussion about how this is evidence that she is acting as her commanding officer in this, her coolest moment. He died trying to get her to safety, with a strategic retreat, when she was so scared of Godzilla that she was not thinking rationally. Now, she swiftly and decisively removes her subordinate from danger, fearlessly climbs on Godzilla’s back and pushes herself to make sure this retreat is not a total loss by planting the tracker and escaping to curse the lizard once more. In that regard, she has surpassed her CO, but the question is if she realizes that. Another question would be if she was only able to do so because of her superior technology or her discipline.

 

Now comes the introduction of a scientist to explain what the child already told us and the film already showed us about the Meganulon life cycle, and this is another example of the film’s odd exposition habits. As a small SGS searches through the flooded Shibuya for Meganulon eggs and finds many, Tsujimori’s composure betrays her, and this makes sense as she is currently not wearing the sunglasses and in a deferential mood to Kudo, who designed the small SGS, and the other experts in the room. She might also have realized just how severe Jun’s mistake was, and she perhaps relates that back to her own mistake long ago. Sugiura plays with a chessboard, and this is the only bit of foreshadowing as to his later heel turn. Next, sans sunglasses but in more formal military wear, she explains the operation to lure Godzilla to Kiganjima island to shoot him with Dimension Tide, and she appeals to the next generation and children, indicating she is likely still thinking of Jun. Sugiura assures their backers that this plan will work.

 

Yoshizawa confronts Sugiura on his assurance to the government that Dimension Tide was ready before any tests, and Tsujimori, in full Major attire including a hat, takes Sugiura’s side but does so politely (so Yoshizawa has only kind words for Tsujimori). During the operation, there is another moment where a sunglasses-less Kiriko looks at Godzilla with fear but then steels herself, marking a change from Kiriko to Major Tsujimori in the operation. At the same time, the Meganula theme begins to play in all of its glory as soldiers floating in Shibuya try to shoot down as many Meganulon as they can before they mature. That is certainly a sentence. The CGI is noticeably bad, but the music augments this scene in a very important way.

 

 

When Godzilla finally arrives at the island, his suit finally shows the brighter green pigment it is known for, but very quickly, he is swarmed by dragonflies, so the contrast may be the intent there. It makes sense that the Meganula would follow him here; they found him before, and there are too many of them for him to kill before they can take some of his energy. During all of this, the Dimension Tide is on a timer, and Sugiura insists that they must proceed with the strike even if the bugs are there.

 

After Godzilla kills most of the Meganula, the strike fires on Godzilla, and Sugiura smiles prematurely. The strike merely displaced Godzilla, either sending him backward or possibly burying him (which will become important next time they fire the Dimension Tide). Godzilla contemplates going after the Meganula, then turns around to glare at Tsujimori and then starts heading to the National Chemistry Institute in Shibuya, which we learn from Sugiura on a phone call as he knocks all of the pieces off his chess board.

 

 

The Meganula return their stolen energy to their queen and die, but we do not have time to think about that as Tsujimori and Kudo argue. Though lacking the physical markers of the change, Tsujimori switches from aggressive to meekly apologetic in a very pronounced manner. Back in Shibuya, Megaguirus’ magnetic powers cause the technology to malfunction, and she bursts out of the water with her iconic design consisting of a reptilian face, tail with a stinger and rapid CGI wings. I like Megaguirus a lot, and I also think her parts of the film are the most unscathed from plot contrivance. It just takes a bit to explain her powerset as I have not adequately done in the past. Her flight causes sonic booms and uncomfortable vibrations in the human ear, and now she can harness Godzilla’s energy. In the past, she was merely fast, strong and territorial. So is Godzilla though, as he is still on his way to Japan. In a brief cameo appearance, we see Jun trying to evacuate with the crowd.

 

Tsujimori finally asks Sugiura why Godzilla is attacking, recapping that it was definitely plasma energy that summoned Godzilla in 1996 and that Japan no longer produces energy. Again, I think that means that the Griffon jet and other advanced technology cannot be plasma powered because that would mean that somewhere else is producing the plasma power and not getting attacked if the contained plasma plant within the Science Institute is enough to summon Godzilla now of all times.

 

Megaguirus interrupts the Griffon’s battle with Godzilla, and this battle theme is another highlight of the movie’s soundtrack. This review will not replace the experience of watching the film, and to prove that point, I will not recap the choreography here. I like this fight a lot and think it shows off the fighting styles of the kaiju involved very well. Despite being so climactic, it technically plays out almost as a cul-de-sac in the film.

 

I will say that as payoff to Megaguirus affecting technology before, she affects the G-Graspers’ tech including Dimension Tide now. In this scene where Tsujimori’s eyes are not covered, she looks more vulnerable than the rest of her team, and this corresponds to the raising stakes. When Kudo returns to the base after his injuries sustained from Megaguirus, Tsujimori shows concern, until he calls her out on it, and she resumes a gruffer mission-oriented demeanor. Throughout the film, she shifts her attitudes very deliberately and constantly, and you’ll see why it is important that I bring this up literally every time it happens in the sophistry section of the essay.

 

 

The dispatch of Megaguirus means that Godzilla can resume his rampage, and Tsujimori finally admits they are helpless against Godzilla. This is an important but very, very understated part of her arc in the film. As the Griffon becomes airworthy, it convenes with Sugiura, who fled to the room and Yoshizawa, who followed him there. Tsujimori, guard fully down, asks Sugiura very emotionally why Godzilla is attacking the Science Institute, and here is the exposition that plasma energy was explicitly banned but Sugiura is still using it anyway to generate wealth and, implicitly, though again this contradicts a lot of the inferences you have to make in the movie, fund and power the G-Graspers. Tsujimori accuses Sugiura, finally blaming him for all of the people he sent to die fighting Godzilla for the last 5 years.

 

Now is the most confusing part of the movie. Her ideals having been broken down by the reveal that the G-Graspers were founded on avoidable casualties and the Dimension Tide literally falling out of the sky, she puts the helmet back on, steels her demeanor again, has Dimension Tide lock on her in the middle of the capital city and detonates Dimension Tide to take out Godzilla. This only somewhat diminishes the strength of her character. The best analogy I can think of is the 1976 King Kong and how it misses the mark for the most part but still somehow has the best version of Jack Driscoll as Jack Prescott and the only actually believable love story in the franchise, yet the wonky themes still mischaracterize Jack briefly towards the end of the film. How can avenging her CO in the most reckless way possible wearing insignias that exacerbated the problem be the ideal way to end this story?

 

 

Well, that stumped me before, but let’s draw to make sense of this. That is the point of this video after all. The imagery is very similar to the later circumstances of Minus One’s final charge, but I only bring that up for your benefit to understand this scene better. Obviously, this film existed independent of Minus One for about 20 years, but nonetheless in the same manner as Shikishima putting Noriko’s picture on the dashboard, she puts the dog tags, the symbol of her lost commander in front of her, executes a kamikaze run and ejects her seat at just the right moment to deal a critical blow to Godzilla. In this context, I wonder if we can view this as the death of the split Tsujimori and the beginning of a character free to live as she wants to. She immediately makes fun of Kudo for his concern over her, so the reading also exists that the Kiriko part is what died, but then the film shows us that she let her hair down finally, and she stands on top of a building surveying the damage, quite literally where she was before her CO died. In a bookend, she visits Kudo once more for help but with her hair down and sunglasses off. They tease each other to close out the film, though I have made the mistake in the past of implying there is not still a dutiful formality to their interaction that muddles the romantic interest.

 

Of course, the real end of the film is a post credits scene where Jun, at school trying to move on with his life, hears Godzilla roar. Plot recaps indicate that Godzilla also emerges from the ground similarly to how he did on the abandoned island, but I never noticed that before, nor had I about it in the discourse of the film. The building rattles, and we hear an explosion, and he reacts in shock as if something happened. That’s what is actually in the film. I find it more interesting if Godzilla is trapped in some other dimension able to imprint ripples on the world still, but that is an idea popularized in the discourse that I have already established overwrites certain aspects of the film. Fittingly though, it is ambiguous and hard to tell exactly what it is trying to say. All evidence in the film suggests however that if you do not destroy every part of Godzilla decisively, he will come back very soon after.

 

(Partial) Conclusion (Keep Reading For Sophistry Section)

 

 

There is a tension in this review that may or may not be obvious to you at this time. I clearly like the film a lot because I spent so much time embroiled in this, and yet, as I indicated was a possibility, this review is far more negative than positive. There is also an air of incompleteness, I am sure, as we have only talked about the strengths and the stupidities, but I promised sophistry. Going into this project, I assumed that the movie would be a 2 out 10, but with the strengths in mind, as inconsistent as they are, I think the movie deserves a 3 out of 10 for including certain narrative short-hands that mitigate the problems without really solving any of them. For context, again, I believe a 5 out of 10 film would be perfectly balanced in strengths and stupidities and also would round up to a good film, so it actually is a sizable victory that this film achieved that extra point that takes it that much closer to being good.

 

One of the things reviewing these films has taught me is that my opinion on and feelings about a movie can be wholly separate to its actual quality, as best as I can determine it. Though it is tragic and often frustrating when a piece of art does not live up to its full potential, appreciating a film, respecting a film, and liking a film can be about honoring it, including its lessened quality. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is a 4 out 10 movie (maybe lower), but I love it for how close it gets to crossing that threshold into being an actually good film. I do not need to pretend that there are not systemic issues in the film to like it, but also how much I like it and how much I care about appraising it fairly means I also try not to invent problems with it to be able to share my assessments without having to defend them. I like a lot of 4 out of 10 movies and will argue that people oversimplify every score below a 7 out of 10 as simply bad with no degree of nuance and thus no productive takeaway on what the successes and failures present should teach us about writing stories. At the end of the day, my argument is that if any film deserves respect, all do, and my opinion is that I like certain movies a lot.

 

But Wait, There’s More?

 

More than even just wanting to review it fairly, I now have a vested interest in trying to formulate a schema where this movie makes sense. And technically speaking, at least based on my forays into an English degree, that is generally where actual literary criticism comes from as opposed to what I define as a review. The bias that Hamlet should make sense and be cohesive is the point from which New Criticism analyzes it according to every single plot point to conclude, in opposition to authorial intent and audience consensus, that Hamlet has an Oedipal Complex. There are aspects of this that are important to the kind of reviews I like to write; authorial intent is not Word of God, the general audience seldom is as clinical in their assessments as a review should be, and the best stories have total cohesion and consistency across every plot point, theme and character arc. 

 

However, New Criticism is an egotistical scam, allowing the Critics to write incredibly cryptically and teach each other’s works to keep each other employed all while getting increasingly self-important and pretentious about the role of the Critic as they define it. Indeed, I like to say that every literary theory basically serves to commodify tactics every audience member uses (whether consciously or subconsciously) to advance the careers of whichever old white man got to coin the term. As I see it, being a card-carrying practitioner of any of these theories means you are respecting the theory and its progenitors over the art. Similarly, someone that focuses on supplementary material (Word of God statements in interviews or a commentary track) respects the author over the art, and someone who reviews a film based predominantly on their own emotions respects themselves more than the art. Though each of those has their place in the discourse (and further, each of those aspects can and should appear in a review), I believe the art deserves the most respect out of these options in a true review. 

 

However, to do what I am about to do, I have to ignore the film’s narrative shortcomings, not actually meeting the film where it is at and thus disrespecting it, because of my respect for Tezuka’s later films using these archetypes, my subjective like of this film and my participation in the institution of literary criticism. I will write any kind of essay that I can, but I will call out when I am not living up to the standard I hold for Reviews. So, for the Sophistry part of this essay, allow me to attempt to convince you that this 3 out of 10 film is actually a 10 out of 10 through the esteemed scholarly practice of using big words and abstract concepts as trickery to pretend a story I like is better than it is.

 

How This Movie Is Actually The Best If You Ignore Everything Except Me Right Now But Including Me Five Seconds Ago

 

So where to go about rehabilitating this movie’s reputation? The first thing we need to do is accept that everything needed to understand this story is in the film itself. In this cohesive experience with a collaborative script, a prolific director (in the Millennium series at least), some amount of studio meddling, and wildly variable audience opinion, the one true objective view of this film cannot come from any of those components, only the finished film itself. If the movie is good, for it to be good, the things within it must all work together toward it being good. Again, as I mentioned, good stories are cohesive, but cohesion is defined by the film itself, so the organic unity of this film’s execution is what legitimizes it.

 

We will ignore the ‘heresy of paraphrase’ for this exercise because that really only applies to poetry, and a ‘review’ is necessarily a separate experience from a film itself. Still, that is actually the main reason I did not describe the final battle, so that a New Critic cannot accuse me of ignorance about the “heresy of paraphrase.” Otherwise, I hope this to be an accurate depiction of the process and outcome of New Criticism. The marriage of structure and meaning in New Criticism means I cannot continue to complain about the exposition habits in this movie but must figure out why they are the way they are. The elements of form are also significant, as I have paired the soundtrack to the action as Godzilla and the Meganula both have significant leitmotifs.

 

In New Criticism, we have to be very stringent about what outside information we use. A notable allusion to a previous work counts, and, in much the same vein that New Critics read Hamlet and used his symptoms to justify bringing in a discussion about the Oedipus complex, the objective correlative can only include an external concept if you truly justify it. However, for the most part, the only thing that matters right now is the film and the critic, so if you have any notes on the director Masaaki Tezuka and his intentions, burn them now!

 

Or maybe don’t; you see, this is where it gets a little difficult. New Critics have to be well read scholars aware of major allusions in a text, as that becomes a narrative shorthand to group together concepts. Tezuka’s name, naturally, appears in the credits and thus within the film itself. Is that a notable enough allusion to the primary creative of the world we are seeing to implicate him in its creation? Even if that does not count, Tezuka actually plays a character in the film: the teacher in the post credits scene. Tentatively, I would still say we cannot discuss him without better reason, especially because his other films came after this one, but I am open to contrary opinions in the comment section. In any case, the allusions I made to Spider-Man 2, Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla, Godzilla vs Biollante, and the Tell Tale Heart are all irrelevant and have to be ignored in New Criticism of the film. More to the point, my speculation that more of Godzilla 1954 is canon than we realize must also disappear. The film never mentions the Oxygen Destroyer and only juxtaposes rocket launcher guns to a black hole gun, so I do not have warrant to read that into the text.

 

The goal of New Criticism is to find the objective correlative that unites the film, the whole film and nothing but the film so help you God, and I did some of that in the Strengths and Stupidities segment in order to make this a little easier on both you and me. The relationship between Tsujimori and her commanding officer is the focus of her arc, as she takes on the role of him as a source of strength to alleviate her guilt. Nothing says this explicitly in the film, but I walked you through all the little moments that lead us there, thus proving, with every scene in the film, that she is a well-rounded consistent character. I still believe her character to be a great one, but it was ultimately circular logic, and to do the task I set out to do, to use New Criticism on this movie, the rational part of me that explains the trick of this sophistry will have to leave you as abruptly as the Jun left the movie.

 

Since I eventually settled on the themes of masculinity vs femininity in regards to understanding her personality split, firing a gun to prove her strength at two notable moments, and letting down her hair once she left her CO’s dog tags behind when defeating Godzilla, I could maybe read in specific stories like Mulan or the writings of Qiu Jin, but probably not. Even those still feel a little bit off topic, and we have more stuff to explain with the objective correlative.

 

 

The expository habits in the film are functional, bringing in foreshadowing directly when relevant and abridging very important events for some reason. The revelations about plasma technology feel like an afterthought, but character considerations are put in the forefront, as we see the scenes introducing Tsujimori and Sugiura in full, when they may have been better summarized, and even Yoshizawa’s truncated backstory still informs aspects of her character, see how the stilted snapshot nature of the flashback is likely how she allows herself to experience it. One of the few plot devices that gets set-up many scenes ahead of its payoff is Kudo’s Dimension Tide Operating System, first designed as a Nurse and then after Tsujimori. This connects to how he tries to protect the feminine side of Tsujimori in the gym and as a Chibi sprite, but, in both instances, she forces out the “real” Tsujimori to shoot a gun very well. In that sense, the character relation of the Dimension Tide to grief is more important to the film than the presence of black holes in the equation, and the fact that Tsujimori can use this endless grief for good even in reckless circumstances means that the characters are primary to the theme as well.

 

Within this film, it seems that the optimal morality in this film is a system wherein we judge actions and plot points by their consequences, specifically the Godzilla related ones. So, Godzilla-repelling ends justify the means. Society bans nuclear energy because it attracts Godzilla; once plasma does the same, they ban it as well. The emergence of Megaguirus uses material from the Meganula and Godzilla, so even the Big Bad of the film can only become such with Godzilla and his power within her. Before this, the child that carries her to Shibuya is a sympathetic character; after, we do not see him in that same light, mainly because he disappears from the movie. But what this means is that this sympathetic aspect of the Meganula is gone after that point. The grown Megaguirus is coded with the reptilian ferocity of Godzilla, not with the childlike innocence of an egg. The flooding of Shibuya is not a holy baptism or necessarily a yonic image but relates Megaguirus to Godzilla further as they both rise out of the water. Also, the Meganula seek energy but only Godzilla’s, making it reflective of him rather than continuing the motif of plasma summoning monsters.

 

The averted fate of an all-consuming Godzilla-caused nuclear meltdown juxtaposes the all-consuming deluge of Shibuya, which juxtaposes the all-consuming nature of revenge and a black hole gun, but the actions of Godzilla and of the power of Godzilla in the Meganula are what is evil, and the actions that prevent Godzilla are good. This is what the film shows us, and it remains entirely consistent to this theme, as this understanding solely resolves the paradox of Tsujimori’s recklessness and the ambiguity of Dimension Tide and the G-Graspers. Furthermore, Kudo’s presence wholly augments the G-Graspers’ efforts, debatably being what redeems them. The Dimension Tide can only work if he helps, the Godzilla tracker is his invention, and he develops a mini version of the Search Godzilla System just in time for it to help them with the Meganula infestation. Furthermore, his automated chibi Nurse operating system takes on the visage of Tsujimori when it fixes the problems with Dimension Tide, communicating that the union of Kudo and Tsujimori is what can win against Godzilla in this movie.

 

Under the schema of New Criticism, the horror imagery is more important. We are ignoring other kaiju movies except for possibly Rodan (but it is safer not to even bring him in anymore), and the Meganulon in this film stars in a suspenseful and gory scene against a human couple in Shibuya, then the horde menaces Godzilla. In the final battle, Megaguirus sneaks up on Godzilla several times, stabs him and smiles wickedly, flying over the Griffon in the same kind of misdirect as the two city workers that the Meganulon passed before striking the couple. It does not matter that the director had no considerable horror experience; that is actually preferred. The art speaks for itself, and this is a film with deep horror elements.

 

The film’s confusing morality, ambiguous storytelling and withholding of certain crucial information until it is almost pointless to know also effectively puts the viewer further on edge about the experience. I cannot invoke specific strains of horror, but I can conclude by saying that this means that Godzilla vs Megaguirus, like a New Critic’s poetry, is a work that you cannot just summarize, because it behaves as its own experience, inspiring all sorts of different feelings to make its own unapologetic whole. I started this essay off by explaining how Godzilla vs Megaguirus is overwritten in popular discourse, and though I am showing disdain for New Criticism while doing this, I think New Criticism gives us a schema for how to visualize that, very effectively.

 

Thank you for getting this far in the essay; whether you found it through the blog or previously watched the YouTube version, it helps us all the same, and I hope this gives you a reason to revisit Godzilla vs Megaguirus, which you can stream for free on Tubi. If you do, I would ask you to do so without Godzilla 2000 in mind, without knowing that Misato Tanaka will actually play a nurse in Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla, a film that makes the plot points of this one seem more cohesive and without a tendency to overwrite the film's meaning...unless you find it more fun that way.