Category: Live Action

Godzilla: It Came From Japan (part 4)

Godzilla vs. Hedorah (ゴジラ対ヘドラ, Gojira tai Hedora), also known as Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster, is a 1971 film. Part of the Toho studio’s Godzilla series, it was directed by Yoshimitsu Banno with special effects by Teruyoshi Nakano. The score was composed by Riichiro Manabe.

The Godzilla Power Hour was a Japanese animated television series/Saturday morning cartoon, originally aired in 1978 on the NBC television network. In Japan, it was released in 1977. Produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, the series was an animated adaption of the Japanese Godzilla films produced by Toho. Airing alongside Jana of the Jungle, hence the “power hour” aspect of the title, the series continued to air until 1981, for a time airing solo as The Godzilla Show, until its cancellation. In Japan, it was simply called Godzilla. Toho helped with the series production, they even did the animation for it and the monster concepts.

Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (ゴジラvsデストロイア, Gojira tai Desutoroia), is a film where Godzilla fights Destoroyah, a creature that was created by the Oxygen Destroyer weapon that killed Godzilla back in 1954. It was released in Japan on December 9, 1995. It was originally intended to be the last Godzilla film until 2004, but due to the worldwide fan-disappointment of the 1998 American Godzilla film, Toho decided to release a film in 1999.

Godzilla: It Came From Japan (part 3)

King Kong vs. Godzilla (キングコング対ゴジラ, Kingu Kongu tai Gojira) is a 1962 tokusatsu kaiju film directed by Ishiro Honda with visual effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. It was the third installment in the Japanese series of kaiju films featuring the monster Godzilla.

Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, released in Japan as San DaikaijÅ«: ChikyÅ« Saidai no Kessen (三大怪獣　地球最大の決戦, San DaikaijÅ«: ChikyÅ« Saidai no Kessen? lit. “Big Three Monsters: Greatest Decisive Battle on Earth”) and alternatively spelled Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster, is a 1964 tokusatsu kaiju film, and is the 5th film in Toho’s Godzilla series. It was directed by Ishiro Honda with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya.

This movie is noted for having Godzilla playing a role where he benefits Japan, instead of trying to destroy it. It also features Mothra and Rodan, and introduces King Ghidorah, a very Chinese-looking space dragon, perhaps representative of Japan’s anxieties surrounding China’s satellite weapon program at the time.

Godzilla: It Came From Japan (part 2)

As the Godzilla series continued, the monster has been both a hero and an anti-hero. Godzilla is one of the most recognizable aspects of Japanese popular culture worldwide. To this day, Godzilla remains an important facet of Japanese films, embodying the kaiju subset of the tokusatsu genre. Godzilla has been considered a filmographic metaphor for the United States. The earliest Godzilla films, especially the original Gojira, attempted to portray Godzilla as a frightening, nuclear monster. Godzilla represented the fears of many Japanese of a repeat of the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The Peanuts are a Japanese twin sister singing group. They are Ito Emi (Ito Hideyo) and Ito Yumi (Ito Tsukiko). The twins were born in Nagoya on April 1, 1941. They are probably most known internationally for their appearances in the Mothra and Godzilla movies of the 1960s, in which they appeared as fairies called shobijin (small beauties) who had telepathic communication with Mothra. Although of course now played by different actresses, the characters have continued to appear in the more recent films as well.