In all honesty, I was worried this was going to be a "watch this movie, because fuck that movie"-type video. Glad to know from your essay, and the bit at the end, that wasn't you intent. Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla is one Godzilla movie that I saw once and haven't seen again for years and years. Your video made me want to go out and find a copy. Great job.
Coming to this video in early 2024 after Minus One yet again proved that human characters do matter in these movies, and don't need to be constantly sidelined. I couldn't agree more with your thoughts on this movie's human element. Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla is one of my favorite G films of all time because of its phenomenal human cast and I wish it got more recognition for being able to almost flawlessly balance kaiju action and interesting human drama. This and GMK are the main reasons why I love the Millennium series so much.
I must thank you for calling out the hypocrisy of Godzilla fans defending KOTM against critics by claiming that nobody cares about human drama. If we want not just the Godzilla series but also the kaiju genre to be taken seriously by the mainstream and become as popular as superhero movies, Disney, Jurassic Park/World, and Star Wars, then it's gonna need a decent dose of human drama to glue in the monster action. There's a reason why the original 1954 film is still well-loved to this day.
Yeah but the human's are not the stars of these movies, it's about Godzilla he is the protagonist of the franchise and ghidorah or gigan,spacegodzilla,orga,megagirous,monster x,destroyah and the mutos are the antagonist's of the movies. Why do you think that this movie is called Godzilla then?
I will watch it later. But I am convinced you did a good job. Human characters are one essential part of the genre, had been ever and will. All who lament this don't know what they are saying. This particular bunch should invest time for the movies they are supposed to have watched. Sure a Kaiju Eiga without humans would be like watching a documentary. Nothing against this, on the contrary! But then a fight would only one event. The majority would be sleeping, interaction with the mate, searching for food, sleeping, watching the territory...
I came here from your video on Kiryu on Wikizilla and I’m glad to say that I’ve found a masterpiece of a video that needs more exposure. Godzilla against Mechagodzilla is one of my favorite films of all time and seeing a video detailing why it’s good and how kaiju movies can have deep story telling if they try fills my heart with joy. Thank you so much for making this video
I felt that this movie has great story telling. Godzilla against mechaGodzilla that is. Having character plot in a monster movie in my opinion should be done more often than not.
My favorite monster is Mothra; as a child, I liked her just for being the "good guy". As an adult, I now value that she has an inherent, direct human connection through her fairies and other human characters (the Infant Islanders, the Houtua, the Chen family). So her involvement in a film almost always feels more personal and thematically resonant, even without focusing on the government workers, scientists, and military personnel who are personally acting against a monster or on the civilian victims of monster attacks. We have reporters, government officials, tribespeople, and normal families and groups of friends who just happen upon these situations. We have human villains! Not aliens, not time travellers, not espers; regular humans! I may sound like I don't know what I'm talking about by saying that, so pardon me! I also value how films featuring Mothra *almost always* share a thematic through-line, primarily a Capitalist critique, mostly focusing on human exploitation or mismanagement of natural resources. Even Godzilla himself can be murky when you compare different interpretations of him (just look at the "hero of justice" he was in some Showa films), but Mothra has always been "for the people", as it were, even in films that reimagine her. Human character matter because they are the thematic "glue" of the film, the lens through which we examine why all these epic brawls matter. I saw a lot of people quoting critics saying "You can't just have an hour and a half of monsters fighting" and people were saying, "You can have exactly that!!" as if monsters looking cool was the only way to enjoy this genre. I think that cheapens a lot of the great work that has been done in these productions, something I myself only coming to appreciate in the past few months as I have been watching and reading a lot about Toho's productions, kaiju or otherwise, and other kaiju films. This actually all started when my brother bought Shin Godzilla, I mentioned that it was the "other" serious film, in reference to the original, despite not having seen it. He then bought a few other films, including the original, which he gave to me. And after watching those, and seeing King of the Monsters in theaters, I've been really into it, including a couple video essays by you. I didn't realize how strong the themes were in these films I genuinely looked at as dumb action fare. I'm glad I had people like you to share how special many of them actually are, and that they are as accessible as they are these days. All that about Mothra isn't directly relevant to points you made in the video, but I feel it reaffirms your thesis. And I'm so grateful that even as an adult, my favorite monster is surprisingly relevant to my thoughts and feelings. Thanks for your stuff!! I really, really hope you do more video essays in the future.
Speak the truth man. Gmk and godzilla against mechagodzilla is a perfect example for great human storytelling. Along with some if not most the humans in some of the showa series and heisei series. Critics don't know or understand what or who godzilla is. Great video man
Really great video! I agree with al of your points about how great the human story in this one is. I love this movie a lot, and I really hope this gets spread around and seen as much as it can.
This video is amazing and I agree Godzilla against Mechagodzilla is one of my favourite Godzilla movies too. I definitely love the monster scenes and the score and all that but more than anything else I was also intrigued by the really engaging story and akane is one of the best characters in the franchise. I find it very frustrating to see so many fans taking the exact same route when judging a Godzilla movie that being"We don't care about the human characters we just want to see the monsters fight and stuff our faces with popcorn" it dismisses the whole point of the genre and doesn't bring in more audiences. If you look through the Godzilla franchise you will see that a majority of them are not just about monster fights. They have monsters fights in them sure but they don't take up the whole movie and are only there at specific portions of the movie. For 2/3 of the movie u have mostly human stories involving their romance,drama, and comedy etc bc all that is needed to help carry the movie. The monsters can carry alot of things but not the story, that's what the humans are for. There are very few movies u have like Godzilla final wars , KOTM and Godzilla vs Kong that are straight up focused on the monsters but aside from that most of them are focused on the humans. We need the humans, otherwise the monsters just feel like two forces duking it out without any backstory or context. I think we as fans should expect better.
Nicely done! I agree with your appraisal of the film’s human drama, and the broader concern that “who cares about the human drama?” is becoming a more prevalent meme in both fan and critic circles. As a practical matter, you shouldn’t be indifferent to 80% of a movie not being up to par, even if the other 20% is great. I think Against Mechagodzilla might be one of the few cases where you could argue that the human drama is more fully realized than the monster action. While the human arcs are well-handled, there’s some loose threads in the “monster drama” that I think hold the film back. Namely, Kiryu’s potential to go rogue NOT factoring into the final battle at all. It’s explained away much too conveniently beforehand and keeps the final showdown from being anything more than “fine.” At 79 minutes, the film had plenty of room to address it, and if it had, would’ve made a follow-up basically obsolete.
Amen to this video! Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla is one of my favorites in the series as well, and that's very largely thanks to the human drama. Akane is one of my favorite characters and Yumiko Shaku absolutely NAILED her performance. If I ever got the chance to meet her, it would be a dream come true. I would really want to let her know how deeply I appreciate her efforts in this. :D
Good points and overall an excellent video. I really like this movie, but you have given me a greater appreciation for it and the characters. Well done.
The human characters from the legendary series have suffered from a plot device/need To an archetype that people identify with. Instead of being an actual character The exception being Serizawa and he dies in KOTM. My issue wasnt that he died just that he was the stickout character of the legendary series. The execution of that scene stands alone in comparison to the history of Godzilla. The best part of Tokyo S.o.s to me is the message of "Living with the time nature has given us" Considering how Tezuka wanted the message of life is important It's equally important to rest when the time comes. It made Mechagodzilla a tragic character, a once dead kaiju being forced to fight when all it wants to do is rest.
Great video dude! Although I felt my nostalgia for Tokyo SOS getting ripped to shreds due to it not holding a candle to Against Mechagodzilla...oh well, I guess that's a part of growing up. Still enjoy that movie though. That little bit aside, I just finished watching Godzilla against Mechagodzilla about 30 minutes ago. Really good writing imo. You did a great job explaining the character motivations and how their personal arcs intertwine at the end.
David Laush Thank you! Honestly the elegance of the character arcs in this film wasn’t really clear to me until I started writing this video; all I knew at first was that for some reason these characters just really resonated to an unusual degree and I found their portion of the story as interesting as the monster stuff. I just wasn’t sure why. And yeah, I loved Tokyo SOS when I was a kid, and the stuff I loved about it then is still good! I’ve just come to have a better understanding of what strings all that together, and a more critical instinct. The two Kiryu films demonstrate how that’s kind of a double-edged sword: I have a new appreciation for one of my favorite films and the ability to articulate and learn from why it works, and I’ve become a little disenchanted with another film that didn’t quite work in all the same ways.
I don't understand why Tokyo S.O.S. was made because the movie doesn't do a whole lot compared to Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla besides some better visuals in the fight scenes. It feels like a rehash of the previous film with Mothra thrown in, which is even weirder when you consider that it was released a year after Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla.
On my most recent rewatch I was struck by how much more robust the effects work was in Tokyo SOS - honestly, if Eiichi Asada had directed the effects for this film, it could’ve been an all-timer
This was a great video man ! Very well written and in depth. Before watching the video I was worried you'd use this topic as a way of unjustly trashing King of the Monsters as so many people seem to be doing lately, I guess it's a trend these days... but it was a pleasant surprise that you didn't, I thought King of the Monsters had a really good human story that vastly improved on the character side of things compared to 2014 too. I wish instead of people either trashing it or defending King of the Monsters by saying stuff like "the human story doesn't matter...ect" they'd acknowledge that the story and human element was good. You did a great job analysing Godzilla Against MechaGodzilla, it's a classic and an awesome movie ! I totally agree, a great and well written character story always elevates movies like these and I can totally empathise with how long it takes to get to making videos so don't feel bad about this one coming out so late..
I love the video. I was hoping someone else would bring up this movie. It has been a few months since its release but with the date pushed back on GvK, I hope they find a balance.
I think this video is well made. Also, is the scientist guy from Godzilla vs Megaguirus the guy who plays Gamu in Ultraman Gaia? He looks very similar to Gamu.
Really good video I wish I got around to seeing. Only think I will say is Jade’s main discord message infers a lot which seems overtly western in his perspective of how audiences see woman or how the film is trying to subvert that
I actually made a collaborative video discussing the anime trilogy with Blunova: ruclips.net/video/YLDMjh-HHrY/видео.html As much as I like a lot of things about the trilogy on paper, I do feel like a lot of it wasn't executed very well, including the human characters.
In all honesty, I was worried this was going to be a "watch this movie, because fuck that movie"-type video. Glad to know from your essay, and the bit at the end, that wasn't you intent.
Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla is one Godzilla movie that I saw once and haven't seen again for years and years. Your video made me want to go out and find a copy. Great job.
Coming to this video in early 2024 after Minus One yet again proved that human characters do matter in these movies, and don't need to be constantly sidelined. I couldn't agree more with your thoughts on this movie's human element. Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla is one of my favorite G films of all time because of its phenomenal human cast and I wish it got more recognition for being able to almost flawlessly balance kaiju action and interesting human drama. This and GMK are the main reasons why I love the Millennium series so much.
A movie like this is all I want from the MonsterVerse. If those movies are going to be successful, they better be competent first.
Well said, cannot stand that overrated garbage.
I must thank you for calling out the hypocrisy of Godzilla fans defending KOTM against critics by claiming that nobody cares about human drama. If we want not just the Godzilla series but also the kaiju genre to be taken seriously by the mainstream and become as popular as superhero movies, Disney, Jurassic Park/World, and Star Wars, then it's gonna need a decent dose of human drama to glue in the monster action. There's a reason why the original 1954 film is still well-loved to this day.
Yeah but the human's are not the stars of these movies, it's about Godzilla he is the protagonist of the franchise and ghidorah or gigan,spacegodzilla,orga,megagirous,monster x,destroyah and the mutos are the antagonist's of the movies.
Why do you think that this movie is called Godzilla then?
And also let the fans defend what they love.
Watched this film for the first time in a while the other night, and it continues to age like fine wine.
I will watch it later. But I am convinced you did a good job.
Human characters are one essential part of the genre, had been ever and will.
All who lament this don't know what they are saying. This particular bunch should invest time for the movies they are supposed to have watched.
Sure a Kaiju Eiga without humans would be like watching a documentary. Nothing against this, on the contrary!
But then a fight would only one event. The majority would be sleeping, interaction with the mate, searching for food, sleeping, watching the territory...
You can add Koichi Shikishima to the list of well written characters in kaiju films.
I came here from your video on Kiryu on Wikizilla and I’m glad to say that I’ve found a masterpiece of a video that needs more exposure. Godzilla against Mechagodzilla is one of my favorite films of all time and seeing a video detailing why it’s good and how kaiju movies can have deep story telling if they try fills my heart with joy. Thank you so much for making this video
I felt that this movie has great story telling.
Godzilla against mechaGodzilla that is.
Having character plot in a monster movie in my opinion should be done more often than not.
My favorite monster is Mothra; as a child, I liked her just for being the "good guy". As an adult, I now value that she has an inherent, direct human connection through her fairies and other human characters (the Infant Islanders, the Houtua, the Chen family). So her involvement in a film almost always feels more personal and thematically resonant, even without focusing on the government workers, scientists, and military personnel who are personally acting against a monster or on the civilian victims of monster attacks. We have reporters, government officials, tribespeople, and normal families and groups of friends who just happen upon these situations. We have human villains! Not aliens, not time travellers, not espers; regular humans! I may sound like I don't know what I'm talking about by saying that, so pardon me!
I also value how films featuring Mothra *almost always* share a thematic through-line, primarily a Capitalist critique, mostly focusing on human exploitation or mismanagement of natural resources. Even Godzilla himself can be murky when you compare different interpretations of him (just look at the "hero of justice" he was in some Showa films), but Mothra has always been "for the people", as it were, even in films that reimagine her.
Human character matter because they are the thematic "glue" of the film, the lens through which we examine why all these epic brawls matter. I saw a lot of people quoting critics saying "You can't just have an hour and a half of monsters fighting" and people were saying, "You can have exactly that!!" as if monsters looking cool was the only way to enjoy this genre. I think that cheapens a lot of the great work that has been done in these productions, something I myself only coming to appreciate in the past few months as I have been watching and reading a lot about Toho's productions, kaiju or otherwise, and other kaiju films. This actually all started when my brother bought Shin Godzilla, I mentioned that it was the "other" serious film, in reference to the original, despite not having seen it. He then bought a few other films, including the original, which he gave to me. And after watching those, and seeing King of the Monsters in theaters, I've been really into it, including a couple video essays by you.
I didn't realize how strong the themes were in these films I genuinely looked at as dumb action fare. I'm glad I had people like you to share how special many of them actually are, and that they are as accessible as they are these days. All that about Mothra isn't directly relevant to points you made in the video, but I feel it reaffirms your thesis. And I'm so grateful that even as an adult, my favorite monster is surprisingly relevant to my thoughts and feelings. Thanks for your stuff!! I really, really hope you do more video essays in the future.
Just watched Twisters and it seems the writer really likes this movie that I saw many parallels between Kate and Akane. Such an effective screenplay.
Speak the truth man. Gmk and godzilla against mechagodzilla is a perfect example for great human storytelling. Along with some if not most the humans in some of the showa series and heisei series. Critics don't know or understand what or who godzilla is. Great video man
Fantastic video essay!
Really great video! I agree with al of your points about how great the human story in this one is. I love this movie a lot, and I really hope this gets spread around and seen as much as it can.
This film has touched me so much. This is by far one if my favorite Godzilla films.
This video is amazing and I agree Godzilla against Mechagodzilla is one of my favourite Godzilla movies too. I definitely love the monster scenes and the score and all that but more than anything else I was also intrigued by the really engaging story and akane is one of the best characters in the franchise. I find it very frustrating to see so many fans taking the exact same route when judging a Godzilla movie that being"We don't care about the human characters we just want to see the monsters fight and stuff our faces with popcorn" it dismisses the whole point of the genre and doesn't bring in more audiences. If you look through the Godzilla franchise you will see that a majority of them are not just about monster fights. They have monsters fights in them sure but they don't take up the whole movie and are only there at specific portions of the movie. For 2/3 of the movie u have mostly human stories involving their romance,drama, and comedy etc bc all that is needed to help carry the movie. The monsters can carry alot of things but not the story, that's what the humans are for. There are very few movies u have like Godzilla final wars , KOTM and Godzilla vs Kong that are straight up focused on the monsters but aside from that most of them are focused on the humans. We need the humans, otherwise the monsters just feel like two forces duking it out without any backstory or context. I think we as fans should expect better.
Nicely done! I agree with your appraisal of the film’s human drama, and the broader concern that “who cares about the human drama?” is becoming a more prevalent meme in both fan and critic circles. As a practical matter, you shouldn’t be indifferent to 80% of a movie not being up to par, even if the other 20% is great.
I think Against Mechagodzilla might be one of the few cases where you could argue that the human drama is more fully realized than the monster action. While the human arcs are well-handled, there’s some loose threads in the “monster drama” that I think hold the film back. Namely, Kiryu’s potential to go rogue NOT factoring into the final battle at all. It’s explained away much too conveniently beforehand and keeps the final showdown from being anything more than “fine.” At 79 minutes, the film had plenty of room to address it, and if it had, would’ve made a follow-up basically obsolete.
Your review just made me love Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla more.
Excellent take Kyodai
Amen to this video!
Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla is one of my favorites in the series as well, and that's very largely thanks to the human drama. Akane is one of my favorite characters and Yumiko Shaku absolutely NAILED her performance. If I ever got the chance to meet her, it would be a dream come true. I would really want to let her know how deeply I appreciate her efforts in this. :D
Yes, this is excellent. This is why GXMG is my favorite of all the millennium Godzilla movies.
Good points and overall an excellent video. I really like this movie, but you have given me a greater appreciation for it and the characters. Well done.
The human characters from the legendary series have suffered from a plot device/need
To an archetype that people identify with. Instead of being an actual character
The exception being Serizawa and he dies in KOTM. My issue wasnt that he died just that he was the stickout character of the legendary series.
The execution of that scene stands alone in comparison to the history of Godzilla.
The best part of Tokyo S.o.s to me is the message of "Living with the time nature has given us"
Considering how Tezuka wanted the message of life is important
It's equally important to rest when the time comes.
It made Mechagodzilla a tragic character, a once dead kaiju being forced to fight when all it wants to do is rest.
So what's the standard for characterization then?
I hadn't watched this one for many years. I didn't know it was so great. Great work bringing an underrated Godzilla movie the attention it deserves!
Great video dude! Although I felt my nostalgia for Tokyo SOS getting ripped to shreds due to it not holding a candle to Against Mechagodzilla...oh well, I guess that's a part of growing up. Still enjoy that movie though.
That little bit aside, I just finished watching Godzilla against Mechagodzilla about 30 minutes ago. Really good writing imo. You did a great job explaining the character motivations and how their personal arcs intertwine at the end.
David Laush Thank you! Honestly the elegance of the character arcs in this film wasn’t really clear to me until I started writing this video; all I knew at first was that for some reason these characters just really resonated to an unusual degree and I found their portion of the story as interesting as the monster stuff. I just wasn’t sure why.
And yeah, I loved Tokyo SOS when I was a kid, and the stuff I loved about it then is still good! I’ve just come to have a better understanding of what strings all that together, and a more critical instinct. The two Kiryu films demonstrate how that’s kind of a double-edged sword: I have a new appreciation for one of my favorite films and the ability to articulate and learn from why it works, and I’ve become a little disenchanted with another film that didn’t quite work in all the same ways.
Man, thank you. Im glad to see someone say it like it is.
Im sharing this with my bestie, I'm sure she's going to agree whole heartidly.
Great video, thanks for going in-depth on this underrated movie! I enjoy it more than Tokyo SOS because of the characters.
Are dynamic characters inherently better than static characters?
This such a masterfully done review, you did such a good job
Goddamn, I love your video essays.
I don't understand why Tokyo S.O.S. was made because the movie doesn't do a whole lot compared to Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla besides some better visuals in the fight scenes. It feels like a rehash of the previous film with Mothra thrown in, which is even weirder when you consider that it was released a year after Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla.
On my most recent rewatch I was struck by how much more robust the effects work was in Tokyo SOS - honestly, if Eiichi Asada had directed the effects for this film, it could’ve been an all-timer
This was a great video man !
Very well written and in depth.
Before watching the video I was worried you'd use this topic as a way of unjustly trashing King of the Monsters as so many people seem to be doing lately, I guess it's a trend these days... but it was a pleasant surprise that you didn't, I thought King of the Monsters had a really good human story that vastly improved on the character side of things compared to 2014 too.
I wish instead of people either trashing it or defending King of the Monsters by saying stuff like "the human story doesn't matter...ect" they'd acknowledge that the story and human element was good.
You did a great job analysing Godzilla Against MechaGodzilla, it's a classic and an awesome movie ! I totally agree, a great and well written character story always elevates movies like these
and I can totally empathise with how long it takes to get to making videos so don't feel bad about this one coming out so late..
Akane is easily the best human character in the movie
I totally agree with you and I also understand. I also like godzilla against mechagodzilla :D
That was deep really deep
Loved this. Many many great points.
GxMG is one of my favorites!
Akane Yashiro > Emiko Yamane and all the other women in the Godzilla movies ruclips.net/video/1aAywjmJAMA/видео.html
Great video
Great video to combat the "Just Here for Godzilla" mentality. Any thoughts on Rando Yaguchi, Hiromi Ogashira, Kayoko Ann Patterson, ect?
I love the video. I was hoping someone else would bring up this movie. It has been a few months since its release but with the date pushed back on GvK, I hope they find a balance.
Damn good essay video.
How the hell does hayama know that akene killed his brother?
I think this video is well made. Also, is the scientist guy from Godzilla vs Megaguirus the guy who plays Gamu in Ultraman Gaia? He looks very similar to Gamu.
I looked this up and while I can kind of see the resemblance, they are in fact different actors.
@@KyodaiKino thanks.
Really good video I wish I got around to seeing. Only think I will say is Jade’s main discord message infers a lot which seems overtly western in his perspective of how audiences see woman or how the film is trying to subvert that
You have a channel called wikizilla and you have this. Cool.
narrator has,uses MORE wind in talking than both Rodan and Mothra.....
How about Anime Trilogy Human characters? They're just plain bad as Mechagodzilla City
I actually made a collaborative video discussing the anime trilogy with Blunova: ruclips.net/video/YLDMjh-HHrY/видео.html
As much as I like a lot of things about the trilogy on paper, I do feel like a lot of it wasn't executed very well, including the human characters.