Since you were a child, you knew about him, the giant monster trampling a city, fighting other monsters that seem hell-bent on destruction, launching a giant beam of energy in their faces, and then retreating back into the ocean. Even if you’ve never seen a Godzilla film, you know Godzilla.
Starting in 1954, it’s the longest-running film series of all time, with dozens of entries under its belt, as well as dozens of video games. Whether you’re Godzilla’s biggest fan or biggest hater, you have to admit the medium of animation would be great for the giant monster.
Whether it’s a novel take on the origin story or something basic and action-packed, such a massive figure in pop culture deserves an iconic anime series to match its cultural renown, but we haven’t gotten one matching his grandeur. In the last decade, viewers have gotten their first taste of “Godzilla anime,” and they were disappointed.
Where Did Godzilla Come From?
He’s a giant radioactive monster with an iconic roar and atomic breath, but what is Godzilla? Where did it come from? And why has it taken over the world?
The signature design came from art director Akira Watanabe creating a chimera of an alligator with dinosaurs like the Tyrannosaurus, Stegosaurus, and Iguanodon. Mix that with some nuclear radiation, and you end up with something pretty monstrous.
As for the name itself, the original Japanese name is Gojira, a portmanteau of the Japanese words for gorilla and whale, “gorira” and “kujira.” It’s the perfect name for a creature that emerges from the water, gigantic, powerful, and utterly intimidating. A prehistoric, reptilian monster that’s now awake and fueled by humanity’s hubris.
Gojira (1954)
While Godzilla has become something incredible, the original 1954 film from Toho Productions didn’t invent the giant monster movie. Giant monsters have existed in myth and fantasy for years, and they existed on the screen before Godzilla. King Kong first graced the screen in 1933, and in 1953, Toho producer Tomoyuki Tanaka saw the American film The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms.
This “beast” is a giant dinosaur that broke out of ice after nuclear testing in the Arctic. After seeing the film, Tanaka wanted to create his own monster. Working title, The Giant Monster from 20,000 Miles Beneath the Sea, Tanaka’s project further reckons with nuclear anxiety.
Godzilla, in what ended up with the simple title Gojira (1954), was an underwater creature disturbed by hydrogen bomb testing. Now it was awake, radioactive, and destructive. Tanaka and director Ishirō Honda have discussed at length Godzilla’s direct parallel to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This monster was fundamentally nature taking revenge on mankind, the perfect allegory for the terrifying reality of nuclear destruction.
It was awesome in the truest definition of the word. Rather than being “impressive” and “wonderful,” it created “profound fear, dread, and terror.” This monster was destroying Japan and mirroring the trauma of the atomic bombings. Godzilla also seemed to represent the folly of Japanese militarism.
The 1954 release and the creation of this new monster were cultural turning points for the Japanese film industry and monster cinema as a whole.
Godzilla has since become one of the most iconic global characters of all time. Even outside of Japan in places like America, he’s massive. Alongside America’s Monsterverse cinematic universe, the fandom for Godzilla has exploded. Godzilla is huge, literally and figuratively, but all of that popularity doesn’t come from a single film in 1954.
Godzilla Since 1954
1954 was Godzilla’s birth. It was a symbolic turning point in the genre of kaiju and tokusatsu, and it only grew from there. Existing for over 70 years, fans and biographers have broken Godzilla’s history into different eras, typically marked by the current Japanese emperor at the time.
The beginning was the Shōwa Era (1954-1975), an era where Godzilla got to fight other kaiju from other Toho films, turning Godzilla from a villain into an anti-hero, someone that children could root for.
The Heisei Era of 1984-1995 was when Godzilla returned as a destructive force of nature. Next was the Millennium Era (1999-2004), which ended with Godzilla: Final Wars, essentially a mashup of all that made Godzilla great over the last 50 years.
Now, we are in the Reiwa Era, which started in 2016 with Shin Godzilla. In 2023, we got the great Godzilla: Minus One film. It was kind of a reboot for the series with a lot of similarities to 1954’s Godzilla, and it became the most successful Japanese Godzilla film of all time. Later this year, we will get the sequel, Godzilla: Minus Zero.
These Godzilla Anime Are Not Great
Between the release of Shin Godzilla and Godzilla: Minus One, the world also got the first Godzilla anime in the form of the Godzilla: Singular Point (2021) series, and the Planet of the Monsters trilogy of films from 2017-2018.
Godzilla anime was exciting news after almost 70 years, but these were not great. Amidst a Godzilla renaissance, no one mentions these entries. People still talk about Shin Godzilla and are eagerly waiting for Godzilla: Minus Zero. The hype is real, but with these anime, that energy hit a brick wall.
In 2017, Polygon Pictures and Netflix teamed up to release a trilogy of Godzilla films:
- Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters (2017)
- Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle (2018)
- Godzilla: The Planet Eater (2018)
From the writer of iconic series like Psycho-Pass and Fate/Zero, Gen Urobuichi, there could have been something great. Unfortunately, we instead get 3D CGI films where the creators rely on heavy sci-fi instead of the monster action that defined the series.
Some great ideas exist in the DNA of these films - I think that an alien religious cult worshipping an eldritch King Ghidorah is awesome - but at the end of the day, it was three films of unlikable human characters discussing what to do, instead of actually doing it. Instead of Godzilla action, we had characters talking about it.
Godzilla: Singular Point (2021) similarly had potential, but that was all it had. This series greatly struggled as there was very little Godzilla and a lot more characters talking about the threat they posed.
Another anime that’s come out recently is Chibi Godzilla Raids Again (2023-present). It’s 116+ episodes of chibi-style kaiju and manzai-style comedy. Each episode is a little less than three minutes, and to date, it is the most popular Godzilla in the world of animation.
Why Is There Not Something Great
In over 70 years of Godzilla, the best animated thing we’ve gotten is a kids’ anime? It’s an unfortunate reality, and one reason is Toho.
One of Toho’s largest products by volume and revenue since its founding is Godzilla. Toho has become incredibly strict with the Godzilla copyright, and this is a big reason why the anime content has been lacking.
After Shin Godzilla, Toho created The Godzilla Room, a team of people at Toho led by Tetsuya Yoshikawa. Established to study the Godzilla franchise and create new guidelines, The Godzilla Room ensures new Godzilla merchandise and media will not hurt the “Godzilla brand.”
A rule they’ve publicized is that Godzilla cannot prey on people or things; i.e., Godzilla can create collateral damage, but never intentionally kill or eat someone. For the trilogy of anime films, Toho apparently asked the creators to move away from kaiju fights and try something new and unique.
It’s one thing to try something new, but by doing so and rejecting what has made Godzilla iconic, it was only inevitable that these anime would fail.
What Would Something Great Look Like?
If “going in a new and unique direction” has proven unsuccessful, what is the brand to do? What direction would a creative lead want to go to have the best chances of success?
The tried-and-true formula of Godzilla fighting a big bad monster has not been attempted in anime yet. It’s not wrong to go in a new, less obvious direction, but it might be time to do the obvious.
Daiei Film (now Kadokawa) debuted Gamera, the Giant Monster (1965), as a direct competitor to Godzilla, and in 2023, they released the Gamera: Rebirth anime. It’s not the best anime in the world, but if you’re a fan of “epic” kaiju battles, that’s what you get. You get fast-paced Gamera action akin to a high-stakes wrestling match every episode.
If you go in these energetic directions, you can get something pretty fun. An anime in this direction would likely be better than what we’ve gotten so far, but what about getting the best of both worlds? There’s a series out there that could be a chaotic combo of science-fiction, fantasy, and kaiju fights without sacrificing the heart at the center of most Godzilla films.
My Godzilla Anime
My ideal Godzilla anime would be something a lot like Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal. Animalistic violence meets top-tier animation and cinematography. I’m not an isekai fan personally, but I could see it serving as an interesting premise.
No actor has died wearing the Godzilla suit before, but some have fainted from exhaustion (the suit was very heavy and hot). In our anime, there’s an actor in a Godzilla suit who passes out and then wakes up as Godzilla. They are now a part of Godzilla’s personality, helping this primordial creature navigate between id, ego, and superego as it survives an inhospitable world with increasingly barbarous and cruel monsters.
It’s like Bruce Banner negotiating with Hulk, but this Godzilla is always on the back foot, doing everything it can to survive instead of Bruce Banner trying to minimize collateral damage. Instead of a slow and meandering Godzilla, we get one that takes the medium of animation to its limits, creating spectacle unconstrained by our rules of reality. In this world, Godzilla is the shōnen main character trying to prove themselves. I don’t know if it would be a “hot” Godzilla anime, but I like to think it does something unique without losing the magic inherent within the giant monster.
