Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991)

This is one of only a select few VHS Godzilla releases in Poland. The artwork on the front cover of the clam shell case is awesome, but for some unknown reason, King Ghidorah fires three differently colored beams. Only the beam on the right has the correct hue. On the back cover, there are three stills from the film. One reveals Mecha-King Ghidorah, so his appearance won't be a surprise for first time viewers. The text also fully lays out the Futurians' plan to destroy Japan, and Godzilla is only mentioned sparsely. Oddly, there is no information whatsoever about time travel or the Godzillasaurus.

Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991)

Of all Columbia/Tristar's 1998 Godzilla releases, Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991) is the only one to feature a universal spelling anomaly. Everywhere on the box and even in the opening title of the film, Ghidorah is spelled "Ghidora", due to Toho International's preferred spelling at the time (which eventually saw revision to "Ghidorah"). However, this jarring oddity is made up for by the cover's memorable setup. Godzilla, in all his Heisei glory, releases his atomic heat ray upon a burning Tokyo centerstage; his arch-nemesis King Ghidorah menacingly looms over him in the background; all complete with an appropriately fiery background. The back continues the theme of destruction with a still from Godzilla's night raid on Japan. A singular in-film still of King Ghidorah is also featured on the rear. In the description an error can be found when it's said "reveal themselves to be friendly aliens" when in fact the occupants of the UFO are humans from the future. Another error in the description can be found in the excerpt "an evil and all-powerful android". This line is most likely referring to M-11 or Mecha-King Ghidorah, both of which are not considered to be evil. Each side of the box features the same thing: the cover art and the film's title running down vertically the rest of the way.

Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991)

For Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991), one of the films' posters is used on the front cover. Such artwork features an aggressive entanglement between the title characters as a missile rises from below. The only inaccuracy in the synopsis is Godzilla being described as "a little dinosaur that transforms into a nuclear predator". While this may not be that much of an error, the Godzillasaurus is clearly not "little" (when compared to real dinosaurs, that is).

As is usual, stills and credits complete the cover. It should be noted that before the film starts we are given 15 minutes of Hong Kong action movie trailers. Unlike Filmax and Manga Films, Strong Video used the international version of the film as a source. As a result, the image and audio quality is noticeably worse than any previous Spanish release. The audio also goes out of sync quite a bit towards the end.

Hollywood Dinosaurs (1991)

This is the 1991 Video Treasures release of Hollywood Dinosaurs, a documentary of various sci-fi and dinosaur-related films, including Godzilla (1954), Mothra (1961), Rodan (1956), King Kong (1933), and The Lost World (1925), just to name a few. The box art is an excellent rendition of the classic "monsters attacking a city", In the foreground stands a larger-than-life green Tyrannosaurus rex, while the background features an erupting volcano. A pterodactyl soars overhead, spelling doom for the city below. Also, in the right corner, a King Kong-esque gorilla can be seen atop a building. The back cover provides, in accurate detail, what's in store for the viewer.

Hollywood Dinosaurs (1991)

This 1995 re-release of Hollywood Dinosaurs features no significant differences from the 1991 Video Treasures release, aside from the box art and an almost indiscernible difference in the grammatical structure of the title (Hollywood's versus Hollywood on the original). One noteworthy alteration is the absence of the end credits on the tape itself, but everything else pretty much remains the same.

Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992)

The year 1998 was a great year for Godzilla VHS tapes; case in point, the American release of Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992). The box is quite colorful, like most of Tristar's releases at the time, and a modified Japanese poster is used for the front cover. The sides both feature the movie's American title (Godzilla & Mothra: The Battle for Earth). Godzilla's visage graces one side and Mothra's the other. Strangely, Battra is nowhere to be seen on the box, front cover or back. Speaking of the back, it features two shots of Godzilla with Mothra (in one instance as a larva and in the other instance as an imago) and a decent synopsis that, thankfully, mentions Battra (but oddly adds "a.k.a. Black Mothra" in adjacent parentheses).

Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992)

Rather than going with the theatrical poster; the front cover of this clam shell case uses a composite shot of a production still in which Godzilla is seen battling Mothra at Yokohama Cosmo World, while the larval Battra emerges from the nearby waters. The back, as usual, features some stills, a fully-accurate synopsis, and the film's credits. As with Strong Video's previous release, the international version of the film is used here; however, we don't get any trailers this time.

The Making of Godzilla vs. Biollante (1992)

Produced in the wake of the huge merchandising push for Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992), this VHS contains a newly created making of feature for Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989). This goes into the creation of the movie and also highlights deleted scenes. It was later re-released on DVD and Blu-ray in Japan by Toho as an extra feature with the film, and likewise on the DVD and Godzilla vs. Biollante Blu-ray by Echo Bridge.

Fantastic Dinosaurs of the Movies (1992)

Gorgo, Rodan, Godzilla, & More!!! Fantastic Dinosaurs of the Movies is a small, direct-to-video release from GoodTimes in 1992 that features more monsters than you could shake a rather hefty stick at. Despite the cover's proclivity to vaunt two of Toho's most recognizable names in text, only one small still of Godzilla is stamped on the front (although shockingly, they actually colorized the shot with the true offscreen hue of the 1954 suit). Despite the sheer number of films represented, the list of Toho movies is somewhat minimal; Godzilla (1954), Rodan (1956), King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962), Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964), and Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964) are the only five to make the cut. The other entries are a compilation of mainly American classics, with a few foreign flicks like Reptilicus thrown in for good measure. If you would happen to enjoy a rather extensive collection of trailers (with a ridiculously low-budget intro and outro), then this obscure gem is worth picking up at a second-hand store.

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993)

Like all other Heisei Godzilla films distributed by Tristar, the release of this Mechagodzilla "remake" was intended to profit off the US Godzilla remake in 1998. Just like their other VHS releases, Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla II (1993) has rather colorful box art. The front cover utilizes one of the Japanese posters but adds the title in vibrant English text. Each side has the movie's title and star kaiju. The first side features Mechagodzilla and Rodan while the opposite side features Godzilla and Mechagodzilla once more. The back ditches the red hue that adorns most of the box and instead relies on a basic black background. Armed with several pictures of the movie's starring kaiju and a decent synopsis (with one visible error in the way of a bad misspelling of "Pteranodon"), this is yet another fine release from Tristar.

Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994)

This 1999 Columbia/Tristar release of Godzilla vs. Spacegodzilla (1994) features an impressive cover compilation of the title monsters; Little Godzilla and Fairy Mothra; outerspace as the main background; Fukuoka Tower centered behind Godzilla; and a field of Spacegodzilla's crystals jutting from Fukuoka at the bottom. The back features several nice production stills, although the description is somewhat out of place. It cites Spacegodzilla's desire to conquer Earth is mentioned after it is said that the Project-T amplifier is already implanted in Godzilla's brain; when it is a fact that Spacegodzilla was nearly upon Earth at that point. Both sides of the box have separate designs. One side has the head of the cover Godzilla at the top, title in the middle, Moguera's head at the bottom and the other side has Spacegodzilla's upper body at the top, title in the middle, and Little Godzilla at the bottom.

Yamato Takeru (1994)

This 1999 release of Yamato Takeru (1994), titled Orochi the Eight-Headed Dragon, was the only way to get hold of the movie legally in the United States for quite some time. The cover features a patchwork-like background with a picture of Orochi and the two main heroes of the movie. The sides both feature the title of the movie along with Osu at the top with his sword. The back of this release features a gorgeous shot of Orochi unleashing his flames at the top with a quick tag line. The back cover also features several snapshots including two more of Orochi along with Osu and the king of the Kumaso Kingdom. Along with the pictures is a synopsis for the feature that includes no notable mistakes.

Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)

This 1999 Columbia/Tristar release features an error as two Super X-III's can be seen flying side-by-side with one another when in fact there was only one in the film. The cover features Godzilla centerstage (in his super-powered meltdown form), the crab-like Aggregate Destoroyah, the two Super X-III's, a burning Tokyo at the bottom, and a dark cloud unleashing lightning in the background. The back has an extremely wealthy compilation of production stills although the description has the odd line of "Godzilla emerges from his own ashes", making it seem like Godzilla died and was resurrected when Birth Island was destroyed. Both sides of the box stick to a common theme of having pictures of the star monsters at the top and bottom and having the title in the center. One side has the cover Godzilla's head at the top and the flying form Aggregate Destoroyah at the bottom, while the other side has the final form of Destoroyah's head at the top and the two Super X-III's at the bottom.

Gamera: Guardian of the Universe (1995)

For whatever reason, Amuse Video released Gamera: Guardian of the Universe (1995) on VHS a lot. Out of the gate, they had two different versions. One with an art cover, seen here, and the other with the poster, seen here on the spine. They also re-released it later at a discount price. This particular copy, though, is not that cheap version but instead sold for a whopping ¥16,480 (around $150). It's touted as being for sale or rental, although that price point means it's likely aimed at the rental market.

Gamera: Guardian of the Universe (1995)

The first film of the Heisei Gamera series has rather interesting and well-drawn box art. The front shows Gamera standing in front of the baseball stadium where the 3 infant Gyaos are captured. And behind him is the fearsome antagonist of the film, Super Gyaos, who appears to be emerging from an explosion behind Gamera. On the side of the box, a small image from the original Japanese movie poster can be seen with Gamera in flight and the Super Gyaos flying close behind. One error on the back of the box states that the Gyaos are reptiles: "Gamera's grim new ready-for-the-nineties mind set pits the super turtle against a misguided military and a hideous race of man-eating flying reptiles." This is neither confirmed nor denied in the film.

Super Atragon OAV 1 (1995)

The front cover of the ADV release of the first Super Atragon(1995) OAV utilizes a striking bit of promotional artwork later used on the Super Atragon the Motion Picture DVD release. This is some gorgeous, well-balanced art with main protagonist Go Arisake front and center, with his father, the captain of the Ra battleship, to the left. To be honest, it's been a long time since I watched this video, so I'm not sure who is to the right of Go--but it looks rather like Go in a different suit, holding a sword. Hovering above them is the super-ship Ra (a redesign of the Gotengo, essentially) with the two female Subterranean spies looking out above, the human-sympathizing Annete to the left, and the destructive Avatar to the right, and the horrible Subterranean technology approaching in the background. Added to the English cover are several hyperbolic taglines to catch potential video consumers, the most ridiculous being "... the most incredible military adventure ever filmed!"

On the back cover there are eight captures from the film, most of them very small and highlighting the naval combat sequences. A small shot of disguised Subterranean Annette can be seen winking from the bottom right. The background for the text is a watery design coupled with multiple "gravitonic rings." The synopsis text is not very descriptive, failing to name any of the characters and never mentioning the American super vehicle, the Liberty. Worst of all, nowhere on the video is it mentioned that this is only the first half of the two-part story. I was one of the schmucks who bought the video thinking I was getting the entire film, and getting stuck with the insubstantial initial chapter instead. The video itself, much like many of ADV's releases, is white.

Rebirth of Mothra (1996)

The first movie in the Heisei Mothra trilogy features a gorgeous image that was used for her Japanese poster. It features the mother Mothra looming over the Earth as two golden energy orb things emerge from the sides. One complaint is that the tag line, "She's Mothra. She's Back. And She's Mad!" makes the movie sound as if Mothra is playing a villainous role. Both sides feature the same type of text and image of Mothra at the top while the back features several images from the film. A nice shot of Mothra sits upon an egg-shaped design that houses an accurate synopsis while images of Desghidorah, Mothra, and Leo Larva adorn the back also.

Rebirth of Mothra II (1997)

This is Toho's Japanese VHS rental release of the title. The cover is attractive, although takes all emphasis away from the new creature, Dagahra, who is not seen on the front. The back has a more proper "monster roll call", showing off everything including Ghogo and Mothra's three forms in the film.

Rebirth of Mothra II (1997)

Released at the same time as its predecessor, the second entry of the infamous Mothra trilogy sees what is easily the ugliest cover of any Heisei era movie. It features a shot of Dagahra's head emerging from horrid looking water as helicopters and a battleship (weapons not once seen in the movie and likely lifted from one of the Heisei Godzilla movies) surround him. Nilai Kanai tower explodes in the background while Aqua Mothra and Rainbow Mothra fly about at the top, giving the movie a false image that there are two different Mothras fighting Dagahra. The sides both feature a red background, the movie's title, and a shot of Dagahra's head on one and Aqua Mothra's on the other. The back gives an accurate synopsis and is decorated with images of Dagahra and Rainbow Mothra.

GODZILLA (1998)

Although held in contempt by many Toho G-Fans, this 1998 Columbia/Tristar VHS release does lend some good attributes to the same year's Godzilla remake. The cover features one of the title monster's eyes which appears to be enraged and displays a ring of fire circling the pupil. The cover also has raised surfaces to give it a realistic feel. The front of the box also displays the film's famous tagline "Size Does Matter". The back features a small array of in-film stills such as an entire shot of the American Godzilla, a shot of "Animal" (Hank Azaria), a picture of a pack of baby American Godzilla's, and a still of Nick Tatapolous (Matthew Broderick) and Philippe Roaché (Jean Reno). In the film's description the statement "much better than ever" is an extreme overstatement as many believe this incarnation of Godzilla to be the worst ever. Each side of the box has the same setup: a still of American Godzilla at the top and the title running down the rest of the way. As much as many people despise the film itself, this VHS box is still worthy to be included in anyone's collection.

GODZILLA (1998)

As whispers of changes in home entertainment began to emerge (with the traditional 4:3 aspect ratio slated for alteration), "widescreen editions" were starting to become more and more common for standard VHS releases. GODZILLA (1998) was no exception. The biggest difference in the actual look of the box is concentrated mainly on the front. Featuring a cropped version of Godzilla's eye (in what appears to be a mock stylization of the so-called "letterbox" format), the word "WIDESCREEN" is stretched vertically on the right side. There really isn't much else worthy of notation in regard to differences between this and the fullscreen cover.

GODZILLA (1998)

The art work featured on this VHS release of GODZILLA (1998) consists primarily of one of the film's famous teaser posters. The rear displays stills of the main characters, along with a (revealing) shot of the star monster's snout. The synopsis contains only one noticeable error: "a body as tall as London's Big Ben". The monument in question is, in actuality, more than 50% taller.

GODZILLA (1998)

Featuring the tag line "Guess Who Comes to Town", this Portuguese release of GODZILLA (1998) uses the movie poster art on the front. The back has an odd composite, replacing the normal foot shot amongst the New York pedestrian level with that of the artwork eye looking down.

Rebirth of Mothra III (1998)

Released in 1999, this is Toho's VHS release for the Japanese market. Interesting to note is that the cover offers the staff listing in English below the title. Rainbow Mothra, Grand King Ghidorah and Armor Mothra make up the front. The back includes more emphasis on King Ghidorah's two forms, although shows the Elias as well.

Monsters in the Movies: Godzillamania (1998)

Monsters in the Movies: Godzillamania, or Godzillamania: Monsters in the Movies as the title is given on the actual film, is an exceedingly cheap picture consisting mostly of film clips, trailers, and narration apparently thrown together as another cash-in attempt when the 1998 American Godzilla film was released. The cover features several cheap-looking fonts scrunched together to form the title over two photos -- one from Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973), and the other a colorized still from King Kong (1933) showing the life-sized mechanical beast used in several brief sequences in the original film. All of this is displayed in glorious low resolution and placed over an ugly explosion effect.

The back of the box has five small stills somewhat haphazardly placed: a shot of Godzilla from Destroy All Monsters (1968), King Kong battling the airplanes from the original King Kong, transforming Hedorah from Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971), Jet Jaguar restraining Megalon from Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973), and, strangely, the aliens from the old-school serial Invasion of the Saucer Men (1957) in a shot apparently taken from an old lobby card. The text on the back is partially gleaned from the narration in the film itself and includes the "funny" assertion that Godzilla's job is to "crush Tokyo at least once a year," and the spurious statement that Godzilla sparked such movies as King Kong (1933) and Mighty Joe Young (1949) -- a mistake that could have been avoided if the author had bothered to watch the entirety of the film included in the box!

As for the film itself, very little money was sunk into it. There are a lot of movie trailers included, but most of them aren't Toho and are blatantly used to pad out the time. They include such b-movie classics as The Alligator People (1959), Return of the Fly (1959), Teenage Caveman (1958), War of the Colossal Beast (1958), Attack of the Puppet People (1958), The Angry Red Planet (1960), One Million Years B.C. (1966), Beware! The Blob (1972) (a.k.a. Son of Blob), The Green Slime (1968), How to Make a Monster (1958), The Black Scorpion (1957), The Day of the Triffids (1962), Reptilicus (1961), and The Land Unknown (1957). There are also clips of A Trip to the Moon (1917), The Lost World (1925), Mighty Joe Young (1949), and Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973). When there aren't trailers or film clips, instead the audience is "treated" to badly cropped photographs, film shots, lobby cards, and posters. Ostensibly the film focuses on Godzilla, and narrator Jeff Thomas does include some interesting trivia, some of it taken from David Kalat's: A Critical History and Filmography of Toho's Godzilla Series. This narration is generally given over various trailers from Toho's movies when they were released in America, such as Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973), Godzilla (1954), King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962), Rodan (1956), Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964), Destroy All Monsters (1968), and Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971), but the narration from the actual trailers is not muted, just lowered in volume, so the viewers can hear the dramatic advertisement chattering in the background while Thomas drones on. Because he has a lot to say about Destroy All Monsters (1968), the entire trailer is shown twice--once in color, once in black-and-white, as if the audience wouldn't notice they were watching the same thing two times. If a Godzilla movie isn't included in the above list, Thomas basically doesn't talk about it. The film ends with the notorious Bambi Meets Godzilla (1969), followed by extremely cheap credits.

Godzilla and other Movie Monsters (1998)

Spanning well over half a century of monster mayhem, Godzilla and other Movie Monsters is chock full of film trailers and behind-the-scenes infotainment. The case features a predominantly crimson motif, adorned with thumbnail movie posters (as well as detailed cover art). The synopsis contains no visible errors, aside from using outdated spellings such as "Hedora", "Ghidrah", and "Gammera". Lastly, it should be noted (perhaps for reasons beyond the norm) that this feature includes the quote-unquote "hit song" Godzilla Rap.

Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back (1998)

In this Warner Bros release, under the title Pokémon the First Movie, the clam shell box cover art takes the poster art and switches the placement of the title and the words "Mewtwo vs. Mew" and adding a little blurb in the corner about "Never-Before-Seen Pokémon footage." Otherwise, the art is largely unchanged, featuring accurately-rendered pocket monsters Mewtwo and Mew center stage and, clockwise from Pikachu on the bottom, Togepi, Marill, Vaporeon, Tentacruel, Mr. Mime, Clefairy, Tauros, Bulbasaur, Goldeen, Omanyte, Voltorb, Caterpie, Nidoran, Seaking, Cubone, Psyduck, Tangela, Snubbull, Blastoise, and Donphan amongst a burst of light, lightning bolts, and an image of the earth down below in the distance. The art is attractive for Poké-fans, but a bit overly busy and bunched together.

On the back is a brief synopsis of the feature with sparse details, followed by a description of the bonus material via incomplete sentences. Not counting the logos for the movies and companies, there are four images on the back. The topmost image appears to be a promotional shot featuring Mewtwo, Pikachu, Ash Ketchum, Bulbasaur, and Dragonite. Below left is an image from (I believe) Pikachu the Movie, also included on the tape, featuring a pocket monster stampede with Pidgeotto, Geodude, Vulpix, Charizard, Staryu, Onix, Zubat, Goldeen, and, one of my personal favorites, a happy Psyduck. Below right is a still from the movie showing Mewtwo looking intimidating. The bottom image actually looks to be a collage of popular promotional Pokémon art, most of which is also featured radiating clustered around the edges of the front cover. The pocket monsters included in this image are, from left to right, Blastoise, Marill, Snubbull, Butterfree, Pikachu, Charizard, Togepi, and Donphan. All of these design elements are arranged over a purple background with gray squiggly lines completing the composition, the somewhat gaudy colors used in an attempt to appeal to younger consumers. Thus the box ends up looking a little bit like a big box of sour candies.

Godzilla: The Series - Trouble Hatches (1998)

One of only two VHS releases of the 1998-99 Godzilla animated series, this volume contains the 2-part pilot episode "New Family". The back goes into a nice descripiton, setting the story up without giving too much away. The other VHS release was the "Monster Wars" 3-part episode. However, while the latter has seen a subsequent DVD release, "Trouble Hatches" has not... making it somewhat of a collectors item as of present (despite the popular trend of bringing whole TV series to DVD, Godzilla: The Series only has 9 episodes available on 3 DVD's).

Godzilla Trailers & Sci-Fi Monsters

A phosphorescent green, stylized Godzilla destroys a hapless city with the aid of flying saucers (and one crawling saucer) hovering ominously overhead. This marvelously unique artwork adorns the slip cover for Godzilla Trailers & Sci-Fi Monsters, a documentary which covers the golden age of B-movies in the '50s and '60s. This rare gem could be purchased alone, or together in a Godzilla-sized 3-pack.

Godzilla 2000: Millennium (1999)

The blaze of a crimson inferno envelops this Toho Video rental version release of Godzilla 2000: Millennium (1999). Featuring the subtitle: "Godzilla vs. Orga" on the front and an assortment of contrasting cool-hued still shots on the back, this powerful cover shows off the strength and raw power of the star monsters with every iota of their energetic presence.

Godzilla 2000: Millennium (1999)

The last Godzilla movie to see a VHS release stateside, this 2000 Columbia/Tristar release features frontside art from the American theatrical poster for Godzilla 2000: Millennium (1999). Also of note on the cover is the ominous appearance of Orga's face in the background; staring at Godzilla as if to challenge the king for supremacy of the Earth. It also features the film's theatrical tagline "Get Ready to Crumble". Another aspect about the front is that the title and Godzilla himself have raised surfaces, giving them a somewhat 3D feel. The back of the box features an in-film shot of Godzilla unleashing his incorrectly termed "furious heat beam" in the film description that should be labeled as "Godzilla's atomic heat ray". Also, the line "Godzilla - who's just crushed the entire city", is pretty much a gross hyberbole. The back also has a still of the Millennian UFO taking off from a building top to avoid G's heat ray. Each side of the box has the same setup: a picture of Godzilla at the top, the title in the middle, and a still of the UFO departing a destroyed building top at the bottom.

Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris (1999)

Released a mere six months after the movie's theatrical release, this VHS from Daiei Video contains the final chapter in Shusuke Kaneko's Gamera trilogy. The title on the front for this one is the rather long, in English, GIII: The Guardian of the Universe 1999 Incomplete Struggle. The front also depicts a rather evil Gamera destroying the cityscape. The back is a nice collection of stills, with over the top blood splattered amongst the text. The VHS retails for the, very high, price of ¥16,000 (around $145).

Godzilla: The Series - Monster War (1999)

Boasting an array of vibrant, spicy hues, the front cover of this VHS features Godzilla and several of his foes, while the back includes a rather accurate description surrounded by warplane silhouettes. One of only two VHS releases of the 1998-99 Godzilla animated series, this volume contains the famous 3-part episode "Monster War".

Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (2000)

In stark contrast to Toho Video's previous Godzilla release, Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (2000) leans toward the serenely cerulean end of the spectrum, bursting with an edge of vermillion that reveals an underlying urgency. Megaguirus, with her exotic exoskeletal appearance, cuts through the cover to foil Godzilla's feral, though familiar figure. Note that this verson pictured is a rental release.

Godzilla, Mothra & King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All Out Attack (2001)

The swirling, torrential apparition of Godzilla's eyes penetrate the spectral variety of this release of Godzilla, Mothra & King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All Out Attack (2001). A decidedly diagonal geometric slope defines the stylistic collage of still shots at the rear, while flames lap into thick, gloomy smoke underneath a stormy sky at the front. The horrifying spectre of the unstoppable beast rises above it all, the King of the Monsters is the king of this cover. Note, the clam shell case shown is for the rental version.

Metropolis (2001)

A late release to the home video market, Metropolis (2001) features the original poster art on the cover, taken from the limited American theatrical release, since the Japanese poster art appears to be different. The video release adds Roger Ebert's rating of the movie along the top in a silver band. The image focuses on an apparently naked Tima (the robot girl) gazing upwards inside a hellish, bright-pink factory with the villainous Rock glowing and standing in the background, looking on. The title of the movie is given in both English and katakana Japanese on the front and both sides. The text on the back reveals the higher anime awareness in the United States at the time of the film's release, highlighting the original creator Tezuka, as well as the director and screenwriter. The text reads like an advertisement, praising the film with hyperbolic phrases, and including a wildly enthusiastic quote from James Cameron endorsing the film. The description of the plot is mostly accurate, although it exaggerates the threat, as I don't recall the "fate of the universe" to be at stake in this movie. Three tiny stills from the movie are displayed next to the text, but they are so small and rather poorly chosen that they don't illustrate the grandeur of the movie well. The blue-tinted cityscape and silhouette of Kenichi below the text looks like more promotional art, but I don't know its exact source. Also in the background, and along the sides, are glowing blue lines and strands of running text repeating the word "metropolis," a design choice that seems to be aping 1999's The Matrix.

Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (2002)

As far as VHS covers go, this rental only version of Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (2003) features a rather eye-catching layout. The cool, serene blues and silvers on the front meld into the rich warmth of the oranges and yellows on the back. The virtual medley of pleasant eye candy makes for quite the experience. Featuring several stylized stills, composites of Yumiko Shaku, and the always awesome profile shot of a powered-down, berserk Kiryu on a sunset skyline backdrop, the whole package makes for an excellent display piece.

Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. (2003)

A cyanotype chill grips this stunning rental release of Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. (2003). A grim, sepia-toned juggernaut crashes his way through the hapless metropolis of Tokyo at the rear, while at the front, an icy coldness prevails. Mothra and the Shobijin are the only beings that show a glint of warm contrast, while the destruction of Tokyo Tower proves to be a most significant and terrifying splash of scarlet.

Godzilla: Final Wars (2004)

A crowd of creatures, great and meek, clamber for even a fleeting glimpse by the one who comes into possession of this rental release of Godzilla: Final Wars (2004). Indigo is the blanket of dreariness that washes behind human and kaiju alike; a cascade that rushes even into the rear. Godzilla's face, angled with determination, rises to the height of every plane, a stern warning to the monsters, mechs, and men who materialize from the indigo vault below.