Toho Kingdom

Godzilla: Tokyo SOS is the most perfunctory Godzilla film. I know I already used that epithet to describe GXM once but I was wrong. This movie just feels like a Godzilla movie that was made just 'cuz. There's no rhyme or reason for its existence, and it's not like it's much of an artistic endeavor. Tomiyama was just marking time 'til the 50th anniversary came around.

Added in 12 days 22 hours 45 minutes 14 seconds:
Who else remembers the bootleg subtitles that had Kameoba die from a cervical injury?

What? It has a clawed neck, and they diagnose it as cervical injury?

The cervical spine are the vertebra that make up the neck, but cervix is an incorrect term since that is in reference to the tissue between vagina and uterus.

That translation makes what Godzilla did sound a whole lot worse than breaking Kamoeba's neck.

I always just thought Godzilla tore out his throat.

Gigantis wrote:I always just thought Godzilla tore out his throat.

He did. The bootleg subtitler, however, evidently thought "cervix" was synonymous with neck vertebrae, as Spydrmanjr pointed out, and not the exclusive term for part of the female anatomy.

Cheeseus Crust.

Wow, guess KOTM should have been pushing Godzilla/Kameobas instead of Godzilla/Mothra.

Keep DeviantArt away from this thread at all costs

That's an image I don't need in my head.

Revisiting this the other night, it occurred to me that this is likely the only Godzilla film after Godzilla's Revenge in which Godzilla neither affects nor plays a significant role in the climax. Instead, the focus of the climax is Kiryu's escape to sea (and Godzilla is only "involved" in that his motionless body is carried by Kiryu). I don't know what to make of the strange dramatic structures of either Kiryu movie.

Plus Godzilla loses. Quite definitively this time around too. Kinda can't help but wonder how fans reacted to that when it was new, for a movie that gets flack for retreading a lot, it's a bold choice.

^ Ya'know, I don't really remember the initial reaction to this movie. My Godzilla memories of the summer of 2004, when I first saw it, are overshadowed by the simultaneous Final Wars hype. There wasn't much time between the initial bootleg release of GMMG in July and the reveal of the FinalGoji costume and rumors from Japan that GINO would be appearing (preposterous!) and from China that Godzilla would die in Shanghai.

Terasawa wrote: ↑Sun Nov 15, 2020 3:01 pm ^ Ya'know, I don't really remember the initial reaction to this movie. My Godzilla memories of the summer of 2004, when I first saw it, are overshadowed by the simultaneous Final Wars hype.

Did you see it at G-Fest? I also first saw it in theaters of the summer of 2004. I was expecting it to feel like a speed bump toward my excitement for Final Wars at the time, although oddly it was probably my favorite Godzilla theater experience to date. Something about seeing Kiryu shoulder toss Godzilla while being in an audience of fans cheering in awe or seeing the new effects around Mothra's scales creating an explosion while an announced goes "whoa".

The movie is very much a popcorn flick, with an extra long climax that harks back to Godzilla vs. Gigan in terms of how much of the runtime it takes up. I remember loving the film the first time I saw it, but each subsequent viewing I have downgraded it a little as it's never been able to match up to that ambience of the initial viewing. Regardless of its faults, though, it and GMK are my favorite of the Millennium entries.

Arbok wrote: ↑Mon Nov 16, 2020 9:16 am

Terasawa wrote: ↑Sun Nov 15, 2020 3:01 pm ^ Ya'know, I don't really remember the initial reaction to this movie. My Godzilla memories of the summer of 2004, when I first saw it, are overshadowed by the simultaneous Final Wars hype.

Did you see it at G-Fest?

'fraid not, just got the DVD from 2004's most popular bootlegger. :/

Kaltes-Herzeleid wrote: ↑Sun Nov 15, 2020 1:32 pm Plus Godzilla loses. Quite definitively this time around too. Kinda can't help but wonder how fans reacted to that when it was new, for a movie that gets flack for retreading a lot, it's a bold choice.

Shock for me. And I think that's part of the reason I like this film, Godzilla so rarely loses in the latter parts of the series it's kind of a breath of fresh air when he does.

Godzilla loses the fight but gets the outcome he apparently wanted (the return of the 1954 skeleton to the deep), so it's even odder than previously mentioned.

According to Masaaki Tezuka in a SciFi Japan TV interview, there were four treatments for Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S., but he thought they were all "really boring", so he came up with his own idea which became the movie that we all know. Is there any more information about those unused treatments? Tezuka said that they featured Godzilla and Mothra, with Godzilla sleeping on an island and that it was in some way similar to Godzilla vs SpaceGodzilla.

That's interesting.
Not to be a dick but the final product wasn't all that exciting either... I respect Masaaki Tezuka for how much he clearly loves Godzilla and kaiju but the the Kiryu movies are some of my least favorites, not to say they don't have some good stuff mind you.
wonder what those drafts could have entailed? Between the original sequel drafts to GXMG and the cyber-kaiju Tokyo SOS sequel idea I'm fascinated with what could have been with the Kiryu Saga. These unmade stories seem more interesting than the actual duology we got.

CrimsonBloodX wrote: ↑Tue Apr 27, 2021 12:52 pm it was in some way similar to Godzilla vs SpaceGodzilla.

This makes me curious. Both films don't have a strong story, but I'd put Tokyo SOS as better quality than SG.

edgaguirus wrote: ↑Thu Apr 29, 2021 9:44 pm

CrimsonBloodX wrote: ↑Tue Apr 27, 2021 12:52 pm it was in some way similar to Godzilla vs SpaceGodzilla.

This makes me curious. Both films don't have a strong story, but I'd put Tokyo SOS as better quality than SG.

I think technically Tokyo SOS is the better made movie (better special effects, better cinematography, better score); but whereas SG has a sloppy, poorly paced script but with clear character/thematic concepts at its core, Tokyo SOS really has no consistent through-lines.