I don't think it has anything to do with Japan or Toho being a Japanese company. If I recall correctly, the recent American showings of Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla aired the Hedorah short before the film. I think they might've aired the Gigan film too, but I might be wrong. The Gigan Rex short film is still up and viewable as well so I don't think it's as clear cut as it may seem on the surface.ebirahsmeg1 wrote: ↑Mon Feb 06, 2023 9:50 am This short was great...and sadly, TOHO's predictable aggressive strategy of trying to remove this and the Hedorah short film from YT is beyond moronic from a PR/Publicity standpoint (yet they have no issue it seems for the Gigan Rex stuff staying up...go figure). Sadly, this is not just a TOHO thing, but a Japanese thing in general (you should see how the NSK (National Sumo Association) & NHK treats their international sumo fans...they basically have been going "scorched earth" with copyright strikes on anyone showing even short clips with analysis of any of the sumo tournaments/basho....what better strategy to build your international fanbase and increase global revenue than to remove all chances for international fans to view or learn anything regarding the sumo matches/tournaments outside of Japan). I see no other major sports league (NFL/MLB/NBA/UFC/European Soccer/etc. etc. etc.) doing anything even remotely as asinine as this.
My general impression is that Toho wants these to be "festival exclusive" shorts that they can easily air every year during GFes. I'm not saying that's a good thing, or the right thing, but it's clear they want to keep these as special event-type short films to recapture the old days of the champion festivals and whatnot. I expect another short this year, unless that changes thanks to the upcoming Godzilla film having the same release date, to roll out alongside some repeated shorts.
