Shin Godzilla Raids Again

[JVM]

A recently revealed lost project from Toho Kingdom!

I have found a similar quote, Anno's own words in Shin Ultraman Design Works:

I wrote a proposal during the filming of Shin Godzilla on February 3, 2016, labeled Sequel Shin Godzilla Memo. The primary working title for the project was Shin Godzilla's Counterattack (シン・ゴジラの反撃, Shin Gojira no Hangeki) and with the assumption that Mr. Higuchi would direct, it was meant to be something like a Toho Champion Festival kaiju showdown. Since it was concocted to be released in 2018, the shortest time possible for a domestic-made Godzilla film to be released, it was a rough draft for people who wouldn't like Shin Godzilla, an idea that wouldn't cost too much or take too long to create. I believed that it would be a bad idea to let it go to waste so I gave the proposal, draft, and visuals, as a gift to Mr. Higuchi and Toho, but since it was premature or whatever, among other reasons, after the film's release the discussion ended. While I did feel it was a waste, it's not something I could help since Toho decides what gets made.

This is interesting project. I had no idea Anno had any ideas to expand on Shin Godzilla but I am specifically surprised he still considered bringing in additional monsters and aping the Champion festival films. Shin was such a different take it's weird to imagine taking it a more conventional turn.

[Jetty_Jags]

I’ll be honest, I think I love this idea, despite the fact I probably would have hated it like three years ago.

[Gigantis]

Y'know, one plot point of Shin Godzilla that has legit never been brought up again by anyone was that the chunks that blew off of Godzilla when the bunker buster bombs hit where that they were eventually turning into their OWN creatures. I wonder if that was what Shin was supposed to go up against? Where they meant to be new kaiju, or revamped old ones in Anno's signature style?

Well, the project doesn't seem to be seeing the light of day, so I guess the real question is.. "Who will know?"

[phillipw1954]

I wonder why Toho never bit at this. I understand how they didn't want to jump the gun and confirm a sequel before Shin's release, but I'm still surprised they didn't jump at the chance for a Shin sequel even after the film's crazy success.

[JAGzilla]

Fascinating. Man, this would have been something to see. And it may not be fully dead and buried; Toho is loosening up and acknowledging their extended monster roster and Showa heritage more these days. A project like this seems like a real possibility now.

[MechaGoji Bro7503]

We were so close to having Anguirus become the proper King of the Monsters. Maybe Anno could've explored Anguirus's dilemna of letting less fortunate creatures like Godzilla get the spotlight, because Anguirus is what we call - a good humanitarian. Think of it like someone creating such a good sob story on America's Got Talent.

[LSD Jellyfish]

Based on what little information we have, particularly reusing footage, I wouldn't be surprised if the movie was something like this:

An altered newish version of Shin Godzilla. Most of the monster scenes are preserved (Kamata-kun shows up and attacks Tokyo, flees into the ocean...), but most of the scenes featuring the lead characters like Yaguchi are cut, and maybe it focuses on new characters. Maybe there's some new scenes of destruction or something. The buildup and release is a little quicker. After the third form exits to the sea, another monster, like Angurius emerges. Shin Godzilla comes ashore, and things play out as normally, but instead of just having the bunker bomb scene, Godzilla exhausts his energy by killing another monster. Maybe the ending of the film is near identical, or the climax instead revolves around the new monster.

I get why this didn't happen. Even though it's a neat idea (focus on more monster action and a truncated story), it would feel cheap to reuse footage like they used to with modern audiences. It's interesting thinking about how Godzilla SP and some other recent Toho products have sort of fulfilled this niche. I agree with others I wouldn't want to see this now, it's a little too late.

[Legion1979]

We were so close to having Anguirus become the proper King of the Monsters. Maybe Anno could've explored Anguirus's dilemna of letting less fortunate creatures like Godzilla get the spotlight, because Anguirus is what we call - a good humanitarian. Think of it like someone creating such a good sob story on America's Got Talent.

Who says Angilas would have been in this?

[Mac Daddy MM]

Like many of the projects posted, I have real questions on how "serious" this was actually presented. I've always envisioned lost projects as ideas that are fully fleshed out/thought/written/concept art and just never put in front of cameras (GMK's original, Return of King Ghidorah, US Godzilla 1994, etc). Someone writing random ideas down on a napkin during happy hour and passing them to the head of Toho like some seem to be really don't pop as "lost projects." Anno had some ideas sure, but this was never even seriously considered if I'm reading the info right.

This "project" just reads as them noticing people complaining about certain elements, and coming up with a quick, dumb idea and it instantly getting shot down. I'm willing to bet money there's at least a dozen of these "lost Shin 2.0" movies, since you know Anno and crew had to toss some ideas around. That doesn't make a single one of them true "lost projects" when all that ever came from it was virtually a bathroom discussion.

I don't know, the whole thing just comes across as a big nothing burger of information. No real details, no plot synopsis, no mention of other kaiju... Just Shin Godzilla maybe fighting something else to appease fans that didn't like Shin 1.0. Just confirmation Anno had some ideas and pitched them, and they went no where. What just annoys me is this is going to be taken and run with for a while as everyone tries saying "We almost got Shin Godzilla 2 and he would have fought Anguirus!!!" (which is sorta already happening here), which just isn't the case. It's not a lost project, because it was never a project to begin with. It's just confirmation Anno had some ideas for a sequel and they went no where.

[Legion1979]

People are so desperate for more "lost projects" to talk about that Anno could say he had a random dream about Godzilla and there'd be a Toho Kingdom thread about it, with all the members lamenting the awesome film we never got.

Creating an article on the main site gives this far more validity than it deserves.

[Mac Daddy MM]

People are so desperate for more "lost projects" to talk about that Anno could say he had a random dream about Godzilla and there'd be a Toho Kingdom thread about it, with all the members lamenting the awesome film we never got.

Creating an article on the main site gives this far more validity than it deserves.

Rather agreed, to an extant. Like I can appreciate the fact we know there was certain things talked about/writen down in the Heisei era... But stuff like Godzilla vs. Chaos, Godzilla vs. The Divine Beast, and the Kiryu-centric spin-off aren't even legit things. I imagine digging enough, you could find 100s of these "throw everything against the wall and see what sticks" ideas lying around from every era of the franchise. And that seems to be exactly what is happening. These sorts of articles aren't even lost projects, they're just one-off ideas that someone had and said "Hey, I got an idea." And it goes no where.

As I said, I can appreciate someone bringing these "ideas" back up to see what eventually leads up to the actual films we get, but over half of these (Shin GRA included) are not lost projects in the slightest.

[Creature22]

My understanding is that a hypothetical sequel would have played with elements of the later 60s/70s era (ala the Champion Festival, among other things) compared to how the first film followed the style of the original/early 60s films. From there, it’s anyone’s guess how it would have gone down. It might have been fun, it might have been disastrous. Maybe we’ll know more one day, if there IS more than that.

I’m not against discussing lost projects or what “could be”, but I do think it’s important not to blow what are basically vague ideas or concepts out of proportion ala stuff like “Batman vs Godzilla”. At that point discussion starts to blend towards historical inaccuracy and people are quick to lean towards and regurgitate what they WISH is the reality even if it’s not the truth.

With that said, it would have been cool to see what other Toho characters would have looked like had Anno intended to do a sequel. Shin Ultraman gives a bit of an idea, so it would have been cool to see more.

[Gigantis]

Rather agreed, to an extant. Like I can appreciate the fact we know there was certain things talked about/writen down in the Heisei era... But stuff like Godzilla vs. Chaos, Godzilla vs. The Divine Beast, and the Kiryu-centric spin-off aren't even legit things. I imagine digging enough, you could find 100s of these "throw everything against the wall and see what sticks" ideas lying around from every era of the franchise. And that seems to be exactly what is happening. These sorts of articles aren't even lost projects, they're just one-off ideas that someone had and said "Hey, I got an idea." And it goes no where.

As I said, I can appreciate someone bringing these "ideas" back up to see what eventually leads up to the actual films we get, but over half of these (Shin GRA included) are not lost projects in the slightest.

Afaik all four of the drafts by Koichi Kawakita aren't really lost either. Considering he handed in "Junior Godzilla" and "Super Nuked Godzilla" when Ghost Godzilla was already rejected is a pretty tell tale sign that they were never getting off the ground to begin with and he was just goofing around lol.

At the same time though, we'll never really know HOW far some lost projects go exactly. Speaking as someone who likes searching for lost media, it isn't uncommon for more info to come out YEARS after the main project actually reaches the public hands. Hell, the fandom as a whole knew that Godzilla vs. Ghost Godzilla had been scrapped since the 2000's, but stuff like how 54 Goji was going to possess Little Godzilla? The entire Baraguirus storyline? Hell, the ENTIRETY of Story Plan A? Those didn't come around till like, what, 2017-2018? Whose to say there wasn't a full treatment of Godzilla vs. Cthulhu that was seriously considered still trapped in Toho's archives or something like that?

Of course, there's also plenty of times that lost media isn't nearly as exciting as most hope when its actually found. (Tell that to the guys who searched for A Day with SpongeBob SquarePants and found it was a two-bit parody that never even got off the ground ) but the possibility can never be ruled out. That's why stuff like this is probably so talked about to begin with.

[StardustGenius]

Give me more info on Nessie. Now THAT is what I'd love to hear about.

[MechaGoji Bro7503]

We were so close to having Anguirus become the proper King of the Monsters. Maybe Anno could've explored Anguirus's dilemna of letting less fortunate creatures like Godzilla get the spotlight, because Anguirus is what we call - a good humanitarian. Think of it like someone creating such a good sob story on America's Got Talent.

Who says Angilas would have been in this?

Ah ya know, all we really had to go on was the title so I figured why not post a little bs about Anguirus

[GigaBowserG]

What just annoys me is this is going to be taken and run with for a while as everyone tries saying "We almost got Shin Godzilla 2 and he would have fought Anguirus!!!" (which is sorta already happening here)

lmao Speak of the devil, and this is from some months back even!

[LSD Jellyfish]

People are so desperate for more "lost projects" to talk about that Anno could say he had a random dream about Godzilla and there'd be a Toho Kingdom thread about it, with all the members lamenting the awesome film we never got.

I agree with the overall sentiment that you and MM provide, but it's fascinating to confirm that following the succues of 2016, there were thoughts to continue Shin Godzilla. Sure, that should be obvious, followups were considered, but it's nice having a hard confirmation.

With what little information was provided, I think it's interesting seeing Anno (and Toho's thought process) and what makes it into the final thing. I imagine there are thousands of "Napkin ideas" that really shouldn't be considered lost projects that really don't belong in the same category as true "lost projects" (Godzilla vs. Bagan, Return of King Ghidorah, Godzilla vs. M...etc) where concept art, formal proposals etc... exist. Worth noting that this is more than that though: Anno presumably made a draft and drew up some concept art. It's POSSIBLE that someday we may see those materials.

[Mac Daddy MM]

What just annoys me is this is going to be taken and run with for a while as everyone tries saying "We almost got Shin Godzilla 2 and he would have fought Anguirus!!!" (which is sorta already happening here)

lmao Speak of the devil, and this is from some months back even!

And this type of click bait BS is why I don't follow any Godzilla YouTuber.

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At the same time though, we'll never really know HOW far some lost projects go exactly. Speaking as someone who likes searching for lost media, it isn't uncommon for more info to come out YEARS after the main project actually reaches the public hands. Hell, the fandom as a whole knew that Godzilla vs. Ghost Godzilla had been scrapped since the 2000's, but stuff like how 54 Goji was going to possess Little Godzilla? The entire Baraguirus storyline? Hell, the ENTIRETY of Story Plan A? Those didn't come around till like, what, 2017-2018? Whose to say there wasn't a full treatment of Godzilla vs. Cthulhu that was seriously considered still trapped in Toho's archives or something like that?

Agreed. Reading that type of stuff is a treat, and seeing the stuff that was actually considered at some point. That actually got the door cracked open to be made, sorta speak. But when an entire plot synopsis is "Godzilla awakens to fight another monster", which is a very formularic synopsis for a number of these (especially Heisei)... It's a nothing burger. Stuff like the Heisei KKvG and Godzilla vs. Mechani-Kong are "lost projects" I'd love to actually see and know how far it got before being axed. Gigamoth, Barubori, Totem Bagan, those are lost projects. Stuff that actually came close. I highly doubt there's many of these "close calls" left floating around in the wild that actually have any real story/work besides a random idea/propsal that was dead on arrival.

[GigaBowserG]

But when an entire plot synopsis is "Godzilla awakens to fight another monster", which is a very formularic synopsis for a number of these (especially Heisei)... It's a nothing burger.

This is definitely just me speaking, but I enjoy putting up these pages on the main site even for the most basic of proposals since, at any given time, we could always have more to share about it in the future... or perhaps incentivize the ones who pitched those proposals to share more. The synopses for Terror of SpaceGodzilla, Godzilla vs. Cyber City, and Godzilla: Great Naval Battle were at best a sentence long since they were merely name-dropped in a book, prior to Nakano being reached out to for more details.

If I had to guess, most pitches would probably be about the length of something like "Godzilla Super Wars". I think Godzilla vs. Gigamoth is about this length as well. Toho doesn't seem very keen about sharing many details for these proposals, but they tend to be packed with tons of extra story elements and characters that go completely unmentioned, and the pitches themselves can also be dozens of pages long.

I can see how "Lost Project" can be a misleading term, though, especially for ones that were never contenders to begin with. It does look cleaner and rolls off the tongue easier than something like... "Unconsidered/Rejected Proposal", though

[Mac Daddy MM]

But when an entire plot synopsis is "Godzilla awakens to fight another monster", which is a very formularic synopsis for a number of these (especially Heisei)... It's a nothing burger.

This is definitely just me speaking, but I enjoy putting up these pages on the main site even for the most basic of proposals since, at any given time, we could always have more to share about it in the future... or perhaps incentivize the ones who pitched those proposals to share more. The synopses for Terror of SpaceGodzilla, Godzilla vs. Cyber City, and Godzilla: Great Naval Battle were at best a sentence long since they were merely name-dropped in a book, prior to Nakano being reached out to for more details.

If I had to guess, most pitches would probably be about the length of something like "Godzilla Super Wars". I think Godzilla vs. Gigamoth is about this length as well. Toho doesn't seem very keen about sharing many details for these proposals, but they tend to be packed with tons of extra story elements and characters that go completely unmentioned, and the pitches themselves can also be dozens of pages long.

I can see how "Lost Project" can be a misleading term, though, especially for ones that were never contenders to begin with. It does look cleaner and rolls off the tongue easier than something like... "Unconsidered/Rejected Proposal", though

Oh no man, I'm not saying they shouldn't be put up. I'm just against treating them as true "lost projects" like the others I mentioned. They're nothing burgers of information, but give even the smallest insight into the mentality of what goes into the final result. As I said, I appreciate the work done for these. But just going back to this Shin GRA, treating it as a true "lost project" like it is already being done (Anguirus... isn't even mentioned and people running with it, as you said) is just wrong.