So after seeing GODZILLA: FINAL WARS on the big screen last week, and catching up with GODZILLA AND MOTHRA: BATTLE FOR EARTH on the small screen yesterday, I am once again filled with Mothra-love and jonesing on kaiju. And what’s a kaiju, the uninitiated might ask? The definition given by Wikipedia is “strange beast or mysterious beast, a popular Japanese term referring to strange creatures, especially giant monsters as portrayed in Japanese fantasy films.” Everyone knows the most famous kaiju of all, Godzilla. King Kong is considered kaiju as well. Well borrowing from a website I’ve been perusing recently I thought I’d do something really geeky but fun (for me) regardless: share my top 10 kaiju.
MOTHRA – While Scot enjoys reminding me that Mothra is basically… a giant moth, I repeatedly remind him that Mothra is in fact an earth spirit, charged with keeping the earth’s environment safe from serious harm. Mothra just thrills me. She is visually breathtaking, with huge wings and glowing compound eyes. Mothra is one of the most popular of the Japanese kaiju, after Godzilla and possibly Gamera. She has appeared in dozens of Godzilla movies, including a hadnful of her own. One of the most unique features of Mothra’s is her lifecycle. She often appears first as a giant egg which hatches into a larval stage. This gigantic catrpillar can bite with its powerful mandibles, and spray a cocoon forming webbing it can use to trap its foes. THe larval mothra also uses this silken web to create a cocoon for itself from which emerges the adult Mothra in its traditional appearance. The various Mothras have possessed a wide assortment of powers with which to combat threats to earth. Mothra has a repeating theme in her film appearances: self-sacrifice. Mothra is often sacrificing her life for her children, or for her allies when combatting a foe more powerful than she. The beauty of Mothra’s lifecycle allows for this noble self-sacrifice because the viewers always know that Mothra will be back. Oh yeah, and there are a couple of 6″ fairies that run around and help Mothra. Even better, they often sing the Mothra song, which is a joy all its own.
RODAN – It’s clear I’ve got a thing for winged kaiju. The sight of enormous monsters in flight is thrilling, and I love the use of hurricane force winds generated by the flapping of massive wings. Rodan premiered in his own self-titled film back in the 50’s. It was the first of the Godzilla films to be shot in color, and is actually pretty effective for a horror film. Basically a giant pteranodon, Rodan and his mate awaken and terrorize Tokyo. They are finally struck down by an erupting volcano. Only the force of nature itself is mighty enough to put an end to the destruction of another force of nature. Rodan returns as a sometime ally, sometime sparring partner for Godzilla. During these early films, Rodan is treated with respect as a worthy adversary and combatant. After a lengthy absence from the screen, Rodan returned in the 90’s, updated with fire breath (and dubbed Fire Rodan.) Apparently in the modern age of kaiju, a monster is useless with out an energy projection attack. In addition to his awe-inspiring visuals, Rodan has the best of the monster’s cries.
MANDA – We take a break from wings and move to a Chinese-style dragon/sea serpent. Manda is a little utilized kaiju that made its appearance in a film called ATRAGON, (which I have never seen.) Manda is the god and protector of the undersea kingdom of Mu. Its first Godzilla-related feature amounts to a few scenes in DESTROY ALL MONSTERS. From those few tantalizing scenes, I have long been fascinated by the snake-like monster. It’s clear why Manda didn’t get a lot of screentime. The marionette used to play Manda was pretty cheesy even by Godzilla standards. Cut to GODZILLA:FINAL WARS, where Manda is updated using a combination of puppetry and CGI. The results are fascinating, as Manda writhes through the ocean at top speeds, constricting its body around a submarine. I’d love to see a kaiju film that featured Manda prominently.
KING GHIDORAH – King Ghidorah is Godzilla’s arch-nemesis. This terrifying dragon from outer space has battled the King of Monsters time and time again. King Ghidorah made its debut in the aptly titled GIDRAH THE THREE HEADED MONSTER, where it takes the combined forces of Godzilla, Rodan and Mothra to defeat the evil space dragon. King Ghidorah places so high on my list for purely visual dramatics. The golden scaled beast is enormous, its three fearsome heads spouting electricity at its foes. Its massive, bat-like wings are spectacular. King Ghidorah was so popular it quickly made a return appearance in MONSTER ZERO, and since then the monster in various incarnations has returned time and time again to battle Godzilla and Mothra as well. While some find the special effects of the Japanese kaiju to be rather rudimentary, these four favorites of mine are all pretty visually spectacular, but more, great care is taken with the audible cries of the monsters. Mothra’s is mournful, Rodan’s is just cool, Godzilla has that recognizable foghorn cry, and Ghidorah sports a mysterious, alien voice. Despite its penchance for evil, King Ghidorah makes it into my top 5.
ANGUIRUS – Anguirus is basically a monstrous, prehistoric hedgehog, complete with a body covered with spines. Anguirus is a scrappy monster, boldly battling monsters who at first look are far mightier. I’ve only seen Anguirus in supporting roles, either fighting with or against Godzilla. I think the most screentime that I have seen Anguirus enjoy was in the most recent, GODZILLA” FINAL WARS. Here he uses his special ability to curl himself into a ball of spikes and acts as a soccer ball of sorts to attack the King of Monsters. I’m not sure what exactly is Anguirus’ appeal, other than his tenacity and his unique appearance. I need to go back and watch a few more of the films where he is featured.
GODZILLA – I had Godzilla ranked at #7 below Gamera, until I started thinking of the orignal GODZILLA film and the King of Monsters origin. While originally a mutated lizard spawned from atom bomb testing, a later twist on the Godzilla mythos (revealed in GODZILLA, MOTHRA, KING GHIDORAH: GIANT ALL-OUT MONSTERS ATTACK) has the monster made up of the souls of the victims of the atom bomb. This adds a dark and deep twist to a monster whose appearances through the 70’s, 80’s and early 90’s relegated him to little more than a campy joke. Let’s face it, he may not be my favorite of the kaiju pantheon, but he is the one who started it all. And when he’s on, he’s really on, big, bad, and indescribably mean. A force to be reckoned with.
GAMERA – Gamera is the heroic cosmic turle who is almost as well known as Godzilla himself. He sports his own lengthy series of films, and was recently updated for the 90’s with a trilogy that some say are what monster movies should aspire to. And yes, you heard that right, he’s a giant turtle. Gamera is very cool… with his flame thrower breath, and his spinning saucer flight. Some his movies got a little cheesy when he became a defender of children (similar to Mothra) but he’s stil lots of fun. He’s got a bizarre and vicious rogue’s gallery, and despite the defender of children angle, his battles are more violent than Godzilla’s. He even has his own little rhyme that Scot loves to spout, “Gamera is full of meat, Gamera is fun to eat!” Believe me, Gamera’s not that kind of turtle.
ULTRAMAN – I remember oh so vividly coming home from church on Sunday mornings in the early ’70’s and getting myself situated in front of the black & white TV to watch “Ultraman.” Each week, our main character (I think he was an air force pilot) would encounter giant monsters necessitating his transformation into the alien hero, Ultraman. If I could remember them clearly enough, some of the kaiju monsters Ultraman faced might end up on this list, but Ultraman was pretty darn cool himself, with an array of nifty powers, and huge, alien robotic look. They have since remade and updated Ultraman, but I would give anything to get my hands on the original series. again.
Okay, so that’s only eight. I had a couple more listed to round out my Top 10, but honestly, at this point most of the remaining kaiju are about the same. I was going to mention Reptilicus, a one-off, acid spitting, Danish kaiju whose one and only film appearance (REPTILICUS, natch) was a popular staple on Creature Feature, and Barugon, a rather goofy looking villain of Gamera’s who nonetheless had some original and effective abilities, as the 9th and 10th on my list, but are they really any better than Baragon (not to be confused with Barugon) or Hedorah? And I’ve heard some pretty interesting things about Biollante, but haven’t seen his movie. So for now, the list stands at eight.
In the meantime, I plan on going back and trying to watch as many of the Godzilla movies as possible in order! It’s sure to drive Scottie crazy, but I hope I can manage without forcing him to sit through many. Any of you have any favorite kaiju? E-mail and share your lists!