BLOOD WORK: July 2018

From 2005 to 2013 Godzilla lay dormant, absent from the big screen. During that time Toho Co., Ltd handed over the kaiju reins to western studios, Warner Brothers and Legendary Pictures. Why they did this, whether Toho no longer knew what to do with their pop culture icon or couldn’t resist the allure of a Hollywood sized budget for a Godzilla film, is unclear. No matter their reason, they gave the keys to the kaiju kingdom to foreigners.

The 2014 Godzilla film, while possessing many elements from the Toho series, was a fundamentally different Godzilla, lacking the pathos and ethos at the core of the Japanese character. This Godzilla has far more in common with kaiju rival Gamera than the Japanese Godzilla, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Legendary’s movie had the same effect on Toho as the 1998 Tristar Godzilla movie had. Spurred into action once again, Toho restarted the franchise in Japan with 2016’s Shin Godzilla. Director Hideaki Anno injected elements missing from Legendary’s Godzilla. Yet Anno’s interpretation of the kaiju was radically different from all of Toho’s previous iterations as well, more in keeping with the Angels from Anno’s Evangelion than Toho’s kaiju.

Nevertheless, Shin Godzilla remains a potent and powerful, and quite experimental, chapter in the saga.

Within the last twelve months Toho has executed yet another strikingly alien take on the kaiju king. Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters was the first ever Godzilla centric anime film ever produced. Released theatrically in Japan and directly to Netflix here in the states, the film ended on a cliffhanger. The second film, in what appears to be a trilogy, has now surfaced on Netflix.

Toho recently announced that after the Godzilla anime trilogy concludes that they will be returning to a more traditional approach to the franchise for future installments. And what’s more, they’ve stated that a sequel to Shin Godzilla will not be happening.

Take this as just an observation from one fan and nothing more: This announcement lends further evidence that Toho doesn’t quite know what to do with their Godzilla franchise and are in the midst of trying anything and everything to see what sticks. This current era of Godzilla films may one day be referred to as “Hey, remember that weird experimental time when Godzilla’s tail shot fire and had a face? And those way out there anime movies? It was cool but I’m glad it’s over."

Anyway, on with the review.

THE PLOT

The battle to retake Earth rages on. The survivors of the 300 meter tall Godzilla are rescued by strange indigenous people worshiping a giant egg. These people, the Houtua, tend to the wounded and lead the survivors to the last city on Earth: Mecha-Godzilla City. Grown over 20,000 years from the constantly building nano-metal of Mechagodzilla’s remains, humanity attempts to weaponized Mechagodzilla once more and mount one last attack against the king of the monsters.

MY THOUGHTS

Ever wonder what a high concept science fiction take on Godzilla would look like? This burgeoning anime trilogy attempts to provide an answer. Possessing similar elements to Alex Garland’s 2018 film, Annihilation, as well as ideas that would be right at home within Square Enix’s NieR: Automata, Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle, as well as its precursor, reimagines Toho’s kaiju universe like never before.

The central premise of the anime trilogy appears to be exploring kaiju evolution on Earth over the course of 20,000 years. The first film saw humanity return to Earth after 20 years in space having traveled 11 light years distant. Due to the nature of light speed travel, by the time humanity returns to Earth, 20,000 years have passed on the planet. Earth has adapted to Godzilla’s unique genetics resulting in flora, fauna, and a biosphere based off the kaiju’s own biology. Planet Earth is now Planet Godzilla. Subspecies of Godzilla based lifeforms run rampant across the surface, from winged to wormed to massive duplicate Godzillas.

Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle further explores this Planet Godzilla in greater detail. Pockets of other kaiju ecosystems exist as well, one based on Mothra’s biology as well as another springing from the self-replicating nano-metal of Mechagodzilla. These ideas are seemingly derived from pre-existing concepts of Godzilla lore imbedded in the series since its inception.

In the original 1954 film the concept of Godzilla’s mere presence altering the very ground the creature treads upon was introduced. His footsteps poisoned the ground he had walked upon. Strange or long thought extinct creatures appear in his wake such as trilobites or mutated sea lice. Then there’s Mothra’s luminescent dust, which has long had a counter-effect to Godzilla’s biology and powers. And lastly, Mechagodzilla’s foreign space metal and how it would affect the Earth is explored.

It’s these ideas, long a part of the Toho Godzilla mythos, that the filmmakers explore to the nth degree. If you’re a hyper-aware Godzilla fan, discovering which concepts mined from the classic films are present provides a fun and engaging viewing experience. If you know your Godzilla lore deeply you can begin to see the direction the film is headed towards and even predict character motivations.

Toho Animation and Polygon Pictures are treating the content very seriously, as if this weren’t an anime at all, but rather a legitimate dramatic science fiction film.

Herein lies both the strength and weakness of the film. The core of these films is a very real human drama, one that connects deeply with Japanese history. In the film we follow a nation of people suffering from a grave defeat that changes their lives forever. Losing their home, their identity, and their pride to a monstrous enemy. The movie is about people not monsters. It’s about people reacting to a calamity beyond any to have come before. In this approach the film parallels Ishiro Honda’s original 1954 Gojira in spirit. Such gravity and drama has been absent from the franchise since 1984.

Even Polygon Pictures realistic cell-shaded animation distances itself from traditional anime, having more in common with live action films than the typical Japanese animation. Rather than embracing the advantages of animation, such as providing blockbuster levels of action and spectacle, the filmmakers display restraint, opting for more thought provoking storytelling.

The film’s biggest pitfall is in its slower pace, much like the preceding chapter.

These films succeed as in capturing science fiction and drama but fail in broader appeal. Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle expands upon the thoughts and ideas of the first film, and I personally feel it improves upon the first film. Sadly though it maintains the same slow pace of its predecessor.

Hopefully the third chapter will continue bring this trilogy to a satisfying conclusion.

THE VERDICT

Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters and Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle are not kaiju films. Nor are they anime in the more common/traditional styles. They are pure science fiction. Fans of in-depth cerebral science fiction should find much to enjoy about the films. References to Godzilla lore abound, much visible only to the hyper analytical Godzilla fan. There’s just the problem of pacing that needs to be endured

Overall Ranking: 6 out of 10

(for the second episode)