Gamera is pretty underrated. It seems the Big G (I really don't have to give his name do I? :laugh
always steals his thunder. Granted, Godzilla films are generally a little more serious than Gamera's but they're still very enjoyable for me. I think that lots of folks are turned off by the kid-friendliness of the Gamera films and the ultra-kawaii Gamera march theme.
Probably. Kiddie = bad, though many of the films aren't perfect.
I think Gamera The Brave balanced the tone between the Heisei and Showa era. If you haven't seen it, I encourage it. Though some things that make Gamera Gamera are taken out like his roar, it's still a good movie. I watched it with my mom last Saturday. Her gasp to surprises like Zedus's appearance were fun to watch.
I also have a theory Gamera had a series of his own because he was quite unique to all the other Godzilla Follow the Leaders.
I've watched the first three Gamera movies. The first one was enjoyable though they completely dropped the ball with his fondness for kids aspect. Toshio kept appearing therafter and I was expecting Gamera to show fondness for him again and the main scientist to be all but bursting in excitement at the revelation.
Barugon was fun and Onodera very bad. Though the Japanese actors wearing the New Guinea equivalent to Blackface was so freaking cringeworthy I can't even.
Gyaos had the dub actors try to do the stereotypical Asian accent, which was also cringeworthy. So was the mixed message about the highway being built through the village and the angry land owners. At least the kid in this film, Eiichi, popped up every now and then to supply brainwaves for the scientists. Someone give this clever kid a scholarship to a good school! He and Toshio can become the Kaiju Scientist Duo!
I've picked up some stuff I haven't got around to watching yet (Rodan and The War of the Gargantuas). As soon as I get some more time I'll be watching those. I'm especially excited about The War of the Gargantuas.
Sanda and Gaira are interesting monsters. Hope you like them. ::thumbs::
The significance of Honda's quote is that the monsters deserved to have their own personality; compared to what the US usually does, Japanese Monsters tend to have a personality of their own and are not necessarily evil. And the fact, Godzilla had willingness to team up with other monsters and humanity to fight a common foe tends to portray Godzilla with a more complex personality.
Ah, that makes sense. The Rodan's Roost website has a section for each monster where their personality is explained. As a character-driven type of writer, I love the site (Though it sadly doesn't update anymore, so no profiles of the Final Wars monsters, Toto and Zedus, or the Television monsters which would most likely include Ultraman).
BOO!!! I hate her. I know she's trying to appeal to the female audience, but dang, it made it feel like all the other daikaiju from the TOHO universe insignificant; not to mention she scores the most victories against Godzilla to the point that Hardcore Holly started slamming Godzilla on WWF Magazine, stating that "GODZILLA LOST TO A SISSY BUTTERFLY."
Eeh, don't let the people who are all "Girly character = Bad; Manly character who gets beaten by Girly character = BADDER THAN BAD" get to you. Plus I think it's nice that a girly kaiju can go toe to toe with the King of the Monsters and give him a good challenge. Though she has the habit of dying a lot and no other male kaiju I recall does that.
As for making other monsters look insignificant, I'm the type who blames the writers, not the characters. Though Anguirus going against impossible odds and surviving is his main charm point.
-Oodaku and Ookondoru, I loved them not only because they were plain, but King Kong vs. Godzilla and Godzilla vs. the Sea Monsters demonstrated SFX at its most basic. Oodaku was actually 4 real live octopi (one got eaten by Honda himself...LOL), while Ookondoru was a marionette and pitting them against a suitmation actor. As clunky as it looked, it demonstrates how Toho tried many things to do Daikaiju.
Ooh, interesting. I hope more interesting kaiju like that appear in the future.
-Biollante's Rose Form I liked better than the final form mainly because, the Rose Form represented Biollante's Humanity. Not to mention it's willingness to fight despite the fact Godzilla was far more stronger than her.
I can see your point and also add a different reason: the rose head was a bit unique while the dino head, while terrifying, made her a bit more generic (So many mutated dinos!).
-Rodan, Anguirus, and King Seesar I loved them as allies, and was happy that Godzilla decided to spare them in Final Wars. In addition, their willingness to fight Mechagodzilla despite losing. Afterall, Mothra might have scored the most wins against Godzilla, Mechagodzilla is the one that actually succeeded in almost killing Godzilla.
I don't think Rodan fought - Oh, you mean MechaGodzilla II.
Yes, I loved that he spared them, thought storywise it was probably random.
May I recommend Yog/The Space Amoeba? It's like a daikaiju version of John Carpenter's The Thing.
Seconded. Plus Kameobas/Kamebas/Whats-His-Name cameoed in Tokyo SOS as a washed up corpse. Originally supposed to be Anguirus, but they wisely changed their decision.
