The Heisei Godzilla Era Retrospective | Good or Bad?

32 thoughts on “The Heisei Godzilla Era Retrospective | Good or Bad?”

1. Omni's delving into the long.

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2. 84 starts at 1:11 and Biollante starts at 5:50

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3. 10:49 Well, well, well… This is familiar ground for this channel 😆

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4. "Gamera did it better in the 90s"
   Yeah after seeing the Gamera trilogy for myself, I don't get the hype. Gamera 3 is just awful. Visually it's horrid, with terrible green screens galore, lackluster puppets, Irys' CGI aged like milk in the Sahara, etc. The only solid parts are the suits themselves which do look good. A shame the battle scenes are either very far away shots or Gamera being stabbed and shuffled around a few times until he decides to win. The human characters are extra stupid, Gamera was always a point of contention but the Gyaos are the objectively worse threat and this is never brought up. Gamera himself is a genuine moron in the film, allowing Irys to get critical advantages in the fight making his mission vastly more difficult. The Monsterverse did better with this in GvK, a movie where the writing is a 3rd spare wheel at best. The redemption is one of the worst I've seen in fiction, period. It's not earned at all and comes completely out of left field. Gamera sparing that life but taking many others to keep Earth safe is completely contradictory to his previous character. The wax religious babble contributes nothing to the plot or theming since it's very clear from the start Gamera is still the good guy, just going further to keep the planet safe. So I dunno what people are in this movie for. Action? Well no, it's short, shot poorly and Gamera's stupid. Character? No they're dumb as dirt too and with an irredeemable villain become remorseful..because.

   Guardian of the Universe is…okay. Visuals are its weakest point, solid characters and they only improve in Legion, but the way the trilogy ends just leaves a terrible taste in my mouth.

   I would also argue vs King Ghidorah IS anti imperialism for one good reason: Godzilla. Godzilla systematically and at every turn decimates Japan freshly enraged by his new bombing. We know, for sure, that Godzilla was going to destroy Japan for good if they continued down the imperialist path. This happened in the future. The characters are pro imperial, but Godzilla violently shuts them down. His 'defeat' is hardly one, still angry he blasts into the sea-a reminder that he will be back. Just like the original's ending, he will return if we keep pushing the wrong buttons.

   As for Battra, fairly simple. He is the planet's wrath, in the same way Godzilla is, but Battra only knows conflict, it's in the name. Battle Mothra. Battra is judge jury and executioner. Mothra is the one who keeps Battra from wiping out humanity because she's more compassionate, though she also has a temper to her. Godzilla's determined to be worse simply because of how powerful and dangerous he is. At this point Godzilla's only been attacked by other Kaiju so this time he tries to find and kill the divine moths before they can get him first. He has no horse in the race, except to survive, so after being taken away Mothra doesn't attempt to fight anymore especially since Battra is dead.

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5. You're being overly harsh on the era… Sheeeeeeeeeeiiiiiiit

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6. I always wanted to see a follow to the Heisei films with Jr and seeing what his role will ultimately be. That will probably never happen. I haven't even heard of fan fiction taking this up.

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7. (15:40) I still stand by with what I said in the past about "Godzilla vs Mothra: Battle for Earth". And that it's one of my least favorite Godzilla movies in the series (especially from this particular era). Granted there are some good things about the movie, like the addition with Battra, the way Godzilla was portrayed in this movie (even if it did feel like a glorified cameo at times lol), and some of the action scene were quite nice (the best one in my opinion was the underwater fight between Godzilla and Battra larva). Not to mention that I do remember having some fond memories of renting the movie back in the day from Hollywood videos when those were still around. But still none of that was enough to save the movie (at least for me it wasn't). The human characters suck (one of the worst in the series in my opinion), the story is clunky and uninteresting, and at the end Godzilla really has no relevance to the story and feel like it should have been a solo Mothra movie instead. Which is why I don't really re-visit that movie as often as the other films.⚡🐛😠👎👧☮

   (13:05) I never really pictured the Godzillasurus siding with the Japanese soldiers in the movie and more so that they were the only ones that didn't fight back against it or were smart enough to hide from the big scary dinosaur. Which is obviously the opposite to what the American solders did in the movie lol. 🤔🪖🏝💣🤷‍♂

   Overall I I think the Heisei era has hold up quit well (but thats just me). It has unique designs, memorable action scenes, and like you said in the video Omni it was more stronger with the continuity than any other era in the series (with the exception of the MonsterVerse). Plus they actually went out of their way of trying to make Godzilla a sympathetic and tragic character (particularly in both Godzilla 1984 and Godzilla vs King Ghidorah), which is one of the main reasons as to why its still my favorite version of the character to date (at least for now anyways). 🌹🐲🦋👍🤖🌠🦀

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8. Great video, Omni. Thank you for this in-depth analysis.

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9. It is interesting in watching the Heisei series 30 years afterwards. When I first saw them in the 90s, I generally liked most of them, except for G vs King Ghidorah & Space Godzilla. Today, it is just Biollante with a little bit of Mechagodzilla (I am not the biggest fan of that Mecha re-design).

   And it is fascinating to see how a lot of G fans want Destoroyah incorporated into the Monsterverse, as the final act of that series. Some have likened it to the Superman/Doomsday scenario, but in reality, Destoroyah had ZERO to do with Godzilla’s demise in that movie! In looking at that feature again, it is two story arcs – Burning Godzilla (the more fascinating one) & the rise of Destoryah, woven together, but not too greatly. I have my suspicions that Burning Godzilla was the main AND only arc, but Tomoyuki Tanaka, with his instance of always having a monster, forced the issue and thus Destoroyah was in the final cut.

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10. Hey Omni Viewer! This may seem like a unrelated question but what do you think of the Kaiju film “What to do with the Dead Kaiju”? yet again another film labeled as the second Worst Japanese film ever, what are your thoughts on it?

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11. Well, admittedly a bit disappointing. I was hoping that over the years (and partly my Monstrous Moment on the subject) had softened your opinion on Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah. Despite being a mess, I still think the movie has a good underlying message. I think the "imperialism" is supposed to be embodied in Shindo – like I said, he fell back into the "old ways." And thus, Shindo is killed at the end and Japan's imperialist future is subverted.
    Oh well…I guess this means that one day, we'll need to do a cross-over debating the film.

    Granted, I'd say I agree with most of your takes here. Though I'm fond of the film, I agree that Ghidorah was where the Heisei took a dip in quality, considering that Return and Biollante had such strong and relevant theming in them. But Toho wanted to play it safe and naturally resorted to using the other four members of their "Top Five" to continue the series.
    Where you and I disagree is that, I'd rank Mechagodzilla II as being lower on the quality scale.

    It pains me to think about, but I do wonder how the series would have gone, if allowed to continue from Biollante properly, and keeping the themes about the dangers of genetic engineering. Instead, it feels like the three movies felt like a diversion until an attempted course correction with Spacegodzilla. I'd share my thoughts on that here, but I think I could salvage those ideas into a video of my own.

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12. I personally would like to see a continuity of Godzilla films that lasts for more than 2 films (the Polygon trilogy not withstanding). Most people argue it will just hold each new entry back by limiting creative vision. I personally beg to differ.

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13. 49:51 I'd argue that Gamera has owned the Reiwa era as well (Minus One notwithstanding), with a fraction of the output.

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14. Ahh yes, Godzilla 1985. The last movie my Father took me to see in a theater. He was also a Godzilla fan, but was extra excited to see Godzilla 1985, cause of an article in Popular Science magazine, explaining the robotics Toho was gonna use in the suit. I remember us both thinking it would be the robot the whole movie, with no man in suit stuff whatsoever lol.Good times, great memorys : )

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15. There a Awsome Godzilla Fan Comic on deviantart called "Godzilla Force of Nature" that continues Heisei series and Godzilla Jr. story.

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16. I thought it was titled Godzilla Returns

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17. It’s funny that Omni would describe Godzilla as a demon/ devil rising up out of a volcano in The Return Of Godzilla when later in Godzilla Vs Destroyah we have a devil kaiju that is so horrific both in terms of appearance n in actions that he makes Godzilla almost look tamed by comparison

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18. Huh so here’s where the name Goro Maki originally came from

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19. Oh boy Omni u n I really need to talk about yer outlook on the Mothra movie man while I cannot agree with u anymore about the Ghidorah movie being a mess n how that makes it the worst of the Heisei era now I do agree that the movie is way too preachy in terms of its environmentalism n if the movie wants to die on that hill it’s free to do so as far as Battra I’ve always looked at him as the Kaiju equivalent of a environmental terrorist that he thinks humans r a blight upon the world n will go to any lengths to destroy us n Mothra who’s always often being presented as a savior/ protector of humanity as well as the world if not the universe n will of course step in to stop Battra from doing horrible things to mankind now I have no idea or reason y they chose to make both Mothra n Battra fight together against Godzilla except 4 maybe that Godzilla was such a physical powerhouse that neither 1 could beat him (not something I approve of) if I had it my way I would’ve had Mothra n Godzilla team up against Battra but that’s me, the only other thing I noticed was that the movie liked using several we elements from the Indiana Jones otherwise I would put it above Biollante as well as Ghidorah also I don’t recall seeing the deforestation company doing anything on Infant Island they were still doing stuff in Japan not on Infant Island

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20. While I disagree with many of your points or Godzilla 1984 and Biollante even remotely being good, I respect your thoughts and your video was very well made.

    But I think a few of your arguments weren't correct.

    The meteor thing in Godzilla vs Mothra was explained by the Mothra twins who explained the earth summoned the meteorite at the beginning of the film because of the humans destroying the environment. They also explained the earth created Battra in order to get rid of humans, and as stated in the end of the film battra was going to protect the earth in the distant future from a much larger meteorite.

    The humans were surprised that Godzilla swam through underground lava. The example you had shown was Godzilla staying inside a volcano for 5 years which shows why the humans would be surprised that Godzilla instead used it at a system of travel which he travelled a very far distance from where he first went underground.

    The Mothra twins stated Battra was supposed to destroy the Meteorite but not Mothra has to do it instead.

    The humans going to the basement with baby Godzilla is the most logical thing they could have done, anything else would be far outside being realistic.

    There are also a few problems you didn't mention with Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla 2 which doesn't really make sense since you pointed out the previous films problems other than Godzilla vs Biollante. The plant thing on Baby Godzilla's egg is able to produce a sound which for some reason gives the monsters powers. This isn't explained and makes far less sense than most of your points for the Mothra film.

    I do think the characters in Godzilla vs SpaceGodzilla are kind of not useful in the film, but they are much more compared to films like Godzilla vs Biollante.

    In terms of Yuki in the english subtitles for the japanese audio it explains Yuki said he was "done with Godzilla". So he never was on good terms with him. But as for spacegodzilla, Yuki was trying to shoot him because he wanted to defeat SpaceGodzilla and then destroy Godzilla after which was stated by him earlier in the fight.

    The humans were using Miki to control Godzilla, this is why they needed her.

    Akira Ifikube also didn't do the music for Godzilla vs Biollante and 1984, so I don't think it's good to use that specifically as an example for Godzilla vs SpaceGodzilla because you don't think it's as good.

    The Godzilla 1994 suit was not in bad shape. The film used 3 suits which were all in previous films. They used the 1993 main suit for when Godzilla was waling in the water during the beach scene. And they used the suit from Godzilla vs Mothra for the water scenes which is why the tail broke apart.
    The film created a new suit for Godzilla vs SpaceGodzilla which is used in almost every fight scene. I feel like you should have mentioned this suit more not only due to it being the most iconic of the series, but also the huge leap in technology compared to any previous film.
    Godzilla 1994 used a new mechanic which allowing the head to turn in all directions, unlike the previous films which only allowed the head to move up and down.

    Moguera is shown to be able to stand up to SpaceGodzilla, it's just that SpaceGodzilla is that much stronger than Godzilla. This was shown when Moguera shoots all it's lasers at SpaceGodzilla's back. This has no effect on SpaceGodzilla yet this same blast knocks Godzilla out cold for 2 minutes which never happened in any previous film.
    Moguera is also shown not to malfunction during battle, is able to fight in close combat and able to get up off it's feet without outside assistance which is all things MechaGodzilla needed.

    Destoroyah was thought to be made of micro oxygen which is why they tested freezing micro oxygen and they discovered that they could.

    Godzilla vs Mothra is still liked as much or more than Godzilla vs Biollante, which was shown in a chart about Japanese Godzilla fan's favorite Godzilla films where the film was consistently in the top 10 Godzilla films.
    Godzilla 1992 is also used as much if not more than Godzilla 1994's design, in things such as the Godzilla hotel and even modern ads.

    And to end this off I don't know why you seemed to look deep into the problems for the later films yet completely ignore the same problems if not larger ones in the first two films. Such as the characters just standing by and watching in Godzilla vs Biollante and the humans being overly exaggerated evil or just exaggerated in general which makes them age far worse than any of the later films.

    Also in terms of aging well I think these same criticisms should be applied to the showa godzilla films, since I don't think those films aged well even at the time. Which is one of the reasons why the general audience viewed Godzilla as a joke or person in a suit.

    But overall great video even if I disagree with your conclusions.

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21. 4 me Mechagodzilla 2 (MG2 4 short) has always been 1 of my favorites with the fourth 1 from GVK bcuz they were able to kill a kaiju (MG2 killed Rodan n MG4 killed the Skulldevil with ease) something MG1 didn’t do despite dealing with Godzilla, Anguirus, n King Caesar, or how MG3 could only manage a stalemate with Godzilla in both its movies b4 going down once n 4 all I would like to point out that making MG2 a Megazord type machine means that the humans in the story get to b more hands on involved in a way of fighting against Godzilla

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22. I would think that Aoki’s desire to rescue Azusa was more important to him then his fascination with pteranodons like Rodan n since Rodan was endangering her in order to get to Baby he made his choice, would it have been better to c some form of conflict within him regarding his enthusiasm with pteranodons as supposed to his affection 4 Azusa hmm probably but that being said when the moment came n he had to make a decision on what he wanted he chose

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23. 4 me I would still say that Yuki is still a far better written n acted character then what we got from Haruo in the Polygon trilogy especially since they both had similar character stories but with different outcomes basically Yuki chooses to give up his desire 4 revenge n live happily with his best friend’s sister something that u (Omni) lambasted Haruo 4 not being willing to do n if yer wondering y he ultimately gives up on trying to kill Godzilla it’s bcuz the big G inadvertently saves him from Spacegodzilla

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24. Actually Miki uses her TK powers a grand total of 3 times in the movie (1) when she lifts the bed that she’s strapped to so that Shinjo could take a shot at the yakuza behind her (2) when she opens the partially closed door that’s holding Yuki n (3) she removes the failed telepathy device from the back of Godzilla’s head n he even turns n nods his head as if to say “thanks 4 that it was a pain in the neck”

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25. I’ve been saying this multiple times Moguera is not a more advanced robot, mecha, machine whatever he/ it is what u get when yer forced to recycle the leftovers of something that’s been broken, beat up n busted all over if Mechagodzilla was Voltron then Moguera would b Vehitron (the Voltron that’s made up of 15 vehicles) I would best describe Moguera as a support mecha not yer primary weapon mecha if someone were to do a movie with Mechagodzilla n have Moguera in it as well then he/ it would b Mechagodzilla’s back up support all that being said Moguera deserves better love from the fan base as he/ it was able to take on Spacegodzilla n did some far share damage to him b4 getting smashed n blown to pieces

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26. Looking back at Godzilla Vs Biollante idk if I like that movie so much since the Americans that r used in that movie r outright depicted as bad guys n being an American myself I don’t like the idea that we would casually unleash the most dangerous kaiju onto the world 4 some petty crap regarding anti nuclear bacteria especially when it ultimately doesn’t work (not in long term) it makes me feel the same way about it as I do about the Ghidorah movie n how it was against Americans in that movie as well

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27. While at first I did find Godzilla Jr’s death to b heartbreaking, knowing that his father is able to bring him back with all of his radiation being absorbed into Jr allowing him to not only fully recover but even become a full grown Godzilla which always compelled me to say this at the end of the movie “the king is dead, long live the king”

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28. Ehh I would say that Godzilla did most of the hard work dealing damage to Destroyah n the military just finishes him off

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29. As far as 1 hit wonders go I would easily put Destroyah next to Ghidorah just as I would put Spacegodzilla next to Mechagodzilla they have done so well that I wish someone would bring them back in another movie (might even make a few improvements to whatever was lacking about them)

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30. I will easily agree that Gamera did better in the 90s but that hardly makes the Heisei era of Godzilla average or less so does this mean that u’ll b doing a retrospective of both the Showa n Millennium eras of the Godzilla franchise???

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31. Huh I thought u already did a kind of review of the Gamera Heisei era trilogy

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32. Yeah. The Heisei is the almost literal Definition of "Mixed Bag" But it has my fave WTF Dub of any movie in The Mothra One. I can watch that movie just to hear it.

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