#Gojira tai mekagojira

[fourorfivemovements]

Films Watched in 2024: 63. ゴジラ×メカゴジラ/Gojira tai Mekagojira/Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (2002) - Dir. Masaaki Tezuka

[namesisfortombstones]

Audience reactions at Kaiju-Go last night. The real Godzilla appears in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla.

[moviecinepelis]

[pluurankeli]

KiryuGoji is such a handsome feller I’m in love with him

[randomrichards]

GODZILLA VS. MECHAGODZILLA:

A prophecy found

Kaiju vs. Tech double

Space apes behind this

[brokehorrorfan]

Mondo has released a Godzilla tiki mug - based on the King of the Monsters' appearance circa 1974's Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla - for $65.

Created by artists Hector Arce, Mikey Bonanno, and Tufan Sezer, the 8.25" stoneware ceramic mug holds 23 fluid ounces. It’s scheduled to ship in April.

[wittypenguin]

“Gojira tai Mekagojira“ or Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)

AKA: Godzilla vs. Bionic / Cosmic Monster, choose one, as both names were used in addition to “Mechagodzilla,” and in Spain they called the bad guy “Cibergodzilla.” Italy just called him a “robot.”

It’s important to note from the start that this is set on Okinawa, which is a quite remote island of Japan and is separate from Tokyo and other cities of Nippon. I’m not sure how to view this from a North American perspective, but maybe substitute Puerto Rico or Hawai’i vs America; or Newfoundland vs Canada; or the Isles of Scilly vs the UK; or Tasmania vs Australia. Technically it’s part of Japan, but it’s very remote and the feeling one gets is that “Things Are Very Different There…”

New cover illustration by Takashi Okazaki — — — —

We start the film with a title song in the style of big band jazz that sounds like “Sing, Sing, Sing (With a Swing)” by the Benny Goodman Orchestra. It’s a great, bounding tune, and it re-emerges in the battle / fight sequence later to great effect.

The story’s danger is Foreign and Technological in nature. The enemy is cold, calculating, and will stop at nothing to get what they want, yet they are defeated by old-fashioned determination wielded in traditional means. There’s an allegorical reason for this:

The film was widely criticized for its supposed lack of substance. However, some critics pointed out the actual historical context behind the plot. There had long been tension between Japan and the island Okinawa, [plus] Okinawa was the home of American military bases at the time that brought the threat of the Cold War to the island. With the aliens controlling Mechagodzilla representing the outside invading force [potentially either the Americans and/or the Soviets, to be honest], Godzilla representing Japan, and the mythical King Caesar standing in for Okinawa, the film proposes cooperation between the two nations, standing together against a common adversary.

- IMDb [link]

This approach to problem solving of co-operation and using methods so basic that high-tech doesn’t even think about them anymore is something we’ll see again in the Battle of Endor in The Return of the Jedi, among other films.

King Shîsâ (Kinichi Kusumi) in “Gojira tai Mekagojira“ (1974) — — — —

The guardian monster King Shîsâ is based on the actual “shîsâ” lion-dog guardian statues in Okinawa. Originally from China, they are statues that ward off evil spirits. Another Japanese name for them is “komainu” (lion-dog).

However as seen in the film, King Shîsâ (or ‘King Caesar’ as the English sub-titles simplify it and it really sounds like that anyway) looks like a dragon fucked the dog-like beast from The Neverending Story. I apologize for that comparison, but take a look at that thing and see if you can come up with something better!

The details of the story beyond the above ones are multiple, as is typical in these things.

The plot’s protagonist is very much the young anthropologist: who is A WOMAN!! After the last film, let’s celebrate the fact she’s here. Additionally, there’s a daughter of Professor Hideto Miyajima (played by Akihiko Hirata), but she ends up basically being there to be rescued and whose potential death is used as a bargaining chip to gain the Professor’s co-operation. Alas.

We also have earthquakes in the second film in a row. This leads to a big rocks flying out of a volcano, it then explodes on impact, and OUT COMES GODZILLA!! This, plus a black cloud, and a few other things, match a prophesy received by a member of the Royal House of Azumi regarding vengeance upon the mainlanders’ desecration of the local shrines.

INTERPOL makes its first appearance here, and it will continue to exert its power in the next film (completely ignoring the fact that it’s an information sharing agreement and its network doesn’t include investigating agents in any way). We also meet a self-described ‘muckraker’ reporter who may not be what he seems!

Nami Kunigami, the Azumi Royal Family Princess (Bellbella Lin) [kneeling, right] solicits the help of King Shîsâ (Kinichi Kusumi) [rear, in cave, above and to the left of the bad matte work] in “Gojira tai Mekagojira“ (1974) — — —

Because it’s been awhile since we had a musical number, Azumi Princess Nami Kunigami (Bellbella Lin) wakes King Shîsâ by taking to the beach before his cave and singing a pretty song, in which she begs him to help save the people he has protected for so many years.

A shot of Godzilla peeking over the top of a hill harkens back to his debut in 1954, two decades previous. This film was made to mark the 20th anniversary of Godzilla’s debut, which also accounts for the number of repeat actors, and probably the increased budget for sets and costumes. For instance, Akihiko Hirata is back (not wearing an eye-patch this time), here he’s an analyst of Space Titanium. Also, the SFX include a rainbow zapping fight between King Shîsâ and Mechagodzilla. We get great pictures and art direction throughout; especially the sets and costumes!

Improvements also include (but are not limited to) the fact that Godzilla now has lightning power and is magnetic! I’m not sure how practical any of that is in the long run, but; hey! variety! [:: confetti cannon ::]

Cinematography and lighting are much better; although there are occasional shots which make me wonder if there was some drinking honing on. Mostly the problem seems to be problem with a specific lens: it has a massive area of aberration that covers ¾ of the field, and it may be impossible to focus on anything except a set distance from the camera. Somebody definitely needed to repair that thing.

That said, there’s some great use of low angles, snap zooms, whip pans, and a bunch of other techniques to make things look grand, as well as some excellent use of lighting to both evoke moods and show things off to their best potential.

Mechagodzlla (Ise Mori) [left] is attacked by Godzilla (Isao Zushi) [right] at an oil refinery in “Gojira tai Mekagojira“ (1974) — — — —

At the beginning of the story, Anguirus (Kinichi Kusumi) moves wrong: it’s obviously a guy in a suit on all fours and when attacking he wants to stand upright whenever possible, but that’s simply out of character. The fault here may be that the previous times we saw Anguirus, he was a different proportion to who he was attacking. Also his tail is too long; seen when he is retreating, it may be twice as long as he is!

People drive like four-year-olds, making the car go faster by wiggling the steering wheel back and forth. That’s a shame.

All in all, a return to the bonkers approach to story telling where history and imagination are woven together in a successfully entertaining manner.

★★★★☆

[namesisfortombstones]

Mechagodzilla doesn’t like it when you dirty him up.

[weirdlookindog]

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla aka Gojira tai Mekagojira (1974)

[defconprime]

TREKMATCH! # 615 - Short Trek's "Calypso" vs 1974's Godzilla Vs Mechagodzilla

GODZILLA VS MECHAGODZILLA aka ゴジラ対メカゴジラ aka GOJIRA TAI MEKAGOJIRA

Some space aliens make Godzilla start wreaking havoc on Japan except he's not real, he's a dang robot! Luckily the real Godzilla shows up to save the day while some scientists run around a UFO. I kinda fell asleep for an hour in the middle but I still feel confident saying this one's not very good.

GRADE: D-

STAR TREK: SHORT TREKS - "Calypso"

Discovery, now sentient but abandoned for a thousand years (does that mean this one is set in the 4000s?) picks up a dude and woos him with dancing and waffles and saving his life from the cold depths of space. It's pretty good but now that Discovery season three is over it makes a lot less sense - like why doesn't Discovery look like the refit it got at Federation HQ for example?

GRADE: C

Victory to Trek, so Movies are up 309-306!

[tyrantisterror]

namesisfortombstones replied to your post: In shipping, [Name] X [Other Name] is often used...

Which is exactly why when writing the Japanese title in English, you should properly do so as “Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla.” Despite the “X” symbol, the Japanese title is still pronounced “Gojira tai Mekagojira,” not “Gojira Eksu Mekagojira.”

Counterpoint: there are three movies called “Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla” and we need a way to distinguish them that’s less cumbersome than including their release years in parentheses.

[fourorfivemovements]

Films Watched in 2024: 30. ゴジラ対メカゴジラ/ Gojira tai Mekagojira/Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974) - Dir. Jun Fukuda

[namesisfortombstones]

Audience reactions at Kaiju-Go last night. Mechagodzilla revealed in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla.

[moviecinepelis]

[cineindependientemx-blog]

Droste Effect parte 3

Nombre del ciclo;

¨Droste Effect parte 3¨

Títulos;

Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster (1966) aka ´Gojira, Ebirâ, Mosura: Nankai no daiketto´ (original title) Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973) aka ´Gojira tai Megaro´ (original title) Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974) aka ´Gojira tai Mekagojira´ (original title) 83 min 78 min 84 min Director: Jun Fukuda Country: Japan Language: Japanese http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060464/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070122/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071565/

To Sleep So as to Dream (1986) aka ´Yumemiru yôni nemuritai´ (original title) Jipangu (1990) aka ´The Legend of Zipang´ (English title) Cat's Eye (1997) 81 min 119 min 91 min Director: Kaizô Hayashi Country: Japan Language: Japanese http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092274/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104559/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0132019/

The Rapture (1991) 100 min Director: Michael Tolkin Country: USA Language: English http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102757/

The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967) aka ´Les demoiselles de Rochefort´ (original title) Donkey Skin (1970) aka ´Peau d'âne´ (original title) Parking (1985) 125 min 91 min 95 min Director: Jacques Demy Country: France Language: French | English http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062873/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066207/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089775/

Para cerrar, diálogo después de ver;

Lemonade Joe (1964) aka ´Limonádový Joe aneb Konská opera´ (original title) Happy End (1967) aka ´Stastny konec´ (original title) Long Live Ghosts! (1977) aka ´At zijí duchové!´ (original title) The Three Veterans (1984) aka ´Tri veteráni´ (original title) 84 min 71 min 85 min 96 min Director: Oldrich Lipský Country: Czechoslovakia Language: Czech http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058275/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061029/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075703/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086477/

   http://cineindependientemx.blogspot.mx/

[posterpond]

Gojira tai Mekagojira  1974 Poster #2_more_credits #jun_fukuda #kazuya_aoyama #masaaki_daimon #masami_fukushima #reiko_tajima