Just the Ticket #218: Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla
a.k.a. The Ticketmaster.
As of this writing on May 14, I have officially surpassed my ten-thousand-view goal for the month. Thank you all, and I hope to hit another milestone in the half of May that remains.
And because I was pedantically curious and needed an intro for this week's edition of Goj-Year-ra, I thought I'd talk about something from another culture that I barely understand beyond a handful of words: the Japanese language.
See, when I researched Godzilla movies with "versus" in the title, it was translated consistently as "tai" (the kanji, 対), which Wikipedia translates back as "against" in the majority of cases. The problem as it relates to today's film is that there are three titled Gojira tai Mekagojira: 1974's Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla, which I'm reviewing today, 1993's Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla II (which was just called Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla in Japan because that's not confusing at all), and 2002's Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla. So, I got curious as to how the titles were differentiated from each other, and here we go!
As I said, "versus" or "vs." is one English translation of the 対 kanji (as well as "pair," "set," "couple," "opposition," and "ratio," according to Google). Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla II was written in kanji similarly to the original, but with the English "vs" in place of the "tai" symbol. And then there's Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla, where the title is written with the "tai" kanji replaced by the "×" symbol, which is not to be confused with the メ ("me") kanji in "Mekagojira."
So, how do you make a machine? You turn a turtle backwards!
With no less than two cave sets (one featuring a mural prophesying the appearance and defeat of a destructive kaiju, and the other being the location of a secret alien base—yes, another alien invasion plot—and where one of the main characters discovers a fragment of Space-Titanium—yes; really...) and two nearly identical-looking attractive female characters (Saeko—not that one, and she's played by Reiko Tajima of Galaxy Express 999, Arcadia Of My Youth, and Gamera: The Super Monster—and Ikuko—Hiromi Matsushita from The Human Revolution, not the male animator for Vampire Hunter D), not to mention all of the men in suits and 70s haircuts, it was a challenge to figure out who was with whom, where, and when without consulting a wiki every five minutes of human screentime. Add on that the fight choreography is a lot more "guns 'n' struggles" than the previous film, there's not really a sequence as impressive as the car chase there unless you count explosions or the revelation that the villains (from Black Hole Planet 3) are green Planet Of the Apes extras (seriously, I dunk on their design with justification, but the morphing effects and body horror makeup that go along with it are pretty good for the time, and they're actually a credible threat when they're not trying to kill Japanese people with a sauna), the whole prophecy plot to justify a second guardian kaiju is a convenient pretzel of "why not just use dynamite at any time ever and still wake him up with a song?" elements, and that the four credited writers seem to be overcorrecting to beat the idiotic scientist allegations with a character (played by Dr. Serizawa himself, Akihiko Hirata) so good at the stupid, wild-ass guess that you'd swear he broke the fourth wall to read ahead in the script and see the future, and Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla reads like strong evidence for the "Godzilla movies don't need human plots" fan argument. Also, there's the bit where the shrine maiden's (Korean actress Bellbella Lin, who also performed two songs in the film and for the soundtrack, including the incredible King Seesar awakening chant that reminded me of the Peanuts in Mothra's early appearances) vision includes frames of King Ghidorah attacking even though he's not in the film.
I understand that there is probably a ton of cultural importance and thematic justification for things like the King Seesar prophecy plot existing (he's modeled after Asian lion guardian statues) that hit better in the country and year of origin, so it's not like I hate the movie for not being American enough; I just didn't connect with the human stuff or the convoluted convenience of some of the details.
The Ultra franchise's Shin Kishida makes for a charismatic red herring and Daigo Kusano puts in a lot of physical and dramatic work for his part as a disposable alien grunt, and like I said, I found Tajima and Matsushita very attractive, and it was nice to see familiar faces like Hirata and Hiroshi Koizumi (this was the franchise's 20-year anniversary film, after all) return in a new decade.
But the story that I feel was told the best here was on the kaiju side of things.
With the prophecy looming, we soon see that the monster who will send everyone running and burning is Godzilla himself. But there are things about him that aren't quite right if you know what to look for, like his roar being tinnier than usual, his atomic breath being a different color, his behavior being colder and more brutal than even his early appearances (like when he almost tears Anguirus' head in half). Oh, and there are two of them!
In the course of a really dramatically staged and lit first fight, a fake is exposed as Mechagodzilla (who never uses atomic breath after the reveal, but has rainbow eye lasers, finger missiles that probably inspired the Dragonzord's design in Super Sentai/Power Rangers, and an electrical ray in its belly button, not to mention it can generate a forcefield by making an Exorcist reference and fire in multiple directions at once like a dual-wielding gunslinger; also, its suit actor is Kazunari Mori, who would reprise the role in the sequel, which I will review next week).
After the humans reawaken King Seesar (Zone Fighter's Kin'ichi Kusumi, who also suit-acted Anguirus here) by blowing up the side of a mountain with a strategically placed, solar-powered laser gun shaped like a lion statue during a heat mirage and having a shrine maiden of a specific bloodline sing to him like they're unlocking a secret Mortal Kombat boss fight, the giant, shaggy, bat-lion does a decent job of holding off Mechagodzilla by himself with judo throws, a primal beatdown, and his special ability to reflect energy attacks.
Meanwhile, Godzilla is training himself to be King Kong (or just himself in Ebirah, Horror Of the Deep, minus the suggestion of potential sizeplay and non-consensual bestiality, of course)
by hanging out in a lightning storm until he becomes an Insane Clown Posse meme
Another dumb, fun entry with an iconic Godzilla villain and enough darkness and character to keep me interested; just dumber at times and slightly less fun to engage with than Godzilla vs Megalon.
B
Please Stay Tuned for another My Hero Academia Spotlight, a return to single-issue Retrospectives, a TBT '26 mashup, and more Goj-Year-ra with Mechagodzilla. My new view goalpost for May is going to be fifteen thousand (thank you for continuing to be awesome by the daily thousands!), so please remember to Become A Ticketholder if you haven't already, comment something at the bottom of this post, help out my ad revenue as you read so I don't get replaced by a vicious alien robot, and follow me on BlueSky, Tumblr, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, and LinkedIn to like what you see, receive the latest news on my content, and get me closer to that goal.
60
Ticketmaster,
Out.
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