Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle

Despite my best intentions to watch the newest installment of the Godzilla animated trilogy on it's Netflix release last weekend, I was just too busy and had to wait until this weekend. Bummer, but that's life. I had already read some brief spoilers from it Japanese release a few months earlier, but still was looking forward to seeing it for myself. Like with the first part, I enjoyed myself quite a bit.

The animated movies are a real slow burn and  heavy on the science fiction of the scenario, so don't expect a ton of action or a mindless explosion factory. Themes of humanity surviving an apocalyptic situation are still present here as well as the ever present technology vs humanity theme that's a mainstay of science fiction. I don't plan to spoil anything, so I'm purposely being vague about details.

I definitely dug the military scenes and equipment. Just like before, I felt as though I was watching a Diaclone adaption. The mech suits get an impressive upgrade and dammit I want Godzilla anime toys. There's Mecha Godzilla amd Godzilla stuff from the series, but a nice micro playset would be boss.

If you liked the first one, watch this one. Don't miss the post credits scene. Trust me.

Godzilla forever mofo

 Last week the news that Toho plans to start a new Godzilla series after 2020 hit and the kaiju fans went nuts. I've been waiting to talk about it here as I wanted to see if anymore news would come before I started talking about it. Some were upset that it was outright said there wasn't going to be a Shin Godzilla sequel. Personally, I liked Shin Godzilla, but don't want a sequel. I'd much rather have a return to traditional Toho Godzilla movies. As Monsterverse rages on, the 2020 time frame is the same as when talks of Shin Godzilla 2 were going around. I believe it's part of Toho's deal with Legendary as so the movies don't compete with one another (which would really be self defeating, all it takes is a look at the time frame between current Toho Godzilla movies and Legendary's time frame to get the idea). With Legendary's Godzilla 2 and King Kong vs Godzilla coming in 2019 and 2020 respectively, it's clear as to why the 2 year wait. Allegedly there will be a span of 1-2 years in between Toho releases, which is standard Godzilla series timing. Realistically, they're probably going to be filming the first movie during this time.

I'm very, very, very excited. It's no secret how much I love Legendary Pictures offerings in the genre, but Toho is king of the giant monster movies and a new series from them is super exciting for a life long fan. Fortunately this new era is during the modern age where watching a foreign movie isn't that much of a challenge anymore. Gone are the days of finding bootleg dub jobs on VHS while waiting for an American release that's often limited in release. As the US releases of Shin and the animated movies show, the turn around for a US release is pretty quick.

The prospect of these being on Netflix in the US like the animated movies just made me scream in excitement out loud.

Godzilla: The City Mechanized for Battle

Man this one looks like the action gets dialed up a few levels, but as much as I dig the new Mecha Godzilla, I feel like this one should be Zone Fighter or something else. Either way I'm looking forward to this one popping up on Netflix.

I'm still snowed in so I watched Godzilla

I watched the new awesome Godzilla anime on Netflix last night and boy are my arms tired. This was a great film. I really like the visual presentation, the overall darkness. A giant monster destroying your planet is going to be dark and grim. It has a similar vibe to Attack on Titan, the entire hopeless world ending all around you and trying to stand up to impossible odds. You can't fight a storm, you can just take cover and try to stay alive. You can try to fight and kill a monster that's destroying everything. And that's really well sold in this, 'we've got to stop this'. All while dealing with various issues like governing entities and emotions.

There's great science fiction to it too. Aliens, cool weapons, mech suits, space ships. I almost felt like I was watching one of those Diaclone commercials watching the military forces pull into action and mobilize. I would love a video game set in this world.

Godzilla isn't some cute monster dancing around, he's a big dark destroyer that's taking over and there's nothing you can do about it. Adding to everything is a background mystery with an overall sinister vibe. You feel like there is more going on more and more while watching and I'm sure that's going to be more prevalent as the series continues. Not to mention little hints (some more obvious than others) of things to come.

I'm very happy with this presentation of Godzilla, much more than the last two films (that I did enjoy, but not as much as this). I really hope the series continues this level of greatness going forward or even builds on it. If you like kaiju, anime, science fiction, or even just a good story, I recommend it.