This year, for the first time, American audiences have a chance to see the original Japanese version of GOJIRA on a truly large scale thanks to Classic Media’s new double DVD set. Better yet, with GODZILLA, KING OF THE MONSTERS right beside the original, there is good reason to believe many non-Japanese, or gaijin, are making comparisons in their living rooms all across the USA. As has been said numerous times by many writers that while Terry Morse’s GODZILLA is an entertaining B-movie at most, Honda’s GOJIRA is a brilliant anti-war and nuclear protest film of substance. But, the power and resonance of the film for Japanese audiences extend beyond the nuclear metaphor and evocative images of Tokyo in flames. Honda’s original film also visually and thematically stresses a concept at the core of Japanese society called “wa”, or harmony of the group, that the outsider’s eye is unlikely to catch.
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MONSTER ZERO (Kaiju Daisenso) comes right in the dead center of the 1960s (like me) and it is one of those films that has been needled by critics for its limitations and zanier elements–like Godzilla’s cartoonish victory dance on Planet X. As the TV Guide review put it in back in 2004:

“This sixth entry in the Godzilla series is one of the last to make a pretense that it will be viewed by anyone over the age of 12. Evil aliens attempt to take over the Earth in a plot that does little but kill time prior to the climactic battle among Godzilla, the three-headed dragon Ghidrah, and the flying lizard Rodan.”

Despite the derisive tone, the comment about the age of the audience is accidentally rather astute. In fact, Godzilla films in the mid-sixties were in a transition from more serious attempts at science fiction drama to outright children’s fantasies. On one hand, adult and teen audiences were still shivering in the cold war shadow of the atomic age that Godzilla embodies in general. On the other hand, a backlash response to the cold war is emerging in 1965 and reflects the positive, “kids can save the world,” attitude just around the corner.
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Beginning with 1965’s GAMMERA THE INVINCIBLE, American audiences have had a hard time getting over the fact that, obviously, Gamera is a giant turtle. In fact, in the Harris Associates Incorporated/NTA release for American viewers, devotes no less than five minutes of film time to debating this “hallucination.” Every English speaking character who hears the story scoffs and dismisses the premise as silly. Where did the idea of giant turtles come from and why it is easier for Eastern audiences to accept?
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