What are the Godzilla movies in which you guys also like the human characters? I watched Minus One and Shin and really liked the humans' part of the storylines. I'm only getting started into kaiju movies, so I was wondering if y'all could point me in the direction if more!
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I could write so much about the differences between Shin Godzilla and Godzilla Minus one as different sides of a political story.
Shin was a political satire at points about the ineffectiveness of Japanese Beauracracy in the face of immediate crisis and how a solution can only be found once the government is pared back to a leaner, more agile and less bound by red tape core of problem solvers.
I talks about competence and creativity and radical ideas in the face of insurmountable odds once freed from constraint. The protagonists are young, scrappy and ambitious and the idea that you can make a difference, can step up and save everyone if only you were free to do so.
Minus One is about humans struggling to deal with a crisis in the face of a LACK of government, with almost no military after the trauma of a war they were forced into by their government and then lost badly. It's about picking up the pieces and then having those pieces kicked over again because of the actions of others and possibly, the inaction of one of the protagonists in the past. It's about regret and shame and heartbreak and the feeling you are not worthy of happiness so denying it when it presents itself to you.
And while Shin deals with the constraints placed on Japan by the treaty that ended World War II and whether or not they can deploy their self-defense forces to try and stop Godzilla before it is too late, Minus one deals with the lack of support from the US Occupying Forces who seem to not care if Japan gets absolutely destroyed again. You can almost feel a kind of callous disdain in the non-presence of the Americans as if they are ok with Japan being destroyed as long as it doesn't lead to conflict with the USSR. Or maybe they are just using that as an excuse to further humiliate a defeated enemy that once threatened them.
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First Contacts: Approaching Aliens with Shin Ultraman and NOPE
I saw two movies about aliens within days of each other, so I decided to write about them both.
~ Spoilers for Shin Ultraman and NOPE ~
One of the most common forms of merchandise for the 56-year-old Ultraman franchise is the Sofubi, a line of 10cm hollow soft vinyl figures with three points of articulation: one at each shoulder that lets the arms go up and down, and one at the waist that lets the top and bottom halves of Ultraman rotate.
This means that many children’s first chance to…
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Godzilla Minus One is really good. It's bleak and raw in a way few other films in the series are. The human story is emotional and gripping, and Godzilla is terrifying in this. Often times, even when he's the villain, you still cheer when Godzilla shows up. Cause he's Godzilla ya know. Not here. A vengeful monster born out of violence and fire. He feels appropriately scary. Never has a Godzilla rampage felt so horrific.
I was worried about how the film would handle the WW2 stuff, but I loved how the message of this film was about rejecting the old mindset and focusing instead on fostering the future and valuing life above all else. This more personal storytelling is what Shin Godzilla lacked (despite me being a big fan). People who say the human element doesn't matter in a Godzilla film need to shut up and watch this movie.
So glad I saw this imax too. Godzilla's roar literally shook my seat. Glad to see so many people out to see it to. It feels good to have an amazing new Godzilla film out there.
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"That monster will never forgive us."
That line, along with the tone of the trailer and bits of his design make me think that Yamazaki is going to play up the tragic nature of Godzilla a bit.
Just look at him
He's pissed. You can tell because his are are more expressive and attentive. He's not just an animal like Shin was, and while we are probably still more like ants to him, we are ants he notices.
It's like he is lashing out for the pain humanity gave him. Physically and (just conjecture on my part) emotionally.
Maybe Godzilla lost his family to the nuclear test, and unfortunately, Japan just happened to be the closest thing near by that he could attribute to the massacre. Some of the teasers even seem to hint that Godzilla is actively going after ships on his way to Japan.
I don't know, maybe I'm wrong but I think it would just be interesting narratively if this was the case. The monster attacking has suffered a similar tragedy to that of the people of Japan. I just think it would be a nice change of pace for Toho to give him some emotion again.
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EARTHSPARK SPOILERS ABOVE AND BELOW!
For a kids show, I'm glad that they're able to touch upon serious topics like the effect war has on individuals and, in this case, species. I think TFA is the only notable TF show that wiggled its finger and made clear yo these are fucking aliens. But even there it felt one sided, as in, robots finding organics gross.
In TFE, you get so many perspectives on the Cybertron- human relationship and I love is so much. You have people who embrace it and accept each others differences. You have those who have internalized xenophobia but don't notice. People who don't care and just wanna be themselves and live in peace. And those who outright HATE the other species.
Visuals: the first half had its animation mainly focused on action. and while there is still action here, the conclusion of the season offers a lot of cinematic shots which tbh kinda took out of the immersion but are awesome screenshot material. it gets really dark as well, and there is a shot with Bee that stood out to me, where he's hanging from a ceiling, and his expression is full of fear. It was grand.
Audio: You still have the same synth wave music (which I like) but you also get some amazing sound designs for animal based alt modes, like Grimlock and Tarantulas. Nightshade unfortunately has this repetitive sound playing whenever they fly, (hawk screech) since they don't have a motor IG??
Characters: The viewer will be introduced to Hashtag, Jawbreaker and Nightshade. They have distinct abilities and personalities. (By now, I can already tell that my favorite Terrans are Nightshade, Jawbreaker and Twitch lol). They're interesting characters and their dedicated episodes were quite entertaining.
The most notable new characters who actually have their dedicated episodes and voice lines are Shockwave and Tara. Shockwave, as you can see from my memes, is a raging classist and racist. He's pure evil. But I really enjoy him because he's so smug. Imagine TFA Shock's smugness but in higher dosage. I fucking love it. HIS VOICE HAS SO MUCH RANGE. reminds me of an evil DJ subatomic supernova. His eye also reminds me of shin godzilla's... an unrelenting blank stare, unnaturally wide. Tarantulas on the other hand takes a much different spin than his BW counterpart. I think he joined the cons and stuck with them is because he wanted equality for all (during a short convo between Megs and Shock it's implied that it was their original goal). He's sick of the war and just wants to survive. He wants to be himself. He does these typical cinema spider noises like hisses, or gargles in his alt mode BUT OH BOY in his robot mode he's one fine fella. And his voice. chef kiss. i think it's British, but can't pinpoint what region.
Plot: Earthspark is gonna build upon the concept which TFP poorly introduced: A villan human faction. TFE is building upon and further fleshing out what they tried to do with M.E.C.H. The execution so far looks very promising.
They have taken their time to introduce G.H.O.S.T for a whole season, and put a bit of effort into showing that the organization is made out of individuals who have different motivations.
Their official motivation is understandable. The "good guys" wanna protect civilians from threats, like bots who break shit. But ofc there are some nasty people in the ranks who are lowkey masochists lol
Also, since Cybertronians are known to the public, it deepens the complexity of the conflict. Xenophobia against Cybertronians ranges from this cooperation to just regular people, who are mad that their planet was turned into a battle ground.
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