Heisei vs Showa

hesiei is WAY better than showa.   (g vs desy is better than the showa era as a whole)

Showa series has a lot of great and well done movies. It has some of the lesser ones as well and I think people tend to judge it only by those. Also 1984 Godzilla is only part of the hesei on the grounds it’s connected to those movies. Because of the times of the emporeres it should be Showa

i just remembered g54 exists...... I retract the previeos comment.

Never watched the Showa era so I can't really judge.

The Showa era and it isn't close.

The Showa series was characterized by diverse styles and storytelling, often from a lot of the same filmmakers--Proving how diverse they are. Ishiro Honda went from the dark, documentary-esque and ominous Godzilla '54, to the comedic, over-the-top satire, King Kong vs. Godzilla, and later on extraordinarily unique variations on injecting Godzilla into a story with All Monsters Attack.

Jun Fukuda is probably another one of the greatest directors in the series based on his resourcefulness alone. The fact he made so many of these films work on such tiny budgets and resources is a testament to his talent. Imagine if he had been given the same amount of money and resources as Honda and Tsuburaya at the beginning of the kaiju boom?

Even at its "silliest" the Showa era was taking some experimental and tonal risks. Meanwhile, the Heisei series took itself too seriously at times, which backfired and only highlighted how silly a lot of it really was. It often found itself with main characters just watching the third act battle from afar on a giant screen or something. Most the themes were just lip service delivered at the very end that wasn't explored in the movie proper ("life vs. artificial life" in Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla II--Even though there was no A.I. in the movie) or they just made up issues that didn't exist. ("Don't pollute space," in Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla.)

The Heisei series had a lot of great, bold ideas, but between the weak writing and Kawakita's special effects that seemed to get worse per movie (Bandai Destoroyahs being used in Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, anyone?) it's aged incredibly poorly. Whereas the cinematography and miniatures in the older movies I still marvel at.

I'll give it to the 80s movies though. Those were fantastic.

I have to say Heisei. While showa has a lot of great entries imo it also has some of the weakest in the series. Not every heisei era movie is as good as some of the early showa but I dont think any are as bad as some of the late 60s early 70s showa either.

Wait... "Bandai Destoroyahs being used in Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, anyone?"

Is this for real? I never noticed that hahaha 

I'm going to have to re-watch the Showa and Heisei series because I want to say Heisei is my preferred but only cause I have some nostalgic attachment to it. I'll need to re-watch them from an objective standpoint before I vote.

This was a hard choice, but I picked Showa (Mainly because of Godzilla 1954, Mothra vs Godzilla, Ghidorah the Three-Headed Monster and Invasion of Astro Monster)

Chris,
It's only a shot, but the problem is he uses the same shot over and over. Yeah, it's during the JSDF's first attack on the Destoroyahs before they merge into the 40 meter aggregate form.

I like the stories of Showa but I like the monster designs of Heisei

G. H. (Gman)

The scene where they fire at them and they’re running around?
I thought that was bad CGI not toys.

Imma just hide in a hole because I haven’t watched any of the Japanese Godzilla movies except shin. ;0

SarcasticGoji,
Here's one of the shots. Very low quality screen grab though. (It's easier to forgive with such bad quality.)

oh wow, it’s worse than I remember. And I’ve watched that film recently

Definitely the Heisei era. I love films from this era. My favorite is Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah. Films have a serious and thoughtful plot. The Showa era is mostly made for children. too much humor, repeated footage from previous films where a different Godzilla costume was used. This hints at the laziness of the creators. Godzilla is constantly stupid and floundering. The Heisei era is more advanced, soulful and realistic than the Showa era. This is my opinion and it probably won't change

Kolbet

The Showa era started out serious and more soulful

DEFENITLY HEISEI

I think hesiei is better than showa

Kolbet

Its not that they were lazy, they were short on money or Toho didn't want to spend too much money on new godzilla suits since alot of the later Showa movies were box office dissapointments. Then the japanese movie industry crashed for a few years then bam HEISEI era