
HinikunaGoji
MemberBaragonAug-30-2022 9:54 PMReiwa is perfect and nothing can convince me otherwise.
(please keep in mind i am going to be very ironic and sarcastic in this topic, sometimes that is hard to interpret online)
Ok this is not going to be another topic by me announcing to the world how great Reiwa is and that it has zero flaws whatsoever. This is more to comment on the more "expirimental" nature.
Now long long* ago ago a member by the name of SasquaDash pointed out that the expirimental nature of a lot of the reiwa era is praised while the tristar goji's expirimental nature recieves a lot of hate. And first off, HOW DARE THEY!! Thats rude, Singular Point is PeRFect and I will have none OF THIS SLANDER. Comparing it to 1998?! Hersey!! Theres no possible compariso- on wait. SasquaDash is actually right.
But for some background, 98 is probably the worst Godzilla movie. But its not the worst movie in the franchise. In some cases the movie does suceed more than some previous godzilla movies, notably in human characters. Remarkably some of the human characters from that movie are on the better end in the franchise.
But lets talk about zilla. He sure was an expiriement. Changing not only design and origin (which i think could have worked really well) but also in behavior, abilities, and the themes surrounding him.
Simmilarly Gyuragoji from singular point could barely be called godzilla either. He changes forms (that look suspiciously like other kaiju) and has completely different abilities. So what seperates him from being another GINO* (i learned this when i was 8 in one of my godzilla history books, dont know if it was ever actually used by fans)
Well i would say theming, and not the themes youd expect. It isnt that Zilla isnt a war metaphor or a symbol of the danger of radiation etc. Zilla is not divine. What I mean by this is that Goji should be treated as a deity within the story. This goes back to the original, talking about about odo island myths of a monster named Gojira. A super smooth segway to Shin godzilla, with a pretty simmilar tie to mythology.
The two shining examples of this concept i can think of is KOTM and SP.
Lets start with KOTM, which wears its mythology on its sleve. It treats all the kaiju with almost a religious respect and making the main characters journey essentially one of faith in God-zilla. There are even ties to existing religous works such as Dantes Inferno (SasquaDash citation, idk where your topic is) as ghidorah coming from the frozen wasteland is simmilar of the books depiction of satan.
But enough of more european religious comparisons, lets talk about Hinduism. Singular Point greatly GREATLY draws from hinduism, even so far as naming a BRAND NEW AND NOT REUSED kaiju Sarunga. I would break it down more but I think spiritualism in Godzilla (particularly these two) could be an interesting topic.
And back to Godzilla 1998. It has no connections to mythology. We just get a random scene with a guy saying "Gojira" very ominously without any explanation. I feel this really removes one thing people unknowingly like about godzilla. More often than not he is treated as a vengeful god, (most often I find similarities to many kami) and zilla lacks that, hence removing the God from Godzilla.
Somebody said that quote, i dont remember who.
Now I didn't make this just to Rag on Godzilla 1998, that would just be useless and in a weird way hippcritical. For context; Sometimes I weirdly try to be a godzilla "purist", which given that my first film was 2014' is kinda impossible. 98 was my third godzilla movie, and I had a phase where I was completely devoted to it. That ended but I still love the design and it influences much of my godzilla art, as the more lanky and slender aspects worm theyre way into my creature designs.
Ok this is long im done now.
Hopefully this is coherent. I didnt try to make an essay this time or try to sound like ive been a fan of the series longer than Ive been alive . That would be weird.

SasquaDash
MemberAnguirusSep-04-2022 7:40 AMStop it! He's already dead!
In all seriousness though, you do make some good points about the differences between 1998 and the Reiwa series.
The only thing I would slightly disagree with, is the statement of Zilla not being a symbol for the danger of radiation. I would argue that he could be seen as one, since he was mutated by nuclear testing.
Interestingly, they actually expand on the cook saying "Gojira" and the mythology of it in the 1998 novelization.
Also, here's the link to the topic where I compared MonsterVerse Ghidorah to the devil:

HinikunaGoji
MemberBaragonSep-05-2022 2:56 PMThat is a very fair point and I would agree. I definitely do think that they tried to keep the radiation theme. But after the beginning of the movie it falls apart.

SasquaDash
MemberAnguirusSep-05-2022 6:04 PMYeah, I actually think that the first act of 1998 is pretty good for the most part. They do a great job building up his appearance. The scenes where he attacks the fishing boats, the scene where the military find the footprints and the scene where he first shows up in New York are really well done and make him come off as really threatening and destructive. It actually feels somewhat similar to the original 1954 Godzilla, and I think if they had kept that tone through out the entire movie, it could've worked really well. The movie starts to fall apart after he's fully revealed and you realize that he isn't really the true Godzilla, along with the military causing more destruction than the actual monster and the movie trying too hard to be like Jurassic Park and Aliens.

Xenotaris
MemberGiganSep-05-2022 6:26 PMAh, the 90's back during the Jurassic Park trend