Toho Kingdom

I’ve noticed that when people defend the Heisei series, they often point out the pre-Mothra films. After 1991, the Heisei series definitely underwent a downturn in quality, and aside from that, the post-Ghidorah films had a different, less gritty vibe. So let’s do something fun here: say nice things about the post-1991 Heisei era.
I’ll throw a few out there.

- Great music. Spacegodzilla’s theme, the emphasis on brass, that was a lot of fun.
- A feel for 90s Japan. Kind of a given, but these films did this particularly well. When I think of 90s Godzilla, he’s particularly synonymous with the zeitgeist of this setting.
- A sense of scale. Okay so this could be hit or miss, but here you had a lot of building-toppling and slow, heavy falls. You also have things like Godzilla ripping chunks off of Destoroyah, which comes off as something that would only happen that way in a kaiju fight.

I agree about music in Spacegodzilla, and I would also say a lot of the cinematography on the island, particularly that one shot of Godzilla approaching it. There really are some gorgeous shots in the first act. Also, the Mothra summoning sequence in Battle for Earth is quite lovely.

Clever thread idea, LockBite!

I don’t care what other people say, I like the post-1991 films. I think it’s very cool how Godzilla underwent a shift from hero to villain for the second time in his history during these movies, but in a much more subtle way. His character doesn’t actually change at all, the movies just suddenly start taking his side. Mechagodzilla really shouldn’t be the villain of GvMG2, if you stop and think about it, but the movie positions Mechagodzilla as such anywway.

Seeing a baby Godzilla evolve into a mature Godzilla.

The main theme for Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II is one of my all time favorites in the entire franchise.

Maritonic wrote:The main theme for Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II is one of my all time favorites in the entire franchise.

I think these films have some of Ifukube’s finest work period. Certainly some of the best sounding recordings at least, because the technology was better.

I'll do ya one for each film.

Godzilla vs. Mothra - Battra is an interesting and unique character that should've gotten a larger focus, perhaps as the villain of the first Rebirth of Mothra film instead.

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla - The main theme is really well done.

Godzilla vs. Spacegodzilla - More soundtrack praise, especially Spacegodzilla's themes.

Godzilla vs. Destoroyah - Great cinematography during Godzilla's death scene. Combined with the music, it's a top 5 moment in the series for me.

I actually would have loved to see Battra return in the Return of Mothra series. My ONLY complaint about Battra is the obvious use of Rodan's roars. I know a lot of kaiju reuse Rodan's roars, but Battra they didn't even try.

Maritonic wrote:My ONLY complaint about Battra is the obvious use of Rodan's roars. I know a lot of kaiju reuse Rodan's roars, but Battra they didn't even try.

There's actually a couple roars that don't really sound like Rodan at first glance (listen?). But I will say that a few of them aren't edited enough to keep the facade.

Incidentally, I suspect that I may be the only person in the history of nerdom to note only use Spacegodzilla's theme in a fan audio drama (for Star Wars), but actually commission several short fanfares with different tones from his leitmotif, from a composer-relative of mine. So, there's that floating around out there on the internet...

Noriyoshi Ohrai made amazing posters. Not just the best of the franchise. Some of the greatest movie posters period.

It ended.

Tee hee.

Okay, but seriously; I think Godzilla Jr.'s arc was a highlight of the Heisei era. It was nice to see him grow over the course of the films, and seeing him die was a pretty heart-wrenching moment.

They had the balls to kill Godzilla and Junior. The soundtracks are pretty good.

I already set up a thread to talk about the positives of the Heisei as a whole.

LegendZilla wrote:I already set up a thread to talk about the positives of the Heisei as a whole.

I thought that eliminating the trio of superior films would make for a more challenging thread.

The Heisei series as a whole does a much better job of worldbuilding. The Shōwa series has a little bit, but it’s clear it wasn’t something the creators were thinking about all that hard, which I think is why it’s more pppular with fab head canons.

I honestly had no idea these films were thought of as inferior until I came to this site. I’ve always loved them.

Hong Kong Destruction is one of my favorite Godzilla soundtracks!

Battra, Mechagodzilla, SpaceGodzilla, and Destoroyah are awesome villains/antagonists.

The Mechagodzilla suit is extremely impressive. I really see a robot when that thing moves.

Pteranodon robot

Well:

- a visit to Kyoto
- tooth and claw fight between Godzilla and Rodan
- return of MOGERA
- Super X III (I like such planes, shame that the F-117 is not in active service anymore)
- Battra
- Megumi Odaka continued as Miki until the end
- M11
- Kenji Sahara continued to appear
- Akira Nakao