Um, no. We just don't agree that the examples you cite (well, I mean, King Kong Escapes, sure, but I've never given that movie a pass, either) actually are bad acting. Or, in my case, that an unintentionally annoying character that's supposed to be likable is the same as an intentionally-annoying character whose personality changes and grows as part of the story.ScottA wrote:See what I mean.
When the actors are in a Japanese film, you make up all kinds of justifications for their bad acting. That you don't apply equally to American films.
A bad actor in an American film "ruins the film". But a bad actor in a Japanese film is part of it's "charm".
There's no acting issues in G98 that doesn't exist in the Toho films.
It's the difference between Eustace from Voyage of the Dawn Treader (the whole point was that he was a brat, and became changed for the better by his experiences) and Jar-Jar Binks (who wasn't meant to be annoying, but because of the writing and portrayal, ended up irritating many audience members to the point of distraction).
Now, there are less-liked Godzilla films whose characters are called out as film-breaking by many; Ichiro from Godzilla's Revenge, Susan from king Kong Escapes, the entire main cast of Godzilla vs. Mothra: Battle for Earth... not everyone agrees about those (just as not everyone agrees about Audrey from '98), because 'annoying' is a subjective perspective. But the idea that all Japanese characters get a blanket pass, or that the terrible characters and story of '98 get dinged by many simply because they're American, is not borne out by fan opinion here. There are plenty of detractors of legitimately-bad characters (and some defenders) just as there are plenty of defenders of legitimately-bad characters in '98 (along with us many detractors). And plenty of people who complain about both, or complain about neither.