Godzilla: Male or Female?

[TokyoVigilante]

So you're saying he was a no one in the creative process, and thus we have sufficient cause to doubt his memory?

Moreorless. Tsuburaya routinely went to Nakajima for creative input and his influence throughout the sixties on the genre is apparent enough, but this wasn't just another japanese monster movie being made, this was the first one; Nakajima was brought on as a stuntman first and foremost, not a suit actor.

Fact Check: Third one. We have those two Kong films in the 30s.

There were two Kong films? Learn something new everyday.

But I'll clarify, Gojira was the first entirely original Kaiju production in Japan. The King Kong films are of questionable pedigree in terms of them just being Asylum-style quick cash-in rip offs.

[GodzillaXGomoraFight]

Godzilla could just be asexual like the frogs they talk about in Jurassic Park, but we will never know.

[GodGan]

he is a male gmk godzilla is referred to being a male so he is a he

[Living Corpse]

he is a male gmk godzilla is referred to being a male so he is a he

Just because an animal is called "he" doesn't mean it is. People just tend to call an animal male when they haven't, um, lift the tail to look. Why do I feel like I've had this discussion before?

Anyways, for all we know Godzilla could have been castrated from being too close to the blast when the A-Bomb went off.

[Crocodile]

he is a male gmk godzilla is referred to being a male so he is a he

Eh doesn't work that way, people generically refer to things as he, without any real knowledge.

Like you may refer to a stray dog as he, when it's really a she, and you just have no way of knowing better.

[Rockzilla]

I never thought of that before, so now it would makes sense that Minya was born.

[Living Corpse]

I never thought of that before, so now it would makes sense that Minya was born.

Minlla was adopted. So was Baby/Little/Junior in the 90s films.

[anguirusrules356]

I Bet [s]hes a boy.It said Minya was ADOPTED.

[Goji]

Minya very well could have simply been an egg from the same species as Godzilla that had been dormant for thousands of years. Even if the original Godzilla was in fact female, there is no proof that her and Showa Godzilla #2 procreated Minya.

[Megalon-5]

For some reason, I kinda imagine Minya's species to be similar to this certain kind of bird. Basically, it'd lay it's eggs and trick the other birds into raising it's child. I imagine Minya's species did something similar, hence why Minya looks a bit like Godzilla to be related, but is also very different in other aspects of his apperance.

Also is that Minya growth chart from any official source? I've seen it a bit and I'm wondering if it's from any official Toho source.

[Goji]

^ I think it's from a Japanese book, actually. It would be great if we knew which one, and had somebody translate any accompanying text that went with it.

[Megalon-5]

Interesting. That probably solves the Godzilla-Minya mystery.

Too bad we don't know which book it is. There's probably a lot of neat facts in those books that we Western fans will probably never know about.

[Tyler]

I'm gonna go with male. In fact I'll jsut say all the Japanese Godzillas we've seen so far are male. Minilla is just some sort of weird pygmy Godzilla and it's explained Junior is a peaceful subspecies. The thing I hated most about GINO was making him a hermaphrodite. I know he's a big reptile but to me it's like having Spider-Man get pregnant or something. Enough people think he's a girl as it is.

[Rody]

...and it's explained Junior is a peaceful subspecies.

I'm going to be picky here; Baby is described as a Godzillasaur, so technically, he's the same species as Godzilla, but un-mutated.

[Goji]

Interesting. That probably solves the Godzilla-Minya mystery.

Too bad we don't know which book it is. There's probably a lot of neat facts in those books that we Western fans will probably never know about.

If we can find out which book it's from, we could get Gamu to translate it in the Facebook group.

[Megalon-5]

That'd be great! Now we just need a lead for our translator friend

[kpa]

I'd say there's no doubt the original Godzilla was male. For me, the key is to look at what Toho was stating around the time G'54 first came out... In 1954-1955, they were referring to the monster as male (using words like 'he' and 'his'), and in 1956 they adopted the American phrase "King of the Monsters" to describe both the film and the character.

I don't recall ever seeing a direct statement from Haruo Nakajima saying Godzilla was female, and if he did it would be important to know the time and context. Time-- particularly decades-- can cause memories to fade or change. Much of what George Lucas says about STAR WARS today directly contradicts statements he made 20-30 years ago. Once at San Diego Comic-Con a fan asked me to sign a comic book I worked on, and I had no memory of ever having worked on that issue. Memory is imperfect, so if Nakajima was quoted in the 1950s-60s it would have more weight that what he may or may not have said 50+ years after the movie was made. Ishiro Honda and Akira Ifukube contradicted themselves in various interviews; that's just the nature of being human.

I don't have a problem with a female Godzilla... but Toho and the filmmakers consistently refer to the character (in all incarnations) as male. In the original film, Godzilla (in part) symbolizes the horrors of war... and the Japanese suffered those horrors thanks to the actions of their 100% male military leadership. Going beyond that first film, Kong calls his opponent "Mr Godzilla" in Toho's advertising for KKvsG, in SON OF GODZILLA he is called a "proud papa" (and the Minilla calls him "daddy" in the trailer), Toho's international posters often state "he" and "his", Kaneko described the GMK as male, Masaaki Tezuka said Kiryu and Godzilla were "father and son", and Godzilla is called "he" by Don Frye in FINAL WARS... which would mean that ever Godzilla movie that connects to the first film got the monster's gender wrong. Or that Toho has been consistent on this topic for 50 years.

[FlamingZilla23]

So, just because you've never heard or read those specific quotes, you're suddenly inclined to believe it's not true?

Why don't people ever understand me? I am talking about two different things again.

But anyways male is my pick.

You tell me broham. Hell if I know.

Tell you what? That I never heard of this, I never said i have any doubts but whatever.

[Inferno Rodan]

I'd say there's no doubt the original Godzilla was male. For me, the key is to look at what Toho was stating around the time G'54 first came out... In 1954-1955, they were referring to the monster as male (using words like 'he' and 'his'), and in 1956 they adopted the American phrase "King of the Monsters" to describe both the film and the character.

I don't recall ever seeing a direct statement from Haruo Nakajima saying Godzilla was female, and if he did it would be important to know the time and context. Time-- particularly decades-- can cause memories to fade or change. Much of what George Lucas says about STAR WARS today directly contradicts statements he made 20-30 years ago. Once at San Diego Comic-Con a fan asked me to sign a comic book I worked on, and I had no memory of ever having worked on that issue. Memory is imperfect, so if Nakajima was quoted in the 1950s-60s it would have more weight that what he may or may not have said 50+ years after the movie was made. Ishiro Honda and Akira Ifukube contradicted themselves in various interviews; that's just the nature of being human.

I don't have a problem with a female Godzilla... but Toho and the filmmakers consistently refer to the character (in all incarnations) as male. In the original film, Godzilla (in part) symbolizes the horrors of war... and the Japanese suffered those horrors thanks to the actions of their 100% male military leadership. Going beyond that first film, Kong calls his opponent "Mr Godzilla" in Toho's advertising for KKvsG, in SON OF GODZILLA he is called a "proud papa" (and the Minilla calls him "daddy" in the trailer), Toho's international posters often state "he" and "his", Kaneko described the GMK as male, Masaaki Tezuka said Kiryu and Godzilla were "father and son", and Godzilla is called "he" by Don Frye in FINAL WARS... which would mean that ever Godzilla movie that connects to the first film got the monster's gender wrong. Or that Toho has been consistent on this topic for 50 years.

I'm honestly amazed that it was required for you to come into this thread on the third page and say this, kpa. I seriously thought this information was fairly common knowledge.

All incarnations of Godzilla are male because Toho has always referred to him as such, even going so far as adopting the King of the Monsters title for him very early on.

[kpa]

I'm honestly amazed that it was required for you to come into this thread on the third page and say this, kpa. I seriously thought this information was fairly common knowledge.

Me, too! But this is one of those discussion/debates that pops up from time to time, despite the mountain of evidence Toho has provided over the years.

All incarnations of Godzilla are male because Toho has always referred to him as such, even going so far as adopting the King of the Monsters title for him very early on.

I hear ya!