Several years ago, I had the chance to visit the nostalgia-drenched Seibuen Amusement Park and try out Godzilla Minus One (2023) director Takashi Yamazaki’s spectacular Godzilla the Ride: Giant Monsters Ultimate Battle, which featured a pre-Minus One Godzilla, a snake-like King Ghidorah, and a brief appearance by a new version of Rodan—all designed by Yamazaki. At that time, my review of the ride was overall very positive—while I found the shaking effects sometimes a bit too extreme, the water spray mixed poorly with the cold weather at the time of my visit, and the mechanics of the ride broke the chain on my wallet, I loved the exciting action, the nostalgic 1960s setting, the staff and their excitement, and the totally awesome climactic take-down. The bigger issue I had with the amusement park was that outside of the Godzilla ride and the neat Showa street recreation, there weren’t a lot of interesting attractions—almost every other ride was an old-fashioned or just bog-standard plain jane kind-of-thing you might find in any small-to-mid-sized amusement park, without even a decent roller coaster to carry interest. Seibuen is a curious and perplexing amusement park filled with contradictions, and even though I heartily recommended the Godzilla ride itself, I found myself raising concerns about the park because of the weak ride selection, a manipulative and unwieldly park-exclusive money system, and outdated discrimination against individuals with tattoos.
Since that review, much has happened at Seibuen with their Godzilla attractions. An updated version of the initial Godzilla the Ride was released in 2023, though my understanding is that the changes were exclusively to the simulation effects (the movements of the ride, the sprays of water, or flashing lights). I never went back to check out this version, nor its follow up, Ultraman the Ride (also designed and directed by Yamazaki). Special mention should also be made for Godzilla the Mission: Escape from the Looming Danger of a Giant Monster, an escape-room type experience designed by SCRAP—the same fine folks who put together the Escape from Shin Godzilla experience I reviewed in 2019 (which was available for a limited time at SCRAP’s indoor escape-room amusement park Tokyo Mystery Circus) and the Godzilla escape room experience at Atami Korakuen Hotel (for which I have a review forthcoming). SCRAP’s innovative escape-room experiences are extremely creative and entertaining, though also very challenging even if you speak Japanese. Though I truly regret missing out on Godzilla the Mission while it was live at Seibuen (the portable radio gimmick sounds delightful and differentiated enough from the hotel escape room with its clue-and-video delivery via cellphone application), it would have been a nightmare had I tried it alone without a native speaker of the language to enjoy together. To wrap up, Seibuen had a long time to improve their amusement park since I last visited, and I was curious to see what had changed when I finally made my return trek on August 14 of 2025 in order to try out the latest Godzilla-themed ride.
Godzilla the Ride: Great Clash was released on August 1st and is set to appear in additional parks around the world outfitted with the i-Ride flying theater system developed by Brogent Technologies. Previous i-Ride attractions include Voletarium at Europa-Park (which allows riders to virtually visit a number of fabulous European vistas), i-Ride Taipei’s Attack on Titan film experience, Sky Voyager in the Australian amusement park Dreamworld (enabling park customers to fly across Australian cities and natural wonders), and This is Holland (allowing visitors to pop around 22 locations across the Netherlands). Any number of these establishments may soon install versions of Godzilla the Ride: Great Clash, which to me personally sounds a lot more exciting than simply zooming around a given country’s hot spots. But will it be worth the wait?
In this review, I will preface with a few words about the general changes to Seibuen Amusement Park (both positive and negative), share my experiences riding Great Clash with comparisons to previous similar Godzilla ride experiences and their ilk, and wrap up with reviews of some Godzilla foods you can pick up on your visit to the park.
Seibuen Amusement Park—the General Experience
One important difference from the first time I visited Seibuen is that this time I came with my girlfriend via car, so we had to deal with parking fees. When I first visited, I came via train, and so only had to pay for the train tickets. Note that if you arrive by car, you’ll be paying an additional 2000 yen for the parking fee for normal-sized cars—which is less than what you would pay for USJ at 2500 yen.
Last time I visited Seibuen, I was appalled at the park’s discriminatory policies against any individuals with tattoos or even temporary skin decorations. At that time, there were signs set up outside the park warning away potential customers who dared ink their skin, and a staff employee took the additional step to shout continually through a loudspeaker about how tattooed individuals are not welcome. This time, the park still had the sign set up outside the entrance warning away tatted customers, but thankfully no staff member was stalking around with a loudspeaker this time.
As far as the entrance fee goes, Seibuen costs 4,900 yen for an adult visitor, or 3,600 yen for a child below junior high age. You can get discount coupons (by staying at a local hotel, for example), and a staff member asked each customer group waiting in line about the numbers in their party, their planned form of payment, whether they were going to visit the pool area, and if they had coupons—all as a means to speed up the line. I don’t remember how much the entrance fee for the park cost the first time around (it seems I didn’t record it in my initial review back in the day), but the current fee is considerably less than Universal Studios Japan or DisneySea (which cost around twice that on cheap days, with some sites advertising current prices above 9000 yen). On the other hand, the Greenland Amusement Park in Kumamoto (which I prefer over Seibuen, as it has more interesting attractions and tokusatsu-themed shows) sells a daily pass for only 4000 yen or a general entrance fee for just 2000 yen, and the wonderful Huis Ten Bosch Amusement Park (which boasts a Netherlands theme) in Nagasaki currently sells a day pass for 7,600 yen. Fuji-Q Highland, Japan’s best amusement park for rollercoasters (of which, again, Seibuen has none) has a similar system to Greenland—you can get in for a low price (in this case free), but then pay outrageous prices for individual rides (2,000 yen to ride just one roller coaster)—or fork over between 6,000-7,800 yen for an all-access day pass. I visited Fuji-Q in 2019 or so, and its array of rollercoasters are truly awesome, with innovative and exciting additional attractions and rides for kids. Another cheaper alternative which I personally recommend is Mikawa Mu Valley in Iwakuni, Yamaguchi Prefecture, which is a small but very unique underground puzzle-solving theme park with a Lost Continent of Mu theme mixed with lots of OOParts trivia. The park only has one real main attraction, but it’s truly unique and scratches a rare itch with an entry ticket costing only 2400 yen. At any rate, despite the relative dearth of attractions, Seibuen sustains a middling base price which arguably is a little bit pricey for what you get.
To reiterate, in the park, there are a number of standard rides without any unifying theme, as well as a section for kids based around Osamu Tezuka properties, plus an artificial “street” made to look like something out of 1960s Japan and the Godzilla ride and pool area (the latter of which I didn’t experience). The Showa Street includes wandering performers and musicians dressed in period clothes who enthusiastically work the crowds, plus overpriced restaurants with long lines, and old-fashioned treat stands. There appears to be an additional show of some kind that we missed due to time pressures which might be spectacular, but I just don’t know. Finally, there were two additional attractions that cost extra—one themed around a children’s book series about a haunted old-fashioned sweets shop, and the other a mystery train dinner show experience that lasts 90 minutes. The sweets shop activity costs 1,320 yen for sixth graders and up, though there is a free scavenger hunt activity kids can play in the park, too. My girlfriend wanted to try out the dinner show, and I honestly wanted to, too, but we hadn’t bought an advance ticket (which costs more than the entrance ticket to the park) and so weren’t able to participate. Thus, there are new attractions at the park which appear quite popular, but some aren’t included in the base price, so the main experience of most visitors remains the same. It should be said that Seibuen is far from the only amusement park to charge extra for specific attractions—Universal Studios Japan had a special One-Piece themed show that cost extra one time I visited, Huis Ten Bosch has a Takarazuka-style all-women theatrical music show which I paid to see and which seems to attract a rabid fanbase, and Fuji-Q has its famous haunted hospital (known as the scariest and most elaborate haunted attraction in Japan) which I braved on my solo visit. The problem isn’t really that Seibuen charges extra for some of its activities, but it remains frustrating that the base experience continues to feel a little sparse.
One other note: as I mentioned in the previous review, there is an express ticket system at Seibuen. In particular, my girlfriend and I debated about purchasing an express ticket to Godzilla the Ride on this trip because time was a bit tight. Such an express ticket will set back visitors at 1000 yen per ticket, which isn’t really extreme I think—compare that to Universal Studios Japan and its frustrating system for getting a chance to enter Super Nintendo Land. If you’re lucky, you can basically try a lottery system and get inside for free (though my girlfriend and I failed on our visit some time back). You can also pay, though apparently the cost to get a guaranteed entry to Nintendo over the Obon holiday would’ve set us back 150,000 yen a person, which is more than the entrance price for the park itself! However, with USJ, the park really does get crazy crowded, so while the system for Nintendo is exploitative it also is somewhat understandable given the demand. With Seibuen, express tickets still are not necessary for most guests given the crowds. My girlfriend and I went to Seibuen during the Obon holidays, basically the busiest travel time of the year since almost all Japanese have that time off, and even still we only had to wait one hour to get into Godzilla the Ride: Great Clash the first time (in the morning) and thirty minutes right after lunch.
On the bright side, one of the worst features of the park that I complained about most vociferously in my previous review has been extirpated entirely: the Seibuen Yen. When I visited Seibuen in 2021, almost all purchases in the park were carried out through the park’s peculiar play money. Basically, at that time, visiting Seibuen was like visiting a foreign country, where customers were forced to exchange real money for Seibuen/Tezuka themed yen to use in the stores and restaurants. You basically had to guess how much you were going to pay in the park, then try to use up all the play money while there or be forced to carry back useless paper back home, and/or run to the exchange store to get more Seibuen yen to buy the goods you wanted if you didn’t get enough when you entered the park (though as I recall sometimes you could use a credit card to make up the difference if you didn’t have quite enough to purchase something). The system was profoundly inconvenient and annoying, and thankfully, this time, we could just use regular Japanese yen, or a credit card, or other forms of electronic money anywhere in the park.
Godzilla the Ride: Great Clash Breakdown
For anyone who has read my review of the first Godzilla the Ride experience, the basic set up is the same. As with the previous ride, the ride takes place in faux cinema decked out with fake movie posters each sporting a parodic movie studio logo based on real studios in Japan (such as Nichiei instead of Nikkei, for example). My favorite this time around was a poster for a fake movie called Tweezer Doctors, which is about miniaturized doctors sent to take out a virus inside a human body—a blatant parody of Fantastic Voyage with a sillier title, but also the only faux poster I spotted made by a faux foreign studio and with faux foreign names.
At any rate, just like last time, guests are ushered into a waiting area with assigned groups and numbers. The first time we went, my girlfriend and I were in the first group and so had the privilege of standing near the host (dressed as a military commander in black and red combat gear) as he delivered his excited and stern monologues. The second time, we were in the back, but it was still easy to hear the actor—it was the same guy, though still as energetic, still bellowing out his lines so everyone could hear over the sound effects and dramatic music. Just like with the first Godzilla ride, this preview area is decorated with projection mapping, though more elaborate this time; the entire chamber is equipped with a full-surround projection depicting the inside of a ship. Your role (much like in the first Godzilla the Real at USJ) is to act as part of a military group, this time called EDGE—Emergency Defense against Gargantuan Encounter—and formed specifically to fight Godzilla. If I understood the story right, Great Clash follows up the first story, but is set many years later. While Giant Monsters Ultimate Battle is set in the 1960s, Great Clash appears to be set in the future (like Godzilla vs. Evangelion the Real or Godzilla vs. Megaguirus, or most recently the Kaisei comic universe from IDW). We are tasked with hunting down Godzilla in a triphibian battle vehicle called a GOOSE (which is a drone, so why are we riding in it?). EDGE has also developed an additional weapon to fight Godzilla, the G Breaker—a new version of Mechagodzilla, which will be joining the fight. When the military commander introduces G Breaker, he unveils a really awesome-looking maquette bathed in mist and set behind glass. I believe it’s the same maquette used in promotional materials. We are also treated to scenes on a monitor during the commander’s presentation, which include archival footage of Godzilla attacking the city, a shot of an EDGE ship (probably the GOOSE NEST, which holds the drone warships, the GOOSE drones), and awesome swooping shots of G Breaker ensconced in its docking area. Suddenly, something causes a disturbance in the water, shaking the whole boat on which we trainees are waiting—the full-surround projections create a great sense of movement, and the staff actor sells it on his speech platform when the thundering boom shakes the ship. We are then quickly ushered into the GOOSE One for battle.
As far as I could tell, the seating system worked exactly the same as last time, despite the upgrades for the Ultimate Version of the first Godzilla the Ride. Everyone sits down in the neato-looking seat, stashing their bags (and hats) under the chairs in a net area. I also tucked the chain for my wallet into my pocket so as not to get it snapped in two by the moving machinery again. The seatbelts go from right to left, and everyone is asked to pull the yellow cord attached to make sure the belt is firmly in place. The massive circular screen is set in front of everyone, and the barrier between the screen and the seats folds away while the seats are advanced so that the screen takes up almost the entire view of the guests and their feet are suspended in mid-air, which creates a sense of danger and excitement and immersion in the massive screen.
Note that my description includes spoilers below, as does the analysis.
The action starts off with GOOSE One (your ship) disembarking on a mission to locate Godzilla and then pull back to let G Breaker in to engage the monster. GOOSE Two, meanwhile, soon takes flight above as you head out on your mission. It doesn’t take long to locate Godzilla as his back fins emerge from the surf, and the two drone warships begin to bombard the king of the monsters with rockets (so much for waiting for G Breaker). Godzilla emerges in a rage and charges GOOSE One, nearly capsizing the ship before circling around for another attack. Though GOOSE Two attempts to help, Godzilla lunges out of the water, catching the drone in its mouth, and destroying it (along with your comrades). GOOSE One flees back to the GOOSE Nest carrier ship, which extends two mechanical arms to pick the drone out of the water. However, as the arms begin to pick up GOOSE One, Godzilla attacks GOOSE Nest, completely destroying the larger ship. Somehow, GOOSE One is tossed into the sky (perhaps via the robotic arms) before crashing back into the ocean. As Godzilla continues to menace the drone, it switches function to an underwater mode, diving away from the radioactive menace, and getting a glimpse of the GOOSE Nest sinking into oblivion. Godzilla doesn’t give up, however, and chases GOOSE One underwater. The drone charges up and emerges on the surface, then shifts to flight mode, barely making it away from Godzilla’s snapping jaws. The hunt continues between nuclear behemoth and drone with a frenzy of attacks, eventually culminating with a frontal assault from Godzilla that appears inescapable when suddenly the Big G takes hit from the side, huge explosions driving the monster back. When the drone turns, we see G Breaker descending from the sky and landing on the shore away from the closest buildings. The GOOSE One appears to malfunction and crashes on Godzilla’s shoulder, getting stuck there. The monster king boils out of the water, and G Breaker warms up two electric fists to bash Godzilla back into submission, freeing GOOSE One, which manages to fly away up a building. Godzilla and G Breaker trade attacks, with G Breaker launching missiles from its backpack and tossing Godzilla as the GOOSE One flies around. Enraged, Godzilla starts prepping his nuclear breath, with his spinal fins glowing and popping out from his back. G Breaker warms up his mouth ray in exactly the same fashion, and the pair start a ray-war culminating in a massive explosion that burns Godzilla’s chest and causes G Breaker to collapse. GOOSE One flies in (to distract Godzilla perhaps) and nearly gets destroyed, but then G Breaker, still “alive,” steps in and manhandles Godzilla before charging up a lavish chest ray that bathes Godzilla in white-hot (or cold?) energy. Almost Godzilla’s entire body becomes reddened and scorched with burns, and in a final act of savage vengeance, the kaiju king lurches forward, grasping G Breaker’s head and wrenching it so hard that the entire thing breaks free at the neck, jaw falling to the ground. Godzilla then throws G Breaker’s head, which nearly clocks GOOSE One out of the air. The monster, flush with victory, turns away from the destruction it has caused and retires into the sea as the GOOSE One slowly flies across G Breaker’s shattered body and hovers close to the ground, helpless to do anything but watch Godzilla disappear underwater, followed by a sudden WHOMP as the title slams into view. The end.
Review and analysis
As with any amusement park ride, the staff are a key component, especially when acting a part is involved. I still remember the clenching awkwardness when I cried out “Shinzo sasage yo!” to a staff member at Universal Studios Japan during an Attack on Titan promotion and got a blank stare in return. With the fellow playing the military commander at Godzilla the Ride: Great Clash, however, he turned in an authoritative and very well-rehearsed part, and he seemed to enjoy when guests saluted him back. His performance felt a little more wooden perhaps than a few I have encountered (the staff member at Godzilla VR playing Officer Serizawa made a big impression on me, as did the staff member introducing Mission Deep Sea at Huis Ten Bosch—which also deals with a monster encounter). The all-around projection mapping of the GOOSE Nest where the staff performed created a fantastic sense of place, and the maquette of G Breaker with misting spray sports profound attention to detail and a fresh shine that makes it stand out on the floor.
However, the actual i-Ride experience is on a whole other level. Right from the start, I was enthralled. The movement of the i-Ride apparatus matches the pitching and yawing of the GOOSE One just perfectly as it glides out onto the water, with convincing (but never excessive) water spray delivered by jets in the ceiling. It just feels right, and the sense of adventure combined with often utterly convincing water effects and high-quality CGI work all around come together to hit a sweet, sweet spot of monster thrills I didn’t realize I needed in my life. The inspiration from the boat chase from Godzilla Minus One (2023) is immediately apparent as this Godzilla menaces the war drone—but here, you can feel the movements of the boat, and Godzilla just keeps coming. This opening sequence enables guests to relive an even more radical version of that already iconic Godzilla encounter, combining a dramatic sea hunt with underwater cat-and-mouse thrills and culminating in panicked airborne maneuvering. I read that Yamazaki was aiming to create the scariest and most thrilling Godzilla ride yet, and I think he succeeded—at least with that first half.
The inspirations from Minus One change the character of Godzilla here, however, which can be a little jarring for fans of the first Godzilla the Ride. In that short film, Godzilla acts as a sort of savior against the evil Ghidorah. King Ghidorah is very much the aggressor and therefore is the one snapping at your vehicle until Big G can finish him off. In Godzilla the Ride: Great Clash, Godzilla is a horrifying villain, vicious and destructive from the start much like he was in the film. Also just like in Minus One, now Godzilla’s breath charges up with his back fins jutting out, which didn’t happen in the first Ride—though it bears being said that here, Godzilla’s breath attack doesn’t cause a nuclear explosion!
Lots of spoilers in the next paragraph, FYI.
Yamazaki’s version of Mechagodzilla, here called Kiju Type0 G Breaker, feels a little bit disappointing for me—though only a little. It’s nice having a purely “heroic” version of Mechagodzilla again, which we haven’t seen in movies since Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (no undead Godzilla spirit to infect the programming), and G Breaker has a suite of powers inspired by past incarnations—the rockets shooting out of the back seem like a nod to Kiryu, and his chest cannon hints at the first Mechagodzilla’s Cross Attack Beam, though the main inspiration is probably Kiryu’s Zero G Cannon. When Kiryu used the Zero G Cannon, it visibly injured Godzilla, leaving a massive scar across the dinosaurian kaiju’s chest. G Breaker’s chest attack has a similar white-and-misty coloring that suggests it, too, is a freezing weapon, and G Breaker’s ultimate attack has a devastating physical effect on Godzilla, leaving him covered in raw flesh (or perhaps triggering a nuclear meltdown ala Godzilla vs. Destoroyah—the resultant appearance hearkens back to Godzilla’s Heisei death). G Breaker’s electrified fists seem inspired by the Monsterverse’s Mechagodzilla and his ”Charged Strike” attack, as does the “beam battle” between the behemoths (also featured in the advertisements). Yamazaki’s general design seems inspired by a combination of Jared Krichevsky’s design and MASH’s Kiryu work, though perhaps with a bit more bulk and chrome. If I had my druthers, I might wish for something a little more original both in design and execution, but I still like this robozilla and wondered if the heroic frame and exaggerated musculature of Machine G from Hisashi Yasui’s eclectic Monster King Godzilla original manga series may have also been an influence. My main complaint is that G Breaker is kind of weak; Mechagodzilla has always been one of the most powerful of Godzilla’s enemies, regularly putting the kaiju king on the ropes with an overwhelming array of deadly weaponry. Here, G Breaker goes down so easily, it’s a disappointment after the buildup. The robot beheading hearkens back to Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975) with the added visceral jaw breaking off, and I loved when GOOSE One flies through G Breaker’s back fins (giving us a wonderful close-up view of the design). However, I thought the first half of the movie was markedly more exciting so that the mecha fight comes across as a step down, especially as the end isn’t quite as in-your-face as the rogue Ghidorah head nearly biting the vehicle in the first Ride.
A note about the animation used when Godzilla and G Breaker fight one another: I have heard that there is some fan criticism going around that the battle between the Big G and his mechanical counterpart looks a little TOO close to the movements of the Monsterverse Godzilla and Mechagodzilla when they went toe-to-toe in Godzilla vs. Kong (these criticisms being based on online advertisements for the ride). Now, I am not sure if the animation used in the advertisements is completely the same as what made it into the ride, but I do think it’s pretty close, and while I haven’t personally analyzed the scene vis-à-vis Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) nor watched any YouTube videos which analyze the sequence, I have heard such videos exist. If Yamazaki and his team did take animation inspiration from or even outright copied from Godzilla vs. Kong, though, it’s hard for me to outright condemn them. Toho likely has rights to the animation used, and if budget became a problem for Great Clash, perhaps they used the animation to save a few bucks in a way not too dissimilar to how stock footage was often used in older Godzilla films (or, to use an example from animation, how Disney used to reuse animation in many of their animated films, just basically tracing over the originals). That said, one of my complaints about G Breaker was that he wasn’t all that original, and such close mimicry of the animation from Godzilla vs. Kong is a little disappointing to me, even if I wouldn’t come out and call it stealing.
There were also a few moments in the film where the physics felt a little funky, or the actions of the GOOSE One pilot were more than a little bewildering, but as a ride and as a full-body experience, Godzilla the Ride: Great Clash gave me such a thrill that didn’t fade on a second time. I was ready to get in line for a third go, maybe even a fourth. While I still have issues with Seibuen, Yamazaki’s latest ride is a true thrill and receives a hearty recommendation from me.
Godzilla goods and menu items
With any good Godzilla event or ride or film release, new snacks, meal items, and mountains of merchandise are almost inevitable to enchant fans to depart from their cash. I fully expected a G Breaker action figure to go with the Godzilla and King Ghidorah toys that were released with the first Godzilla the Ride, as well as Great Clash themed cookies, keychains, and other mountains of overpriced junk, err, treasures. However, I could only find two items in the entire park that seemed explicitly tied to the Great Clash release. Even though neither Giant Monsters Ultimate Battle nor Ultraman the Ride were playing at the theater this time, both of those rides had far more goodies—t-shirts, snacks, towels, etc. I could only find a Great Clash clear file and a Great Clash themed coffee float; everything else was either explicitly Giant Monsters Ultimate Battle themed (with King Ghidorah and Rodan featured) or more generically Godzilla themed with no obvious connection to the current ride. I have long dreamed of buying every single promotional item available for one of these releases and reviewing them, but the overwhelming cost (and the fact I really didn’t want all of that stuff) always prevented me from fulfilling such a wild consumerist impulse. This time, though, I could do it with relatively little cash output.
The Great Clash clear file (sold for 500 yen) is a pretty standard design, using the promo image used in advertisements depicting G Breaker leaping through the sky with fist raised, ready to clobber Godzilla below as the GOOSE One flies towards the camera. It’s a dramatic shot, though it lacks the kind of oomph that, say, a good Matt Frank comic cover often possesses. Still, it gets the idea across (even if the implication that G Breaker is going to be a significant threat against Godzilla is a bit of an exaggeration).
The only other Great Clash goodie was Godzilla’s Crackling Coffee Float, sold in the Showa Street at a little drink corner. Despite not being a coffee drinker myself, given the drought in Great Clash merch (and also hoping to end my latest Godzilla journey on a more positive note than the truly unfortunate lunch I had just partaken in, more on that later), I dropped the absurd 900 yen on the drink and sipped it on my out of the park. Thankfully, the cold drink was more pleasant than most of the other Seibuen Godzilla treats I have eaten. Godzilla’s Crackling Coffee Float consists of iced coffee (with plenty of ice) and a big scoop of vanilla ice cream all sprinkled with a Japanese equivalent of those Pop Rocks candies with the imbedded carbon dioxide that creates a series of little popping explosions in the mouth while eating. Since the popping is caused when the candy melts in the mouth, the same thing happens in the coffee whether you drink it or not; the coffee pops and crackles on while you carry it around, with the haptic feedback only occurring when you take a sip. I found the combination of bitter coffee, sweet ice cream, and random candy detonations pleasantly diverting, if very overpriced. The cup, too, features the same image as the clear file, but on cheap paper awkwardly pasted on an inexpensive clear plastic cup that comes with a bright red paper straw.
It’s fine, though it feels thrown together, as if Seibuen wasn’t really ready to provide Great Clash goods and threw together whatever they had lying around to create something vaguely Godzilla-themed (black and popping maybe suggests Godzilla’s radioactive body, and the ice cream maybe refers to G Breaker’s chest ray?). At any rate, I can say that this Godzilla coffee was more interesting than the Godzilla coffee I gulped at Mazaria for the Godzilla VR attraction some years back (though that one came with a much nicer cup).
All of this is much, much better than the Godzilla lunch I had with my girlfriend. When I first visited Seibuen back in 2021, I don’t remember seeing any Godzilla-themed meals, though I was especially paranoid about eating anything unhealthy at the time and may have skipped over them. This time, there were advertisements for Godzilla-themed meals in the free newspaper/map/advertisement paper anyone can pick up, and they highlighted two menu items: the Godzilla’s Footprint Burger (as a single item 1800 yen, and as a set with a drink, 2000) and the Godzilla Foot Big Portion Black Curry (also 1800 yen for the meal, with no option for a set drink). My girlfriend and I decided to go for these two menu items rather than the Godzilla Hot Dog or the Godzilla Mega Portion Black Karaage, though I was tempted to get Ultraman pudding or parfait (I eventually decided against it). Please note that only the Footprint Burger and the Hotdog could be ordered as a set with a discounted drink, even though the Black Karaage and the Black Curry were being sold at the exact same price and everybody needs to drink.
All of these items, it should be said, were being sold at the Hakurai Grill (“Hakurai” is an old-fashioned term that literally means “ship come” and refers to foreign goods). The Hakurai Grill is a second-floor restaurant out behind the Showa Road and accessible after ascending a spiral staircase. The restaurant itself is built in such a way as to be partly outside; it feels like you’re only inside a canopy rather than a proper building, though when you do get inside, the construction has fans and AC (a must on that hot day).
The problems started immediately, however, even before we had ordered.
The first problem was that there is no waiting room inside the Hakurai Grill. You have to wait to order, and the waiting area is outside the restaurant in the blazing sun. There is no way around this, and the staff seemed completely unperturbed at the growing line, delivering orders at a leisurely pace despite what appeared (from the outside) to be many free tables.
The second problem was that the staff didn’t explain the seating system. Usually in Japan in restaurants I have visited at least, if the staff hands you a standee with a number in it, you then go and pick your seat. But we saw that all the tables appeared to be reserved with numbered standees on every one. It turned out we had to find the matching number (twelve in this case) and couldn’t sit anywhere we wanted—which is fine, but since it wasn’t explained, we were left awkwardly wandering around trying to figure out what was going on.
I had ordered the Footprint Burger, and it came first. The bun is a light color with a dark Godzilla print on top, and the burger came with tomato, lettuce, two meat patties, cheese, onions, and ketchup. I was appalled though not completely surprised at the lack of mustard, which isn’t as popular here in Japan—but for me, mustard is a must. It’s right in the name! Putting aside that complaint, for 1800 yen, you don’t really get that much. No fries or other side items. The bun isn’t toasted. You get two patties, but they don’t appear to be grilled, and they aren’t all-beef or particularly tasty.
The Footprint Burger is just bland all around, and the Godzilla-themed footprint on top is actually a minus to the meal. If you touch the black footprint mark on the bun, the black substance rubs off on your fingers… and it doesn’t come off easily! With most meals in Japan, you are given a wet towel/paper, and even with vigorous scrubbing, the black substance remained a stain on my skin that would only fade with time. Compared with the Destoroyah Burger, which I had a day later at Nijigen no Mori for the same price, the Footprint Burger deserves the name—as something to be trampled under one’s shoe rather than be eaten.
The Godzilla Foot Big Portion Black Curry, unfortunately, was little better. My girlfriend thought it was worse. The meal’s best aspect is that the ingredients are effectively sculpted together to mimic the shape of Godzilla’s ample pedicure, with a small bucket’s worth of rice doused in black curry and decorated with black fried chicken toes and triangles of cheese (or cheese product?) to form the claws. The toes proved the most palatable, as even with the disgusting black coloring, they tasted like some kind of meat with a predictably fried exterior and the cheese fingernails failed to make much impression. My girlfriend was really disgusted with everything else, though. The mountain of rice is simply too much, and the nasty black curry tastes like the cheapest possible instant curry-bag stuff I’ve ever eaten. It just tasted bland and boring, and combined with the gross appearance and extreme portion, we both gave up on eating it in its entirety and bugged out with nearly half the rice remaining. At least it didn’t tattoo my fingers black.
The worst was yet to come, though, as the rest of that day and the next, I had an upset stomach and was frequenting the restroom with disgusting bowel movements and discolored… well, you don’t need to know that. But remember how I said that the “Seibuen Yen” made me feel like I was entering a foreign country when those were still in operation? Well, something still remained that was redolent of many foreign trips for unwary trekkers: the brown runny devil… except it wasn’t brown. On the next few days of our trip, my girlfriend and I joked about how everything we ate tasted more delicious as a result of how awful the Seibuen meals were.
The Seibuen mealtime experience was a real perfect storm of terrible. Frustrating and confusing service, overpriced food with no sides, disappointing to downright disgusting flavors, food that stains your fingers if you touch it, and diarrhea for days. I have had bad Godzilla-themed food several times, perhaps most memorably with Godzilla black karaage at Godzilla Fes (which had a similar issue with the edible black coloring), and the supremely unappetizing Godzilla Tantan Noodles at the now-defunct Mazaria VR theme park (the dish tasted gross, and it featured an eggplant carved to look like Godzilla’s tail but darn if it didn’t look more like another piece of anatomy). Still, given that almost EVERYTHING sucked at Hakurai Grill, it’s difficult not to count it as the worst Godzilla food I have ever eaten. Combine that with the already awful Godzilla Consomme Potato Sticks (which I bought at Seibuen last time), and uffda, friends. It might be best to look at any ostensible foodstuff from Seibuen with suspicion.
Final Thoughts
Godzilla the Ride: Great Clash is a stellar theme-park experience, one of the best—it stands tall with the Godzilla the Real 4D theater experiences at USJ as well as the previous Godzilla the Ride as top-tier kaiju-king attraction material. Seibuen Amusement Park has also improved since I last attended, ditching the dreadful Seibuen Yen and (I think) repainting some of their aging rides as well as introducing several new attractions which appear intriguing but cost extra. However, with a slightly pricy entrance fee, continued discrimination against tatted individuals, lack of many quality attractions overall, a surprising lack of Great Clash themed goods, and truly garbage-tier menu offerings, I still have severe reservations about actually recommending attending the amusement park. Maybe wait until Godzilla the Ride: Great Clash debuts in other venues around the world.
