During a long hike in the mountains, two friends come face-to-face with the most tenacious monster in the world…

ANGUIRUS!

They weren’t always friends

When Godzilla and Anguirus first met, the rivalry between them was fierce. Ultimately, Godzilla emerged the victor after crunching poor Anguirus’s neck and setting his carcass on fire in front of Osaka Castle. Years later, Godzilla and Anguirus would rise to fight again but this time not as enemies but friends. What prompted this alliance? How did these two monsters go from being bloodthirsty rivals to forging a friendship that would last generations?

Likely the same way Mark and I became friends.

Recently, my best friend Mark Monson came up to visit, and we shot a short film together. I’ve been thinking about doing an Anguirus Sightings video for months. It was one of the most requested videos I received and I had the perfect location in mind. There’s just one small problem: It was at the top of a mountain and getting there wasn’t easy. Enter Mark. He wanted to climb up the mountain in question. Right then—unbeknownst to Mark at the time—the Anguirus Sightings video was greenlit.

Doing an Anguirus Sightings video with Mark felt like it was meant to be given our colorful history. We weren’t always friends. We were once rivals, kind of like Godzilla and Anguirus (although I never tried biting him or setting him on fire). But that changed over time. Gradually, we learned to trust one another and accept the differences that defined us as human beings. We became close friends.

Today he’s family.

As a Godzilla fan, I couldn’t help but cast my friends and family in monster roles. Mark was the Anguirus to my Godzilla. The parallels keep getting better, don’t they? Like Anguirus, Mark is stubborn, relentless, loyal, and brave. I’d trust him with my life even if we were marching into battle against a giant three-headed space dragon.

How did Godzilla and Anguirus become friends? I’d imagine they worked out their differences the same way humans do through communication, empathy, and mutual respect. By the late 1960s, Godzilla had changed; he was no longer the ruthless creature that Anguirus fought in 1955’s Godzilla Raids Again. Technically, neither was Anguirus; the one Godzilla befriended was a different specimen than the one he first fought and subsequently killed. But given how Godzilla and the new Anguirus are highly aggressive and territorial, I’d imagine their first encounter was uncivil. But make no mistake, Godzilla was a changed monster; he was smarter, empathetic, and humane. Aside from what he did to the first Anguirus and Mothra, Godzilla rarely killed other monsters. What ended up happening is he would encounter several monsters that started out as his enemies but then over time, like Anguirus, they became his friends. In many ways, the progressive themes of trust and friendship of the Showa Era films inspired me

at a young age. It seems like they helped play a role in shaping my friendship with Mark and for that I’m grateful.

I hope you enjoyed this Sightings video. We had so much fun making it. It was a rough hike and climb, but we came through like we always do.

Thomas Fairchild and Mark Monson