It’s never an easy task to track names and titles across languages for Toho’s properties. As has been cited many times before, translating in itself is an art. A group of people can each be given the same line of text and translate it several different ways. In the case of Japanese, this becomes even more confusing with the names of fictional characters as one has the choice of either translating it literally or leaving it in Romaji. The matter is further confused by alternate names that have been coined in other markets that movies have been released in. Thankfully, Toho International stepped up to the plate to create their own official English names for their parent company’s properties. Unfortunately, Toho International hasn’t been consistent with their choices, and has reversed their decisions a number times; in the process adding even more names to the “pool.”
This article attempts to list these alternate names that were given to Toho’s characters, while also giving a brief history into their origins. However, since these films have been released in so many markets, with countless merchandise to go along with them, this article will always be a work in progress. It should also be stressed that subtitles and nicknames for characters are not included. For example, although the film Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971) was first brought to the US as Godzilla vs the Smog Monster, the creature itself was still referred to as Hedorah in the movie.
Below is a list of all the characters included in this article.
- Godzilla
- Anguirus
- Rodan
- Moguera
- Orochi
- Gotengo
- King Ghidorah
- Dogora
- Xilien
- Ebirah
- Minilla
- Kamacuras
- Kumonga
- Mechani-Kong
- Gabara
- Black Moth
- Hedorah
- Gigan
- Megalon
- Jet Jaguar
- Mechagodzilla
- King Caesar
- Titanosaurus
- Goten
- Super X2
- Dorat
- Godzillasaurus
- Mecha-King Ghidorah
- Battra
- SpaceGodzilla
- Destoroyah
- Desghidorah
- Mothra Leo
- Kiryu
- Keizer Ghidorah
Godzilla
Alternate Names
- Gigantis
- Gojira
Toho’s most iconic character, Godzilla is known the world over while his name and likeness have been parodied countless times in popular culture. As most are aware, the monster’s Japanese name in Romaji is actually “Gojira”, a combination of the words gorilla (gorira) and whale (kujira). This name is rarely ever used on licensed products in English though, outside of a few examples like Classic Media’s DVD release of the first film. When it came time to sell the 1954 movie overseas the name Godzilla was first coined by Toho themselves, and was retained for the movie’s distribution in various markets. However, when the sequel, Godzilla Raids Again (1955), was bought for distribution in the United States the character’s name was changed to “Gigantis” by the group who purchased the rights. This was done under the presumption that audiences would be more interested in a new monster than a sequel to Godzilla. The US version of the film was then produced using this name, and then sold to Warner Bros who released the movie theatrically in America. Thankfully, the name never stuck, as all later distributors in the United States opted for the name Godzilla for the character.
Anguirus
Alternate Names
- Angilas
- Angurus
- Anguillas
- Boryuanguirus
“Angilas” is actually the monster’s original international name, but like many characters Toho has revised this over time. “Angurus”, without the “i”, was the creature’s US name that was first coined for Gigantis the Fire Monster. Like a lot of names created in the US, it has appeared several times in Japanese publications as well, even as late as 1999 in B Media Books’ The Godzilla Chronicles Vol. 3. Toho stuck with the name Angilas, though, up until 1974’s Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla when the name Anguirus finally began to appear, and would eventually become their preferred English spelling for the creature. In 1990, though, a variant of this in the form of “Anguillas”, a combination of his previously used names, appeared in the Game Boy Godzilla title. If this was intentional or a mistake is unknown. When Bandai was creating their Godzilla Island line of figures they added another name for the character, calling it the long “Boryuanguirus” on the name tag.
Rodan
Alternate Names
- Radon
One of Toho’s most popular characters, Rodan has been known almost exclusively outside of Japan under that title. A direct translation of the character’s name into Romaji, though, is “Radon”, a spelling which has rarely been used for the character in English. However, for whatever reason, the creature’s name was dubbed this way for the 1993 film Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II. Furthermore, Japanese publications released around this time also began to refer to the character as “Radon.” If there was a serious consideration at Toho to change the character’s English name or not is hard to say, but the trend didn’t last as books released in Japan the very next year returned to using Rodan.
Moguera
Alternate Names
- Mogela
- M.O.G.E.R.A.
- Mogera
- M.O.G.U.E.R.A.
- Moguera-SRF
- Moguera 2
- M.O.G.E.R.A. II – SRF
The mech was generally synonymous with the English spelling of Moguera up until the mid-1990’s. There was an exception, though, of “Mogela” in the Japanese verison of Godzilla: Monster of Monsters!. That all changed when the creature resurfaced in Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994). In the film, the name was altered to an acronym for “Mobile Operation Godzilla Expert Robot Aero-Type” (M.O.G.E.R.A.), which is seen in English during the movie. Many books, though, simply removed the acronym and referred to it as “Mogera”. However, Toho quickly reverted to the old English name they used for the original mech in The Mysterians (1957) by adding back in the “u”. Oddly enough, they also attempted to retcon the overall acronym, with sources such as The Official Godzilla Compendium stating that it now stands for “Mobile Operation Godzilla Universal Expert Robot Aero-Type”, with Universal being added to match up with their original spelling. The first debut of this acronym, though, was actually the year after the movie’s release in 1995 for the Trendmasters Moguera toy.
To compound issues, there are two versions of the 1994 Moguera. The original and the improved version, Mogeura II – SRF, that is equipped with jamming equipment to combat SpaceGodzilla for the finale. Both versions often have the same title, but some sources break out the names. The Godzilla Movie Studio Tour gives the name of Moguera for the original and “Moguera-SRF” for the remodeled version. Meanwhile, in the 2004 video game Godzilla: Save the Earth, the robot was called “Moguera 2”. While it’s possible this was talking about Moguera II – SRF, it’s more likely this was in reference to it being the Heisei version since the Heisei Mechagodzilla was called “Mechagodzilla 2”. In 2014, the Toho Special Effects: All Kaiju Illustrated Encyclopedia used the name “M.O.G.E.R.A. II – SRF” for it.
Orochi
Alternate Names
- Eight-Headed Serpent
- Yamata no Orochi
- Yamatanoorochi
Based on one of Japan’s most popular mythical beasts, the creature’s full name is “Yamata no Orochi”, with the Yamata part being derived from the Yamataikoku country that was said to have existed in Japan. This appears that way in a few Japanese publications in English, while the 2022 Picturebook of Godzilla & All Monsters uses it as a single word ala “Yamatanoorochi”. When the movie The Three Treasures (1959) was first sold internationally, Toho simply called the creature the “Eight-Headed Serpent” in the English pamphlets. It’s not clear exactly when, but at some point Toho began to refer to the creature as the shortened “Orochi”, which is what was used for Yamato Takeru (1994) in foreign markets and would stick as their preferred English title for the character. However, one thing that should be noted is that this does not apply to the character as it appeared in Onmyoji II (2003), as that film was produced through a committee and Toho International does not maintain the rights for the movie overseas.
Gotengo
Alternate Names
- Atoragon
- Atragon
- Gouten
- Goten-go
The original novel of Undersea Warship, written by Shunro Oshikawa (March 21, 1876 – November 16, 1914), in many ways foreshadowed the Russo-Japanese war. However, it included the fictitious element of a drill-shaped submarine-like ship named the Denko-tei (Lightning Bolt). When Toho released their 1963 film based on it, Atragon, the name of the ship was changed to “Gotengo”, meaning Roaring Heavens. However, Toho’s international dub changed the name of the film and the ship to “Atoragon”, a blending of the names atomic and dragon. When AIP acquired the license in 1965, they redubbed the English audio and shortened the name to simply “Atragon”. Decades later, the Super-Famicom game Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters featured the sub as a secret character, this time called the “Gouten”. In 2004, for Godzilla’s 50th Anniversary, the Gotengo would be redesigned as the original instrument of Godzilla’s imprisonment. It was at this time that the ship went through a English name change, as Toho began to use Gotengo as its official English title, although a few books like the Godzilla: Final Wars: Super Complete Works called it “Goten-go”. Oddly enough, for the video game Godzilla: Unleashed, the ship was again briefly referred to as the “Atoragon”.
King Ghidorah
Alternate Names
- King Ghidrah
- King Ghidora
- Kingghidrah
- KingGidrah
The original international title for King Ghidorah is, actually, exactly that. However, when the 1964 movie Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster was first brought state side, the name “Ghidrah” was used instead for the monster, which Toho incorporated into the following film: Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965). Toho International eventually revised this, as the spelling “King Ghidora” was instead chosen and appeared prominently for promotion of the 1991 production Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah. Around 1991 the name “Kingghidrah”, as it appeared on the story boards and several books subsequently, was also common while earlier the monster had been given the cumbersome name of “KingGidrah” in the Japanese version of Godzilla: Monster of Monsters! and in a 1/350th scale Bandai model. However, in an unusual move for Toho’s international firm, the name was eventually changed back to their original spelling of King Ghidorah, as it appeared for Rebirth of Mothra III (1998) and onwards.
Dogora
Alternate Names
- Dagora
- Dogorah
The space monster Dogora has had a couple of different names tossed around for it. The first alternate spelling comes from when AIP released the movie in the states, deciding to rename the creature “Dagora”. Many years later, for Million Publication’s Toho Special Effects Monster Movies: Large Complete Works release, the creature would be given another name as it was mistakenly spelled as “Dogorah”.
Xilien
Alternate Names
- X Seijin
- X Alien
- Alien X
- Xilian
The Xiliens have probably had one of the more muddled naming processes of Toho’s properties. In terms of their Japanese title, a direct Romaji translation would be “X Seijin”, which is also as it appears on the Bandai toys. A literal translation of this would be “X Alien”, as stated by Douglas Gordan in Godzilla: Final Wars (2004), or “Alien X”, as sometimes used in Japanese publications. When Godzilla’s 50th Anniversary film went into pre-production, though, the name “Xilian” started to appear on concept art, as the extraterrestrial race had been given a more unique English name than was suspected. This spelling was also used in the theatrical pamphlet of the movie, yet when the film was subtitled for international markets the spelling of Xilien was used instead. Apparently, this is actually Toho’s preferred spelling, as it also appears in most publications released for and after the 2004 Godzilla film. In an odd move, though, Sony used the “Xilian” spelling for their DVD release, which is apparently how the name appeared in the original English script for the movie. So there has definitely been some miscommunication in this respect, or simply a lack of effort to keep it uniform. On a closing note, this alien race was also commonly referred to as the “Xians” by many fans up until 2004; however, as far as we know this fan coined name has never appeared on any officially licensed products.
Ebirah
Alternate Names
- Ebira
Although unnamed in the original US version, the creature has been universally known as Ebirah, as spelled in the international title of the movie Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (1966). The name itself originates from the Japanese word for shrimp (ebi). The only other name that has been used for the creature, that we are currently aware of, comes from the Amada company, who dropped the “h” and often referred to the creature as “Ebira” in card series that they published such as the one for Godzilla: Final Wars (2004).
Minilla
Alternate Names
- Minya
Godzilla’s son, for years, was generally regarded to as “Minya” by fans in the United States. This spelling also appeared in sources such as the Encyclopedia of Godzilla series. The creature’s preferred English name, though, is actually Minilla, which although pronounced similarly to “Minya” can be seen as a play on the name Godzilla, borrowing the “illa” portion of the King of the Monsters’ name.
Kamacuras
Alternate Names
- Gimantis
- G-Mantide
- Kamakilas
This creature was originally dubbed “Gimantis” for the international dubbing of Son of Godzilla (1967) and the subsequent US dubbing. In Italy, this name was adapted into “G-Mantide”, which was a play on the Italian name of mantide for mantis. Later, Toho began using the name Kamacuras for the character, a close proximity to the creature’s Romaji title of “Kamakirasu”, which would eventually become their preferred International and English name for the monster. Some Japanese publications, most notably in the early and mid-1990’s, used the English name of “Kamakilas” for the character though, which can be seen as an alternate translation into Romaji as r’s and l’s are interchangeable and u’s are often dropped.
Kumonga
Alternate Names
- Spiega
- Smegor
The primary antagonist in Son of Godzilla (1967), Kumonga was initially named “Spiega” for international markets. This can be seen as an attempt to emulate his Japanese name, as kumo means spider. The name was sometimes pronounced differently, however, sounding like “Spiga” or “Aspiega” in certain versions. The name was eventually changed to its Japanese one, though, by the time All Monsters Attack (1969) was released. In Italy, the creature was known as the somewhat offbeat “Smegor”, having no relation to the Italian name of ragno for spider but being used for the dubbing of the 1967 production.
Mechani-Kong
Alternate Names
- Mechanic-Kong
- Robot Kong
- Mecani Kong
King Kong’s robotic double has been mostly synonymous with the English title Mechani-Kong, which can be seen as a near direct translation of his Japanese name. In Japan, though, the creature has been given a couple different titles in publications. In the The Godzilla Chronicles series, the machine was dubbed “Mechanic-Kong” while in the Encyclopedia of Godzilla, released around the time of the theatrical run of Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993), the monster was titled as simply “Robot Kong”. In Mexico, on posters for the movie’s release, the creature was given a slightly different name of “Mecani Kong”, without the h or the hyphen.
Gabara
Alternate Names
- Gavalla
- Gavara
Known almost universally as Gabara, the character was, however, referred to in English as “Gavalla” in Japanese publications for decades, including The Godzilla Chronicles and the Encyclopedia of Godzilla series that ran for the 1990’s Godzilla films. The name “Gavalla” can simply be seen as an alternate translation into Romaji, much in the same vein that some fans referred to Varan as “Baran” early on. In 1996, publishing house Gakken Graphic Books made a similar mistake, this time calling the beast “Gavara”.
Black Moth
Alternate Names
- Kroiga
- Griffon
- Griffin
Probably one of the most puzzling name choices that Toho International ever decided upon, the Black Moth was only referred to as “Kroiga” in the 1969 movie Latitude Zero; a name which, naturally, came from the unfortunate captain of the Black Shark whose brain was used to create the creature. In Japanese publications, though, the creature is always titled the “Griffon”, both in Hiragana and in English. The 2022 Picturebook of Godzilla & All Monsters has a slight variant of this, calling it “Griffin” in English. Toho, however, settled upon the English name of the Black Moth for the monster, which is a literal translation of “Kroiga” (Kuroi=Black, Ga=Moth).
Hedorah
Alternate Names
- Hedorha
- Hedrah
Associated fairly well with his Japanese name of Hedorah, and his subtitle the Smog Monster, the creature’s name has been seen with a couple of alternate spellings none the same. In the Encyclopedia of Godzilla series, the beast was referred to as “Hedorha” in 1991, although this was likely a mistake as later entries called it Hedorah. Also around this time in 1990, the creature was called “Hedrah” in the Game Boy Godzilla title which had been used previously in the Japanese version of Godzilla: Monster of Monsters!.
Gigan
Alternate Names
- Borodan
Gigan, or “Gaigan” if one does a strict romaji translation, is generally well known by his English name given to him for the 1972 movie Godzilla vs. Gigan. The creature was, however, bestowed the name “Borodan” in the comic adaptation of Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973) in the US.
Megalon
Alternate Names
- Megaron
Generally known the world over as Megalon, the creature has been sometimes cited in Japanese publications as “Megaron”, again demonstrating the common dilemma related to translating with either an “r” or an “l”.
Jet Jaguar
Alternate Names
- Jet-Jagger
- Robotman
Most are familiar with the character by the commonly used name of Jet Jaguar, but many Japanese publications used a completely different title for the robot. For ages, most sources within his home country referred to the character as “Jet-Jagger”, a puzzling choice since it’s not close to his name in Romaji (Jetojaga) either, although it is pronounced somewhat similarly. In the US, for promoting the 1973 film Godzilla vs. Megalon, the character was given a more superhero oriented name in the form of “Robot Man”. This was used in the trailer and comic to promote the movie, but since the film adopted the international dubbing the name was never actually used in the film and quickly drifted into obscurity.
Mechagodzilla
Alternate Names
- Mecha Godzilla
- Mecha-Godzilla
Well versed with English and Japanese speakers alike as Mechagodzilla, the robot has been referred to by a couple of variations of this name. One is as two words, “Mecha Godzilla”, which is seen in a variety of publications such as the Encyclopedia of Godzilla line of books. Another is for a hyphen to break up the name, “Mecha-Godzilla”, a dynamic that can be found in books such as The Godzilla Chronicles series and the CD Mecha-Godzilla The Album: Against G.
King Caesar
Alternate Names
- King Seeser
- King-Seasar
- Seasar
For decades, many English fans referred to the Okinawa deity as “King Seeser”, and who can blame them. Nearly every VHS release of the creature’s movie, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974), in the United States featured this spelling. Around this time, publications in Japan were using their own English name, adding a hyphen and two a’s so that the creature was titled “King-Seasar”. It wasn’t until the mid-1990’s, in fact, when Caesar started to be used, and was first made popular to many thanks to its inclusion in the The Official Godzilla Compendium. As a side note, the creature was titled only as “Seasar” in The Godzilla Chronicles series.
Titanosaurus
Alternate Names
- Chitano-Saurus
- Titannosaurus
- Titano Kong
For most, the aquatic dinosaur has only ever been referred to by one name: Titanosaurus. This has been fairly consistent across most English sources, but Japanese ones had their own name. Within his birth country, the creature was generally referred to in English with the rather cumbersome title of “Chitano-Saurus”, which can be seen as close to the creature’s Japanese name in Romaji (Chitanosarusu). The Godzilla Chronicles series had their own name, calling it “Titannosaurus” with an extra n, although close to how Toho International named it. In Italy, however, the creature had the misfortune of being called “Titano Kong” so its movie could be called Destroy Kong! The Earth is in Danger (Distruggete Kong! La Terra è in Pericolo) and capitalize on the popularity of the King Kong character at the time.
Goten
Alternate Names
- Gohten
The success of Star Wars brought about many imitations from companies, and Toho studios was no exception. In December of 1977, Toho released The War in Space. The story was set in the future and included a space faring version of the famous drill ship, now with the suffix dropped and known simply as “Gohten”. Later, Toho International revised the ship’s English name to simply the “Goten”, to match with the new name for the Gotengo. Sadly, this causes confusion due to the fact that the “Gohten” name, in English, appears on the hats of various characters throughout the movie.
Super X2
Alternate Names
- Super XX
- DAG-MBS 02
- DAG-MBS-SXX
- MBS-02
- Supaa X-2
- MBS-Super-XII
- Super-X2
- Super-X II
- Super X-II
The Super X2 from Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989) has an alarming number of variants to how it’s spelled and sometimes said. For the film itself, the side of the ship shows Super X2 printed in English, while the computer monitors show a different spelling of both “Super XX” and also “DAG-MBS 02”. The military classification for the craft, part of which is seen on the front of the ship and appears ever so often in Japanese publications, is “DAG-MBS-SXX” which also doubles as a name and sometimes shortened in publications to “MBS-02”. When Miramax brought the film to the United States, they opted for a Romaji style naming by calling it “Supaa X-2” on the VHS box. Adding to the pool of names, the video game Godzilla: Battle Legends features not one but two names for the craft. One appears on the level selection, which is “MBS-Super-XII”, and the other appears on the match up screen, which is “Super-X II”. This leads to the “Super-X2” name, which is actually rarely used but was featured that way in the The Official Godzilla Compendium. This was assumed to be Toho’s preferred name, although as history has shown with the non-monster characters, Toho has possibly flipped on this or is in general less careful with how they refer to it. Two recent examples are Godzilla Defense Force, where it’s called “Super X-II”, and Godzilla Battle Line, where the craft hasn’t been mentioned but the Super X3 has and it’s assumed that the Super X2 will have the same naming convention.
Dorat
Alternate Names
- Drat
Rarely even mentioned in publications, the Dorats have also commonly been called “Drat”. In fact, outside of the International dubbing of the movie, the name Dorat has hardly ever showed up at all save for The Official Godzilla Compendium. It is worth noting that they are mentioned in English, though, in the games Godzilla Defense Force and Godzilla Battle Line as simply Dorat. In the case of the first game, it’s a single Dorat which makes sense with the name. In the case of the second game, though, it’s used to refer to three Dorats. This makes it unclear if Dorat is supposed to be plural and can refer to numerous of the creatures, or if they are using it as a singular name even though the unit is three of them.
Godzillasaurus
Alternate Names
- Godzilla-Saurus
- Godzilla Saures
The release of Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991) saw an odd orgy of names being given for all of the characters featured in the film around the time of its debut. Books and other sources could not seem to come to a concise conclusion on what names to bestow the new round of monsters; furthermore, Toho didn’t seem to be as concerned at this point in time with having uniform English names. This trend is probably fairly overt in Godzillasaurus, which was commonly called “Godzilla-Saurus” with a hyphen for years. The other English name that was making the rounds at this time was “Godzilla Saures”, seen in books such as Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah: The Complete Works. In the end, though, a much simpler name of Godzillasaurus was decided upon by Toho as their preferred name.
Mecha-King Ghidorah
Alternate Names
- Mecha King Ghidora
- Mecha Kingghidrah
- Mecha-Ghidorah
Mecha-King Ghidorah has the same diverse naming conventions that its normal form shares, King Ghidorah. Around the time of the movie’s release, “Mecha King Ghidora” was the popular English name to be seen for the creature in publications such as the Encyclopedia of Godzilla series. Another odd variant on this was “Mecha Kingghidrah”, which also emerged in 1991 around the time of the movie’s release in books. When Trendmasters was releasing toys of the various characters to the US market, they also coined their own name of “Mecha-Ghidorah” for the monster.
Battra
Alternate Names
- Battla
- Battora
Although it’s very rare to see the creature listed as anything but Battra, it has happened on occasion where a Japanese source will substitute the “r” for an “l” in the name, resulting in “Battla”. An example of the “Battla” name making its way to print would be the The Godzilla Chronicles series by B Media Books. Another rarely seen alternate name for the character is “Battora”, having been used by Bandai around the time of Godzilla vs. Mothra‘s (1992) release.
SpaceGodzilla
Alternate Names
- Space Godzilla
- Space Monster
- Spacegodzilla
During the time of the movie’s theatrical release, many publications referred to Godzilla’s space born foe as “Space Godzilla”, with the name as two words. Shortly afterwards, the name was joined into a single word. In an interesting twist, the “g” in the name is always capitalized, making it seem like two words conjoined. This is further interesting given that similarly named monsters, such as Mechagodzilla, do not share this same naming convention. That said, it does appear as “Spacegodzilla” for the game Godzilla Battle Line. Outside of variants of single and double word use, the creature was also given the generic name of “Space Monster” by The Godzilla Chronicles series.
Destoroyah
Alternate Names
- Destroyer
- Destroyah
- Destoroyer
The creature’s literal name is “Destroyer”, coined after the Oxygen Destroyer which created the species. This name is rarely ever seen in English, although some publications such as the The Godzilla Chronicles series have used it. The Destoroyah name, which can be seen as attempting to spell how one would pronounce “Destroyer” in Japanese, was coined from the get go by Toho’s International department and has been widely used. A variant of this, “Destroyah”, also appeared in the 1998 Playstation game Godzilla Trading Battles. Oddly enough, when Toho Music was releasing the Godzilla Perfect Collection, the name “Destoroyer” was used as well, which is almost a mixture of the monster’s Japanese and English names.
Desghidorah
Alternate Names
- Deathghidora
- Des Ghidorah
- Deathghidorah
Literally, the creature’s name translates to Death Ghidorah, which is close to the name Bandai used on their toy released around the time of the film: “Deathghidora”. In Romaji, the beast’s name is Desughidorah. Toho International used a variant of this in the form of “Desghidorah”, dropping the u. This name has been the standard one seen for the creature, although “Des Ghidorah”, as two words, has also been used in some publications. The 2022 Picturebook of Godzilla & All Monsters, which has a few odd English spellings, used the name “Deathghidorah” for it.
Mothra Leo
Alternate Names
- Mothra
- Mothra Reo
- New Mothra
- Exceled Mothra
- Mothra Exceled
- Mothraleo
Interestingly, Toho International originally had no real preferred name for the second Mothra in the Rebirth of Mothra series. When asked in 2005 by the site staff, the only title used for the pre-Rainbow Mothra form of the character was simply “Mothra.” In Japanese, the creature’s literal name is “New Mothra”. However, a Japanese publication in 2004 coined the English name “Exceled Mothra” (with just one “l”, although likely a typo). Another, the 2022 Picturebook of Godzilla & All Monsters, flipped the order and called it “Mothra Exceled”, using the same single “l” spelling. This leads to the name “Mothra Leo”, which was derived from the song of the same name that appeared in the first Rebirth of Mothra (1996) film during the Larva’s creation of its cocoon. This song title is seen on both the single (PCCR-00244) and double disc (PCCR-00243) releases of the score, although its unclear why the name “Mothra Leo” was chosen for it. Fans picked up on the name, though, as it started appearing for this version of Mothra shortly after the film’s release on sites such as Mark Lockwood’s Tohotopia. The name quickly took off amongst the internet community, and is now widely used for the character. The first time it appeared in English, though, was again in reference to the song title, when ADV Films released the soundtrack in the States, although spelt as one word: “Mothraleo”. However, an alternate version appeared on the cover of the double disc (PCCR-00243) soundtrack release by Pony Canyon, where the English name “Mothra Reo” was seen. When Kailua Productions released the soundtrack for a digital release on iTunes in 2016 they did refer to the creature directly, though, as “Mothra Leo”. That started a trend as in 2019, on the Godzilla Defense Force mobile game, the creature was again called “Mothra Leo” in English.
Kiryu
Alternate Names
- Mechagodzilla
- MFS-3
- Type3: Multi-Purpose Fighting System
- Mecha Godzilla
- Mechagodzilla 3
- Mecha G
- Type 3 Kiryu [Kai]
Kiryu, which is a combination of “Machine” and “Dragon” in Japanese, has been sallied with quite a few names since its creation. In terms of the films, the machine’s classification is actually “MFS-3”, which is short for “Type3: Multi-Purpose Fighting System”. Both of these names regularly appear in Japanese books. However, the movie also gave the machine a nickname: Kiryu, which was also the most used name during the films. For promotion purposes, though, the character is seen as the Millennium era Mechagodzilla, and called that way in the movie titles and copyright. A few variations on this occurred, such as Bandai calling it “Mecha Godzilla” as two words and Atari calling it “Mechagodzilla 3” for Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee. To further complicate matters, when it came time to dub Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. (2003), Toho became concerned that the Kiryu name would confuse international viewers as the second movie never goes into detail on the machine’s name. However, Mechagodzilla could not be used as it’s a much longer word to pronounce and wouldn’t easily fit as a substitution for saying Kiryu. So Toho decided on “Mecha G” as their solution. By 2007, though, Toho International had given the green light to start calling the robot Kiryu, appearing this way in Godzilla: Unleashed, although marketing wise the name Mechagodzilla is still the common donation for it.
As a side note, it seems that the second version of Kiryu that appeared in Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. (2003) has a name to denote this upgrade. This name is Kiryu Kai, which was first seen in November of 2022 in the game Godzilla Battle Line. Interestingly, this very same month of 2022, Aoshima released a figure of Kiryu where this form was called in English “Type 3 Kiryu [Kai]”.
Keizer Ghidorah
Alternate Names
- Kaizer Ghidorah
- Monster X II
Godzilla’s last opponent in Godzilla: Final Wars (2004), there has been a lot of confusion regarding the spelling of the creature’s name, brought on by its origin and due to the fact that it’s never spoken in the movie. As some know, the name is derived from the German word for emperor: Kaiser. This, coupled with the fact that a translation of its name into Romaji is “Kaiza”, have caused many to add an “a” to the English spelling of its name. Fans aren’t alone in doing this, though, as there have also been a number of publications in Japan that have used “Kaizer Ghidorah” while Sony also used this English spelling on the chapter menu for the DVD of the film. To further complicate matters, Toho’s “trademark logo” for the character has a totally different name of “Monster X II”; something that was likely done to avoid spoiling his inclusion in the motion picture, which was a heavily guarded secret during production. Regardless, Toho’s preferred name for the creature is Keizer Ghidorah, with the first word being a Dutch variation of emperor/kaiser. This spelling is also how it appears in the theatrical pamphlet for the movie, but had rarely been used on licensed products until recently. Some examples of licensed products that feature the name are largely in the video game category, such as Godzilla for the Playstation 3/4 and the mobile game Godzilla Defense Force. It’s still not consistent, though, as the game Godzilla Battle Line used both spellings by calling the creature “Kaizer Ghidorah” but citing his event as “The Keizer Descends”.
Credit goes out to “Teh Pimp”, Ryan Clark, “Godz”, Brandon Lusk, Giovanni Ferrari and Raf Gonzalez for some of this information.
This article was first published on September 9th, 2006.
