Despite what
the title might imply, this book actually covers far more
than just the Godzilla series as most of Toho's science
fiction films up to Godzilla:
Final Wars (2004) are included. This includes
some of the more obscure movies such as Half
Human (1955) and Mikadroid (1991), although predominately this is dedicated to Toho's
kaiju productions.
The presentation itself is very light
on text, making it ideal for those not able to read Kanji/Hiragana,
and heavy on pictures, often times with a large one as
the center piece that is then flanked by smaller shots
near the edges. The contents are ordered mostly in chronological
order, although a few of them with smaller mentions, like
the stuff from Gunhed (1989), are out of order. Sadly, the look of the book
is a little uneven at first, as it often times opts for
black and white shots or what look to be rough captures
from the early films. Thankfully, the publication improves
drastically as it goes along, doing a much better job
with the 1960's productions in nearly full color until
it reaches the Heisei and Millennium stuff which look
fantastic. It's also worth noting that this book actually
features King Kong and Mechani-Kong, something that is
very rare on more recent publications due to licensing
agreements.
The best part about this book, though, is
simply the price, as it retails for around $15, and for
that price point it's hard to think of a better publication
on the subject matter if one collects these primarily
for the photos (especially the glorious color ones here). |