There was a period where this 2000 book was a high mark for an encyclopedia format book on Godzilla. For many fans of this era, who grew up with The Official Godzilla Compendium, this book provided a more in-depth look. It was also import friendly, being very picture heavy. Today, there are better books in this format, but it doesn't take away that this is a fantastic book. Not only that but it also maintains some unique aspects, making it a good pick up if found at a reasonable price.
In terms of structure, the book starts off with a fold out image that contains a few images related to, then recent, Godzilla 2000: Millennium (1999). This leads into a section on the Heisei series, kicking things off with The Return of Godzilla (1984). Coverage follows the basic format of leading with monster bios and a story synopsis. The synopsis is brief, which is fine especially as it's in Japanese, but the monster bios are quite cool. Not only do they list Japanese and English names for the monsters, but have some stats, a descriptive paragraph and showcase powers accompanied by images. This is followed by a few pages of images, which should be mentioned that some of these to this day remain rare to see in books. The movie section then closes out with some behind the scenes images and facts. A few of the films will also conclude with a one page interview on someone, like special effects director Koichi Kawakita.
Next up is a 1998 section, which is devoted to GODZILLA (1998) and Godzilla: The Series (1998). The TriStar movie follows the same format as the Heisei series. The TV show, though, just has monster bios in it, and these bios are much more brief compared to the ones for the movies.
Following this, oddly, we go backwards in time to a 1954-1975 section. This section mimics what was done for the Heisei films, although only has one interview spliced in. One negative, though, is it does lean into a lot of black and white photos for the color productions. On the plus side, and surprising given how old some of the films are, each does have nice behind the scene sections.
Afterwards... we have a miscellaneous section. Well technically it's translated as "Godzilla à la carte", although that's even stranger. Anyway, this section starts with Zone Fighter (1974), which again leans into why this was a heralded book in its day. Sadly, coverage for the 1974 show is mostly black and white while the monster bios are also lean, not even mentioning English names. This is followed by a section on the Monster Planet of Godzilla (1994) ride, which doesn't include monster bios but does have a story synopsis, images and behind the scenes area. Next is a really rushed section on video games, before a decent section on Godzilla Island (1997) and a blink and you'll miss it section on the cartoon Godzilla (1978).
This ends the glossy section, leading to thinner paper stock that is orange, black and white only in coloring. Here is a cutaway view of Godzilla, which is technically modeled on the 1999 Godzilla. That leads into a few pages with bios on the mechs and military vehicles, English names not included here. After that is some pages devoted to the aliens, which oddly do have English names. Next up is a look at the islands showcased in the Godzilla movies, such as Infant Island or Faro Island. Worth noting that the Monster Land section here has some modern artwork with it. This shows things like Gorosaurus watching a herd of dinosaurs or multiple Mandas present. However, this is best thought of as just an artistic license and not trying to claim anything as canon, since one of the images shows both Minilla and Little Godzilla together for example. The book concludes with a credits section for the staff of the films and then two pages showing... the English title screens to the movies. This is a pretty cool addition, as some titles like "Godzilla on Monster Island", "Invasion of the Astro-Monsters" or "Ebirah Horror of the Deep" are probably ones that a lot of fans won't have seen before.
In closing, this is a really cool book. As noted, for the time it was an excellent resource, especially as the online presence for this information wasn't as robust as it is today. While it goes too heavily into black and white photos for my modern tastes, as noted some of the color images for the Heisei productions are at least rare. What really makes the book still stand out, though, is the "misc" section and the monster bios being a mainstay from start to finish. |
