Review |
| By: Nicholas Driscoll |
The late 1970s were a time of transition for Godzilla. The last Godzilla film, Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975), was released in 1975, and while the film brought back some big names in from the monster king’s past (including Ishiro Honda as director and Akira Ifukube providing the soundtrack), the film was a flop, capping an overall downward trend from the series and landing Godzilla’s movie career on ice until 1984. However, in the interim, Toho made several abortive attempts at restarting the franchise in one form or another. As the child-centric Godzilla from the early 1970s films had bottomed out, perhaps Toho felt free to move in new directions, and 1979 began with one of the most outlandish chapters of the kaiju king’s history—“A Space Godzilla,” a wildly original take wherein Godzilla is reimagined as an alien entity, with a story progression so bizarre it not only feels like the child of a fever dream… reading it might trigger psychedelic visions even without the use of drugs. That story, reportedly intended originally as a cinema production, was published as an illustrated short story in the Japanese version of Starlog magazine over two issues, in February and April of that year. Not long after, a pair of original Godzilla manga stories would follow in Monthly Shonen Magazine. These two tales would move Godzilla into a more conventional space but also recover something long missing—a feeling of fear, a Godzilla of genuine horror.
The first of these Godzilla shorts, and the one under discussion today, was published in the July issue to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the publication. Godzilla is also prominently featured on the cover, and a short, illustrated article early in the issue collects full-color reproductions of the Showa Godzilla cinematic posters. The manga itself stretches out across a hefty sixty pages and was written by Rei’ichi Numa, with art by Shin’ichi Ishi. Who these artists were, however, is not entirely clear to me. An internet search of Rei’ichi Numa does produce some results—someone with the same name wrote the story for the manga that would become Teacher Deer from 1978, an erotic film from Nikkatsu about an unorthodox female teacher making waves at a Japanese high school. He also seems to have worked on several other manga, including The Goofy Detectives of Kichijoji, Kaikan Suiri: Girl Annamisu Akirakoromo and a series of manga about a sexy secretary. Numa was never established enough to become particularly famous, so I am not 100% certain these other works are by the same individual, but I suspect it’s the same guy. If it is the same writer, however, it doesn’t seem like there is much crossover material given this manga chapter has little titillation. Meanwhile, Shin’ichi Ishi is even more mysterious, as the only manga I can easily find that were drawn by him are this one-shot and the follow-up released later that same year (which also appears to have been written by Ishi). Whoever these two were, though, they contributed an underrated, overlooked pair of chapters in Godzilla’s legacy that deserves more attention in the English-language fandom.
The story begins with junior high school wannabe photographer Koichi Okabe and his friends out on an excursion to the Ogasawara Archipelago, accompanying their student-teacher, Mr. Nemoto, a fourth-year attending a science-and-technology university. Nemoto is performing some kind of research surrounding a volcano in the Ogasawara area, but he lets Koichi, his girlfriend Sakurako, her kid brother Isamu, and Koichi’s buddy Shojiro tag along and goof off without much oversight. Soon, when Sakurako goes swimming alone near the coral reefs, however, she gets menaced by an enormous shark. Koichi and Shojiro attempt to help, but before they can manage to do anything, suddenly the shark is cleaved in half right before it has a chance to perform the same operation upon Sakurako. When Shojiro and Koichi dive in after Sakurako, they soon discover the shark-killer—Godzilla himself, who appears with half a shark torso in its mouth. The king of the monsters takes a predatory interest in the trio of teens, and it’s only Koichi’s quick thinking that saves their collective bacon: the camera-crazed kid realizes that Godzilla comes from deep underwater and likely can’t stand bright light, and so he uses his flashlight to disorient the monster long enough for them to escape.
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| Godzilla retaliating after the camera's flash |
The youngsters make it to shore and, nearly frightened to death, debate the nature of the thing which they encountered. When Nemoto arrives, they tell him of the monster, and he theorizes that the beast may have some relation to a reported nuclear submarine that exploded in the area some time previous and may have driven the creature from its resting place. When Nemoto and the kiddos head back home by ship, they imagine they are safe, but soon Godzilla appears, swimming along with the vessel. Much to their relief, Godzilla doesn’t attack them but is rather attracted to a nearby stretch of sea where the JSDF is practicing maneuvers.
The JSDF spot Godzilla on their equipment and initially identify him as a huge submarine or a school of fish. The king of the monsters disabuses them of their misapprehension, and a battle ensues, with the Big G making short work of the array of battleships and ordinance. The beast then marches on to Tokyo, where it menaces Nemoto and the children, bodily chasing them through the streets and smashing buildings in a predatory rage. I’m going to drastically foreshorten the story here, but as tragedies mount, and terror crescendos, Nemoto hatches a wildly dangerous plan called Operation Firefly to lure Godzilla to his death using super submarines piloted by Koichi, Shojiro, and Nemoto’s old classmate… but can they survive?
The most striking aspect of ’79 Godzilla: Tokyo Invasion is that the manga plays itself as straight up horror. We had not had such a strait-laced scary Godzilla since the original film, and even then, Godzilla never personally hunted humans (in the 54 novelization, he seems to be eating a woman at one point, however, and in the Godzilla Raids Again illustrated story version, Godzilla actively chases Shoichi into a crevice/cave). Here, Godzilla personally chases after Koichi and Sakurako and nearly kills them on purpose. The creature is depicted as an unstoppable, merciless creature of terror. When it first appears, it rips apart the terror of the seas—a great white shark, almost certainly a reference to Jaws, which had become a massive worldwide hit just several years previous, and would go on to be the cockeyed inspiration/instigation for Toho’s own House (1977). (Jaws remains a big property in Japan; you can buy delightful Jaws bath bombs that make the bath blood-red, and the Jaws ride remains in operation at Universal Studios Japan.) Shojiro loses loved ones to Godzilla’s rampage (his brother, his grandmother), adding a tragic helplessness to the scenario. The end, too, has Godzilla in vicious pursuit after the youngsters in their submersibles, and not everyone survives. The monster acts as a wicked, bloodthirsty, raging menace—and that ferociousness is reflected in the design as well.
This Godzilla is easily the scariest Godzilla to have yet appeared up until this point. Sometimes depicted with evil, blank eyes ala GMK, other times with fiendish beady eyes like ’54 Godzilla, the creature also possesses freak-out sharp teeth in a howling, gaping maw. Over and again darkness and shadow and effective use of camera angles highlight Godzilla’s devilish mien. While tame compared to more recent horror kaiju efforts like Creature by Shingo Honda or the more grounded Kaiju Self-Defense Force by Junya Inoue or the grotesque sexually charged mayhem in The Island of Giant Insects written by Yasutaka Fujimi, Tokyo Invasion still retains a surprising edge that is almost never seen in Godzilla manga (which often are far goofier than their cinematic counterparts). It certainly wasn’t the first horror-themed kaiju manga; famed horror mangaka Kazuo Umezu of The Drifting Clasroom fame had “Daikaiju Doragon” in 1966 and “Kaiju Gyou” in 1971, which have similar levels of peril. “Kaiju Gyou” also has more realistic art than the average 1970s manga, though it’s much different from Tokyo Invasion. Still, best I know at least, this was the first horror-themed Godzilla manga, despite some creepy moments in previous Godzilla film adaptations like Daiji Kazumine’s Godzilla vs. Hedorah.
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| Godzilla's white eye look |
Also of note, Tokyo Invasion presages The Return of Godzilla (1984) and that films lava-fueled finale, with the manga utilizing super submarines that lead Godzilla to an underwater volcano well before the cinematic version took his own magma plunge. Godzilla’s demise (?) in Tokyo Invasion is brought about by a missile barrage that triggers an eruption just as the monster king swims over the crater of the volcano. By contrast, Godzilla’s almost drunken stumble-fall into the volcano in The Return of Godzilla as he blindly follows the bird call is relatively bland; the manga has a perilous and terrifying chase before the explosive conclusion that the eventual film version also lacks. Note that in some of the 1954 Godzilla adaptations, Godzilla needed to be lured to the right depth for the Oxygen Destroyer to work properly, and the human characters used lights to do so—it’s possible Operation Firefly may have been inspired by those story tweaks.
The human cast is serviceable, given enough personality to push the story forward and allow for some level of personal drama. Shojiro is the most tragic character, suffering multiple losses in his family before he himself gives his life in the final moments of the underwater chase. Koichi and his girlfriend have basically no chemistry, but they do run and scream well as Godzilla bears down on them in the city and the underground shopping area. Nemoto is one of the few teacher characters to appear in Godzilla fare (not just another military man, scientist, or journalist), so I give props for that—but he doesn’t initially watch over his students very well. Sure, he may get his bad-a moments later and near-death action sequences, but he lets the kids do his death-defying final maneuvers for him. I can’t give him THAT much respect (alright, he was injured in the Godzilla attack from before and has his arm in a sling so he can’t drive a submersible, but still—sending kids?!?! We got Mr. Teacher-of-the-Year here!)
Another character I appreciate is Mr. Yamazaki, Nemoto’s former classmate, and a sort of punk who wants to be treated like a hero. Yamazaki is a diamond-in-the-rough type. He has a bruiser exterior, and his goals may seem a little less than ideal, but he genuinely cares for the youngsters and is willing to use his more developed talents at operating a submarine to protect them, even if it puts his own life in danger. He is kind of cool, actually.
A few comments about Shin’ichi Ishi’s artwork. My initial impression was that Ishi probably didn’t have a lot of experience drawing comics, possibly because I knew he didn’t have any long-running series. However, when I look closer at his work, I honestly think his art here is more than serviceable. His characters are diverse enough to be easily recognizable most of the time (though Koichi looks like a young Nemoto sometimes). Expressions tend to be somewhat similar (there is a lot of concern, terror, and fear throughout), but Ishi creates a strong sense of tension and mood through speed lines. Action sequences are a little awkward, with characters clumsily rendered when they are leaping away from danger in some shots. Still, for the most part, the panicked, generally realistic human characters are executed well, and background buildings, cars, and vehicles are rendered with solid, reliable detail. The super submarines, too, are a nice addition to the Godzilla world of fanciful technology—they look like something out of the 1980s Starcom line of toys, and I love to see it.
One other aspect of this manga worthy of note is the “Popular Kaiju Well-Informed Quiz,” a series of surprisingly varied and occasionally downright difficult monster quiz questions sketched out along the sides of many of the pages. These multi-choice questions don’t limit themselves to Toho films, but extend to Daiei, Toei, even P-Productions, etc. You can learn a surprising amount of tokusatsu lore just reading the monster quiz questions along the side—maybe we can include all the questions as a special feature for Toho Kingdom.
While Godzilla horror tales are surprisingly rare (in the West, Godzilla in Hell probably comes closest, or that very first Dark Horse one-shot), it’s great seeing this short tale and its sequel fill that void until The Horror of Godzilla from IDW comes along with a new chapter in the genre, and Kong got his with Kong: The Great War a few years back (come to think of it, Kong: Skull Island is the most horror-adjacent entry of the Monsterverse as well, with the novelization written by an established horror writer). Tokyo Invasion includes a healthy dose of scary monster mayhem with a workmanlike crew of scared heroes, decent and well-executed art, a wicked-scary Godzilla, and it may have served as some kind of inspiration for The Return of Godzilla. And this is just the beginning—the follow up manga one-shot from that same year features a plot point that anticipates Godzilla Minus One (2023) by over forty years. Tune in next time for more!
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| By: Anthony Romero |
Published during a transitional and somewhat uncertain period for the franchise, Godzilla: Tokyo Invasion stands as an interesting snapshot of where Toho was creatively in the late 1970s. Following the end of the Showa film series, the studio spent several years exploring ways to bring Godzilla back to relevance, with early revival attempts like King of Monsters: Resurrection of Godzilla dating back to 1977. This manga, written by Reiichi Numa with art by Shinichi Ishi, feels very much in line with those efforts. That's particularly true in its desire to reframe Godzilla as a destructive force rather than the heroic figure he had become in the later Showa years.
As for the story, although I'd recommend reading Nick's more detailed recap above, the plot follows junior high student Koichi Okabe and his friends, who encounter Godzilla during a trip to the Ogasawara Islands. After a narrow escape, they warn their teacher, who theorizes that Godzilla may have been awakened by a past nuclear incident. From there, the narrative escalates in familiar fashion: Godzilla attacks military forces, shrugs off their defenses and makes a destructive march toward Tokyo. As the devastation mounts, a last-ditch plan called Operation Firefly is devised to lure and destroy the monster, placing Koichi and his companions directly in harm's way.
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| Godzilla's introduction post munching on a great white shark |
Structurally, the plot is fairly straightforward, but it moves at a brisk pace and captures the escalating dread effectively. The human cast, while not deeply developed, serves its purpose. Each character is distinct enough to follow, even if their personalities are somewhat thin. Shojiro stands out the most, largely due to the personal losses he endures. By contrast, Koichi and his girlfriend are quite lacking, functioning more as reactive protagonists than emotionally engaging leads. To the manga's credit, though, their repeated brushes with danger do help maintain tension.
Now, while it's kind of a minor aspect, the influence of late-1970s pop culture is also hard to ignore in the story. The massive success of Jaws 2 in Japan, which was released in December of 1978 and would go on to become one of the top-grossing films of 1979, clearly left an impression. Like many creature features of the time, this manga goes so far as to stage an early sequence where Godzilla kills a great white shark, echoing tactics seen in movie like Orca. It's a moment that feels very much of its era.
Visually, Shinichi Ishi's artwork is mixed but often compelling. There are moments of impressive detail, particularly in scenes of destruction such as a wrecked jet downed by Godzilla or the creature's overall rampage through Tokyo. These panels give the manga a nice sense of scale. The human characters, on the other hand, are rendered more simply, though they remain visually distinct enough to avoid confusion within the large cast.
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| Godzilla on a rampage |
Godzilla himself is one of the manga's strongest elements. His design is a bit unique although of all the movie incarnations it does most closely resemble the 1954 version, reinforcing the return to a more menacing portrayal. One especially effective stylistic choice is the treatment of his eyes: at times they appear fully white, creating an eerie, almost lifeless stare that heightens the horror. This visual motif becomes more pronounced as the destruction intensifies, culminating in a version of Godzilla that feels genuinely threatening.
In the end, Godzilla: Tokyo Invasion is not without its flaws. The human drama could be more engaging and the relationships feel underdeveloped. Yet, as a piece of franchise history, it's a fascinating and enjoyable read. It captures a moment when Toho was actively trying to rediscover what made Godzilla compelling in the first place, experimenting with darker tones and a return to the monster's roots as a force of destruction. Viewed in that context, the manga almost feels like a precursor to The Return of Godzilla (1984). It shares that same ambition of reintroducing Godzilla as a serious threat, aligning neatly with the studio's broader efforts between 1977 and 1983 to reboot the character. While not a definitive take, it's an intriguing stepping stone. For fans interested in that transitional era, well worth a look.
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| By: Sean O'Leary |
Most Godzilla fans know that the Godzilla film series entered a hibernation between 1975’s Terror of Mechagodzilla and 1984’s The Return of Godzilla. What is less discussed is that there were ongoing plans to continue the series or remake the original film during this period. While these efforts ultimately fell through, that did not mean Godzilla was completely dead. Thanks to the efforts of another dedicated fan, I was able to read a manga that I didn’t even know existed up until recently: 79’ Godzilla: Tokyo Invasion! Released in 1979, written by Reichi Numa, and with illustrations by Shinichi Ishii and Katsufumi Kouhara, 79’ Godzilla: Tokyo Invasion depicts an attack on Tokyo by Godzilla during the titular year of 1979 and leans into returning Godzilla to its horror routes. Reading it gave me further insight into the time it was released in and makes me wonder what could have been if there were more Godzilla films released between 1975 and 1984.
One thing that surprised me about 79’ Godzilla: Tokyo Invasionis how original the story is. Going into the manga I thought this would be a loose remake of 1954, or a “rough draft” of the 1984 film. While it is clearly inspired by the 1954 film—and it would not surprise me to find out that the 1984 film was inspired by it—it still reads as a standalone adventure with its own ideas, cast, and ending. There’s no Oxygen Destroyer, Super X, Dr. Serizawa, or Goro Maki. Godzilla’s reign of terror is ended in a somewhat unique way, and while not some lost treasure, the comic is an enjoyable entry in Godzilla’s historied cannon.
If we view this comic as a “movie”, there’s three distinct acts; an early encounter with Godzilla and the monster making its way towards mainland Japan. Then, Godzilla’s rampage in Tokyo. Finally it wraps up with the subsequent strategy to dispatch him. It’s a structure that the original 1954 film created and that subsequent films The Return of Godzilla (1984) and Godzilla Minus One (2023) roughly follow.
For a comic like this, the cast is quite large, albeit a little generic. They’re not bad at all, but are fairly standard shonen protagonists; Mr. Nemoto is a heroic scientist who devises the ultimate plan to thwart Godzilla. Kouichi Okabe, a clear self-insert for the target readers, is a junior high school student who is quick to act. Then there’s Sakurako, a teenage girl which the comic loves to put in skimpy outfits, and Isamu, her younger scrappy brother and side kick. Rounding out the cast is Shojiro, another boy who unfortunately will suffer the most at the hands of Godzilla. While they do have a little bit of characterization, there’s nothing really shocking or unique about them with the exception of their bravery in confronting Godzilla at certain points. Another minor complaint I have is Mr. Nemoto and Kouichi having very similar hairstyles leading to occasional confusion to double check if they are the same character. It’s also a bit questionable why the students are hanging out so much with Mr. Nemoto outside of school, but that’s a bit of 1970’s manga logic that we’ll just have to handwave away—for now. Still, the cast functions ell in the story they are in and move things along nicely.
At sixty pages long, the story is told at a frenetic pace, but still leaves time for the characters to think and react to the events that unfold in front of them. It’s a complete story, and doesn’t feel rushed like some other Godzilla comics and adaptations which take considerable liberty at slashing down their source material and rushing towards a climax.
Art wise, it’s serviceable. There’s not a lot of detail, and it’s mostly simplistic, making it feel very by the numbers. However, despite lacking in detail, the illustrators clearly had a lot of fun with making Godzilla feel very animated as he often roars and responds to everything going on around him. Likewise, the main cast is suitably filled with expression and react appropriately to what is going on. Where the comic shines through is its use of light and darkness, often making Godzilla appear as a giant horrific specter looming in the background, right before invading the foreground.
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| Godzilla stalking in the city |
The comic opens with a scene introducing the cast while relaxing on an extracurricular trip on one of the Ogasawara islands. Mr. Nemoto is apparently researching nearby undersea volcanoes and leaves the children completely unattended. During this, Sakurako decides to take a swim in the ocean. Suddenly a monster appears! Surprisingly, the first monster we see isn’t Godzilla, it’s actually a rather mean looking shark.
To indulge for a moment, I found the shark a remarkable inclusion due to the a certain famous shak movie released just a few years prior. Directed by Steven Spielberg, Jaws was released in June of 1975 and was a hit around the world. While I don’t like making assumptions of media directly copying, or being inspired, other popular things at the time, I can’t help but think that this a direct result of Jaw’s popularity. Perhaps prophetically, this also falls in line of a common occurrence in much of the later Heisei-era films; aping popular American science fiction and fantasy films. In many ways it also feels like a challenge to the world: Jaws is popular, but Godzilla is still the king of the monsters. In some ways, this can be seen as in bad taste, like Gamera knocking over the “Dodzilla” poster in Gamera the Super Monster, but in 2026 I can’t help feel this is more earned. Jaw’s is Spielberg’s masterpiece, a film I love, but it’s obvious that Godzilla is the more enduring character. There are also shades of other classic films here, such as in Rodan (1956) where a basic monster is a prelude for a more powerful main threat. In any case it’s an exciting first scene.
To Sakurako’s shock, the shark erupts into an explosion of gore. Shockingly, Godzilla is the culprit behind the carnage. Godzilla grabs Sakurako, and before she is killed Kouichi rushes in to save the day. Using quick thinking he temporary disorients Godzilla by exploiting its weakness which will become much more relevant later—light. In this comic, Godzilla seems to not like light and it is used to both disorient and lure Godzilla towards things. Other entries such as Godzilla Raids Again (1955) have flited with this concept, but never to this explicit of a degree. Sakurako escapes to the safety of the beach, while Godzilla seems to just chill in the ocean, presumably getting ready for his trip to Tokyo.
This certainly is one of the more unique first appearances of Godzilla. Like Godzilla Minus One (2023) would later do, it occurs very early in the narrative and sets the tone for the rest of the comic. The way that the shark explodes with blood signals to the reader that the comic will be a little darker than some of the more recent child geared Godzilla films. It’s a tense moment, and although the reader might assume Sakurako survive, a lot of sleazier Japanese media at the time—such as Toei production Legend of Dinosaurs and Monster Birds (1977)—wouldn’t flinch at her meeting the same fate as the shark.
If we view this encounter with Godzilla as we do a set piece in a film it’s a rather fun one. A character has an up-close and personal encounter with Godzilla, and escapes due to exploiting a weakness of the monster that will later become relevant again the climax. It’s unique and we rarely, if ever, see Godzilla interact with humans on this scale.
Following this, there’s a bunch of pages that serve as a transition to Godzilla hitting mainland Japan. There’s a lot of discussion and debate with the cast and the military about the threat of Godzilla. Like the 1984 film, it’s a bit unclear whether Godzilla has appeared before in the past based on different reactions from the cast. For example, Sakurako will later compare Godzilla to an Iguanodon, while Nemoto seems to already know about it as Godzilla. It’s possible that this is a complete reboot of continuity, a sequel to the 1954, or even just a continuation of the Showa series where Godzilla has once again turned bad. Like subsequent sequels made in the Heisei and Millennium eras there’s a lot of flexibility in regards to the degree in which this takes place in other film’s cannon timelines, if at all.
Anyways, Godzilla makes his way towards Tokyo, destroying the military and other ships in the process. On one of my favorite pages, Godzilla grabs the side of a ship, shakes it down, and capsizes it, all while staring down the terrified captain. While Godzilla has always sunk ships, it’s mainly been portrayed offscreen or through use of his beam. It’s fascinating seeing Godzilla doing something here that he wouldn’t do until Godzilla Minus One (2023). Likewise, I enjoy how seemingly personal Godzilla makes his destruction through what appears to be direct eye contact with the captain. It turns an otherwise goofy Godzilla design into a rather uncanny and intimidating one.
It’s also during this sequence that Shojiro’s unfortunate luck begins: his brother is presumably killed on one of the ships destroyed by Godzilla. It gives the characters motivation to despise Godzilla and makes the preceding destruction feel a bit less random.
To the shock of the characters but not the readers, Godzilla appears in Tokyo, specifically Kawasaki. Godzilla’s rampage in the city is devastating. It’s easily the darkest monster rampage since the original 1954 film, and reaffirms Godzilla’s status as a horrific and powerful creature. One of the pages depicts silhouettes of people, possibly already dead, burned to death by Godzilla’s beam and its aftermath. While not as explicit, it’s reminiscent of the bodies in Barefoot Gen, which was serialized in the 1970’s, and other depictions of nuclear bombing. Many of the other Godzilla films, understandably, have seemed hesitant to depict more realistic imagery like this. Directly following this, the characters run to Shojiro’s grandmother’s house. Shojio, who lost his brother and evidently doesn’t have parents, recoils tragically as his grandmother’s house is immediately blasted apart by Godzilla’s beam. It heavily implies the unseen grandmother is dead, and the characters only have a brief moment to reflect on the tragedy before fleeing from Godzilla.
This is where most of the tension of the second act is created: the cast is directly fighting for survival, narrowly escaping Godzilla who is rampaging in the background. One of my favorite panels in the comic is where Godzilla is drawn solely as a silhouette, with the trio fleeing in the foreground. It’s something that I hope future films would try to emulate. Things take a turn for the worse in the next panel when Godzilla notices them and begins to directly chase them. Like the opening with Godzilla and Sakurako in the ocean, there’s a fun level of interactivity and engagement between the cast and Godzilla shown. Future films, such as GODZILLA (1998) and Godzilla Minus One (2023) would attempt this with varying levels of success. All of the small character moments give a little more oomph to what would be an otherwise uneventful rampage sequence that goes mostly uninterrupted.
The final page of the dreaded rampage is interesting however. Godzilla, with no pupils, destroys a building behind with his tail, while a downed fighter jet sits broken in the foreground. The image isn’t remarkable for its composition but rather the size of the building. It towers over Godzilla. There’s a weird divide with Godzilla’s relation to building size between the Showa era films and the ones of the subsequent Heisei era. In the early Showa series Godzilla towers over most manmade structures with notable exceptions such as Nagoya Tower in Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964). During the starting in the 1960s, but becoming vey pronounced in the 1970’s, Tokyo underwent an incredible transformation with skyscrapers and standard buildings becoming far taller, making the once gigantic Godzilla seem smaller by comparison. The Return of Godzilla (1984) and Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991) would showcase this disparity in size quite well, wherein an upsized Godzilla still seems tiny compared to the height of the towers in downtown Tokyo. It’s interesting to note this comic as one of the first pieces of Godzilla media to portray this rapid change. I’ll elaborate on this later, but this page makes this comic as an interesting time capsule representative of both the dramatic transition of the first and second Godzilla continuities and Japanese society.
Moving on, Godzilla’s rampage is followed by a brief lull in action before a plan is concocted to defeat the monster. The climax involves Godzilla being lured near a giant underwater volcano by a small fleet of miniature submarines before missiles are used to trigger an eruption and trap Godzilla inside. It’s called Operation Firefly, which is cute, although it’s a bit odd how the teenage boys and not adults are sent into battle. While it makes sense from an emotional standpoint that Shojiro would volunteer, it’s still a bit strange. While the plan is successful, there are heavy casualties with Koichi being the sole survivor. In a moment reminiscent of Godzilla Raids Again (1955), Shojiro unfortunately is killed just as a bold sacrifice is made.
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| Discussing the plan to deal with Godzilla |
I do have one complaint about the climax however; Nemoto, who doesn’t participate directly in the climax, seems to admonish the boys before sending them to their death. Of course he doesn’t know this, but he lectures them about how actually, it’s humanity’s fault for creating Godzilla with nuclear weapons. It’s only a single line, and feels out of place as the rest of the comic doesn’t seem particularly interested in addressing Godzilla’s nuclear origins outside of some basic subtext.
As I’ve also alluded to, the comic seems to be confused in regards to everyone’s ages and has no issue with sending middle schoolers to a murky grave. I don’t have any ethical issue with this in fiction and it’s amusing seeing something beat Neon Genesis Evangelion to the punch, but it simply feels like a mistake. For example, Shojiro has zero issue driving a car, despite apparently being an eighth grader. I suspect that originally, Nemoto was intended to be a more stock professor, and that Koichi, Shojiro, and Sakurako, were intended to be his college aged students. Even just having them in highschool would make more sense. At some point this changed, presumably to allow younger readers to insert themselves into the story, but its nonsensical and unnecessary; Isamu, Sakurako’s younger brother is already there. It doesn’t ruin the comic, and again, I have no moral issue with this, it’s just very strange and seems like an error.
Returning to the positives, the climax is a good one. At the time this must have felt like a very unique scenario. In fact, while reading it I had to remind myself that this predated the 1984 film and as a result the idea of Godzilla falling into a volcano was a very original one. It also circles back nicely to the opening of the comic with Godzilla being underwater and ties into many other aspects of the story. Nemoto is already established to have research and expertise on undersea volcanoes. As established, the characters also have a lot of personal stakes in defeating Godzilla and have suffered greatly at Godzilla’s hands. It makes the whole situation feel better handled and more involved than the somewhat sudden climax of The Return of Godzilla (1984). Likewise, it avoids a lot of the older film’s tendencies to have the characters monitor the monsters from a safe distance, unscathed.
Godzilla is defeated and there’s a sense of peace. However, the damage that Godzilla has wrought has not been magically undone. It took a lot of sacrifice and perseverance. This ending and the comic in its entirety, reminded me a lot of Toho’s films around the same time and explains why this comic is so intriguing to me.
I have been long fascinated by Toho Studio’s output during the 1970’s, especially once the Godzilla series went on hiatus. When I was younger, I had a mistaken belief that Toho solely existed as the “Godzilla company” and did not output any more films during that era. To me, for the longest time, Toho Studios shuttered in 1975 and only reopened in 1984. I was wrong, and instead during this era there was a pivot towards disaster and epic science fiction films. Notable examples include: Submersion of Japan (1973), ESPY (1974), Prophecies of Nostradamus (1974), The War in Space (1977), The Blue Stigma (1978), Magnitude 7.9 (1980), Bye-Bye Jupiter (1984). As The Return of Godzilla (1984) would actually reuse footage from some of the aforementioned films its definitely relevant to discuss them in reference to their role within the Godzilla franchise.
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| Underwater battle |
These films tend to be far darker in both tone and content then the Godzilla films of the 1960s, often portraying onscreen death and violence in ways that many Godzilla films tended to avoid. Likewise, the tone of the majority of these films are downright apocalyptic, showcasing the end of not just Tokyo or contemporary Japanese society but the world. Of course, there are shades of this darkness in Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975), which zeroes in on the tragedy of a scientist selling the humanity of his daughter for vengeance, and contains a long special effect showcase of Tokyo being obliterated by Titanosaurus and Mechagodzilla. But in the end, Godzilla still triumphantly blows apart his mechanical doppelganger and the film’s alien’s invasion is foiled. It’s a shock watching The Return of Godzilla (1984) after marathoning the Godzilla films of the 1970’s if you don’t look at Toho’s entire filmography of the time.
As an aside, I’d like to point out another “feature” of the comic: little trivia sections on the sides of the page. On many of the pages, outside of the panels, there are little quiz questions. Like other comics and Godzilla ancillary media during the era, it feels very inclusive of monsters and the wider Toho cannon. In addition to standard questions about King Ghidorah, there’s also questions about Dogora, Spectreman, and even Fireman! I’m of the opinion that the Heisei series somewhat sanitized Godzilla’s monster roster by parsing down and tending to avoid using or referencing the more obscure monsters. And therefore, despite the story only featuring Godzilla, the comic feels connected to what came before and not ashamed of Toho’s wider cannon.
Returning to the main subject at hand, this why 79’ Godzilla: Tokyo Invasion is so interesting to me: it’s a missing link, somewhat showing and smoothing more of the transition between the Showa and Heisei Godzilla series. Like most of the films from the 1970s, children and youth culture still play a significant role in the story. Godzilla’s design is also very clearly in line with the suits of the 1970’s featuring an upright posture, long arms, and giant eyes. However, the Tokyo that Godzilla rampages in and the tone of the comic is more akin to that of the 1984 film. Like the films of the 1970’s, there’s the same newfound focus on submersibles and what newfound scientific discoveries—and horrors!—could be found. Like Submersion of Japan there’s minor melodrama and focus on the relationship between Koichi and Sakurako. Like the ending of Magnitude 7.9 where the sun rises after a devastatingly horrific night, Koichi reflects on his adventure as the sun rises over the former battleground.
79’ Godzilla: Tokyo Invasion is a great Godzilla comic that is an easy and fun read. The only issue is that some of the comic may seem redundant and or unoriginal due to anachronistic comparisons to films that came later. However, this is not the fault of the comic and it’s interesting to wonder what it may have inspired later. It provides great context for the Godzilla franchise in the late 1970’s and is fascinating to compare to both the media that directly preceded and followed it. I hope that Toho someday reprints these, both in the original Japanese language and in English officially so everyone can enjoy. |
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