Mothra is arguably one of the more bizarre of the Godzilla monster canon, not just because she is a giant moth (an insect not exactly known for its destructive powers outside of a nasty taste for clothing), but also due to the twin fairy priestesses, singing her songs and speaking in tandem. Perhaps it is no surprise, then, that the ever whimsical Mothra mythos spawned one of the more bizarre manga adaptations in the form of Tondemo Tonde Mosura. Tondemo Tonde Mothra is a title wrapped in puns, and apparently can mean something along the lines of Outrageous Flying Mothra—but “outrageous” kind of encapsulates the reading experience. Imagine if you will a tamer version of a Mad Magazine parody adaptation of some movie property—that was officially licensed and written for kids—and you begin to get an idea of just what kind of madness this manga is. Written and drawn by Hirakazu Hikawa to be published alongside the releases of the Mothra Trilogy of films, TTM was published in the long-running Shougaku Sannensei magazine, where Hikawa also did the Gao Gao! Ore Gojiraseries (which translates to Skreonk Skreonk! Me Godzilla in English). Unlike Gao Gao, however, Tondemo Tonde Mothra was released in collected format, which makes it much easier for collectors to obtain the full series—and boy is it ever insane!
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| Desghidorah tries snowboarding atop a Mothra Larva--I would pay such good money to see this in a movie. |
The contents of the collected version include both comics and additional materials. Along with the mad, mad, mad, mad manga, there are also Mothra-related kiddie games like mazes and the like, as well as rundowns of the three films illustrated with captioned screen captures. But the main attraction no doubt is the comics themselves, which come in a couple different flavors.
The largest portion of the book consists of three extremely loose humorous adaptations of the films, though perhaps re-imaginings is a better word for it. Each of the 1990s Mothra films receives one of these re-imaginings spread over a series of chapters capturing some misadventures of Mothra Leo going up against one of his antagonists from the films, but the stories take some huge narrative detours away from the source material...
Mothra himself is now not much bigger than a human, and can talk, and is a lazy, silly, gluttonous buffoon. The other monsters are similarly sized and similarly anthropomorphized. Mothra inevitably teams up with some random Japanese kid (usually the kids from the movies), and they have lots of insane, humorous adventures packed with crazy jokes (Armor Mothra’s armor is too heavy for him to wear for long, Mothra changes into a flower to hide from dinosaurs, Grand King Ghidorah puts on boxing gloves and boxes Mothra inside his cocoon, and much, much more).
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| The Twin Fairies protest that the cartoonist can't just freely create stuff like Mecha Mothra in this short comic. |
The extent to which the stories diverge from the source material is extreme, including an entire episode about Mothra losing his memory, and another wherein Mothra visits an amusement park and becomes a featured ride there. Visual gags abound, especially around the cocoon and Mothra’s ability to vomit silk, which he uses in increasingly off-the-wall ways, such as spinning cotton candy, as well as numerous Mothra “modes” that take concepts like Armor Mothra or Rainbow Mothra and dive deep into self-parody, such as Naked Mothra. For me, I found these stories pretty charming because of their bombast and gung-ho humor—it’s the kind of thing I used to do when I was a kid, drawing endless gag comics featuring Toho and Daiei monsters in ludicrous situations not far removed from the silliness here.
To add to the overall confusion, for some reason the publishers decided to organize the book so that the adaptation of Rebirth of Mothra III (1998) comes first in the book, then Rebirth of Mothra II (1997), then Rebirth of Mothra (1996). Presumably this was done so that prospective buyers would see the newest movie first upon opening the book I guess, but given that the reimagined stories herein barely follow the movies anyway, reading them out of order does not greatly impact comprehension.
Along with the somewhat more narrative-focused chapters, each movie also has a set of simple four-panel gag comics, which, given that they are completely removed from the film narrative (even moreso than the main comics), are even freer to introduce even crazier scenarios, such as a samurai setting or a gag about bees living inside Mothra’s eyes—though my favorite bit might be an appearance of Mecha-Mothra. Most of the gag comics are not very funny frankly, but they are somewhat amusing, with very lively art, and the entire book is great fun to read.
Ultimately, Tondemo Tonde Mothra is a curiosity, something completely unexpected but also completely fun. What’s more, the style of parodic film adaptation is absolutely nothing new in the Godzilla world of manga, and stretches back even to the first film, with humorous touches and digressions permeating even the adaptations of the original Godzilla (1954), such as in the work of Shigeru Sugiura or Shigeru Fujita (for example, Fujita’s adaptation of the original film features a bizarre panel in which a Catholic priest gives last rites to Godzilla as he dies from the effects of the Oxygen Destroyer. I adore the gut-busting antics and shamelessly stupid humor of Hikawa’s work here, and rather wish more of this kind of material might be allowed in the west beyond, say, the intensely odd Godzilla vs. Barkley, or the surreal Godzilla’s Day by comic book legend Ed Brubaker. Maybe someday we will see more comics like these, but in the meantime, digging up the gems of the past and sharing them with the audiences of today will have to suffice! |
