Hobby Japan Godzilla Perfection/Completion Books thread

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ebirahsmeg1
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Re: GODZILLA'S HEROIC YEARS: 1969-1975 PERFECTION

Post by ebirahsmeg1 »

Due to my job, I wasn't able to make it up to Kinukuniya Book store in Shinjuku until Sunday evening. I'll post my thoughts later tomorrow or Tuesday, but from what I've scanned thus far, let's just say there might have to be some new admendments/adjustments to the usual spiel we have heard about the "Godzilla vs The Space Monsters/Revenge of King Ghidorah" unmade concepts over the years :wink: Some new, very interesting tidbits...
GIANT CONDOR!!!!!!!! :shock:

"Someone kick me, kick me hard! We're stupid." - Corn on the cob eatin' Hippie (Godzilla vs Gigan)

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Re: GODZILLA'S HEROIC YEARS: 1969-1975 PERFECTION

Post by FlawedCoil82 »

Godzilla 1995 wrote:Now that's a book cover.
They featured Mechagodzilla twice, but no Kumonga, Kamacuras, Mothra nor Rodan. That would have bothered me if it was an English book.
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Re: GODZILLA'S HEROIC YEARS: 1969-1975 PERFECTION

Post by Starsteam »

Tyler wrote:
FlawedCoil82 wrote:They featured Mechagodzilla twice, but no Kumonga, Kamacuras, Mothra nor Rodan. That would have bothered me if it was an English book.
Seeing as this is focusing on the last 6 Showa movies where those kaiju aren't prominently featured that shouldn't be an issue.
Plus, it's Mechagodzilla (1974) and Mechagodzilla 2 (1975). So they can get away with that. Those other monsters were entirely stock footage from pre-1969 films.

I actually don't consider All Monsters Attack as a Heroic-G film. Ichiro is shown being afraid of Godzilla, even though it's all a dream. Plus there was that stock-scene where Godzilla is destroying jets. It's more neutral to me, and fits well with the Ebirah-DAM section.

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Re: GODZILLA'S HEROIC YEARS: 1969-1975 PERFECTION

Post by miguelnuva »

Godzilla never attacked Japan once after GTTHM unless he was under mind control so to me the Hero years start once Ghidorah arrives. People being afraid of him makes sense because it wasn't intill Hedorah that Godzilla proved himself 100% the good guy.
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Re: GODZILLA'S HEROIC YEARS: 1969-1975 PERFECTION

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miguelnuva wrote:Godzilla never attacked Japan once after GTTHM unless he was under mind control so to me the Hero years start once Ghidorah arrives. People being afraid of him makes sense because it wasn't intill Hedorah that Godzilla proved himself 100% the good guy.
Godzilla wasn't under any mind control when he destroyed the Red Bamboo base. He wasn't exactly a hero character until the 70's, but GTTHM-AMA did have traces of it. I feel like the only reason AMA is included in this book as part of his heroic years is just because of the film's kid appeal, celebrating Godzilla's hero-like role model that was sat up with GTTHM-DAM, which eventually evolved into the hero of the 70's films.

Even in Godzilla vs Hedorah, there's a moment at the end after he destroys Hedorah where he quickly turns around and faces the human characters, which causes them to gasp. He then turns back and returns to the sea. And of course, no one was too surprised when Fake Godzilla started attacking. Not all of mankind trusted the monster.
So even in the 70's film, there were traces of Godzilla's previous villainy. Which is why the Showa era keeps a somewhat closed continuity to me.

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Re: GODZILLA'S HEROIC YEARS: 1969-1975 PERFECTION

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Starsteam wrote:
miguelnuva wrote:Godzilla never attacked Japan once after GTTHM unless he was under mind control so to me the Hero years start once Ghidorah arrives. People being afraid of him makes sense because it wasn't intill Hedorah that Godzilla proved himself 100% the good guy.
Godzilla wasn't under any mind control when he destroyed the Red Bamboo base. He wasn't exactly a hero character until the 70's, but GTTHM-AMA did have traces of it. I feel like the only reason AMA is included in this book as part of his heroic years is just because of the film's kid appeal, celebrating Godzilla's hero-like role model that was sat up with GTTHM-DAM, which eventually evolved into the hero of the 70's films.

Even in Godzilla vs Hedorah, there's a moment at the end after he destroys Hedorah where he quickly turns around and faces the human characters, which causes them to gasp. He then turns back and returns to the sea. And of course, no one was too surprised when Fake Godzilla started attacking. Not all of mankind trusted the monster.
So even in the 70's film, there were traces of Godzilla's previous villainy. Which is why the Showa era keeps a somewhat closed continuity to me.
Godzilla destroyed the terrorist red bamboo base who were clear cut villains. Also I believe I said it was the Hedorah fight that made, Godzilla the in universe hero. From Gigan onward the humans started begging for Godzilla but out of universe I'd say he goes good guy once Ghidorah comes on the scene.
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Re: GODZILLA'S HEROIC YEARS: 1969-1975 PERFECTION

Post by 20th Century Boy »

What about Space Amoeba? Why is it included? (Not that I'm complaining.)

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Re: GODZILLA'S HEROIC YEARS: 1969-1975 PERFECTION

Post by ebirahsmeg1 »

20th Century Boy wrote:What about Space Amoeba? Why is it included? (Not that I'm complaining.)
Because it was a part of the "Champion Film Festivals" that took place several times a year in Japan during this period.


Anyways, thanks to everyone for being patient. Work the past few weeks has been ridiculously insane. On to the quick review...


As already mentioned, this book is very good. In addition to tons of behind of the scenes stills, it focuses a lot on the "Champion" film festivals, something I've never really seen much information on. Apparently, there were Champion festivals for the spring/summer/fall/winter of each year throughout most of the 70s (1978 seems to be last year of the Champion Festivals). It has alot of publicity stills and interested Godzilla-related goods, color posters, and other Memorabilia associated with the films. To say Japanese kids who were Godzilla fans during this time period were extremely lucky and spoiled would be an understatement! As a child, I would have killed to see such cool items/memorablia for these films.

Here's a small page sample focusing on the 1971 Winter Champion Festival as well as some Godzilla manga from the time period:

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I also liked how this book interviewed past cast and crew members of these films.

The highlights include interviews with some of the more memorable actors/characters of this era of G films, such as Hiroshi Ishikawa (Gengo, the nerdy cartoon artist from GvsGigan, Mari Keiko and Tomoko Ai (both of whom have a little bit of MILF/GILF thing going for them, lol :lol:), and Hiroyuki Kawase (who played everyone's favorite annoying kid characters from GvsHedorah and again in GvsMegalon). The main actress from Y of: Space Amoeba is also interviewed.

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That is one of the things that puts "Champion Perfection" over the top of Heisei Perfection, as this book seems focused on the numerous different crew members and actors/actresses as a whole who contributed to this time period's films, while Heisei Perfection is mainly centered around one individual (unsurprisely).

In regards to the unmade projects, the book contains full scripts for Godzilla vs Redmoon / Godzilla vs the Space Monsters / Revenge of King Ghidorah / Giant Monsters Converge on Okinawa: Showdown in Zanpamisaki. "Meh, nothing new that already don't know" were my first thoughts. For example, Godzilla vs the Space Monsters (my personal favorite unmade project) had the usual synopsis involving Miko the alien Brain controlling KG/Gigan/Megalon as they square off against Godzilla/Anguirus/Maijun Tuol. I was initually disappointed in this section, as I hoped that some new, never before seen concept are would be present.

However, upon closer inspection of the Revenge of King Ghidorah script (which is basically nearly identical to what became the eventual GvsGigan), I saw this bombshell.

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For those of you who can't read the katakana, the script shows that Godzilla/Mothra/Anguirus battling King Ghidorah/Gigan/Megalon. :shock: Now, up until this book, I've already heard numerous times that Godzilla/Rodan/Varan vs KG/Gigan/Mogu (a new monster)...no where else had I read the above monster line up was considered for this film. In fact, as far as I can tell, this book makes zero mention of "Rodan/Varan/Mogu" in regards to Revenge of King Ghidorah. Very fascinating indeed. I have a feeling that these unused scripts contain alot of interest tidbits that are just waiting to be translating. Damn, do I need to work on my kanji skills quickly!

Overall, one of the better books released this year (and this year has seen a ton of great books). A must have for those into collecting G-related books....
GIANT CONDOR!!!!!!!! :shock:

"Someone kick me, kick me hard! We're stupid." - Corn on the cob eatin' Hippie (Godzilla vs Gigan)

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Re: GODZILLA'S HEROIC YEARS: 1969-1975 PERFECTION

Post by ebirahsmeg1 »

Not sure how this escaped my attention, but for anyone interested in learning about what exactly is the "Champion Festivals" are, here's a nice summary article from Anthony Romero:

http://www.tohokingdom.com/articles/art ... tival.html
GIANT CONDOR!!!!!!!! :shock:

"Someone kick me, kick me hard! We're stupid." - Corn on the cob eatin' Hippie (Godzilla vs Gigan)

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Re: GODZILLA'S HEROIC YEARS: 1969-1975 PERFECTION

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i like how MG is on the cover twice
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Re: GODZILLA'S HEROIC YEARS: 1969-1975 PERFECTION

Post by Godzillian »

Do you guys recommend this book? I got some birthday money and on the fence about it.
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Re: GODZILLA'S HEROIC YEARS: 1969-1975 PERFECTION

Post by ebirahsmeg1 »

Godzillian wrote:Do you guys recommend this book? I got some birthday money and on the fence about it.
Yes, especially if you're interested in this era of G films. It has many great behind the scenes stills along with promotional information/materials of the Champion Festivals...
GIANT CONDOR!!!!!!!! :shock:

"Someone kick me, kick me hard! We're stupid." - Corn on the cob eatin' Hippie (Godzilla vs Gigan)

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Re: "Heisei Godzilla Perfection" book coming soon (Feb 10)

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I haven't seen any topics about this, but I figured this would be a good place to bring it up. There's going to be a new series of books published by Hobby Japan, the same group that brought us the "Perfection" series. The first book, "Godzilla vs. Biollante Completion" is coming out 12/16.

http://wave.ap.teacup.com/hazawagumi/2513.html
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Re: "Heisei Godzilla Perfection" book coming soon (Feb 10)

Post by GigaBowserG »

Cool! Heisei Godzilla Perfection is full of concept artwork, love that kind of stuff. May pick up vs. Mothra or vs. SpaceGodzilla if they ever make volumes for those titles.
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Re: "Heisei Godzilla Perfection" book coming soon (Feb 10)

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Zeruel wrote:I haven't seen any topics about this, but I figured this would be a good place to bring it up. There's going to be a new series of books published by Hobby Japan, the same group that brought us the "Perfection" series. The first book, "Godzilla vs. Biollante Completion" is coming out 12/16.

http://wave.ap.teacup.com/hazawagumi/2513.html
GigaBowserG wrote:Cool! Heisei Godzilla Perfection is full of concept artwork, love that kind of stuff.
Me too. If I understand the Google Translate of that page, the team that put together the Godzilla Perfection book is now working for Hobby Japan. This new volume will be about 8x12" in size, 176 pages, and will be 4212 yen (i.e. around $50 shipped).

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Re: "Heisei Godzilla Perfection" book coming soon (Feb 10)

Post by ebirahsmeg1 »

Zeruel wrote: haven't seen any topics about this, but I figured this would be a good place to bring it up. There's going to be a new series of books published by Hobby Japan, the same group that brought us the "Perfection" series. The first book, "Godzilla vs. Biollante Completion" is coming out 12/16.

http://wave.ap.teacup.com/hazawagumi/2513.html

Image
Thanks for sharing this news here. As much as I like some of the IDW Godzilla comics, I really wish there was more discussion of other Godzilla books (especially some of the jaw dropping Japanese photo books) in this thread instead of just solely comics.

One thing that I really dig about this release is that GvsBiollante never really had a full blown quality book devoted to it (G85 had a well known film book released for it, and Shogakukan didn't start their amazing "Super Complete Works" book series until Godzilla vs King Ghidorah), so this fills somewhat of a void.

However, beyond Godzilla vs Biollante, I'm not sure what new ground they hope to break with this type of book series (as mentioned numerous times, the Shogakukan "Super Complete" books are wonderful and usually have almost every angle covered when it comes to Heisei/Millennium series and production/behind the scenes info, and the Heisei Perfection book covered the Heisei series already), plus at nearly 5000 ¥ ($50), these Japan Hobby books tend to be much more expensive than the "Super Complete Works" series by Shogakukan. But hey, any new Godzilla book is always welcomed.

Now if only Hobby Japan would just released a long overdue Pictorial Book of Godzilla Vol. 3....
GIANT CONDOR!!!!!!!! :shock:

"Someone kick me, kick me hard! We're stupid." - Corn on the cob eatin' Hippie (Godzilla vs Gigan)

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Re: "Heisei Godzilla Perfection" book coming soon (Feb 10)

Post by SUPERTOHOREMIX »

ebirahsmeg1 wrote:
Zeruel wrote: haven't seen any topics about this, but I figured this would be a good place to bring it up. There's going to be a new series of books published by Hobby Japan, the same group that brought us the "Perfection" series. The first book, "Godzilla vs. Biollante Completion" is coming out 12/16.

http://wave.ap.teacup.com/hazawagumi/2513.html

http://wave.ap.teacup.com/hazawagumi/img/1443413403.jpg
Thanks for sharing this news here. As much as I like some of the IDW Godzilla comics, I really wish there was more discussion of other Godzilla books (especially some of the jaw dropping Japanese photo books) in this thread instead of just solely comics.

One thing that I really dig about this release is that GvsBiollante never really had a full blown quality book devoted to it (G85 had a well known film book released for it, and Shogakukan didn't start their amazing "Super Complete Works" book series until Godzilla vs King Ghidorah), so this fills somewhat of a void.

However, beyond Godzilla vs Biollante, I'm not sure what new ground they hope to break with this type of book series (as mentioned numerous times, the Shogakukan "Super Complete" books are wonderful and usually have almost every angle covered when it comes to Heisei/Millennium series and production/behind the scenes info, and the Heisei Perfection book covered the Heisei series already), plus at nearly 5000 ¥ ($50), these Japan Hobby books tend to be much more expensive than the "Super Complete Works" series by Shogakukan. But hey, any new Godzilla book is always welcomed.

Now if only Hobby Japan would just released a long overdue Pictorial Book of Godzilla Vol. 3....



Oh! Thanks for that update. This is one book I am VERY interested in!

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Re: "Heisei Godzilla Perfection" book coming soon (Feb 10)

Post by G1985 »

ebirahsmeg1 wrote:One thing that I really dig about this release is that GvsBiollante never really had a full blown quality book devoted to it (G85 had a well known film book released for it, and Shogakukan didn't start their amazing "Super Complete Works" book series until Godzilla vs King Ghidorah), so this fills somewhat of a void....
In a similar vein, I'm a big fan of the Super Complete Works books also, but found the vs King Ghidorah entry lacking in content (specifically the all-angle suit photos), at least when compared to the rest. If there's a "Completion" entry for vs King Ghidorah that fixes this, I'll be happy.

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Re: "Heisei Godzilla Perfection" book coming soon (Feb 10)

Post by Zeruel »

Here are some features in "Godzilla vs. Biollante Completion" which are also listed in that promotional image:

-interviews with director Kazuki Ōmori, producer Shōgo Tomiyama, Masanobu Takashima (Shō Kuroki), Megumi Odaka (Miki Saegusa), and more
-the full Long Synopsis written by Ōmori, prior to the writing of the scenario
-a clearer look at the making of the film through never-before-seen photos and testimony

http://hobbyjapan.co.jp/books/book/b213001.html
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Re: "Heisei Godzilla Perfection" book coming soon (Feb 10)

Post by Zeruel »

Here's a picture of "Godzilla vs. Biollante Completion."

Image
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