Wario's in depth look at: Late Showa Godzilla

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ItsameWario48
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Ya know, the Showa era of Godzilla is actually a good example of evolution of a series throughout a set timeline. It started out as a strong metaphor, but gradually shifted over to a hero the citizens of japan could rely on. Not only on the silver screen, but in real life. He was a leader, a warrior. And while not showing much seriousness, he showed promise. He showed kids there was nothing to fear. Face your fears head on, in a sense. He was a moral hero to those who needed him. His infamous victory dance was even a common motion in japan. The filmmakers added in something to show audiences Godzilla was all too human to be evil. The later series of Godzilla films were a lot better in terms of filmmaking in general, but they portrayed him in a darker sense. Both showing the evils that can come out of a god abusing powers. Entirely new beings were made solely to stop his reign of terror. Truly an evil force, no doubt. He was brought back as a hero, but in a much more aggressive sense. 2014 Godzilla is the best example, holding back none as he decapitates, impales, and viciously mauls enemies. He was shown as a truly relentless god, but one to make sure never to mess with. Is he a hero? Yes. But never like he would be in Showa. He was a humanely peaceful hero early on. But he showed his true inborn nature with early Showa, Heisei and Millennium. He was a fighter, not a lover. But the lover Godzilla struck a chord with Japanese audiences. I mean, who wouldn't? He saved the day in the most lovable and goofy of ways. Flying dropkicks, flying, jumping on enemies, he was a cartoon character. And children love to see that. Godzilla nowadays is a metaphor for an angel. He can be good, or a fallen angel. He is destructive, brutal, and relentless, but he's more so now like our best friend when he's good. He'll knock off the bullies at no remorse. He wants us safe and happy. But when he's evil, he's the bully. He'll be relentless in what he does, he'll think best for himself, and he'll almost never be stopped. He has fire in his eye always. But it's up to what happens later that determines if it's a flame of hate or a flame of protection. He's a big kid at heart, too. Sometimes, he means no harm. Sometimes his actions are taken all wrong. Mothra vs Godzilla, for example. He meant to hurt no one, but an unfortunate series of mistakes had him tripping, toppling, and bumping into buildings, killing people. He can be taken all wrong. This is all a good example of why the 1998 Godzilla was so bad in it's delivery. It tried to be too much with too little to use. It was shown that Zilla was evil, but then only that way because she was pregnant. It was never established early on there was reasoning to her being so aggressive. She was just bad for the sake of being bad. Never had we been explained why we were being attacked. Zilla showed up and started killing. With Godzilla, we were told early that Godzilla was pissed off at our use of atomic bombs, mutating him into a beast. Being attacked, being threatened of food by fishermen, being claimed as a demon of sorts. He had reasoning to attack us. We did him very, very wrong. Zilla attacked us out of the blue. She was never given any buildup or suspense to it. We were never told why. She was just evil so we had something to root against. Not to mention, we killed Godzilla with means of only the most aggressive and noble of ways. Killing him off by cutting off all oxygen around him, destroying his cells and completely bombing him. Not to mention, the creator of the bomb went down with him. A humble way of going down, to save an entire country. Zilla was killed with rockets, and no one died as a result but her. She wasn't a force of nature, she was a villain that we could all hate and boo at. The problem was, we were, but for the wrong reasons. Nothing can truly beat what made Showa Godzilla so great. But we can improve on the concept. That is what Heisei and Millennium did for it. It made the monster we loved so great. They turned him from a force of nature, to something kids could love, to then a perfect blend.
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