Godzilla 1: Kaijuu Wakusei (Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters)

Twenty thousand years after the fall of humanity, Earth succumbed to legions of ravenous creatures who now freely roam the planet. Far away in the depths of space, the last surviving members of humanity float aimlessly in the same ship they escaped Earth with so many years ago. With the spacecraft running dangerously low on resources, the survivors' leading council must decide on their path forward: should they continue to gamble on finding another Earth-like planet to inhabit, or take to heart an anonymous essay theorizing what may be the only weakness of the "Godzilla," who forced the last remnants of humanity off their home world?

The author of the controversial essay is Haruo Sakaki, a man who witnessed the death of his parents to Godzilla at a young age, which has led him to harbor an obsessive hatred for the monster. Now, he spearheads the operation aimed at reclaiming humanity's birthright from the king of monsters and slaying him once and for all. But, alongside humanity, Earth has undergone drastic change since their departure; Godzilla and its numerous spawns may pale in comparison to the darkness lurking within the hearts of this close-knit community of survivors.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Adaptation:	Godzilla: Kaijuu Wakusei
Sequel:	Godzilla 2: Kessen Kidou Zoushoku Toshi

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Characters & Voice Actors

Sakaki, Haruo

Main

Miyano, Mamoru
Japanese

Godzilla

Supporting

Metphies

Supporting

Sakurai, Takahiro
Japanese

Miana

Supporting

Ozawa, Ari
Japanese

Tani, Yuuko

Supporting

Hanazawa, Kana
Japanese

Mechagodzilla

Supporting

Bindewald, Adam

Supporting

Kaji, Yuuki
Japanese

Lazzari, Martin

Supporting

Sugita, Tomokazu
Japanese

Galu-Gu, Mulu-Elu

Supporting

Suwabe, Junichi
Japanese

Leland, Eliott

Supporting

Ono, Daisuke
Japanese

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Yoshizawa, Takashi

Producer

Seshita, Hiroyuki

Director

Shizuno, Koubun

Director

Motoyama, Satoshi

Sound Director

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Ending Theme

"WHITE OUT" by XAI

Reviews

Jan 5, 2024

JazRejalde

Recommended

Let's skip the synopsis. The Godzilla franchise has been one of the most popular and successful Tokusatsu franchise in the world, starting from the 1954 film, which has proven to be a hit by the Japanese audience. While it has experienced falls, it is still growing strong today, with Hollywood stepping their feet into the franchise with the success of Godzilla 2014, and the masssive box office hit of the very recent Godzilla Minus One. Few years past, Netflix have also tried to enter their feet into this massive franchise... But it seems it is proven to be difficult.

STORY
Story is pretty straightforward, it is ... exactly what you would expect in a monster anime. I am enthusiastic for science fiction, so i appreciate the inclusion of sci-fi elements in the movie. The exposition however is a slow, taking up about half of the film's length before the rising action. This in turn caused the film to feel somewhat "lacking" in content, but do be mindful that this is an introductory film for the planned trilogy.

CHARACTERS
The film seems to have a lot of attention to our quick-tempered protagonist Haruo Sakaki. The film did a good job introducing important characters, but less so when it comes to developing those who "seemed" important. It's not to say that I do not care for them, but you can only do so much when half of the film took its time explaining the backstory and setting of the whole 1hr length film.

If you're new to anime, you might find the character designs odd. But if you've been watching sci-fi animes for quite some time, you'd understand that the character designs are pretty decent. Not to say that they're bad, they do have a clear distinction between the 3 species, such as their body-types, culture and clothing, but it could've been better.

Considering this is a "sci-fi" anime, there are also mechanical designs in the film. They did not appear as much in the film as i'd like them to be, but they're all pretty neatly designed, without coming off as "generic" or "brutalistic".

And for our titular monster, Godzilla. I love the rugged, muscular shape of the kaiju. It is different, yet gives off a familiar aura. Although at times, he may come off as a bit lanky, such as the lax expression he always gives whenever he appears on screen, making it "less" thrilling.

ANIMATION
The animation of this film seems to get the most criticism, I'd say they're half-right. Again, Godzilla tend to have a very "lax" behavior throughout the course of the film, making it seem like he's not that big of a threat. There's also those weird scenes with environments made in 2D over a 3D background, although not a lot throughout the course of the film. Aside from that, the animation is very expressive and dynamic in a way that comes out as "natural", rather than being lanky, and the action scenes revolving the mechas are pleasing to watch.

MUSIC
The music in the film isn't the most exceptional, but they do stand out in the scene they're placed on. It has a composition that resonates with the themes of science fiction and Godzilla kaiju films, which makes it feel natural.

OVERALL
Simple and straightforward. That's how I can describe this film. Although it's not the most deepest and the most complex Godzilla film out there, it still had its deep moments, and an enjoyable experience. Despite all its flaws, I'd say you should give the film or the trilogy a chance, even if this particular film does not appeal to you. Who knows maybe you might find the next one great!

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Feb 25, 2021

DanTheMan2150AD

Mixed Feelings

"He is the punishing iron hammer for the arrogant. For the species who pronounce themselves as lords of creation, a divine avenger will pay them a visit. And so, he will..."

So, after 63 years we finally got a full animated Godzilla film. Was it worth the wait? Ehhhhh. It's hard to judge the entire story to this one based solely on this film alone since it is part of a trilogy and therefore incomplete. However, as a film on it's own its nothing terrible but it's nothing amazing either.

In the last summer of the 20th century, giant monsters began plaguing Earth and humanity is driven ...

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Jan 28, 2023

Chrismas95

Not Recommended

Coming off watching select Godzilla films from the first 1954 one to Shin Godzilla, I was very interested in Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters. The plot is very unique; it’s a far step from the tried-and-true formula that Godzilla movies tend to follow. Despite this, Planet of the Monsters ended up being duller than the Japanese government trying to repel Godzilla for the nth time. There were three things that made the synopsis of this movie enticing: how Godzilla won this time, what a future Earth would look like after being dominated by Godzilla, and of course what Godzilla does during the movie. None of ... these lived up to their expectations at all.

The worst part about this movie is how dull it looks throughout the entire 1.5 hours. You start the movie on a spaceship with lifeless colors, characters in copy-pasted uniforms, and pretty bad character models that don’t do lighting well. Earth itself also has a greyish hue over everything, and not just because of the fog that covers it. While you can argue that it represents how awful it is to live on the spaceship and how dark a world ruled by Godzilla is, it’s exhausting to look at pretty quickly.

Only one of the few notable characters isn’t dull. And while the single character that stands out is fortunately the protagonist, the more unfortunate part is that he’s unlikable and single-minded. To make matters worse, his mantra of saying that Earth belongs to humans completely clashes with the message of humility that the entire concept of Godzilla is based around.

Godzilla is the most passive and dull he’s ever been. With no cities to minimize the damage of, there’s no sense of urgency besides him killing the crew. All he ever does is fire his laser, and it loses a lot of its magnificence because he only ever fires it for 0.5 seconds at a time. If you’re here for Godzilla being cool, I think literally any other Godzilla movie is better. At the very least, this movie has a revelation about Godzilla’s biology that’s new and interesting.

The one thing I think this movie does right is how the plan against Godzilla is coordinated and executed. As much as I don’t like the main character, the way he’s able to make orders, change plans on the fly, and make big calculated risks makes the battle with Godzilla exciting. And with this crew being the last stand against Godzilla, the stakes are the highest they’ve ever been. Considering that finding out how to stop Godzilla is the actual point of Godzilla movies, Planet of the Monsters getting this part right at least redeems it somewhat.

Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters is a movie I feel like I should hate, but it doesn’t really do anything that actually draws my ire that much. The concept is interesting and the execution of that concept is actually mostly competent (…ignoring the few plot holes that the movie even brings to your attention). At the end of the day, I just feel an uncomfortable apathy for this movie. If you’re really curious you can give it a shot, but as for me I don’t think I’ll be continuing the trilogy.

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Poll: Godzilla: Kaijuu Wakusei Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 ) lordzeru - Jan 17, 2018	57 replies	by Frooday »» Feb 22, 12:19 PM
it's a gud show. don't get down by the reviews, just watch it!!! removed-user - Nov 12, 2023	1 replies	by Sr_Shadow_ »» Nov 12, 2023 7:46 AM
Why does Godzilla have such a bad rating/reviews? Toastx3 - Feb 25, 2018	11 replies	by abyss_will »» Jul 11, 2022 7:59 AM
Why do human even evacuate from Earth in the first place? aLotQuestion_ - Jan 17, 2018	29 replies	by removed-user »» Jan 14, 2020 8:59 PM
After credits scene. blackkat101 - Jan 24, 2018	4 replies	by qwertyMrJINX »» Jan 25, 2018 8:49 PM

Godzilla 1: Kaijuu Wakusei

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Godzilla 1: Kaijuu Wakusei

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