This Is What I Feel Elevates Tokusatsu Above All Other Forms Of Special Effects: Sheer Spontaneity. You

This is what I feel elevates Tokusatsu above all other forms of special effects: sheer spontaneity.  You would never see Ray Harryhausen spend hours recreating Thriller with the Argonauts skeletons or have Stan Winston program his hydraulic Tyrannosaurus to take someone on a lovely stroll through downtown, but with Tokusatsu, all you need is a costume and a wiling suit performer to create something amazing.

Never forget the video of Ultra monsters doing “Thriller” (X).

I had to finish this in parts because i was laughing too hard. In response to the untold thousands of angry fans in the comments: 1. For God's sake calm down, the reason Godzilla is a girl is because this is a parody of Orange is the new Black. 2. The canonical gender of the Godzilla kaiju is set by Toho.  According to them, the only female kaiju in the series are one of the original Rodans, most of the Mothras, Biollante, Megaguirus, and one of the Mutos. 3. Over the years various fans have believed several canonically male kaiju to be female, including Destoroyah (anatomy resembling that of female crustaceans), Showa Rodan (it's never made clear which of the pair survived), Mothra Leo and Battra (most other Mothras are female), Kamacuras and Kumonga (female insects are larger), Zilla (Idiotic m-preg subplot intended to capitalize on the success of Jurassic Park), and Godzilla himself (mistaken for biological parent of foster offspring). 4. An interesting note comes from Haruo Nakajima, suit actor from 1954 to 1972, who claims that the second Showa Godzilla (1955-1975) was a female while the original was male, probably due to the relative slimness of the subsequent suits for better use in fight scenes.  As this belief probably translated to Nakajima's portrayal of Godzilla in nearly all of the original Showa series, it would not be amiss to consider the Showa Godzilla to be female.

Hideaki Anno Speaks About Directing Godzilla [Updated]

As some of you may have noticed, Toho has recently announced that Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi, both of whom have collaborated together previously on Neon Genesis Evangelion and Giant God Warrior Appears in Tokyo, will be co-directing the new Japanese Godzilla film, slated for 2016. Given the high profile of both individuals (and Anno in particular) this was a bit of startling news which, were it not for Toho's completely serious approach to the press release and follow-up later today, might have been mistaken for an April Fool's Joke. But it's not completely out of nowhere.

I have nothing anymore.  No words.  I was originally staving off a response to Toho’s new Godzilla.  I would have gone over my hopes, my fears, my misgivings, what I expected... The Usual.  But now, I have no response.  Of all the things that could have happened, this was the furthest from my mind.  Now I have absolutely no idea what form this film will take, and trying to predict anything at this point would be an exercise in frustration.  This movie may be good, maybe bad, but is almost guaranteed to be glorious.  Well done Toho, you have managed to put me at a complete loss for words.

Congratulations...

Obviously King Ghidorah’s greatest appearance was in Zone Fighter

There seems to be some argument as to which of King Ghidorah's Showa movie is the greatest, Ghidorah the Three Headed Monster or Monster Zero? If you'd rather cast the vote for Destroy All Monsters or Godzilla vs. Gigan then do it.

My heart lies with Invasion of (the) Astro-Monster(s)/Monster Zero. I grew up watching the English dub and it remains a favourite to this day.

Update: I got sick over the weekend, so I've decided not to wear the costume to the Expo.  Maybe next year.

Dusting off an old Costume for Anime Expo 2014.

I’ve never been a fan of Final War’s top heavy, anthropomorphized, overly slim DBZesque design philosophy, notably in Gigan and Monster X.  However, I was fine with the Godzilla suit because while it streamlined him it didn’t go too far.  He’s less bulky but he’s still basically the same mountainous shape, and there’s a lot of the late Showa spirit in the design.

These designs reveal that it was originally the same as the others, with arguably worse execution.  The first one looks downright emaciated.  I’d wouldn’t trust a regular sized dinosaur to hold up its own weight on that tiny waist, let alone one the size of a skyscraper.  I’m having a genuinely hard time deciding whether this or Zilla is a worse redesign of the King of the Monsters (Sure would have made their fight scene awkward).  I’d be interested to know how far these made it into the design process, or if they were ever genuinely considered (The style is definitely similar to some of the other designs).

Concept art for a redesigned Godzilla, for Godzilla: Final Wars (2004).