The Art of Tokusatsu: Daikaiju Edition

[@joaomotta7791]

I always try to rewatch Heisei Godzilla, get to VS Ghidorah, and give up after barely getting to MechaGodzilla. It seems they stopped trying. As a teenager i thought Heisei would be the next big step after Showa, and that is true until Biollante, funnily enough i think Honda's films still hold up much better. The Gamera trilogy truly picked up the torch and delivered peak tokusatsu.

[@ryuuseipro]

Here's what happened to Kawakita: Both GUNHED and GODZILLA VS. BIOLLANTE were box-office flops, and Kawakita was so devastated by this that it drove him to alcoholism the next year. One friend of his said, "He drank like he wanted to die." When he came back for GODZILLA VS. KING GHIDORAH, he actually won an award for best special effects. Unfortunately, he let success go to his head, and he just gave up trying. Due to his experience working with Kazuki Omori (whom he butted heads with in their two films together), he was also distrustful of working with directors, especially Takao Okawara, whom he snapped at, saying, basically, "You do your own job, let me do mine!" I will say Kawakita actually improved *after* his Godzilla and Mothra films! Remember that he also directed the FX for the Choseishin Series (GRANSAZER, etc.), as well as the Godzilla Pachinko game, which has had his best Godzilla work after BIOLLANTE.

[@gojix5878]

oh my, I never knew this part of the story

[@elijahzilla619]

Yep that’s true Godzilla was going to fight gun head that’s true and it’s really awesome

[@elijahzilla619]

Yeah that’s also true but even use the effects of GMK Godzilla Mothra and king Ghidorah giant monsters all out attack

[@heiseigodzilla840]

well I think that most of the effects in godzilla vs spacegodzilla are far better than anything in any previous godzilla film, especially since they are all during the daytime and not lit at night in order to hide everything. Sure it's not perfect, but again gamera guardian of the universe has some of the worst editing in any monster films I've ever seen.

[@RiainRamblez]

'Return' and 'Biollante' felt ambitious, like this was the next generation of Kaiju films. It sucks that Gamera had to pick up the torch Godzilla had dropped. That being said, those Gamera visuals are outstanding. Personally I don't look for realism in visuals when it comes to this genre, but the Gamera movies have shots that leave me amazed to no end. It really shows how far Godzilla had fallen

[@moviedudexd5579]

So what happened to Kawakita is basically what happened to Frank Millar. Also, my favorite toku moment is the introduction of Gaia in Ultraman Gaia. What I like about Gaia in general is how they make the suit actors feel heavy. Every time the actors take a step, we see debris fly everywhere. When we see Gaia land on the ground we see a repeated slow-mo shot with the debris flying everywhere. It's perfect.

[@Agito4774]

Ultraman Gaia appreciation!!! :D

[@filiperodriguesaquin]

Oh boy, Ultraman Tiga is so awesome. It aired here in Brasil in the 90's, i believe it was the series that made me discover and fall in love with tokustatsu when I was just a wee kid.

[@jonathanreasor70]

the real question is what happened in Kawakita's life to make him so obsessed with sparkle confetti?

[@trollinoakenshield9822]

Still mild compared to michael bay obsession with explosion

[@deadbeataffiliates]

He was traumatized in the womb by his own gender reveal party

[@caseyayaan9294]

A tip: watch movies on flixzone. I've been using them for watching loads of movies these days.

[@brodyjeremiah9848]

@Casey Ayaan yea, I've been using flixzone for since november myself :D

[@WynnofThule]

He got into an accident in a sparkle confetti factory

[@cruzgonzalez7061]

Leave it to tokusatsu fans to know what they're talking about when it comes to Evangelion, anyway great video.

[@radiokunio3738]

I really love your channel, you really deserve more subscribers.

[@Addles__S]

Pure, quality content, love your videos Blunova!

[@themexican8720]

Hello 👀

[@Addles__S]

@@themexican8720 😳

[@themexican8720]

@@Addles__S I found you 😳😳

[@hwtsetse]

I like tokusatsu but I really think that the old days are more suitable days for tokusatsu as the lower resolution actually helps to avoid us to see the details of the suit and the buildings which better establish the illusion, nowadays the higher resolution really makes us see the fake parts of them

[@m2v-animatez]

Let's take a moment to remember Eiji Tsuburaya

[@Agito4774]

Absolute legend made the masterpiece franchise that is known as Ultraman :D

[@ShinGoji1987Official]

Excellent analysis man! Yes! Even as a kid I always noticed that there was always something special about Gvs Biollante as it was very appealing to the eyes. One of my favorite scenes that comes to mind is Godzilla's arrival at the end of G2000 in the American version, great scene!

[@heiseigodzilla840]

well I mean that one scene is alright, but most of the other ones are obvious green screen edits that are off color and most of the animation in that film is pretty bad.

[@ShinGoji1987Official]

@@heiseigodzilla840 Regardless it was still a great scene. I appreciate the effort Toho did to make the city scape look larger in the background with the green screen and the smaller model buildings on the main stage

[@heiseigodzilla840]

@@ShinGoji1987Official they didn't have model buildings in most of the edits. I think the edit was far better in the heisei godzilla films since they used lots of different angles and they didn't have godzilla off color in most of them like they do in this film.

[@ShinGoji1987Official]

@@heiseigodzilla840 The fight with Orga's final form was pretty much all miniatures in the foreground. Heisei era had great miniatures too it just needed more physical fighting

[@heiseigodzilla840]

@@ShinGoji1987Official thats true, the fight with orga was all miniatures, but then again so was all of the heisei godzilla final fights. But you are correct about there being more physical action, but the heisei era was the first godzilla films to first try out physical combat while not making it look like men in suits. But out of all the films in the heisei era, vs biollante is the only one to not have physical combat, the rest of the films have tons of physical combat with the monsters hitting each other compared to vs biollante. So I think they could have done for some more physical combat, but vs biollante really needed more physical combat since godzilla used his atomic breath the most in that film, and with it instantly destroying all the monsters he fought as well as all of the army. Instead of how they did it in the rest of the series where godzilla uses his atomic breath and once that doesn't work he has to get in close and fight them hand to hand.

[@MXF_0712]

This video was incredibly hard for me to watch as I'm a fan of the heisei (some of it) and Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla II being my favorite movie in general but I do like how you bring up legitimate points on how Kawakita's work started to turn after Biollante

[@heiseigodzilla840]

well I mean it turned for the better in my opinion, godzilla vs biollante used a lot of the same shots as later heisei films, with some being worse than a lot of the later films.

[@sohamshetty09]

Unfortunately, blunova has a disappointing hate vendetta against heisei Godzilla films. Other youtubers like rickdasquirrel and more have debunked this video. This is less about tomusatsu and more about dunking if heisei Godzilla.​@@heiseigodzilla840

[@mrhypnagogia]

Thank you for shinning a light on the visual masterpiece that are the gamera 90s movies

[@catzilla5855]

If only we could have gotten the Kawakita of vs Biollante for the rest of the Heisei era. Seriously. Biollante's effects blow the latter parts of the 90's away like Godzilla spamming his atomic breath

[@Addles__S]

Kawakita did all the Heisei films.

[@heiseigodzilla840]

Did you even watch godzilla vs biollante, godzilla "spams" his atomic breath more times than he ever did in the whole franchise just in that one film, despite him having less screen time than most other godizlla films. And he has no physical combat in godzilla vs biollante, biollante only attacks godzilla with her vines which happen about 4 times in the film, and besides that the monsters roar at each other 11 times in the final fight before anything happens and godzilla spams his atomic breath which destroy biollante and the super x2 twice, despite the super x2 supposedly being twice as strong as the original, yet one blast on the super x2's main body and it is destroyed twice in the film. And Biollante is taken out as easily as he was in his first form, with godzilla shooting his atomic breath as all of his weapons, with the atomic breath not even being that well animated with it not following his head's movements for multiple shots as well as godzilla's mouth being closed in one scene where he shoots atomic breath. You didn't get the same kawakita in vs biollante in the rest of the heisei era, you got an even better kawakita that was far more ambitious and some things worked and other things didn't work like the flying monsters edited on top of real footage, but a lot of the ideas in godzilla vs biollante were done far better in the later heisei era. A lot of vs biollante's effects are done even better in later heisei godzilla films with them being the same exact techniques except far more complicated and better looking. And the atomic breath instead of being a beam of light that looks flat like it did in 1989, the atomic breath has detail in it in each frame and it looks far better.

[@lm_8480]

No wonder i liked vs biollante more than the rest

[@TheAmazingMisterZ]

It's no wonder Otani was brought on to compose Shadow of the Colossus. He knows how to add gravitas to giant monster stuff.

[@themexican8720]

You NAILED it with the Heisei Series. It's so overrated, yet it does nothing but bad for the franchise. Thank you! However, I would say that I wish you mentioned weight; that is extremely important in selling scale.

[@heiseigodzilla840]

Does nothing for the franchise, hmm interesting, yet gamera felt like copying godzilla vs destoroyah in multiple ways, and the serious tone of the 2000s films and the angles of course have nothing to do with the angles used in the heisei godzilla films that were never used before in the godzilla series. So could you explain how it did only bad for the franchise, and how or why heisei godzilla in the later of the series has become the most iconic godzilla out of the whole franchise.

[@travisbicklejr]

This is my favorite of all your videos! Could you do one where you exclusively focus on the Gamera trilogy?

[@phillipjohnson8903]

lot to think about and consider I never viewed these movies from this lense before, this was cool man.

[@thekungfukid1990]

Blunova has no chill when it comes to Hesei Godzilla

[@catzilla5855]

Blunova cleared my nostalgia goggles when it comes to the Heisei series; yes, I can still enjoy them, but there's really no excuse for their poor writing and effects work, especially when compared to the more modestly budgeted Gamera trilogy of the same time.

[@thekungfukid1990]

@@catzilla5855 100%. i went back and watched them again and he's right

[@oca6256]

@@catzilla5855 same. Even tho personally I still like them they’re FAR from good objectively

[@Godzilla-jr5gi]

He's wrong

[@PeaLord125]

Agreed, he's based AF

[@dageekundaground]

Excellent video essay

[@bignutz9857]

The reason Godzilla vs Biollante looks a lot better than the following movies is probably because it had a different cinematographer and a larger budget.

[@xFuzzyxPicklesx]

just noticed they even slow down the EVAs like in live action toku to give them weight

[@titanosaurusltd632]

This is complete facts, you want to make the monsters feel real

[@Naseem-fl3zt]

But how?

[@whositsnamewhatsitsname3269]

Wow I never appreciated how amazing the cinematography in the camera trilogy was!

[@faceduro6719]

I'm still awaiting for a Godzilla/Gamera Crossover I hope both Studios can make it happend

[@GojiGuy]

Great video! Its a shame Kawakita lost so much consistency post-Biollante. You did a great job comparing and contrasting, especially with the Showa stuff that was really trailblazing. Tsuburaya was really a visionary! Also minor nitpick but "Eiji" is pronounced "ay-jee" not "ee-jay" just like you the letters "A" and "G"! "AG!"

[@Agito4774]

And Biollante is pronounced "Bio-llante" and not "Bi-ollante" as well.

[@Adammyers1995]

Quality informative content

[@gemstonegojira24]

This video is amazing, I too wondered why Kawakita lost his framing and composition shot expertise as the Heisei era went on. The Heisei Gamera Trilogy looks way better and his framed alot more naturally and presents the monsters as actual gods as it depicts them from human viewpoints and executes the fights and inclusion of the human characters way better.

[@heiseigodzilla840]

I think the angles hid a lot of the actual fight, and it made the fighting really hard to see, when the heisei godzilla film's angles were the same from godzilla vs biollante to godzilla vs destoroyah, it's just that he is only showing parts of it here in order to support his own thoughts on the films.

[@RickDaSquirrel]

I've wanted to make a video response to this for a while but I think it's probably better that I just comment on here to save time. While this video is well made, its a very flawed video and some of the arguments aren't fair comparisons. Showing Shin Godzilla, the Anime Trilogy and mainly Evangelion here as examples against bad tokusatsu in Live Action (Only Heisei here) is a false equivalent. Even you pointed out in the video that animation isn't restricted as rubber suits and live action film is, Animation is much cheaper to create visuals and scenes that are harder or cost more money if you wanted to have it done with real people. It's only pointing out the obvious here but still that argument isn't a good comparison much like Apples and Oranges. I'll get this next one out of the way but for saying you'd go over the Great, Good, Bad and Ugly in the video, The Great and the Ugly are the only ones covered here. 75% dedicated to the Heisei Films (Ugly). Now as for the Heisei films themselves, they have their fair share of problems but a lot of what you criticized them for can also be attributed to other Godzilla films you compared them to. Godzilla 2000 has really terrible green screen and lighting as well as bad angles like the scene of camera tracking away from Godzilla during the daytime attack scene in 2000 (What you mention here 9:30 in Destroyah in terms of bad lighting.) The helicopters in the scene move unconvincingly with the green screen background that are nearly on the same level as Birdemic in one shot with a lone helicopter showing missiles. Extremely inexcusable like Fire Rodan. The New York scene in Final Wars also has an explosion over a static image with the pimp flying towards the camera, which had a budget of 20 million un-adjusted by inflation. More than that of Shin Godzilla. Speaking of which, like the scenes in mentioned in comparing the MechaGodzilla fights, Godzilla Final Wars has the Godzilla vs Kumonga fight which is clearly a small set and the lighting does it no favors either, When Godzilla flings him around the 2D mountains with Kumonga's shadow, It looks very much like a guy in a suit. This isn't a exclusive thing to the 1991-1995 Godzilla films. I can understand that the point and shoot technique is something that people dislike about the Heisei films or other films too. But saying that some shots provided in King Kong vs Godzilla such as Godzilla in the water are better because you like the colors more is subjective but the way its presented here comes off as factual proof ( I don't remember anyone ever being opposed to the KingGoji suit especially since most of the time he dances and claps his hands around, The shot of him up close fighting his breath at a 45 degree angle doesn't help either. And since has anyone payed attention to the colors of the iceberg? Let alone the iceberg in that shot?) Also most people agree that the Kong suit looks awful. Along with some bad puppet work and the balloon scene. Which aren't present in the video. The argument with the Godzilla in the water in MechaGodzilla 2 being darkly lit with not much around him compared to 2000 with more around him is also something subjective. Some people like simplicity to things. Something mocked by fans of Star Wars when it comes to Lucas adding in a bunch of CG crap in the background or in the foreground to be more dense. (This whole argument is reminding me of that "Everything is so dense" line in the Attack of the Clones documentary lol.) Criticizing the Water suit in MechaGodzilla 2 for not being the same as the land suit is a big contradiction to what you're comparing. Godzilla vs Biollante, which is a film you wish the other Heisei films had the same quality of, also had a different suit to use in the water and the head sculpt is much different then the land one used in Osaka. This is a hypocritical statement if I ever saw one. And this isn't the first time either, Mothra vs Godzilla uses the KingGoji suit for the water scenes and him falling from Mothra's webbing. Should we deduct from that film as well? The Invasion of Astro Monster suit is used in Son of Godzilla, Destroy All Monsters, and Godzilla vs Hedorah. The Son of Godzilla suit is used in Godzilla vs Gigan even though it looks nothing like his look from 68-72. One thing I would like to mention though. While the Heisei films don't have as much different camera work, with shots you show here from Biollante that come few and far and between, One positive thing over the Showa films is the army in the Heisei films actually do land hits on Godzilla. If you watch the Showa films such as your example here 11:05 or like in Destroy All Monsters where the army attacks Godzilla at Mt. Fuji, None of their shots actually hit Godzilla. Very rare that they ever actually do. Their aim is like stormtroopers going to Godzilla's left or right. 1998 has a better excuse for this since he can run up to 300mph. Also, while the fights in the Heisei films are very clunky, they still have weight to their movement and bodies. If you watch Invasion of Astro Monster and skip to the final battle, Godzilla isn't moving in that fast slow camera speed used when he's going around the city and moves around like a boxer on his feet while Ghidorah's necks keep tangling around frantically looking very unconvincing as being actually there and much like people in suits like you pointed out in the day fight in Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla 2. This breaks the immersion they go for previously. These two things are what can take people out of the Showa films as much as the points you made (albeit flaw like I pointed previously) to the Heisei films). Also about the Battra body slam, after Biollante not performing well, the Producer for vs King Ghidorah thought it didn't do well with children due to its sophisticated plot (Ironic I know) and they decided to add more fantasy to the films and overall goofiness much like how Invasion of Astro Monster did onwards in the Showa films. I have a theory on why the flying monster scenes were so stiff and its probably they didn't want the strings and wires to show on them like the showa ones did so they made them stiff so it was easier to animate out the wires and strings. It obviously didn't do them any favors but that's my theory anyway. The millennium films removing the wires with the power of CG and making them flap organically was the best of both worlds. Overall even though you've stated that this is film criticism and you're not blindly hating something and loving another, from what I've just mentioned and the points I've looked at, while showing the Heisei films (91-95) in a 95% bad light while only showing the positives of the Showa films without any negative examples at all with some that can be seen as being subjective, I personally don't believe there's no biased views in the video. I like your videos on Gamera and Eva and I appreciate that someone's looking into the Kaiju/Tokusatu genre with deep and literal analysis that most people wouldn't do since it's a niche thing. But I also think you can improve on videos like this. This is simply a critique of a critique. This post doesn't have to change your viewpoint on liking or disliking the Heisei films but I wanted to state that some of things said here aren't completely true or have been done in other works shown here in a more positive light. Thank you if you read all this. Hoping for a sophisticated response in the comments.

[@Blunovain]

With this video I was primarily interested in demonstrating great composition and action. Therefore both animation and live-action were fair game. But, as you noted, I did mention the advantage that animation has. So it's not like I was hiding it. The only other thing I could have done was ignore it completely and I didn't want to do that. By the way, there are some unique shots in Shin Godzilla that Higuchi had already managed back in the Heisei Gamera Trilogy. I do not believe I said any of these movies were technical perfection. It's not about never making a mistake. No film is perfect and the nature of these films in particular makes perfection even more of a distant dream. It's about consistency and the quality. You mentioned Godzilla 2000, right? Let's use that as an example. Yes, the beach scene has some rough technical spots and UFO doesn't always look the best. But overall the film is far more visually interesting than anything Kawakita had done since 1989. The leap from Godzilla vs Destoroyah to Godzilla 2000 is a massive breath of air and it's not about the four year gap between them. Higuchi was doing better in the mid-90s. Look at the stale attack on Hong Kong in Godzilla vs Destoroyah and compare it to Godzilla's attack on Nemuro in Godzilla 2000. Lastly, the final battle in Godzilla 2000 makes wonderful use of the city to create some fantastic imagery and does so more than Kawakita had done since the last battle of Godzilla vs King Ghidorah. The difference between something like Mothra vs Godzilla and something like Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla II when it comes to using water suits is that Tsuburaya actually attempted to disguise it. I'm confident you can recognize the difference between a distant shot of a suit from behind or quick shot and a shot that lingers on the discrepancy and makes it impossible to miss said discrepancy. Even something like Godzilla vs Hedorah somewhat attempts to draw attention away from the use of an earlier suit. Yes. This problem exists in Godzilla vs Biollante, too. But to a lesser extent. I point out the use of water suits in the latter Heisei films because most of it was easily avoidable with some creative uses of the camera and because at times Kawakita switches between suits without transition. Is it wrong to expect improvement over time? And, if improvement is too much to ask for, at least don't get worse. Kawakita's use of water suits and animatronics is more reminiscent of the sloppiness found in Godzilla vs Gigan. Don't worry. I called out Nakano on that as well. Why should we hold Kawakita to the standard of budget-less films from decades earlier? Shouldn't we expect more of someone with both a far greater budget and the advantage of hindsight? The anthropomorphic depictions of monsters in films like Monster Zero was an intentional creative decision to make the fights into something akin to wrestling matches. That has little to do with whether the action is exciting or creatively staged. And Godzilla boxing or playing tennis is a thousand times more exciting than exchanges of optical rays and bumping. Especially the actual film-making is better and the Showa boys run circles around Kawakita when it comes to visuals. The problem with the physicality in the Heisei films is it's so awkward and uninteresting. You have stuff like Godzilla gently brushing his hands across Mothra's body, a stiff Rodan prop interacting with guys in suits, and the slamming move looks really jarring in these movies (I don't care for it much in the '70s either). The designs for the monsters look good on paper. But they did not translate well into suits able to engage in interesting fights and how Kawakita uses them only highlights that issue. It's a milder version of the Ultraman Powered syndrome. I have no issue with Showa Ghidorah's frantic neck movement. It's a neat personality trait. The comment about the obviousness of men in suits in Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla II was more about camerawork and staging than the depiction of the monsters themselves. The wires are still very much visible in the '90s films. So, if stiff suits were the result of trying to hide wires, it failed and left us with mediocre work. Again: what matters the most is what ends up onscreen. This video isn't an exhaustive look at every film and I don't deny Kawakita the credit he is due. But, of the major daikaiju SPFX directors, his work is often bland/dull and wastes a lot of potential. Edit (to add more): I've criticized Tsuburaya's puppetry in the past and I even mentioned in this very video that Kawakita's animatronics were improvement on those puppets. The purpose of highlighting the water scene in Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla II was to demonstrate how Kawakita made it the center of attention and it does not look good. It's an unflattering angle of a bad suit with nothing else of note happening and it is onscreen way too long. The example from King Kong vs Godzilla is a thousand times more flattering and puts Godzilla in an interesting environment. You're right. It's not about cramming as many things onscreen as possible and that's not what I was suggesting. It's more about how those suits are photographed and whether they are used in exciting ways. You mentioned the static shot in Godzilla: Final Wars during Rodan's rampage, right? Final Wars has plenty to answer for. Though, if we're thinking of the same moment, the example you cited was very brief. Same with the Kumonga fight. Maybe one day I will discuss the Millennium films exclusively because I have a few questions and comments about them. But almost every scene involving Fire Rodan was uninspired and genuinely looks awful. The compositing, the shadows, the Rodan prop, the images resulting from it, the action captured on camera. None of it is good and it makes up minutes of runtime. Better was done forty years earlier. I guess, in short, Kawakita often messed up the basics and had little else to compensate for it. I prefer messy ambition.

[@RickDaSquirrel]

Blunova Wow didn’t expect a response like this and so fast. Yeah I’m not gonna deny that Fire Rodan looks really bad. As for the bumping it’s why I can’t at all watch SpaceGodzilla and feel bored. I never felt like that in any Godzilla film. Destroyah adds a laser horn and some green blood to the mix as well as the smaller forms of him that attack him. It’s also why I’m fine with MechaGodzilla 2 and Ghidorah when it comes to beam spams. MechaGodzilla at that point was all beams and missiles like the Showa films so I was fine with that film. Same for Ghidorah since Showa’s Ghidorah was always shooting his gravity beams frantically. Speaking of which I don’t hate that his necks move around frantically and it does give him personality but it’s also something I know people wouldn’t care for and find it unconvincing where they would rather have him having his heads focus while firing like he does in all his later incarnations. So I still say that’s subjective along with the monster moving more like wrestlers in the Showa films. I’ve recently watched all the Heisei films this month so I didn’t notice any of the wires but if there was, shame on me then. The shots I mentioned in Final wars are indeed brief but noticeable. The 2000 daytime scene however is much more prevalent in many shots. These things got better as the films went along though. One thing I forgot to mention if you watch Godzilla 2000 again some shots Godzilla’s dorsal plates are white. Believe me I’ve seen it. (At least the American version) To get back to the bumping, it’s something that I noticed watching in the Kiryu films especially SOS when it looks like they’re hugging each other like sumo wrestlers. There’s a bit of bumping here and there too but not as much as the Heisei. I guess it never really bother most fans with this stuff. Though people have their preferences. I’d argue that the water scene in MechaGodzilla 2 isn’t as noticeable as Biollante since at that point the Godzilla suits were more or less the same with minor tweaks. I couldn’t find what suit they used for water scenes in MechaGodzilla 2. I only saw that 92 was used to fight Rodan and that’s it. Maybe I’m missing something. I didn’t ignore that you gave some praise to the Heisei films from 91-95 which is why I said 95%. of it was negative towards the films. Messy ambition is something I’m all for myself to a certain extent because if sometimes I rather have something alright throughout than just a huge dip in quality from something really great through risk. I guess it all depends on the film. One thing you didn’t bring up though was the military actually hitting Godzilla in the Heisei films which I wanted to see you take on but I know this is a huge post so you probably didn’t have time to get to it all. Thanks for responding.

[@Godzilla-jr5gi]

@@Blunovain YOU NEED TO HANDLE CRITICISM!

[@heiseigodzilla840]

@@RickDaSquirrel well I mean you see that he is very against the heisei godzilla films for some reason in almost every single way, yet doesn't point out when other movies that he considers good did the same exact things. Such as gamera guardian of the universe's edits of gamera and gyaos flying is the worst animation I've ever seen in a monster film, and I have seen all the showa gamera films. And the heisei gamera films have THE most grabbing in any monster film I've ever seen, literally most of the legion fight is gamera grabbing onto legion, and the same with most of the vs iris fight with it being gamera grabbing onto iris until he gets stabbed which actually happens once and then since gamera is still grabbing iris, iris stabs him again like 5 minutes later, and then gamera looks at iris for a literal minute and then cuts off his arm instead of cutting of iris's arm. But back to my point, I think blunova for some reason is against the heisei godzilla films and brings up a lot of false points and unfair comparisons, sure he does bring up good points, but also fails to bring up things that other films did, such as godzilla vs biollante having almost literally the same angles as the rest of the heisei era, except I would say it's more about zooming in on godzilla's face and then showing his shoot atomic breath than the rest of the heisei era. But yeah, just my opinion on him as well as some of the films.

[@sohamshetty09]

To bad blunova has a hate bone with these films but fanboys over the anime trilogy of all things. What a waste

[@bowleratl]

I do wonder how much of the lack of interesting moments in the kawakita's stuff was an idea on the computer tech of the time? This seems to of happened in hollywood as well, where they would shoot something very boring, or over rely on a newer technique for various reasons, but what results in lack luster bad looking stuff? Also seems like a lot of hubris and ego.

[@odinetsthepale6581]

So far Reiwa era is great. Shin Godzilla brought the franchise back to it's serious political roots adding Annos directing and Higuchis special effects making one of (if not the best) Godzilla movies since the original classic. Anime trilogy is by far the most thematically complex films in the series. The characters are also far better then the majority are willing to acknowledge (e.g. Haruo and his arc). Yes, some (me included) expected a bit more from the animated action, but the I still can enjoy the movies for what they are even if it's not what I initially wanted. And lastly KOTM was a great tribute to the fans filled with impressive, well directed monster action and a not as weak as some say, but still rather bad human interactions. A great movie to simply watch and have fun.

[@Godzilla-jr5gi]

Shin and the anime movies sucks

[@sohamshetty09]

Shin is a masterpiece but the anime trilogy are some of the worst and most hated Godzilla films since 1998.

[@sohamshetty09]

@@odinetsthepale6581 all haruo spends is whining about Godzilla until the last act of the third film where he kills himself.

[@sohamshetty09]

@@odinetsthepale6581 the heisei and millenium era still have the best human chatacters

[@sohamshetty09]

@@odinetsthepale6581 but yeah the reiwa era has been mostly great

[@Godzilla-jr5gi]

8:12 god tier movie

[@Godzilla-tu2cd]

7:11 so? Why can't they show the monsters up close and personal? Not everything needs to have a low angle shot just let the monsters cut loose

[@Atreepizzaz8581]

Personally, I think it's because close up shots are usually used for human characters. They have faces that show emotions. It lets us see what they are thinking. With monsters, it's much more difficult, especially in big suits. Much more difficult to convey emotion in a suit. One of the purposes of a close-up shot is personifying someone and see them on our level. A monster is meant to be grand, A close-up shot can sometimes ruin that. Plus it needs to be quick, show that reaction and move on. Another issue, as Blunova said, is that it's too up-close and personal in these films.

[@heiseigodzilla840]

@@Atreepizzaz8581 well I mean you basically perfectly described the heisei gamera films, they do zoom ins for most of the angles on the monsters faces, and unlike the heisei godzilla films, you can't tell what is going on most of the time since they zoom in too much on everything, when zoom outs are meant to show what is going on. Also they have far more angles that are zoomed out than zoom ins, saying that these films are too up close and personal is not true, especially compared to the heisei gamera films which did that all too often in order to hide the fact that they don't want to show the actual fight.

[@dpepinmarquette]

Great Video!!! Thanks

[@m2v-animatez]

Oh yh please tell me you thoughts on the two attack on titan movies if you haven't already

[@spacetacos7574]

You don’t even need suits Three great examples of this is skull island and pacific rim and Godzilla 2014 Say what you will but those three are some great examples

[@ryanatchley1518]

What was the live action kaiju shown just before gridman at the end of the video?

[@rilril5129]

I forget the actual name but God Warrior in Tokyo should get you it. Collab by Hideaki Anno with Studio Ghibli.

[@ryanatchley1518]

@@rilril5129 awesome, Thank you. I will definitely look into it.

[@hawkstopanimationstudios4829]

I want to make Tokusatsu films for my KZbin channel with old fashioned rubber suits, miniature sets, cities, animatronics and puppetry

[@warzardtheboredtimelord2865]

What is your opinion of War of the Gargantuas? It is one of my favorites.

[@carlosarce6352]

I don't care what you say, l enjoyed the 90's Godzilla very much.

[@carlosarce6352]

Gamera2 was the best of the trilogy.

[@marcoolmedo1967]

how can i watch gamera movies online?

[@robertooak3281]

What is the name of tokusatsu of the samurai with giant in the beginning of video?

[@chancegivens9390]

Well I'm subscribed!

[@steffwinde5041]

I am currently watching EVANGELION

[@danishhadi740]

Tokusatsu stand's for live action practical effect's

[@TheRavenArchon]

For the most part I certainly see what you're saying. The Heisei Gamera movies do seem to be more carefully shot and with more detailed suits and miniatures. I don't think there's any argument there. That being said, some of the points you make about camera angles and specific shots I think may be a matter of preference. Several times in the video you make the claim you're about to show us a clip of the "wrong" way to do things, and you show a clip from one of the Godzilla movies, and I'm watching it and I'm like "um... wait what's supposed to be wrong with this? It looks cool to me. This is making me watch to watch this movie actually." This may have something to do with my limited exposure to the kaiju movies. I've seen less than a dozen total Godzilla and Gamera movies, and only rewatched maybe two of them, so I've never deeply analyzed them. I'm actually watching these videos because I'm trying to decide what other Godzilla movies to watch after the magnificent Godzilla Minus One that just came out this year, which has put me in a mind to watch more, and get caught up on what I've missed.

[@Boom24277]

1:43 Fujiwara Tofu shop detected

[@bacchus9579]

reminds of me to the roblox game DA HOOD

[@marlonc56]

What was the film shown at 11 seconds?

[@catzilla5855]

Daimajin

[@chasebennett6945]

What is that from at 18:36?

[@121Film]

Giant God Warrior Appears in Tokyo (2012)

[@Yamanosei95]

Cool

[@DehnusNorder]

Gamera always was way more gorey and brutal than Godzilla in what it showed and dared to show. Due to that I guess the director was willing to show more as it was basically tradition, Gamera without bloody gore? Is not a GAmera movie :P .

[@keypath4389]

Who's ejay suburaya?

[@Blunovain]

Butchered Japanese?

[@keypath4389]

@@Blunovain now thats a great kaiju name... Btw what are your thoughts about ultra z winning seiun award?

[@MxGerryNava]

-when he talks about kawakita- Its true but you shouldn’t say it

[@ultrakoichi]

Good observation. I also felt Kawakita's Tokusatsu was poor.

[@heiseigodzilla840]

but it was effective in showing the battles as they happened, and not hiding the fights in order to hide what is going on like the gamera trilogy did especially in the last 2 films.

[@ultrakoichi]

​@@heiseigodzilla840 Heisei Godzilla series was so bad I don't even remember the whole film. I mean not just the tokusatsu special effects part, acting is horrid as well. Newer Gamera series was overall better movies than Godzilla. I actually went to the cinema to see from vs Biollante to vs Mothra. vs Mothra was like baby's movie. That Cosmos's Mothra songs makes me cringe. vs King Ghidorah was the worst and I actually want a refund.

[@heiseigodzilla840]

@@ultrakoichi well the mothra songs were something from the original 60s one and they were worse singers in that film. But to each their own I guess.

[@ultrakoichi]

@@heiseigodzilla840 vs Biollante was a decent film. I'd give above average. I don't have anything personal or bad feeling for Kawakita but I don't enjoy his Tokusatsu much. He probably did better job for Ultraman A, Megaloman and Ultraman 80 even Granseizer. He is more suited for smaller TV screens. I am half Japanese and lived in Tokyo since 1980 to 1993 again 2005 to 2010 so I know Tokusatsu more than average geeks outside of Japan and I am fluent in Japanese as well. I also own many legendary books like Keibunsha's all Kaiju/Kaijin volume 1 and 2. If I was to be asked what Godzilla film I like most probably going to be Showa stuff like Ghidora the Three headed monster and vs Mecha Godzilla two parts in mid 70s. Those 3 films are personal favourite. I'd add 60's King Kong one as well. I didn't see any Godzilla films after vs Mothra because I went back to England for while and didn't see any Heisei Godzilla series until 10 years ago or so. UK is not America and this country don't have any Tokusatsu or Godzilla movies followers here.

[@heiseigodzilla840]

​@@ultrakoichi ok, thanks for all that. How does being in tokyo all of a sudden make you have knowledge about film making. I'm personally not a fan of the showa godzilla films' tokusastu, at least most of the films. But it just comes down to preference, meaning we don't have to agree on everything. I respect your opinion although I disagree with it. Have a good day.

[@Supremacy-wg8jc]

Oh, a video. I thought you'd do live streams forever. Also can i choose games, because shadow of the colossus is like your playing a very well done tokusastsu movie. The stand out moment would be the largest colossus in the game phalanx, it pure sense of scale is unforgettable, the way you ride agro your horse alongside it in effort to mount it is awesome. Here's its death. kzbin.info/www/bejne/bWalh6R4esiJpZI

[@dornravlin]

Koichi Kawakita was a boss stop hating him

[@Godzilla-jr5gi]

YES THANK YOU!

[@amanofnoreputation2164]

So what you're saying is that the only pre-zilla Godzilla movie I've seen is actually one of the *worst* Godzilla movies ever? Well damn -- it's all uphill from here!

[@somerandomboi7045]

Anybody heard of the recent DMan controversey

[@amejade]

No, did twitter cancel him?

[@somerandomboi7045]

@@amejade Dman says that 99% of ultra fans are stinkers for like 5 of them "bullying" for making mistakes in his Ultraman video

[@Yamanosei95]

Some Random Boi lol

[@amejade]

@@somerandomboi7045 Compared to other controversies I've seen, he could be a lot worse, don't really think it's something he should be cancelled over.

[@jmarcopulos5265]

I've seen it, it's not good

[@kevinalford]

Eiji = A-E-G

[@Blunovain]

Thank you. There's little that can be done about what already happened. But in future videos, thanks to your help, Mr Tsuburaya's name should no longer be butchered.

[@kevinalford]

@@Blunovain actually I noticed after this you have it correct in other videos so it's my mistake for correcting you out of turn. Anyway, love your work dude.

[@jmarcopulos5265]

Does the monsters being close up matter though? Look at KOTM, it shot up in personal with the monsters and yet fans love it, I do think your being harsh on the Heisei era though, seriously the only movies you like are Godzilla vs the smog monster, Godzilla vs Biollante, Shin Godzilla, the anime series, and the original. Everything else in your eyes can get thrown in the garbage can, can you shut your brain off for once and just watch a fun Godzilla movie? Jesus.

[@echo2390]

In my opinion shot composition makes or breaks a scene. It’s especially important in a monster movie, since where the camera is placed can determines how well the monster is presented. If the camera is too close it gets too cluttered, if it’s too far it’s hard to make out. I actually admire him for looking at these films with more than monster action in mind. Action means nothing if it isn’t presented well. If you enjoy the Heisei films that’s great! I like them too, they were my introduction to Godzilla. While some people may be content with just shutting their brain off to enjoy a fun Godzilla movie, I personally prefer films that have a little more meat to their bones.

[@klikssiikubra314]

The fans also consistently defend KOTM with such asinine defenses as "human characters don't matter", what the fans do in blind defense holds little relevance in a critical analysis. KOTM has far bigger problems than that too, like the love of shaky cam and using every trick in the book to cover up CGI.

[@Alex-hp2rs]

sounds like you forgot to turn yours back on

[@heiseigodzilla840]

@@klikssiikubra314 so your saying that kotm did exactly what the heisei gamera films did. The "shaky" camera in kotm is barely a thing compared to the shaky camera in gamera's first fight with legion and gamera's air battle with iris is so shaky that it makes it impossible to see what is going on since it's just a literal blur, and they have a shaky camera throughout the films.

[@klikssiikubra314]

@@heiseigodzilla840 The fight with Legion has no shaky cam, what are you talking about? It has some human level shots, but they're stably shot and serve a purpose since Gamera is actually defending those very same people. The Iris fight also has no shaky cam either.

[@MD_Chaos]

>make a vid on tokusatsu as a whole >only using godzilla,gamera, and some ultras and not featuring Rider, Sentai, Metal heroes, garo, red baron, kikaider, and Magma taishi