Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. - Oh No, THERE Goes Tokyo

After Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla officially introduced a new version of Godzilla AND Mechagodzilla, Toho wanted to followup on the background they had built and reintroduce another monster to the third series, this time around they chose Mothra. With a solid story motivation for the monsters colliding, one of the best soundtracks of the series and some of the most monster screentime in the series, Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. is a welcome entry right out of the gate. The main word I think summarizes Tokyo S.O.S. is action. Right off the gun the movie gets to its big showdown as fast as possible and it does a great job keeping you captivated the entire time. The only thing that I would say does suffer is the human cast, with them receiving little focus throughout the movie. But it all truly does work out because they still contribute a lot to the overall plot and it does have a welcome return of a series vet for a role reprise. Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. is awesome, simply put. This is definitely one of the movies you should go out of your way and see.

After successfully being warded off only a year prior, Godzilla is ready to return. With Kiryu currently going under repairs after the massive damage received from the first battle, Mothra returns to offer help only if the bones of the original Godzilla that are inside Kiryu are returned to the sea. With Godzilla making landfall soon after, Mothra, her twin larva and Kiryu must come together to defeat Godzilla again. But without the absolute zero cannon and the spirit of the original Godzilla still inside Kiryu's programming, the battle may seem folly. It's time for an all out monster brawl as three of the greatest movie monsters head on a collision course for the defining battle of the Kiryu Saga.


So, first off, how does Godzilla in Tokyo S.O.S. stack up compared to his appearance in Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla? In my opinion, MUCH better. Godzilla like Mothra and Kiryu gets a lot of time on screen to do a lot of damage, and while they amount of damage done in the movie isn't exactly spectacularly huge, it's the action itself that is good. After getting it handed to him pretty thoroughly in Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla, Godzilla is out for blood in this movie. He just does not care who the hell is in his way. Tanks forming a blockade around Tokyo? Nope. Mothra? Not a chance. Mothra Larvae? Hello no! He is bloodthirsty and ready to kill in this one, easily. I had a nitpick in the last movie that I felt like Godzilla basically wasn't hungry enough, instead of choosing to attack at every instance to be on the defense in some cases, just kind of standing and taking hits before making a decision to fully start throwing some hands. But in here, he's ready to grow. Marching through any ship in his way and just beating the hell out of Mothra, Godzilla is the unstoppable force of nature in this movie that was introduced at the beginning of Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla. I wanted to talk about Godzilla on his own, because even though I do like the last movie, he was one of the weaker points.

So how about Godzilla's monster costars; Kiryu and Mothra? Well, I'm happy to report that like last time, Kiryu is still awesome to the core. With such an awesome design and backstory, messing up Kiryu would be difficult. But of course they absolutely nailed it and Kiryu is even better than in Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla. Kiryu gets some cool new power ups as alternatives to the weapons he had before. It gets to turn its hand into a drill to just dig into Godzilla, a three point maser cannon boosted by the one in its mouth and it even gets to use its cannons as missiles. Kiryu even gets a really satisfying ending for the character, carrying Godzilla out to sea with itself, burying the two and hoping to save humanity from the accursed monster king's raids. It's honestly a bit of a sad ending, but a great way to see the character off. For Mothra, this is her second appearance in the third series, and they went much more traditional with this one. As opposed to the wasp inspired design we saw in GMK, we get the best traditional looking Mothra ever. This is actually the same Mothra from the original Mothra, so seeing her show up again even older than ever and still being just as resilient and powerful is awesome. She even gets an amazing blaze of glory moment when she saves her twins from being blasted to hell by Godzilla, being lit up in flames and saving the day. Oh yeah, she has twins in this one too! This movie is like a mashup of Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla and Mothra vs. Godzilla, and it is really awesome. Mothra's look, sound and feel in this movie is practically perfect and they really had to get her right, basically throwing her into the fire of this timeline without much explanation beforehand outside of the statement that she did indeed exist and appeared in the past.

Let's talk really briefly about the humans of the movie. This is honestly the least active human characters are in probably the entire series, and that's completely a good thing. We don't to spend all that much time with them, but we do get some good characters. Of course the characters we spend the most amount of time with is members of the Chujo family, namely Hiroshi Koizumi returning to the series one last time to reprise one of his classic characters of the first series, Dr. Shinichi Chujo, and Yoshito Chujo, played by Noboru Kaneko (both pictured right). For a movie that doesn't feature many people, Shinichi Chujo isn't on screen very much, but he's still my favorite character of the bunch. Raising a bit of a controversy in siding with Mothra and wanting to scrap Kiryu, he's just trying to do what's best for nature, seeing what happens when nature in the form of Mothra strikes back hard. It's fun to see him again, and while his role isn't much more than a cameo, it's a welcome return. As for Yoshito, he is the human we spend the most time with. Wanting Godzilla and the violence to be over with, he'd love to believe Mothra can save the day. But being a key engineer on Kiryu, he doesn't want to see his pride and joy get destroyed. From working on the ground to save his family and fixing Kiryu from the inside, his goal during the movie is trying to stay neutral, which is hard when both sides of the conflcit are in your backyard. He's a nice character, not the most in depth or anything, but he's not a bad character at all.

Last, I want to give a mention to the soundtrack. Michiru Oshima returns once again to add her incredible music to the series, and it is just such incredible work. Her incredible themes for Kiryu and Godzilla remain, she adds an incredible piece right off the bat mixing both themes. The title theme of Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. is one of the best title themes of the series, truly. We hear a brilliant combination of both the Kiryu and Godzilla themes and the movie just starts right away with this film. This movie moves at a lightning fast pace and that's illustrated pretty perfect with this theme. Kiryu's not fully complete after his battle like in the theme, and Godzilla is still lurking and ready to cause some damage after being severely wounded in his last fight with Kiryu. What the title theme really gets you thinking is "Alright, let's rock and roll! Let's get the party started! Roll out the red carpets and spread the mayonnaise on the lawn, 'cause it is Weasel Stomping Day, and we are the weasels under Godzilla's feet, let's go!" In the music department, Mothra also gets it really good. Of course, Oshima gave Mothra her own new theme like with Godzilla. It's mysterious, conveys power and is gentle and sweet, exactly like Mothra. But where Mothra really gets it good is in the absolutely incredible rendition of the Mothra Song. In my opinion and without even a shadow of a doubt, I will say I 100% believe that this has to be the best rendition of the theme. Ever. It's the closest Mothra will ever get to a war march, the Shobijin's voices blend brilliantly, albeit it maybe not QUITE as good as the blend of Yumi and Emi Ito in the first series. But it still sounds absolutely amazing.

Bottom line, Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. is really great. Spectacular action and monsters with music good in its own right, and a solidly respectable cast of characters, it's a movie to watch. I will say if you want a deeper story or character substance in a Godzilla movie, definitely look else where. But if you're looking for simple awe and spectacle, then Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. is right up your alley.

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Tomorrow we're wrapping up the third series with a BANG as we go over the oft discussed, and oft loved or hated Godzilla: Final Wars. Where do I stand? Well, I think you'll just have to come back tomorrow to find out. But, man. We're really wrapping up on this soon. Stay strong folks, and next thing you know, it'll already be time to head to theaters for King of the Monsters!