The Monster Island Film Vault Posts

Most of this blog on Nathan’s overlong, contract-breaking “minisode” on the Godzilla anime trilogy will be notes he took while bingeing it in the screening room while I was monitoring Godzilla Earth on the beta site. (Nathan still owes me for helping him on the air with the board of directors). I’ll also be sharing some messages from listener Kyoei Toshi (who’s as good at nitpicking as I am), concerning some Japanese language and culture items.

Here we go.

Additional Notes: Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters

• Opens with a desperate, almost nihilistic scene. Sending old people to a planet to die to conserve resources. They accept it. Ship explodes. Haruo is against it. Relates to Exifs’ nihilistic religion. Essentially euthanasia.
• Alien Refugees. Ties into current events?
• Metphies offers confession (catholic priest). Will take false confession too. Foreshadows his falsity.
• Meant to be a Netflix miniseries; theatrical releases just warm-up; placeholder while Legendary makes films; meant to help them, brand maintenance.
• Return to Earth is hopeful, wonder-filled. Respite.
• Admittedly, the aliens don’t look too different from humans, even by Star Trek standards. Exif have pointy ears (elves). Bilusaludo are dwarves (Klingons?) (beards and slicked back hair and dark skin).
• “As you all know….” x3 Ugh! (A bad writing mistake).
• The animation does look like a cel-shaded video game. Weird given its made by same studio as Clone Wars, which is more dynamic. Money? (Polygon Studios).
• Other Exif priest prays over soldiers. Are they followers? Or is it just comfort?
• Metphies: “As long as we have the hero to guide them.” Haruo. “The one true path to glory can only be opened by devotion.” True?
• Metphies manipulates Leland’s retreat plan so he gives up after attack and goes with Haruo’s plan.
• This trilogy (at least in part 1) tries to have some pretty hardcore science. Gets crazier as it goes.
• Metphies says the Exif have seen countless civilizations fall in their wanderings; says it was by similar creatures to Godzilla (lie?). “He is the vengeful hammer for the arrogant. Those species who pronounce themselves as lords of creation will be struck down by his divine fury.”
• The vehicles in this trilogy are pretty cool. The flying speeder bikes and flying mech suits are my faves. Spider-tanks.
• Yuko calls Hauro “senpei” in Japanese.
• Most of the last third of part 1 is action. Why did people complain?
• “Life is a process of change. Even decay and ruin.” Godzilla continued to evolve.
• Godzilla Earth designed to look like an aged tree. Ancient. Powerful. Long-living. (Plantlike)
• In true Marvel fashion, each film has a stinger. This one sets up part 2 nicely. New character, new mystery.

Additional Notes: Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle

• Exif opposed to abandoning survivors. Irony.
• “Powder-like substance on their skin.” Mothra reference. Keeps them safe.
• Bilusaludo want to exterminate Houtua because they see them as degenerates.
• The twins speak in broken words but articulately in telepathy. Not used to speaking. Use odd naturalistic metaphors.
• Now people are questioning Haruo’s authority and plans and desire to fight Godzilla. His authority is coming undone, his hubris showing. Yet he still insists on his way. But he’s also questioning if he’s doing the right thing. Thinks of Metphies. (I’m seeing more depth even in part 1 than I did before).
• “As you know….” x1
• “Earth chose Godzilla as its lord of creation.” Terminology comes back.
• The controversial Mechagodzilla City. Fans hated this because they wanted a “proper” MG. I can understand why. Misled by promotions and toys. But it makes sense. The AI would evolve like this, especially against a foe as huge as Godzilla. It would’ve been cool to have it transform like Trypticon, but I went with it.
• The Houtua call nanometal “poison.” Appropriate.
• 41:50: Tron/Daft Punk music. I love it!
• MG’s body destroyed by Godzilla, but head kept fighting and evolving. Fits with Bilusaludo idea of discarding inefficient body.
• Some complain that the climax of part 2 is the same as the first, only bigger. That makes sense, though. They’re trying to use a plan that worked before. But this one is spearheaded by the Bilusaludo.
• Metphies manipulates even the Bilusaludo to use their tech in his scheme.
• “Those who are lost possess intelligence. However, if you remain lost and arrive at God’s gate, you shall not ever pass through.” -Metphies
• “They’d make a competent unit.” –Galu-gu (or Belu-be?) Dehumanization.
• Haruo and Yuko have a scene where Yuko says the terrible beginning gave them hope, pushed them to go home. Tries to redeem the tragedy.
• “Everything is destiny.” The entropy they see coming. Metphies claims his race are missionaries.
• Bilusaludo thinking is too robotic. Logic. Metphies doesn’t like it. Neither does Houtua. Says they want to become one with monsters. Ironic statement. Exif believe words have tremendous power.
• When Metphies whispers in Haruo’s ear, it looks like he’s gonna kiss him. Interesting timing. Yuko kisses him in the next scene. Shocks the twins. Jealousy?
• “Machines and humans aren’t the same.”-Haruo.
• Faith is discussed. Haruo and humans have to put faith in something. Part 1: themselves. Part 2: nanometal tech. Part 3: Exif cult.
• Admittedly, there’s a lot of characters describing what’s happening during action scenes.
• Galu-gu: “Haruo…I want to believe you’re different.” “Relax and surrender yourself.” “After the fusion, we’ll be brothers.”
• Metphies convinces Haruo to destroy MG City by speaking of dignity and warning against nanometal propagation. Competing interests.
• The battle ends with Burning Godzilla on steroids.
• Now Haruo faces the consequences of his actions. Just like Capt. Ahab. Unlike him, he’s actually affected by them. He holds Yuko in a wat similar to “Pieta” sculpture.
• This post-credit is weird. Almost no new footage. Just shows previous scene from new perspective to namedrop Ghidorah.

Additional Notes: Godzilla: The Planet Eater

• Opens with a speech by Metphies. Says they’ve been watching humans for centuries, intervening toward their goal. Confirms humanism. Says they wouldn’t listen to the words of a god but will listen to a human.  Hence why a human is needed to reveal a God’s will. They desire heroes who embody the thoughts of the era.
• Martin nihilistically theorizes that humanity existed only to make Godzilla.
• A soldier suggests the Bilusaludo were punished by God, and Yuko with them. Haruo was saved to help them.
• Metphies lets humans think they survived nanometal because of a miracle, but it’s actually because of the Houtua powder.
• Metphies tells Haruo his hate for Godzilla will overcome his doubt of God, and he will defeat Godzilla. Says he’s more noble and proud than anyone. Again, imperial Japan.
• Just as humans resist Bilusaludo after defeat and are undone, so they do the same with the Exif.
• Martin says this a great opportunity for a missionary to win converts after the destruction of MG City. “They can only escape despair by clinging to God.” A common atheist argument.
• Metphies’ blessing gesture looks like a karate chop to the neck. Symbolic?
• “What causes Godzilla to be Godzilla is your undying hatred.” -Metphies in Haruo’s dream
• I hate that the dub changes “golden death” to “golden demise.” It sounds dumb.
• Earth is a seed. Humanity a flower. Godzilla a fruit. Ghidorah’s day of harvest. An offering to Ghidorah. The Exif offered themselves to Ghidorah while a select few priests were spared to spread his “blessing” around the universe.
• Metphies holds Haruo in a manner like the “Pieta” sculpture. 
• The end of this film becomes a battle of philosophies. Metphies makes him confront Leland and Yuko, who died. Metphies says humanity crossed the threshold of their potential when they created monsters with atom bombs. Depicts the atomic bombings and is on a flying fortress. This is the first and only Godzilla film to depict the bombings, which is bold. Death is a natural conclusion, and so all beings must accept the destruction of their worlds and the peace in their deaths. Godzilla was punishment on mankind for arrogance and their desire for more. Haruo must end it to purify mankind’s souls. “A monster becomes a monster because of fear. A person becomes a hero because of hatred. Therefore, a god will become a god because of a hero’s prayer” (Metphies). Haruo can do this because he chose not to become a monster because of his hate. Now he must offer himself to Ghidorah to complete everything.
• Metphies warns (curses?) Haruo will always have Ghidroah watching him because his hatred “burns so bright, it’s blinding.”

Nathan’s Miscellaneous Notes

• Tony Davies acknowledges that, after the horrific experiences of the wars of the 20th century, “it should no longer be possible to formulate phrases like ‘the destiny of man’ or the ‘triumph of human reason’ without an instant consciousness of the folly and brutality they drag behind them.” For “it is almost impossible to think of a crime that has not been committed in the name of human reason.” Yet, he continues, “it would be unwise to simply abandon the ground occupied by the historical humanisms. For one thing humanism remains on many occasions the only available alternative to bigotry and persecution. The freedom to speak and write, to organise and campaign in defence of individual or collective interests, to protest and disobey: all these can only be articulated in humanist terms” (Wikipedia).
• “If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him” (Voltaire).

Kyoei Toshi’s Messages:

Message #1: Hi, the base word used is ‘Jii/じい’. It’s used to denote men in their 60’s or beyond as opposed to men in the 40’s/50’s ‘Ji/じ’. The simple ‘ji’ basically means ‘uncle’ but in Japan it’s used to address any man in that age group that’s older than you are. ‘Jii’ means ‘grandfather’ and likewise is used to refer to any man in that age group (again, that’s older than you are). Jii would be someone you know well, with Ojii, Ojiisan, Ojiichan being used for someone you know but are not quite as close to. A real grandpa would be usually be referred to as ‘Sofu/Osofu’ formally or ‘Jii/Jiisan’ informally. Sofu is usually written in kanji as ‘祖父’ and Jii in kana ‘じい’ although they are the same word (most Japanese kanji/compounds have at least two different pronunciations, the onyomi (Chinese) and kunyomi (Japanese, can be more than a dozen of these).

Anyway, in the first film Haruo uses ‘Jisan’ which would imply a very close relationship since it lacks an ‘O’ at the beginning. It’s vaguely possible that it’s not even his real grandfather, since he doesn’t use ‘sofu’. But given he was surprised when he used it and they were shown together in the preface when Godzilla attacked the airport, it’s almost certain he is. Yuko on the other hand uses ‘Ojiichan’ which is the polite way of referring to SOMEONE ELSE’S grandfather. This holds true with mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, etc. When you refer to yours, you just use the base word. When you refer to someone else’s parents, you add on an ‘O’ at the beginning and ‘san’ at the end as an honorific. For sisters and brothers, just add the ‘san’ at the end. And even though they use the same base word they will be pronounced differently (like father is chichi for real father, otousan for someone else’s father). So by Haruo using ‘Jii’ and Yuko using ‘Ojiichan’ it shows that they’re not almost certainly not cousins and that ‘grandpa’ is just used as a term of respect/endearment by Yuko. Hope I didn’t lose you there, the correct form of address/correct level of respect is much more complex in Japan than in the USA.

(Her second message regards something I would’ve pointed out, too. Nice work!)

Message #2: Hi, I think you might have gotten the Mothra twins a bit mixed up in Planet Eater. Here’s a message I sent someone a few months back–it’s really easy to get confused, the movie doesn’t make things clear.

In Planet Eater, it’s Miana (the extroverted twin with the better Japanese language skills) that is turned down by Haruo. She leaves and notices something is wrong, and goes off to investigate (eventually confronting and being captured by Metphies). It’s Maina (the introverted one with the poor Japanese skills…Haruo called her ‘mean eyes’ in the last movie) that connects with Haruo (that’s the point of him mentioning which twin would know how to unlock his space suit-that it was Maina who gave him medical treatment at the end of the first film). So both of the twins made a play for Haruo, they did so because they could tell he was suicidal and wanted him to ‘connect with life’ again.

Conclusion

Wow, this “Jimmy Notes” is as overlong as the episode. Thankfully, there isn’t a clause in the contract regarding the length of my blogs (which is weird, honestly).

I don’t have much to say myself on this episode. It’s easier for Nathan to script his research for solo episodes.

The Son of Kong episode will be a different story. 😛

Follow me on Twitter.

#JimmyFromNASALives

#WeShallOvercome