Godzilla's back, and he's not alone...
"The hydrogen bomb tests awakened Godzilla, and now, they have awakened an ankylosaurus."
— Dr. Tadokoro, during the emergency conference.
Also known as Gojira no Gyakushu (Godzilla's Counterattack) is the first sequel in the Godzilla franchise and the second entry in the Showa era, Godzilla Raids Again was made soon after the success of Godzilla (1954). It's notable for introducing the monster Anguirus and the tradition of always having Godzilla fight another foe. The last black-and-white film and it kept with the grim tone of the previous film. A 1955 novella written by the film's screenwriter Shigeru Kayama and published in English as Godzilla and Godzilla Raids Again adapts the initial screenplay of the film.
The film was dubbed as Gigantis, the Fire Monster, which did things like give Godzilla Anguirus' roar in order to convince audiences this wasn't a Godzilla sequel (no, really), because Paul Schreibman, who distributed the film through Warner Brothers, believed that a stand alone film would be more successful. The dub was notable for having George Takei, Marvin Miller, and Keye Luke among the cast, but it wasn't well received and Schreibman himself later lamented his decision. Depending on your point of view, it's either an embarrassment or comedy gold.
Searching for schools of fish for the Kaiyo Fishing Company, Koji Kobayashi's plane malfunctions and he has to make an emergency landing near Iwato Island. He is rescued by a coworker, Shoichi Tsukioka, and they are shocked to find Godzilla and a mysterious monster later named Anguirus battling on the island, who fall into the ocean. The pair later give evidence to a committee that includes Dr. Kyohei Yamane, who was present for Godzilla's original attack on Tokyo and advises them to lure Godzilla away with flares while the city in in blackout. Days later, Godzilla appears at Osaka's shore. Everything seems to go to plan as the city goes into blackout and flares lure him away. But a jailbreak gone awry causes a fire that lures Godzilla back to shore. Anguirus soon follows and the pair ignore the military fire as a brutal battle lays destruction across the city. With Anguirus dead and Godzilla victoriously leaving Osaka in ruins, our heroes jump at the chance to fight the King of the Monsters when he shows up near a small icy island. Can Godzilla be defeated, and would it take the sacrifice of one of our heroes for this to be done?
As noted above, originally distributed by Warner Bros. on a double-bill with Teenagers from Outer Space in the states. Guess what else they're distributing...
Canonically followed by King Kong vs. Godzilla.
The film provides examples of
- Actionized Sequel: It's still a horror film, but this is where Godzilla first fights an opponent who's as dangerous as he is. More action scenes are spread throughout the course of the film's shorter runtime, most noticeably a convict breakout leading into a car chase, and instead of a two-man operation to deploy a chemical weapon underwater, the film climaxes with a furious assault on Godzilla by the air defense force.
- Allegory: The film is treated as the Nagasaki to the first film's Hiroshima. The first film showcased all the horrors of war, its destructive aftermath, the victims of war both human and monster, and haunting imagery of the atomic bomb's destructive power. This film does have its aftermath after Osaka's destruction due to the monsters' fighting, but there's no weight other than whether Godzilla might attack again.
- Apocalypse Wow: Unlike the previous film, there's no other human casualties save for six criminals and a few JSDF planes, but the Scenery Gorn in Osaka still had its effects upon its inhabitants.
- Ascended Fridge Horror: Yamane feared there might be another Godzilla in the world due to continuous nuclear testings in the Pacific. His fear would be realized in this film.
- Artistic License – Biology: Professor Tadokoro states that Angurirus is a carnivorous Ankylosaurus, a species that was herbivorous in real life.
- Bittersweet Ending: Godzilla is defeated, but at the cost of Tsukioka's best friend's life. The film ends on a rather somber note as Tsukioka pulls his F86 away, concluding with a slow zoom out of Kamiko Island.
- Bloodier and Gorier: Early-Installment Weirdness aside, the monster fights here is brutal and violent to the point that both monsters drew blood. Angurius bleeds to death when Godzilla bites his neck.
- Buried Alive: In the final segment of the film, Godzilla enters an ice field and is buried by an avalanche triggered by missiles fired at the mountains around him.
- Characterization Marches On: This Godzilla began as an animalistic, destructive creature before essentially becoming a superhero with anthropomorphic tendencies. His Heisei counterpart remains the same creature he's always been.
- Chronic Hero Syndrome: Tsukioka falls prey to this in the third act while searching for Godzilla, much to the annoyance and anxiety of Hidemi. Gigantis expands upon this trait a little more and gives Tsukioka somewhat of a developmental arc.
- Continuity Snarl:
- In Gigantis, the original Godzilla was a "Gigantis" or "Angurus", and was asphyxiated by the Oxygen Destroyer.
- Kamiko Island is reduced to an iceberg in King Kong vs. Godzilla.
- Contrived Coincidence: Tsukioka and Kobayashi encounter Godzilla and Anguirus on Iwato Island; They encounter the police officers chasing after prisoners who had just escaped using a truck, and Tsukioka finds Godzilla while the whole air force is looking for him. Steve Ryfle on the Classic Media commentary lampshaded this.
- Dead Sidekick: At the film's climax, Kobayashi, the good friend of Tsukioka, attempts to keep Godzilla from going into the ocean by flying his plane at the monster to distract him, but ends up being shot down by Godzilla.
- Demoted to Extra: Despite appearing in the Japanese poster, Kyohei Yamane (Takashi Shimura) only appears in one scene to discuss how to deal with Godzilla after the previous event became a disaster. After that, he does not appear for the rest of the film. Then again, given that he was a first hand witness to the aftermath of the first Godzilla's rampage, it makes sense that he would flee Osaka once he learns that's where Godzilla is heading.
- Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Kobayashi repeatedly insults Godzilla from the air during his short lived tenure as the monster's "keeper" on Kamiko Island.
- Disaster Dominoes: The convicts' truck crashes into an oil refinery and sets off a chain reaction.
- Dub Name Change: Godzilla's name is changed to Gigantis in Gigantis, The Fire Monster.
- Early-Installment Weirdness:
- While some of these are de facto traits carried over from the previous film, Godzilla still has his low pitched bellows, his fins don't light up when he breathes the heat-ray, and he and his opponent are portrayed through puppetry much more frequently.
- This is the first film in the whole Godzilla franchise to feature the classic monster-on-monster fight scene. Godzilla and Anguirus' final fight happens during the film's second act as opposed to the third like later films and Anguirus is killed immediately afterwards as said third act focuses on the JSDF trying to stop Godzilla at a remote iceberg. Later sequels would have the enemy monster (or Godzilla) either wounded or dead by the end instead.
- The style of the fight in the film is much more subdued and has a slight horror element to it, with the focus being on the destruction caused by the two monsters, along with a near-total lack of music, alongside the far more animalistic fighting style Godzilla and Anguirus have in comparison to later entries.
- This is the only film in the entire Showa era with a connection to the previous film. Since this is the only film to continue where the original film left off, it brings a rather oddity with the rest of the series. Godzilla, for example, is identical to the original Godzilla and the humans still treat him in a very serious light after what the original did, but he does not seem to be interested in attacking humans until the final act where they directly attack or annoy him. Any connection with the previous film is decidedly abandoned in the form of King Kong vs. Godzilla where the saga goes into Lighter and Softer territory.
- Godzilla here is portrayed very closely to the original Godzilla, but he reacts with less hostility with humans and is attacked by them first instead of the other way around. Later films in the series gives him more of a personality, loses his grudge on humans, and will fight on humanity's side as a full-blown hero.
- Anguirus is depicted as incredibly hostile towards Godzilla and fights him to the death. Later films eventually establish Godzilla and a second Anguirus as friends.
- In the beginning of the meeting with the scientists, they mention that Anguirus is also radioactive since a nuclear testing also woke him up, which is why he's immune to Godzilla's atomic breath until Godzilla kills him. Later films and supplementary materials tend to ignore this and disconnect his origins with nuclear weapons.
- Family-Unfriendly Death: Anguirus meets his match when Godzilla brutally bites into his neck and then sets him on fire with his atomic breath.
- Filling the Silence: The American version adds narration and music not present in the Japanese version.
- Happy Ending Override: While the first film's ending wasn't exactly "happy", it made all the effort the characters went through mattered. This film showed that there will be another Godzilla, though this second Godzilla would ultimately become a hero in the Showa era.
- Harmless Freezing: Godzilla gets buried by an avalanche, trapping him in ice. When he emerges in King Kong vs. Godzilla, he's none the worse for wear.
- Helicopter Flyswatter: In the final battle sequence, the planes basically drop like flies. In the Japanese version, Godzilla even catches a jet and tosses it to the ground.
- Inconsistent Dub:
- All the male dubbers pronounce Tsukioka as "Sue-Kee-Oh-Ka", while the female dubbers pronounce it somewhat more accurately as "Skyo-Ka".
- Gigantis also misnames Kamiko Island, twice in the same reel. It's either "Kamito" Island or "Kiawata Island".
- Inconsistent Spelling:
- In Gigantis, Godzilla is either referred to as "Gigantis" or "Angurus", the latter during Yamane's presentation where he refers to him with that name and stated he was "a member of the Angurus family".
- The names of the cast and crew of the Japanese film are misspelled in Gigantis: Shigeru Kayama > Shigem Kayama, Eiji Tsuburaya > Eliji Tsuburaya, Minoru Chiaki > Mindru Chiaki, and Motoyoshi Oda > Motoyoshi QDQ.
- Gigantis aside, Anguirus' original romanization, dating all the way back to 1955
◊, was Angilas, before Toho changed it around the mid-70s to the current spelling/pronunciation.
- Kill It with Ice: The military attempts to do this to Godzilla by burying him in an avalanche. He breaks free unscathed in the next movie.
- Lighter and Softer: Compared to the previous film, Godzilla Raids Again is actually more hopeful despite the actions of the monsters, and characters don't get worried about the monsters as much. It also does not contain as many of the horrors and aftermath of the original, and a conclusion where monster and man die together that treats the both as victims of war.
- Love Triangle: Tsukioka is engaged to Hidemi Yamaji while Kobayashi secretly pines for her. Unlike the previous film where there were consequences that followed, Kobayashi eventually became a Hopeless Suitor in a different way, and sees himself out. However, Hidemi does mourn for him.
- Mundane Solution: In response to Godzilla appearing in Osaka Bay, officials decide to evacuate the city.
- No-Sell: Anguirus is the first Godzilla opponent to tank his Atomic Breath (including to the face), with the beam destroying the buildings behind him. Justified as he's equally as radioactive as Godzilla. It is only when Godzilla takes a huge bite out of his neck that Godzilla ultimately manages to kill Anguirus, then incinerating his dead carcass.
- Post-Climax Confrontation: After Anguirus' definitive defeat at the teeth and jaws of Godzilla within downtown Osaka, the latter later suddenly reappears within the Arctic, only for a squadron of fighter-jets to subsequently bury him down underneath of a thick layer of ice right on up until the events of the following film.
- Posthumous Character: Daisuke Serizawa is mentioned as the inventor of the Oxygen Destroyer who gave a Heroic Sacrifice from the previous film.
- Regional Bonus: The 2009 German DVD has the best visual presentation of the film anywhere, although the German version is very slightly cut. (Even despite the film's age, Japanese telecines don't fare all that well in comparison).
- Scenery Gorn: Much like the previous film, we get to witness the ruins of Osaka following Godzilla and Anguirus' battle, though it isn't as
Nightmare Fuel-ish as the previous film, where there was a tear jerking levels of tragedy accompanied by Ifukube's score. - Senseless Sacrifice: Fears of another Godzilla appearing after the first one's death would be realized in this film. However, future entries in the Showa era would eventually show that this Godzilla is much more benevolent than the previous.
- Slurpasaur: Seen among the stock footage sequence that plays as part of Yamane's presentation in Gigantis.
- Spell My Name with a "The": Godzilla is always referred to with an integral article in the original German dub, as is Angurus in Gigantis."Das ist, ein Godzilla", Tsukioka
- Tokyo Is the Center of the Universe: A notable aversion for Godzilla, most of the action is centered around the western city of Osaka, at the time the second largest city in Japan.
- Token Romance: Unlike the previous film, the Love Triangle has no bearing to the overall plot. While the romance in the previous film actually gave the film its weight, there's no direct consequences involved, and Godzilla being buried in ice was a spur of the moment plan to prevent Godzilla from raiding Japan. All of that ends up being very pointless in the next sequel.
- Too Dumb to Live: The final six convicts. The first group tries to escape by truck and are pursued at a slow speed by Tsukioka, Kobayashi and two police officers, but crash into an oil refinery. The last three criminals run down into a subway station when they could have run out of reach of Godzilla and Anguirus's fighting. However, they drown when Godzilla tackles Anguirus into the river, causing the ceiling to collapse and kill them.
- Villain Protagonist: Godzilla in one of the first three films before his eventual Heel–Face Turn in Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster. The fact that he decides to leave Japan alone after defeating Anguirus despite destroying good portions of Osaka while doing so tells you such.
