YMMV / Godzilla vs. Megalon

• Awesome Music: The actual score for the movie may be as much of a rushed mess as the movie itself, but the Jet Jaguar song is widely considered the best song of the movie for its crazy lyrics and surprisingly catchy instrumental.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: Godzilla, for reasons that have never been explained, slides on his tail twice to dropkick Megalon. It’s never been done before and it’s never referenced again.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Despite the movie itself not being well received, Megalon himself was very much well accepted by the fans for having a cool design and some decent fighting ability. It helps he has appeared in the Atari/Pipeworks Godzilla games as an easy to pick up and play fighter.
  • Gigan's status as one no doubt was the reason for his inclusion in this film.
  • Jet Jaguar has become this in recent years from fans who love him for having a ridiculously amazing design, excellent fighting capabilities, and above all else, his awesomely cheesy theme song. He would later appear in Godzilla fighting games where he's a fun character to use as well as in IDW's Rulers of the Earth comic.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: The movie was a complete bomb in Japan but when it was released in America it became a surprise financial hit and was a lot of people’s introduction to the king the monsters. In a way, this paid off for Toho, as it helped cement the idea of Godzilla as being a superhero for the Tokusatsu boom of the 1970's, a perception which somewhat remains to this day.
  • However, this perception did have its downsides, as part of the audience instead decided to not take Godzilla seriously. For example when The Return of Godzilla was planning to be distributed in America, New World wanted to turn into a comedy. The critical reaction to the film itself in America was complete confusion. To them they were wondering why the film was taking itself too seriously and was trashed by most critics. Up until the MonsterVerse started in 2014, when an American thought of Godzilla (not Zilla, mind) they were probably thinking of Godzilla vs. Megalon.
• Ho Yay: Goro and Hiroshi are often interpreted as a gay couple. That we're never given a solid explanation of how they even know each other doesn't help.
  • In the Japanese language version, this becomes a little more clear. Rokuro calls Goro as "Ni-chan", a childish version of "Ni-san", meaning "older brother". Hiroshi calls Goro "Senpai" and Goro calls him "Jinkawa" (his last name) consistently. Given the time period and the forms used, the most common explanation would be that Hiroshi is Goro's assistant and Rokuro is Goro's little brother. Rokuro calls Hiroshi "Jinkawa-san", which is correct for someone who is not a member of the family and older/more senior than him.
• Just Here for Godzilla: Ironically, Godzilla himself isn't the main reason many people watch this film, but rather Jet Jaguar.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • The Mystery Science Theater 3000 version certainly helped. It's hard to discuss Jet Jaguar without being met by a cry of "HE MOTHER NEVER REALLY LOVE HIM."
  • The overly enthusiastic "Punch! Punch! Punch!" from the Jet Jaguar song became its own minor meme, even getting an Easter Egg reference in the Viral Marketing to the 2014 Godzilla.
  • Godzilla's tail-slide against Megalon. So good, he does it TWICE, and it was later included as an unlockable move in Godzilla: The Game.
  • “I AM MEGALON!!”^note On the year of his anniversary, this meme emerged online, based on a 4chan post where a VR Chat user with a Megalon skin interrupted some cringy R Pers by barging in on them, screaming the aforementioned catchphrase, then crashing the map. The phrase has since gone on to be associated with Megalon himself.
• Narm:
  • Jet Jaguar communicating with Godzilla through hand signals when he goes to Monster Island to recruit him can be one.
  • Megalon and Gigan as well; they even do a high five/brofist at one point!
• Narm Charm: Jet Jaguar shaking Godzilla's hand at the end is so bizarre it's brilliant. Then the slow zoom toward Jet Jaguar's face just takes the awkwardness of the scene up to eleven.
• The Scrappy: Rokuro was annoying enough in the original, but the dub provides him with perhaps the most awful, screechy voice of any Godzilla kid.
• Serial Numbers Filed Off: A common rumor is that part of why Jet Jaguar didn't get off the ground was because the copyright owners of Ultraman took umbrage. If that's true, they must have buried the hatchet at some point, but it's highly unlikely this was the case to begin with, owing to the fact that Tsuburaya Productions and Toho have remained close operating partners pretty much since the former was established.
• Signature Scene: The hilariously, physics-defying dropkick sequence.
• So Bad, It's Good: Commonly regarded as one of the worst Godzilla movies, the film still has a fairly sizable fan following largely due to this trope. It's number nine on Up From The Depths Top Ten Must Watch Godzilla Films precisely because it's Godzilla at his most goofy and abject worst. The reasoning is twofold: It's one of the most kid-friendly entries (Playboy posters notwithstanding), making it a good entry to introduce young children to the franchise; and it is to Godzilla what Batman (1966) is to Batman: without hitting the absolute limits of camp and cheese, neither character might have attained the iconic status they now have.
• Special Effects Failure: Many, but most notably Godzilla's awe-inspiring tail-slide dropkick to Megalon.
  • Gigan got hit with this. In the new footage, Gigan's mouth and mandibles rarely move when he roars, and the mandibles are hanging at an angle the entire time like the internal supports are broken. He also never uses his belly buzzsaw, and the individual blades are all set at weird angles.
    • Look carefully and you'll find Gigan sucker-swipe in Godzilla from behind and slice open the top of his head with his buzzsaw. A spray of blood can even be seen before Godzilla falls down.
  • After Megalon retreats and the Seatopians seal off his escape route, it’s quite clear that the boulders used to block everything off are styrofoam as they’re not fully painted, with the incomplete parts being exposed.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: All that being said, a scene where Megalon destroys a dam is very impressive and obviously ate up a considerable chunk of the film's budget.
• WTH, Costuming Department?: Why does Godzilla have irises?
  • Cementing Godzilla's complete change into a protector of Earth, this version of his suit (used from here until Terror of Mechagodzilla), especially the head, resembles Kermit the Frog.
    • And he's CUTE!

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