Happy Godzilla Day, everyone! I hope all of you got the chance to check out the livestream for GodzillaFest, last night. If not, no worries. I will be going over the important stuff that was revealed at GodzillaFest and will be giving my thoughts on the two Godzilla short films: Godzilla vs Gigan Rex and GodzillaFest 3: Gigan Attacks. There is a lot of stuff to go over, so let's jump right in to it.
GigaBash:
To start off Godzilla Day, we got our first teaser and release date for the Godzilla DLC for Passion Games' kaiju brawler GigaBash. The teaser begins with showing a city in flames and rubble scattered on the ground. Then we see Godzilla with his back turned and dorsal fins charging up for an attack. Then we get the end card with "GigaBash X Godzilla" and the release date for December 9th. The design of Godzilla the game will be going with is the Heisei design since it is the most popular design of the monster. I could be wrong, but I think the design that it is based on is one from Godzilla vs Biollante. On the other hand, it could be from Godzilla vs King Ghidorah or Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle for Earth.
Now, there is apparently more open slots open according to Gormaru Island. The most popular choices fans are clamoring for are Gamera, Zilla (Godzilla 98), and King Ghidorah. If there are more invitations open to more fighters then King Ghidorah would be the most likely choice for another monster DLC.
S.H. MonsterArts Gigan:
The next announcement is the S.H. MonsterArts Gigan (1972) figure by Bandai Tamashii Nations. As with last year's event for Hedorah, the event is to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Godzilla vs Gigan. To commemorate the occasion, Tamashii Nations revealed an action figure of Gigan. There is no other info on the figure, at this time of writing. All I have to say is that the prototype looks awesome. If I were to guess, I can see this figure only coming with a flight stand since it didn't have a beam in the original movie.
New Godzilla Film Coming Next Year:
Back in February, a new monster movie being made by Toho Co. was announced and went into production. At the time it was announced, it was unknown if this would be a new Godzilla movie or a different monster movie. That was until at GodzillaFest, last night, we got our confirmation that this a new Godzilla movie that is coming next year November 3rd, 2023.
The film is directed Takashi Yamazaki who is known for the Always: Sunset on Third Street trilogy. This new Godzilla film will be taking place in Japan after World War II. The shooting for the movie is already done and is currently in post-production. There is no official title for the movie as of yet, but for now fans are calling it "Godzilla Zero" in the context of the "G" logo looks like a zero and the movie's setting.
While the movie will release in Japan next year, fans everywhere else will have to wait a little longer to see the film (unless it releases on Netflix). To coincide with the film's release, the fifth Monsterverse film under the working title "ORIGINS" releases in theaters in March 2024. So it looks like 2024 will be a big year for Godzilla and Godzilla fans as we have two movies releasing back to back.
Godzilla vs Gigan Rex Review:
After the announcement of the new Godzilla film, the even took a moment to reveal the new Gigan costume that was fundraised and made for this event. Then suddenly, the first short film of the event premiered and this had me excited!
I will begin by saying the walking animation is kind of static and the design for the Gigans looked a little weird. They looked like penguins with skinny legs and arms, but that is really my only complaint about Godzilla vs Gigan Rex. Everything else looked really well animated and shot.
I really loved at the beginning of the fight Godzilla just slams one of the Gigans to the ground. How it played out was that this Gigan charged up to Godzilla and tried to stab him with his tail, but Godzilla grabs hold of the tail and slams this Gigan down to the ground like a ragdoll and stomps the Gigan's head in and turns to the others like, "Alright, whose next?" It was such a great entrance and beginning to the fight.
Then after giving a few other Gigans a quick pounding, Godzilla is met with the red Gigan called Gigan Rex. As soon as the Rex lands, the claws turn into whips and his chest opens up like an eye firing a beam causing Godzilla to get knocked back. The Rex really has a good handle on the fight and Godzilla was able to snatch the whips, but failed to slam down the Rex like he could with the other Gigans.
There are a lot of great moments in this short film. The most notable moment is at the climax when after the Rex called for backup, it took all of the energy orbs from those Gigans to power up a final beam attack. Suddenly, we see Godzilla's body turning into a burning form, but glowing bright white rather than red. So the two monsters have a beam fight with Godzilla winning the fight.
I have heard a lot of people mention that this Godzilla is supposed to be Godzilla Jr. from Godzilla vs Destroyah all grown up. Toho Co. never confirmed it, but the hints to the claim were not settle. The first hint was that the actress Megumi Odaka voiced the opening monologue and she is most well known for her role as Miki Saegusa in the Heisei Godzilla series. Her opening monologue in Godzilla vs Gigan Rex mentioned about a great battle that Godzilla partook in quarter of a century ago and people have forgotten about him due to years of peace until the Gigans arrived. Then, there was the music choices in this film calling back to Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla 2 and Godzilla vs Destroyah, both of which featured Godzilla Jr. in the movies. Finally, there was that form this Godzilla transformed into that looks similar to Burning Godzilla also calling back to Godzilla vs Destroyah. It is unknown if this was supposed to be the case and this Godzilla is really the grown up Godzilla Jr., but if it was all just call backs and coincidences then that is one hell of a coincidence.
Overall, Godzilla vs Gigan Rex is a really well made animated short film. A lot of great moments, a couple of minor details I was iffy on, and a lot of call backs to the Heisei era. Sadly, this video may not be up on YouTube for long just like the Godzilla vs Hedorah short film from last year. I heavily recommend downloading the video if you want to watch it any time passed the point of the videos deletion.
Just to add one extra mention, two vinyl figures based on the short film are up for preorder on the Godzilla store website. If you are overseas and want to buy these figures, then they must be purchased through Buyee as purchasing them straight off the website won't deliver internationally.
Gigan Rex: https://godzilla.store/shop/g/gGSG0550035/
GodzillaFest 3: Gigan Attacks Review:
The second short film, GodzillaFest 3: Gigan Attacks, was the final event at this year's GodzillaFest. This one is live action much like the Godzilla vs Hedorah short film and the fight in this short film is much better choreographed.
It begins with a breaking news bulletin about Godzilla appearing again in Japan and recapping the short film from last year. We then see Godzilla and the reporter is panicking wondering why Godzilla has appeared. Suddenly, a burst of light shines in the sky revealing Gigan. The monster lands nearby Godzilla and both of the monsters begin to battle.
Now, for a suit that was made based on the original 1972 suit I would not have thought the design would look good in this day and age especially when pitted against the Godzilla from Final Wars. Boy was I wrong and I had a real blast watching the film.
As I mentioned before, the fight choreography is a lot better this time. The motion of the fight is more slowed down, but still looks like the monsters are doing heavy damage to each other. Even the special effects makes the fight look and feel more epic as their claws and beams clashed one another. What was cool about this new Gigan suit is that even though it is the same suit from the 1972 film, a small orb was added to Gigan's forehead giving it a beam attack, which got rendered useless after Godzilla swiped at it one time (Gigan's shocked reaction actually had me laughing). My favorite part is when Godzilla knocked down and Gigan thinks he is down for the count. As Gigan is about to make the final blow, Godzilla grabs Gigan and just blasts Gigan in the face with his atomic breath. That was such a great moment in the short film, in my opinion.
Overall, GodzillaFest 3: Gigan Attacks is definitely worth the watch. The fight is better choreographed and the Gigan suit looks awesome. Right now, you can only watch it from the GodzillaFest live stream and it starts exactly 6 hours and 57 minutes into the video. Sadly, this may also be taken down after a week. If there is a way to extract the video from the livestream and save just that video then I would really like to know how. These should be saved so everyone, especially future fans, can enjoy.
With that said, this year's GodzillaFest was solid. We got DLC coming to GigaBash this December, a few figures got revealed, a new Godzilla feature film from Toho Co. coming out next year, and two very awesome short films that I loved very much. I want to know what your thoughts on this year's GodzillaFest in the comments section. What was your favorite announcement or moment? Did you get to watch both short films? If so, which did you like more? Make sure to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Minds, MeWe, Gab, and TRUTH Social to stay up to date for more news, reviews, and discussions.