Godzilla and Godzilla Raids Again

If you loved the original film, you will enjoy book just as much of not more so. It provides a unique insight to each of the characters. It changes up the roles of some of the characters (Shinkichi basically taking on aspects of both his role in the film as well as Ogata's, while Ogata himself was changed and almost completely sidelined). I won't spoil too much, but I enjoyed it overall. It followed the narrative of the film pretty well for the most part. It made Godzilla much more menacing and ferocious towards humanity than in the film, even depicting the monster killing and and attacking people. The character's first on-screen encounter to Godzilla doesn't compare to how violent and terrifying it is in the book with Emiko being much closer to the creature! Though I do appreciate a lot of the additions presented in the novel, one specific part in the novel I thought was interesting, but would've ruined the pacing of the film was the Tokyo Godzilla Society, which didn't really amount to much in terms of buildup. Think of The Mandarin from "Iron Man 3" and you will see what I mean.I enjoyed reading the first book. The second, "Godzilla Raids Again" is just about on par with the film in terms of enjoyability. I do think the movie is underrated for what it is (apart from the infamous English dub), the novel itself was alright, much like the film. Much like the film did, tone from the original "Gojira" is lost. Whereas the original was much more somber and tragic, this one feels more optimistic in some of the pacing much like the film. There's no significant loss for any of the characters until towards the very end with the final battle with Godzilla. One thing that I will spoil is that they gave Anguirus a white beam much like Godzilla's which wasn't present in the film. I thought that was kind of neat, but at the same time, felt kind of tacked on last minute. The second book, while enjoyable, has a more campy vibe to it. Shigeru Kayama, who wrote the scripts for the two films and the eventual novelizations (this book) did not want to come back to write anymore for the goals series after this for this reason, and I can kind of see why. While Godzilla was gaining popularity, Kayama felt that the creature he wrote changed in a way that didn't suit his original anti-nuclear weapons message in the Afterward.It also made me realize that how much influence Americans had on the creature. Between the mass shootings in Tokyo in 1945 and the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we Americans along with the horrors of destructive man-made weapons in general inspired these people to create a manifestation of a creature that embodies all of that into a single monster. A single story.I loved Godzilla when I was 8 years old. My first Godzilla film was ironically the 1998 TriStar film, but then after that I saw "Godzilla vs The Sea Monster" and "Son of Godzilla" (the latter was for the bizarre VHS cover art). Eventually, I saw all of the films. I originally saw Godzilla movies for the spectacle of the giant monster battles, but as I got older, I eventually came to the understanding that Godzilla himself is a figure of tragedy. The original novel does a good job encapsulating this aspect of Godzilla in much of the same way the original film does.I recommend reading the afterward part once you finish reading the novels themselves. It gives you a good insight of what the writers and the directors that created this franchise.Overall, if you are as a big of fan of Godzilla as I am, give this a read. The novels themselves are not the long and have a pace similar to the films. The translator did a pretty good job here. I also appreciate he left in the sound effects that the Japanese would use in original book. I give this book a "RAAAWWRR!!!!" out of ten.

I've been waiting decades for someone to finally bring these classic novellas to America, and in the loving hands of translator Jeffrey Angles, they got the treatment they deserve. Angles gives particular attention to faithfully rendering Kayama's use of onomatopoeia, capturing the original author's energetic voice. Where necessary, Angles provides footnotes to explain cultural elements that wouldn't be clear to an American reader, and there's a wonderful afterward with insights into the development of the story and Kayama's feelings about the film version. The first novella has some interesting differences from the film version as well, making this an interesting read even if you've seen the movie. Also, the second novella clarifies certain plot elements that didn't quite come across in the movie version. These novellas are every bit as entertaining as their cinematic counterparts, and they have long been regarded as classics in Japan. It's high time they made their way to America.

Honestly as a long time Godzilla fan, since the age of 3, I love getting different types of Godzilla collectables, merch, and media. But for any fan, the novel version of the original two films that started the great King Of The Monsters, you just have to read it to even begin to see what the mind could conjure that the screen can't always capture. Totally amazed!

This review is threefold, covering the book itself as a product, the translation quality, and the prose content.First, this may be the highest-quality paperback I’ve ever owned. The cover has a lightly-textured matte finish that is incredibly soft to hold, and does not seem to retain fingerprints. The paper is fairly thick, almost like cardstock, and the binding shows no signs of splitting after I finished my read (though I’m fairly gentle with paperbacks). All around it’s a very well-made book.Second, the translation is for the most part perfectly readable, and Jeffrey Angles explains some of the decisions behind his translation philosophy in the Afterword, which I enjoyed reading as someone who has translated fiction myself. My biggest quibbles are that some words and phrases are used repetitively when synonyms would have likely sufficed, and much of the dialogue in both novellas comes across as very awkward and stilted, not unlike the English dubs of most of the Godzilla films themselves. This latter point may have been an intentional choice of convention, as Angles mentions in the Afterword that he deferred to some established traditions in the Godzilla franchise when a literal reading (such as transliterating Odo Island as “Oto” Island) would perhaps have deviated a bit too far in the eyes of the fanbase. The translations certainly read like novelizations of the dubs at times, but I can appreciate that as someone whose first exposure to Godzilla came in the form of the dubs.Lastly, the novellas themselves were a mixed bag for me. There are some intriguing departures from the films in their content, particularly in the first story. However, the characterizations are threadbare, and there is very little in the way of narrative exposition or descriptive detail (other than the sounds of destruction, which, appropriately, are amply present). Both novellas assume the reader is highly familiar with the films, and as Angles points out in the Afterword, some of the (limited) setpiece descriptions in the stories directly describe shots from the films. This can make the stories hard to follow at times if you haven’t recently viewed the films (like me, though this book makes me want to revisit them), especially in Godzilla Raids Again, where the lack of characterization makes most of the character names meaningless and the plot boils down to “this event happened, then this event happened, and then this event happened.” Angles does mention in the Afterword that these novels were intended for a younger audience in Japan, so to an extent I can overlook this simplistic approach.However, the 30 page essay in the Afterword, giving an overview of Shigeru Kayama’s career and the production history of the first two Godzilla films, as well as the cultural impact of the stories in post-war Japan, is nearly worth the price of the book itself. Angles does an excellent job honoring Kayama’s literary and cinematic achievements, and why the original Gojira film resonated so strongly with audiences who had endured not only atomic bombing, but also the insecurity of infrastructure and economic collapse after the Second World War. I would enjoy reading an entire book by Jeffrey Angles on this subject.Honestly, I would not consider this book to be a must-read for the average Godzilla fan, but would definitely recommend it for someone interested in exploring the anti-nuclear (and anti-war) themes of the Gojira story more closely, as well as the behind-the-scenes creation of the character and film.

I’m halfway through the second novel and I gotta say it’s a really good read.Despite the setting being decades ago it still rings relevancy which goes to show how profound of a author someone is

Fascinante versão em prosa dos dois primeiros filmes da longeva série sci-fi de Kaijus, é uma leitura obrigatória para todo fã do gênero!

Se trata ni más ni menos que de la novela y el relato largo que dieron origen a las dos primeras películas de Godzilla: Gojira y El regreso de Gojira.Estas historias fueron un encargo que la compañía Toho le hizo al escritor de ciencia ficción Shigeru Kayama como base para filmar una película de monstruo gigante al estilo de The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (Eugène Lourié, 1953), y aunque estaba presente en el mercado japonés, es hora que aún no se traduce al español. Las dos únicas versiones que yo conozco fuera del japonés, y ahora esta, al inglés, son una versión italiana y otra francesa.La adaptación al cine de la primera novela, es muy fiel, casi parecen calcadas y todo lo que observas en la pantalla te es narrado en el libro. Sin embargo, si hay diferencias que convierten a la película en una mejor versión que la novela.1. En la novela, el personaje principal es Shinkishi, un joven habitante de la isla Odo (donde Godzilla ataca por primera vez), quien trabaja en Japón como rescatista. En la película, su lugar será tomado por Ogata (su jefe en la novela) y Shinkishi será un joven huérfano adoptado por el Dr. Yamane después de que Godzilla haga estragos en su pueblo pesquero de Odo, donde su hermano resulta muerto.2. En la película existe un triángulo amoroso entre Ogata, Emiko y el Dr. Serizawa, quien es el prometido de Emiko. Este triángulo de pasión y corazones rotos le otorga más sabor a la historia y la hace más lógica en tanto que aquí si podemos entender por qué Serizawa le tiene tanta confianza a la joven Emiko.3. En la novela existe una pequeña trama C, sobre un extraño grupo o secta a favor de Godzilla, que en la película desaparece y que en la novela no es bien desarrollada cuyo objetivo es solo que tengamos dudas sobre el comportamiento del Dr. Yamane, quien no quiere matar a Godzilla sino estudiarlo.La segunda novela (o, mejor dicho, relato largo), El Regreso de Godzilla, también fue fielmente adaptado a la pantalla y es donde aparece por primera vez uno de los enemigos de Godzilla que tiene un gran club de fans: Anguirus, un ankilosauro radioactivo que se enfrentará a Godzilla en Osaka, creando una destrucción tal vez mayor que en Tokio, pues aquí destruyen, además de todo, un antiguo e histórico castillo.Lo que sí es fácil dilucidar, es que ambas novelas tienen objetivos concretos: la primera es una reconstrucción y crítica a la guerra, a la posición de Japón en ella y al uso de la energía atómica como arma de destrucción masiva. Por lo tanto, el tono de la historia es más triste y pesimista.La segunda novela se centra en los esfuerzos de reconstrucción no solo de la infraestructura del país, sino de la misma vida de sus habitantes y su esfuerzo por mantenerse positivos y avantes ante la adversidad.Sin embargo, ambas novelas cuentan en sus historias con dos cruentos sacrificios que nos recuerdan que nada es gratis en esta vida y que subrayan el sacrificio que los mismos japoneses deben hacer para volver a poner a flote a su país.La edición norteamericana incluye además un excelente y largo ensayo de Jeffrey Angles "Translating an icon" que verdaderamente vale la pena y que nos ofrece todo un panorama, no solo de estas novelas de Kayama, sino de la película principal de Godzilla y muchos detalles que incluso — y perdonen la falsa modestia — los que le sabemos al tema, desconocíamos.

Finally have the translated original Godzilla & Godzilla Raids Again novels. Both a brilliant read for any Kaiju/Godzilla fan and are translated from Japanese to English brilliantly. Have fun reading this and hope you do too.

Arrived in excellent condition, super excited to read it!

Fascinating reprints - this is the early Godzilla films redone as 50s YA thrillers, with a whole new lead character in the first story to fit that audience, but a Japanese YA audience so you get details like wartime evacuation backstories for youths, and an audience that hasn't yet come to see Godzilla as a hero so he gets to be a monstrous killer. The backmatter adds an extra star to this, going deep into the writer's biography and the making of the films.