History Creator / IshiroHonda

Ishirō Honda (本多猪四郎 ''Honda Ishirō'', 7 May 1911 – 28 February 1993) is one of the well-known directors of Creator/{{Toho}}, perhaps famous for his Showa Era Franchise/{{Godzilla}} films.

Ishiro Honda (本多猪四郎 ''Honda Ishirō'', 1911-1993) is one of the well-known directors of Creator/{{Toho}}, perhaps famous for his Showa Era Franchise/{{Godzilla}} films.

[[quoteright:260:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ishiro_honda.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:260:The man at work]]

Born in 1911, Honda was raised by a Buddhist father, in which he had a positive outlook in life. As a film director, for the majority of his early career, he directed propaganda films. He was eventually drafted in World War II, in which he was a foot solider (putting his movie career on hold for a while). His ultimate life changing experience was the destruction of Hiroshima caused by the atomic bomb, thereby haunting him forever. Poor guy. When ''Godzilla'' was being produced, Honda decided to turn the movie into what it is today, and it's popular amongst the Japanese and fans of the series.

Ishiro Honda (本多猪四郎 Honda Ishirō, 1911-1993) is one of the well-known directors of Creator/{{Toho}}, perhaps famous for his Showa Era Franchise/{{Godzilla}} films.

* ''Film/{{Gojira}}''

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: When Honda's films are sent to America, his name is somehow written as "I''no''shiro" Honda.

Ishiro Honda's direction of ''[[Film/{{Gojira}} Godzilla]]'' stems the fact that it was based on his haunted experience of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima at the end of World War II. After ''Godzilla'', the majority of his {{Kaiju}} films tends to have a bittersweet ending, while others do have a happier, less depressing endings.

* BittersweetEnding: Majority of his films will end this way. It may have been the fact that his films were based on real-life events.

* SpaceWhaleAesop: Honda is the king of this trope. ''[[Film/{{Gojira}} Godzilla]]'' involved nuclear weapons, ''Film/{{Mothra}}'' involved it's not a good idea to let your greed get in a way of disaster, etc. And despite the hate ''Film/AllMonstersAttack'' has received, it deals with you, as a child, must handle the world by yourself even if your parents aren't around to help you.
* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: Depending on film, you have ''[[Film/{{Gojira}} Godzilla]]'', ''Film/{{Rodan}}'', and ''The H-Man'' in one hand with cynicism, but ''Film/{{Mothra}}'', ''Film/DestroyAllMonsters'', and ''Film/MothraVsGodzilla'' on the ideal hand. ''Godzilla'' is very notoriously cynical [[UsefulNotes/AtomicBombingsOfHiroshimaAndNagasaki for a reason]].

Born in 1911, Honda was raised by a Buddhist father, in which he had a positive outlook in life. As a film director, majority of his career, he directed propaganda films. He was eventually drafted in World War II, in which he was a foot solider (putting his movie career on hold for a while). His ultimate life changing experience was the destruction of Hiroshima caused by the atomic bomb, thereby haunting him forever. Poor guy. When ''Godzilla'' was being produced, Honda decides to turn the movie into what it is today, and it's popular amongst the Japanese and fans of the series.

Ishiro Honda's direction of ''[[Film/{{Gojira}} Godzilla]]'' stems the fact that it was based on his haunted experince of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima after Japan's surrender of World War II. After ''Godzilla'', majority of his {{Kaiju}} films tends to have a bittersweet ending, while others do have a happier, if any, less depressing endings.

Aside Kaiju, Honda had other films that are easily overlooked. Notably, his film after ''Godzilla''. He is long-time friends with Creator/AkiraKurosawa, and they have directed movies together, such as ''Film/{{Kagemusha}}'', ''Film/{{Ran}}'', and quite a few more. Like Kurosawa, Honda's well-known actors in his films is Takashi Shimura (who is well known as Dr. Yamane in ''Godzilla''), Akihiko Hirata, Kenji Sahara, and Akira Takarada.

Sadly, he passed away before he could direct ''Film/GodzillaVsMechagodzilaII'', which would have been his first Heisei Godzilla film.

Aside Kaiju, Honda had other films that are easily overlooked. Notably, his film after ''Godzilla''. He is long-time friends with Creator/AkiraKurosawa, and they have directed movies together, such as ''Film/{{Kagemusha}}'', ''Film/{{Ran}}'', and quite a few more. Like Kurosawa, Honda's well-known actors in his films is Takashi Shimura (who is well known as Dr. Yamane in ''Godzilla''), Akihiko Hirata, Kenji Sahara, and a quite more.

** ''Film/GodzillaRaidsAgain''

** ''Film/EbirahHorrorOfTheDeep''
** ''Film/SonOfGodzilla''

* NuclearWeaponsTaboo: His famous one. He will pull a SpaceWhaleAesop for this reason.
* ShellShockedVeteran: Honda is one. After UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, he made ''Godzilla'' with its own shell-shcoked veteran.
* SpaceWhaleAesop: Honda is the friggin' king of this trope. ''[[Film/{{Gojira}} Godzilla]]'' involved nuclear weapons, ''Film/{{Mothra}}'' involved it's not a good idea to let your greed get in a way of disaster, etc. And despite the hate ''Film/AllMonstersAttack'' has received, it deals with you, as a child, must handle the world by yourself even if your parents aren't around to help you.

* ShellShockedVeteran: Honda is one. After WorldWarII, he made ''Godzilla'' with its own shell-shcoked veteran.

* AuthorAppeal: Any of his films will have a giant monster with ending their life a complete tragedy. ''Main/{{Mothra}}'' was the only film monster that didn't suffer from this.

* SpaceWhaleAesop: Honda is the friggin' king of this trope. ''[[Film/{{Gojira}} Godzilla]]'' involved nuclear weapons, ''Main/{{Mothra}}'' involved it's not a good idea to let your greed get in a way of disaster, etc. And despite the hate ''Film/AllMonstersAttack'' has received, it deals with you, as a child, must handle the world by yourself even if your parents aren't around to help you.

* MagnumOpus: Ishiro Honda considered ''Film/{{Matango}}'' his masterwork.

* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: Depending on film, you have ''[[Film/{{Gojira}} Godzilla]]'', ''Film/{{Rodan}}, and ''The H-Man'' in one hand with cynicism, but ''Film/{{Mothra}}'', ''Film/DestroyAllMonsters'', and ''Film/MothraVsGodzilla'' on the ideal hand. ''Godzilla'' is very notoriously cynical [[UsefulNotes/AtomicBombingsOfHiroshimaAndNagasaki for a reason]].

* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: Depending on film, you have [[Film/{{Gojira}}]], ''Film/{{Rodan}}, and ''The H-Man'' in one hand with cynicism, but ''Film/{{Mothra}}'', ''Film/DestroyAllMonsters'', and ''Film/MothraVsGodzilla'' on the ideal hand. ''Godzilla'' is very notoriously cynical for a reason.

* Anvilicious: No matter what film, he will drop this in-universe in his films.

Ishiro Honda (本多猪四郎 Honda Ishirō, 1911-1993) is one of the well-known directors of Toho, perhaps famous for his Showa Era Franchise/{{Godzilla}} films.

Born in 1911, Honda was raised by a Buddist father, in which he had a positive outlook in life. As a film director, majority of his career, he directed propaganda films. He was eventually drafted in World War II, in which he was a foot solider (putting his movie career on hold for a while). His ultimate life changing experience was the destruction of Hiroshima caused by the atomic bomb, thereby haunting him forever. Poor guy. When ''Godzilla'' was being produced, Honda decides to turn the movie into what it is today, and it's popular amongst the Japanese and fans of the series.

Aside Kaiju, Honda had other films that are easily overlooked. Notably, his film after ''Godzilla''. He is long-time friends with AkiraKurosawa, and they have directed movies together, such as ''Film/{{Kagemusha}}'', ''Film/{{Ran}}'', and quite a few more. Like Kurosawa, Honda's well-known actors in his films is Takashi Shimura (who is well known as Dr. Yamane in ''Godzilla''), Akihiko Hirata, Kenji Sahara, and a quite more.

Ishiro Honda (本多猪四郎 Honda Ishirō, 1911-1993) is one of the well-known directors of Toho, perhaps famous for his Showa Era {{Godzilla}} films.

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: His first ''Godzilla'' film was the reason why he made it as it is. He dropped the anvil on the subject matter when Japan had a Tuna Scare when the shipped tuna was considered contaminated, The Lucky Dragon Incident, and the atomic bombings 9 years after WWII had ended. ''Godzilla'' was actually an unusual film at its time, since Godzilla is considered a nuclear metaphor. The beginning of the third act and the scenes following it shown how humans are supposed to handle a crisis when a weapon of mass destruction is set-off or used.

-->"Monsters are born too tall, too strong, too heavy—that is their tragedy."
-->--From the man himself

* MagnumOpus: Ishiro Honda considered ''Main/{{Matango}}'' his masterwork.

* ShellShockedVeteran: Honda is one. After the [[WorldWarII]], he made ''Godzilla'' with its own shell-shcoked veteran.

* TragicMonster: Pick one. One of his monsters will have a tragic ending. Godzilla ''is'' one by default.