History YMMV / MothraVsGodzilla

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Is Godzilla really such a bad guy in the film? When Godzilla awakens, he goes THROUGH Nagoya, but in no way destroys it. All the destruction Godzilla inflicts is caused by his clumsiness (his tail hits a gas tank startling him into firing his ray, his tail gets caught in the Nagoya TV Tower and manages to knock it over dislodging it, he trips and falls into Nagoya Castle then smashes it in a fit of rage). If the removed U.S. version-only scene is to be taken into account, Godzilla may have been making a bee-line for the Pacific, at which point he is turned away by the blasts of the Frontier Missiles. Then, Godzilla spends the rest of the film loitering about on the Kanto Plain, where he is continually attacked by the self-defense forces for no real reason whatsoever.

* UglyCute: Mothra is a giant fuzzy squealing ''bug'', yet one of the most endearing characters of the franchise. Part of it might be the contrast with Godzilla, who's straight-up ugly, though in the badass way.

** The close of of Mothra's attack on Godzilla at one point looks like it was either over-cranked or stop motion.

* AwesomeMusic: Despite the theme used in ''Film/KingKongVsGodzilla'' being removed in the English version of that film, the English version kept the music of that theme intact for this film. This theme would end up being used two more times, in ''Film/GodzillaVsGigan'' (as stock music) and ''Film/GodzillaVsMechagodzillaII''.

* CounterpartComparison: Godzilla, ugly, durable and vicious, vs. Mothra, beautiful, fragile and gentle.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Is Godzilla really such a bad guy in the film? When Godzilla awakens, he goes THROUGH Nagoya, but in no way destroys it. All the destruction Godzilla inflicts is caused by his clumsiness (his tail hits a gas tank startling him into firing his ray, his tail gets caught in Nagoya Castle and manages to knock it over dislodging it, he trips and falls into Nagoya Castle then smashes it in a fit of rage). If the removed U.S. version-only scene is to be taken into account, Godzilla may have been making a bee-line for the Pacific, at which point he is turned away by the blasts of the Frontier Missiles. Then, Godzilla spends the rest of the film loitering about on the Kanto Plain, where he is continually attacked by the self-defense forces for no real reason whatsoever.

* HilariousInHindsight: The original US dub title naming Mothra "[[Film/TheThingFromAnotherWorld The]] [[Film/TheThing1982 Thing]]", which has inspired more than a few crossovers with Godzilla and the [[EldritchAbomination definitely much more terrifying thing.]]

* AwesomeMusic: Despite the theme being used in ''Film/KingKongVsGodzilla'' was removed in the English, the English version kept the music of that theme intact for this film. This theme would end up used two more times, in ''Film/GodzillaVsGigan'' (as stock music) and ''Film/GodzillaVsMechagodzillaII''.
* CounterpartComparison: Godzilla, ugly, durable and vicious vs. Mothra, beautiful, fragile and gentle.

** While intentional, the wobbly muzzle of Mosugoji suit used after the castle destruction (itself a behind the scenes effects failure) can be a bit off putting.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Is Godzilla really such a bad guy in the film? When Godzilla awakens, he goes THROUGH Nagoya, but in no way destroys it. All the destruction Godzilla inflicts is caused by his clumsiness (his tail hits a gas tank startling him into firing his ray, his tail gets caught in Nagoya Castle and manages to knock it over dislodging it, he trips and falls into Nagoya Castle then smashes it in a fit of rage). If the removed U.S. version-only scene is to be taken into account, Godzilla may have been making a bee-line for the Pacific at which point, he is turned away by the blasts of the Frontier Missiles. Then, Godzilla spends the rest of the film loitering about on the Kanto Plain where he is continually attacked by the self defense forces for no real reason whatsoever.

* UglyCute: Mothra is a giant fuzzy squealing ''bug'', yet one of the most endearing characters of the franchise. Part of it might be the contrast with Godzilla, who's straight-up ugly, though in the {{badass}} way.

** While intentional, the wobbly muzzle of Mosugoji suit used after the castle destruction (itself a behind the scenes effects failure) can be a bit off putting.

* HilariousInHindsight: The original US dub title naming Mothra "[[Film/TheThingFromAnotherWorld The]] [[Film/TheThing1982 Thing]]", which has inspired more than a few crossovers with Godzilla and the [[EldritchAbomination definetely much more terrifying thing.]]

* MagnumOpus: Widely considered the best film of the Showa era, if not the entire franchise.

* Special Effects Failure: A few.

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: The whole sequence on Infant Island, where the human protagonists ponder the horrors of nuclear testing and atomic war. Hamfisted? Undoubtedly. An important moral in the heart of the Cold War? Indubitably.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: The living turtle skeleton on infant island. [[http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/hukuromusi1017/63638017.html It even got a figure.]]

* HilariousInHindsight: The original US dub title naming Mothra "[[Film/TheThing1982 The Thing]]", which has inspired more than a few crossovers with Godzilla and the [[EldritchAbomination definetely much more terrifying thing.]]

* SomewhereAnEntomologistIsCrying: Moths don't lay hard-shelled eggs. Normally we could pass this off as a necessary bit of artistic license (a softer might collapse on itself when scaled up to Kaiju size) but Mothra's egg is compared to chicken eggs more than twice.

* SomewhereAnEntomologistIsCrying: Moths don't lay hard-shelled eggs.

* HilariousInHindsight: The original US dub title naming Mothra "[[Film/TheThing1982 The Thing]]", which has inspired more than a few crossovers with Godzilla and the definetely much more terrifying thing.

* HilariousInHindsight: The original US dub title naming Mothra "TheThing", which has inspired more than a few crossovers with Godzilla and the definetely much more terrifying thing.

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: The whole sequence on Infant Island.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: The living turtle skeleton on infant island.

* CounterpartComparison: Godzilla, ugly, durable and vicious vs. Mothra, beautiful, fragile and gentle.