Line #0 YMMV/GodzillaVsKingGhidorah


1	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
2	** Did Godzilla kill [[spoiler:Shindo]] out of anger at [[spoiler:being left to die by him]]? Or was it because [[spoiler:he knew Shindo wanted to die]]? Did he actually recognize or even remember [[spoiler:Shindo]] or was it all in [[spoiler:Shindo]]'s head? Would Godzilla have just destroyed that building, regardless of who was standing there?
3	** Discussed in-universe in regards to the Godzillasaurus saving Shindo's platoon from the American soldiers during World War II: Was it really trying to rescue them as Shindo fervently believes or was it simply defending its territory?
4	** While the film has been criticized for a pro-nationalism stance, some actually see it as a criticism of Japan's growing nationalism. [[Analysis/GodzillaVsKingGhidorah Read the analysis section for more detail.]]
5	** How "evil" the American soldiers on Lagos Island are is also up for debate. They arguably only attack the Godzillasaurus out of self defense, and upon retreating from the island, sympathetically note that the Japanese troops are in rough shape anyway and hardly need any more bombardment, especially with a giant dinosaur already on the loose. How "good" Shindo and his men are is likewise questionable, since Shindo ended up secretly building a ''nuclear-armed submarine'' out of his desire to protect Japan.
6	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Akira Ifukube returned to the franchise for the first time since ''Film/TerrorOfMechagodzilla'' in 1975, and his return was ''glorious''.
7	* BadassDecay: Ghidorah was the most powerful foe Godzilla faced in the 1960s, requiring the efforts of 2-3 monsters to drive off in his [[Film/GhidorahTheThreeHeadedMonster first]] [[Film/InvasionOfAstroMonster two]] appearances. He was already starting to lose his edge a bit in the 70s when Godzilla and Anguirus were able to beat him and [[Film/GodzillaVsGigan Gigan]] at the same time, then again when [[Series/ZoneFighter Zone Fighter]] was able to face him in a solo battle, but ''Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah'' is when he really started to decline as a serious threat. Godzilla slaughters him in their first fight, and nearly wins their second fight despite Ghidorah having cybernetic enhancements. In every one of his subsequent film appearances, he's lost to Godzilla (and sometimes [[Film/RebirthOfMothra3 Mothra!]]) in one-on-one fights, rather than needing a team to bring him down, and he's often outright killed rather than fleeing.
8	** In King Ghidorah's defense, the Heisei Godzilla, by virtue of being mutated by modern nuclear weaponry, is documented as being larger and far more powerful than the Showa version ever was, so it follows that he would be able to do more damage to his opponent. Also, Ghidorah actually had the upper hand at the beginning of the first fight, only losing his advantage when the humans disrupted his mind control, causing him to violently spasm, and enabling a fallen Godzilla to recover. He still managed to recoup and nearly strangle the Big G to death(!), forcing Godzilla to use a still new last-ditch superpower (nuclear pulse) to escape.
9	* BrokenAesop: The film tries to be anti-nuclear with both Godzilla and King Ghidorah being giant monsters created by nuclear weapons, the people of 1992 being told that Godzilla caused Japan's destruction via nuclear fallout. But then the protagonists decide to recreate Godzilla with a nuclear sub armed with nuclear warheads by Mr. Shindo, a ''Japanese man'', yet the irony is lost on everyone.
10	* CompleteMonster: [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain Chuck Wilson]] is the xenophobic leader of the Futurians, [[MakeWrongWhatOnceWentRight time-travelling terrorists]] who want to stop [[JapanTakesOverTheWorld Japan from becoming a global superpower]] in the future. [[NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist Under the pretense of preventing Godzilla's creation to save Japan]], Wilson and his subordinates go back in time and leave the dinosaur that would become Godzilla to die at the bottom of the Bering Sea, and in its place they leave behind three creatures that would be mutated by H-bomb testing, fusing them into [[Characters/GodzillaTheGhidorahs King Ghidorah]]. In present-day Japan, Wilson takes control of Ghidorah and uses him to attack Fukuoka, killing hundreds, before sending him to destroy Hokkaido and everything on the way there. When Godzilla is revealed to have survived and arrives to defeat Ghidorah, Wilson attempts to return to his time, gloating that Godzilla will finish the job that he started and finish off the rest of Japan.
11	* EnsembleDarkHorse:
12	** Shindo is often regarded as one of the more well remembered human characters of the series for his backstory and emotional [[spoiler:sacrifice]].
13	** M-11 is also well liked for his quirky personality and competent fighting against the villains, sometimes even compared to being the Heisei era’s Jet Jaguar.
14	** Despite only having the one appearance, Mecha-King Ghidorah is one of the most popular Kaiju in the series, later appearing in the Pipeworks Godzilla games.
15	* HilariousInHindsight:
16	** JapanTakesOverTheWorld by becoming the richest nation...despite being in an economic downturn that as of 2021 is entering its third decade!
17	** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gojirasaurus There is now an offical (albeit dubious)]] ''Gojirasaurus'' in real life, although it and the beast from the film look nothing alike, beyond both being theropod dinosaurs.
18	** And now, over 33 years after the films release [[https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2024/02/fe4b359cdf0f-tyrannosaurid-jawbone-fossil-found-for-1st-time-in-japan.html a tyrannosaur]], which Godzillasaurus was intended as, has been found in Japan.
19	* HypeBacklash: The film is highly regarded as a major fan favorite within the Godzilla series, often ranking high up on fan lists as one of the franchises all time best. It’s also appeared in lists ranking it as the most overrated and sometimes one of the worst entries of the series, believing it lacked interesting characters to follow (minus Shindo and Emmy) and the time travel plot that is sometimes passed off as an unintelligible mess that ruins the enjoyment of the film.
20	* MexicansLoveSpeedyGonzales: Despite controversy over the film's negative depiction of Americans, many fans in the U.S. didn't really mind this portrayal and consider this entry to be one of the best in the Heisei series.
21	* MisaimedFandom: Shindo [[spoiler:accepting death by Godzilla as his way of redeeming himself after dooming the very country he helped build after World War II]] is often cited as one of the series’ most emotional and tear jerking scenes in the series. Despite this, there’s a good sized portion of the fanbase that claims it was a comedic scene, believing it‘s funny how [[spoiler:Shindo thought he and Godzilla would be friends.]]
22	* {{Narm}}: The film has the most ''terrible'' acting from the English actors in the Heisei series, aside the rest of it. Especially with the American [=GI=]s in the World War II sequence. The acting was so bad, it fits the "SoBadItsGood" territory. The Omni Productions dub has this in effect as well, for some reason dubbing over the English-speaking actors as well with ''even worse'' acting.
23	** "Take that, you dinosaur!"
24	** The English version contains one of the most bizarre statements ever. After seeing Godzilla kill King Ghidorah, some of the characters watching the battle notice Godzilla is starting to walk towards the city. In response, Prof. Mazaki shouts "Just look at that thing! It's not going to be friendly to us!" This suggests that he believes that if something is large in size, it's instantly evil. [[RightForTheWrongReasons He's right about Godzilla not being friendly, but still, such a nonsensical statement is strange]].
25	** Most scenes with M-11, especially whenever he runs.
26	* NarmCharm:
27	** M-11 chasing Emmy and Terasawa, in which he's able to steer a car down a straight road despite having his upper body completely outside the car, rips off his burning jacket with no reaction after he flips the car and it catches on fire, and runs at an incredible speed grinning awkwardly as a vibraphone plays in the background. It's meant to be creepy, and it is - just not as intended. Rather than selling the idea of M-11 as a threatening antagonist, it comes off as a darkly comic piece of SurrealHorror.
28	** The idea of a prosthetic ''head'', to replace the middle head Ghidorah lost to Godzilla. Sure, it's a rather silly concept, but ultimately, what's not awesome about a cyborg three-headed dragon who can now shoot ''laser beams'' out of its robotic center head? It's because of this that Mecha-King Ghidorah has become a staple in the video games.
29	* SignatureScene:
30	** The destruction of Fukuoka by King Ghidorah.
31	** Godzilla decapitating Ghidorah’s middle head.
32	** Shindo’s [[spoiler:sacrifice]].
33	** The appearance of Mecha-King Ghidorah.
34	* SpecialEffectsFailure:
35	** Ironically, this film won for special effects. The SFX failure in question is when Emi Kano is using her jetpack, a rather unstably zoomed matte shot.
36	** Every time M-11 runs at superhuman speeds, as detailed under NarmCharm.
37	** While the Ghidorah suit is very impressive on the ground, the flying effects leave much to be desired, especially compared to how good similar scenes looked in the Showa-era movies decades earlier. Ghidorah appears to fly extremely slowly and barely flap his wings, and shots where his shadow is superimposed over location footage of various Japanese cities look exactly like what they are...a 2D element slapped over footage of 3D environments.
38	* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: King Ghidorah's radically altered origins are disliked by a sizeable portion of the fanbase, partly because it's way more convoluted and reduces him to a pawn even more than before than simply having him as a space monster (his and Mecha-King Ghidorah's ''designs'' on the other hand are well-received and among the most popular of his various incarnations).
39	* ValuesDissonance: The sympathetic portrayal of World War II Japanese military personnel has gotten some heavy criticism in the West and even more in Asian countries that were invaded or colonized by Japan, areas that tend to view such portrayals as [[HistoricalHeroUpgrade whitewashing]].
40	* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: despite some ropey effects regarding M-11 and Ghidorah's flying scenes, overall this is a visually impressive installment in the series, and netted Koichi Kawakita a Japanese Academy Award for his FX work. All of the monster suits and puppets look great, with the "Godzilla B" suit in particular being a fan favorite. There are tons of great pyrotechnics, some really effective composite shots of the UFO, and some very memorably trippy time travel effects.
41	* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical:
42	** Many viewers both outside of and inside in Japan criticized the depiction of WesternTerrorists (implied to be Americans at that) creating King Ghidorah simply to destroy Japan. Furthermore, the concept of Pacific War-era Japanese soldiers being portrayed in positive light caused some backlash. The director has gone on record that the movie is not meant to be pro or anti anything, and the depictions were simply for the sake of telling the story.
43	** During Ghidorah's rampage, Wilson viciously declares that it's time to show the Japanese how to rebuild their country properly. This suggests lingering anxieties regarding the American occupation and reconstruction of Japan following World War II, which saw dramatic alterations to the country's society and a reduction of their armed forces. Wilson represents what might be perceived as a western urge to modify and subjugate eastern nations should they ever become military or economic threats.

Context YMMV / GodzillaVsKingGhidorah