Awesome Music: Akira Ifukube's second score for the Godzilla franchise is easily one of his best. While the replacement music featured in the American version isn't really all that bad, it still doesn't come anywhere close to the level of goodness of Ifukube's score.
Broken Base: Oh so very much. There are those who enjoy the Japanese version while viewing the American version as a bastardization by cutting out the satirical elements and rearranging scenes around, while those who prefer the American version felt it had a much better pace because of the rearrangement of scenes and thought said satire bits in the Japanese version made the overall tone of the film disjointed.
Considering the convoluted, sketchy way the film came into being, there are also hardcore Willis O'Brien fans who see the film entirely as a disappointing, missed opportunity.
There's also a major dispute of the final victor of the climax despite Toho confirming that King Kong is the victor. While the fans over time begrudgingly accepted that King Kong won the fight, it's still a heated debate over the victor. Godzilla and Kong wouldn't actually officially tie with each other until Godzilla vs. Kong where Godzilla takes the win in that film.
Continuity Lockout: For some people, it may be their first movie without the knowledge of the first film of the franchise unless they saw Godzilla: King of the Monsters! while ignoring Godzilla Raids Again. In the Japanese version, all three movies are connected while the English language versions suffer horribly by Continuity Snarl and Retooling. The previous film explains why Godzilla was frozen for seven years.
Death of the Author: Despite Toho putting all ends of the dispute on who won the final battle, fans persistently insisted the movie presents it as a draw. This even includes Adam Wingard, director of 2021's Godzilla vs. Kong. Never mind that Godzilla was a villain, and having him win would've rubbed the Japanese audiences the wrong way (he still represented Japan's horrors of nuclear weapons 2 decades prior).
Funnily enough, Toho is also responsible for this. As Godzilla became the company's star and beloved across the country, the verdict on the final battle also changed. Tomoyuki Tanaka, often regarded as Godzilla's most dedicated creator and chairman at Toho even stated in compendium books he considers it a draw.
A false yet longstanding urban legend said that the Japanese version had Godzilla win and the American version had Kong win. The American-produced Godzilla vs. Kong did this on a meta level with its trailers; the American trailer focused on Kong landing blows on Godzilla, while the Japanese trailer focused on Godzilla landing blows on Kong. As for the film itself, the opposite of the urban legend is now true — Kong wins in the original Japanese film, and Godzilla wins in the American remake, although by the end, they both win the battle against Mechagodzilla which follows.
Just Here for Godzilla: A standout example featuring the Trope Namer, since there is a real story, a self-referential satire that parodies its own 'crossover versus' plot and the corporate greed behind it. But nobody comes to the movie or remembers it for that because this is the movie that features King Kong and Godzilla fighting.
King Kong as an alcoholic has been making rounds thanks to the scene after he defeats a giant octopus, to the point of joking that every incarnation of King Kong is apparently him having withdrawal symptoms.
"With a larger brain, Kong is a thinking animal." (juxtaposed to the scene where Kong idiotically flips himself headfirst into a boulder)
The scene of King Kong forcing an uprooted tree into Godzilla's mouth has been turned into a popular gif◊ due to how ridiculous it looks.
"EAT YOUR VEGETABLES!"
Made all the better by Godzilla vs. Kong recreating this scene, albeit with Kong jamming his axe (made from a dorsal spine of one of Godzilla's species) into Godzilla's mouth instead of a tree like in the original.
Many fans unaware of the upscaling of King Kong often joke about how a "monkey who climbed a building can beat a lizard as tall as a building".
With the Monsterverse rebooting this film as Godzilla vs. Kong in 2020, fans have joked that they want to see some of the sillier aspects such as the tree scene in HD special effects.
Misaimed Fandom: Several fans wondered how "a giant 30 foot tall gorilla can beat a 50-metered radioactive dinosaur". The answer is that Toho was allowed to scale up King Kong, and give him electric powers. The ending is another story. Despite who the winner is, the fans in droves believe it to be a tie. Despite Toho's official English brochure clearly stating this.
The Octopus is a divisive one. For the most part, the filmmakers used a real octopus and placed it in the center of a model setup, creating a surprisingly convincing scene, but the bluescreening of the humans interacting with it aren't as good.
Several shots of King Kong's rampage in Tokyo with people in them have the people looking like blue ghosts.
Kong's suit is probably one of the worst costumes Toho has ever done, even among the generally cheesy tone of the Showa Era, and is usually considered the ugliest Kong design by fans. However, some people find it charmingbecauseit's so bad.
Several wide shots use very stiff hand puppets for Godzilla and Kong as they grapple. Needless to say, this was one of the last times such effects would be used in the Showa era to depict the battles.
Values Dissonance: After arriving on Faro island, Sakurai gives cigarettes to all of the natives. Back in the 1960's, people had a few years before it was realised just how hazardous smoking was to a person's health. Sakurai even says, "It's okay. They're all smoking."
The natives are obviously Japanese actors in blackface, a trope that would be considered highly racially offensive nowadays.
Tropes exclusive to the U.S. version:
Awesome Music: This probably mixes a whole lot with nostalgia filter but while Ifukube's music is excellent as usual the American version seems to match the music better with action. There are moments in the Japanese version that are loud when quiet would be better and quiet when something more dynamic would be useful.
The cue (possibly from a random Hans Salter western) that plays during the re-edited Burial Operation sequence is undeniably awesome and could easily accent the original theme if mixed in.
Misblamed: For the longest time, it was stated by many that Godzilla won in the Japanese version while King Kong won in the U.S. version. While the U.S. version did make many changes, the winner wasn't one of them; King Kong won in both versions.
Narm Charm: Furue Tako's Large Ham performance, Eric Carter's deadpan stare and Dr. Johnson's hokey explanations from a children's dinosaur book are hard not to giggle at, even if one might despise the U.S. version. Also the dubbing for the submarine cast range from better to so bad it's good, compared to the original actors who were just bad.
◊ due to how ridiculous it looks.
