Godziban Episode 14 – 『ゴジラ・フェス2019』ゴジばん生上演ダイジェストムービー【ゴジばん】(Review)

March of Godzilla 2019

Godziban Episode 14 – 『ゴジラ・フェス2019』ゴジばん生上演ダイジェストムービー【ゴジばん】

aka ゴジばん
Godziban ゴジばん
November 8, 2019
Written and directed by Hideyuki Kobayashi
Godziaban ゴジばん
There was a Godzilla Fest for the 65th birthday of Godzilla on November 3, 2019 and as part of the celebration there was a Godziban production play. This show is behind the scenes clips and portions of the final production. I can’t tell if it was a new play or if it was using the prior play architecture from the previous puppet shows they did 15-ish years ago.

The play answers one big question…THERE IS An OLD MAN GODZILLA! With a CANE!!!! A cane with a snowglobe or crystal ball on the top of it!!! This is insane and awesome! The old Godzilla is ShoGoji, the first generation Godzilla from the Showa-era 1954 original movie (hence the ShoGoji nickname you may have heard of!)
Godziaban ゴジばん
There is some subplot involving a medal coin/medallion/similar object, I am not exactly sure what was going on with it but it seemed meaningful even though it wasn’t directly involved in the egg drama. The main plot has been partially adapted already for the youtube show (though already modified to where they are different adventures!) but does involve the Big Egg on the side of a sheer cliff that we just saw in the show. This time the egg is clearly a Mothra egg, copying the coloros from the Mothra movies exactly.

The three Godzilla brothers attempt to climb the cliff as we’ve seen, except this time they fail and fall down the cliff in exaggerated play format. Eventually Godzilla-kun gets the idea to just slam his tail into the side of the cliff, which is enough to dislodge the egg so Minya an Little catch it. At this point this seems more disruptive than the skit in the series where they just go to investigate the egg and it falls out of the next via earthquake. I’m glad to that change at least.

The triplet Dorat monsters (that made King Ghidorah in the Heisei-era films!) fly by to be rude and demand the egg for themselves. Godzilla-kun fights them as Little and Minya take the egg to safety. The three Dorats are more than a match for Godzilla-kun, but then ShoGoji appears and drives them away. Not for long, as they then transform into King Ghidorah and return. The King Ghidorah puppet is truly monstrous, huge and dangerous looking. It smashes poor ShoGoji as Little and Minya scream in horror! But all is not lost, for ShoGoji then transforms himself into a gigantic Showa-era Godzilla (and is himself another massive puppet) and gives King Ghidorah a thorough thrashing.
Godziaban ゴジばん
King Ghidorah is beaten, ShoGoji transforms back to normal size and the Godzilla Brothers thank him. The egg hatches and it is the Baby Mothra we all know and love, who proceeds to say “Moshi Mosu!” again and again.

It’s bye-bye time!!!

There is also a tiny clip of Hedoji and Hedochi puppets at the end!

The play was fun as it is cool to see the origins of the show and what potential future puppets could show up. A grandpa level ShoGoji complete with fancy cane who wanders around defeating giant threats while serving as an inspiration to our heroes is a great concept. Thumbnail previews already show the Dorats will be appearing very soon on Godziban and the celebration had displays with other kaiju that should potentially appear later. Basically I need to get around to setting up the cast page, lol!

There is full version of the play someone recorded and put online. It is not a full episode of Godziban but it is related enough that you might find it interesting! It is basically the same except with all the scene transitions and the Hedoji/Hedochi jokes in the beginning of the show. It is a good way to see how the real play was set up (even if the backgrounds are just sheets instead of the more lush backgrounds the plays seemed to have from photos of the time).
Godziaban ゴジばん
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Godziban Episode 13 – 英語版 「 Smack it! Three Godzilla Brothers」Go!Go!ゴジラくん#2【ゴジばん】(Review)

March of Godzilla 2019

Godziban Episode 13 – 英語版 「 Smack it! Three Godzilla Brothers」Go!Go!ゴジラくん#2【ゴジばん】

aka ゴジばん
Godziban ゴジばん
November 1, 2019
Written and directed by Hideyuki Kobayashi
Godziban ばん
Go! Go! Godzilla-kun
English Godziban? It’s true! This is the rock hitting episode except dubbed into English. The English voices are very similar to the Japanese voices but it is fun hearing it in English. It also means I don’t have to write too much of a summary as I already did last time, I’ll only point out corrections! Unfortunately that means things are going to be a bit light this installment, but never fear, the future is bright! I still don’t know why one English translation of this title says “Smack It” while a different one uses “SHUT UP!” for some reason, which doesn’t even make sense in context so it’s probably just complete Google translate wrong.

One of the funnest things is Godzilla-kun saying “Disaster!” when Minya fails to hit the rock. Baby Mothra’s name seems to be Moshi Mothra.
Godziban ばん
Hedoji
Hedochi asks Hedoji if he knows where they roam. Hedoji says when they arrive they will gain understanding to why they headed there in the first place. Hedochi says “Okie Hedochi!” That’s all you can say to wise words that seem less wise the more you think about it…
Godziban ばん
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Godziban Episode 12 – 「あの崖に向かって飛べ!の巻」 Go!Go!ゴジラくん#7【ゴジばん】(Review)

March of Godzilla 2019

Godziban Episode 12 – 「あの崖に向かって飛べ!の巻」 Go!Go!ゴジラくん#7【ゴジばん】

aka ゴジばん
Godziban ゴジばん
October 25, 2019
Written and directed by Hideyuki Kobayashi
Godziban ゴジばん
No English subtitles in this one…but don’t worry, they will return! Until then, you got to put up with me describing the plot again. This is the bread and butter of why people read TarsTarkas.NET. Or they just come to look at all the cool pictures and ignore the text. Either way, it’s all good here! And there are a bit of English subtitles in a way, so not all is lost…

Go Go Godzilla-kun
The three Godzilla brothers are going to do more practice in monster skills. They are interrupted when suddenly Anguirus runs up to declare he found a mysterious egg! (at this point the speech bubbles he and Godzilla-kun use to communicate are now in English!) Also Anguirus now has a Japanese speaking voice! It’s actually pretty charming! The three brothers decide to go see the egg and have Anguirus guide them. In addition, the three brothers announce their adventure as an “Adventure of the three Godzilla brothers” before they depart. And Anguirus adds “and Anguirus!” to the end right before they leave. This is already awesome beyond belief and we haven’t even gotten to the actual adventure yet.

The egg is at the top of a huge sheer cliff. Godzilla-kun tells Anguirus to go reconnaissance. Anguirus climbs…and climbs…and climbs…and climbs! But near the top he falls off! And curls into a ball, rolling down the hill…right towards the Godzilla brothers, who quickly start running away. But they run with Anguirus directly behind them, which sort of quells the critics of this scene in Prometheus but I digress. Anguirus rolls into a tree which bounces him back in front of Godzilla-kun. “I’m back!” he says!
Godziban ゴジばん
Now all four of them will climb! And all four of them will slide down. And keep climbing. And keep sliding. Anguirus falls off again and rolls away, like off into the horizon never to be seen again until next week’s episode away. Goodbye, Anguirus and your handsome new voice! Godzilla-kun gets within grabbing distance of the egg but slides away before he call, all three tumble down. This clearly isn’t working.

It’s idea time! Inspired by Anguirus, they try to launch themselves at the egg using the tree from earlier as a catapult. Little is catapulted right into the nest next to the egg. Minya is catapulted right next to him. They examine the egg, but then the mountain starts to rumble! Minya grabs the egg for safe keeping, but he falls out of the nest! Minya rolls down the side but somehow doesn’t break the egg as he falls to the bottom.

The three brothers then build a nest out of straw for the egg, obviously deciding that catapulting the egg back onto the cliff would probably be a disaster for the egg. Minya think.s it is a kaiju egg. He puts his ear up to it and hears a voice inside the egg. Minya stays behind to keep the egg warm by hugging it as the other two leave.

TO BE CONTINUED! (with King Ghidorah images in the background! Is that a clue? Or a three-headed red herring?)
Godziban ゴジばん
Hedoji
Hedochi asks if the egg is born of what everyone thinks. Hedoji says to be sure with your own eyes. Hedochi says “A so!”

After the end title… What looks like Rodan’s shadow flies over the Hedojis!

A great episode beginning a new story line, monsters on an adventure and Minya proving he is the best kaiju because he’s willing to protect a random egg he doesn’t even know. And of course we got foreshadowing and an possible new kaiju popping out of this egg. The only problem is we have to wait a few weeks for the conclusion, because next week is a prior episode dubbed into English! And then there is a special live performance episode. Eventually we will return to the world of the egg, but be patient.
Godziban ゴジばん

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Godziban Episode 11 – 「ジェットジャガーに訊け!」(Ask Jet Jaguar!) #1#2#3(English ver.)【ゴジばん】(Review)

March of Godzilla 2019

Godziban Episode 11 – 「ジェットジャガーに訊け!」(Ask Jet Jaguar!) #1#2#3(English ver.)【ゴジばん】

aka ゴジばん
Godziban ゴジばん
October 18, 2019
Written and directed by Hideyuki Kobayashi
Godziban ゴジばん
ENGLISH SUBTITLES?????!!!!!????!!! That’s right, we got English subtitles with Godziban, which means that I’ll soon find out how wrong my descriptions have been. Or I could just ignore them and decide that the subtitles are fake and the fictional reality I created is real. Yeah, that’s the ticket! The subtitles confirm that the three Godzillas are The Three Godzilla Brothers, and thanks to the power of having watched additional episodes in the future I can tell you there is at least one other Godzilla running around, but I’ll save him for his appearance. I’m still going to call him Minya even though he is officially Minilla, because I’m an old school fool. In addition to English subtitles, the repeated episodes of Go! Jet Jaguar with the subs so we can all get caught up with the story. The subtitles came about because the public demanded them, I think Toho was caught unaware of just how popular these videos would be in the west. But now we got the subs, we got the power, we got an episode coming up where they redub an episode into English (which will be a trip!), the future of Godziban is bright.
Godziban ゴジばん
Go! Jet Jaguar
(a rerun) It’s the world’s first AI-minded Robot Emergency Conference! We confirm that the creator is now Dr. Roborobo. Jet Jaguar answers some press questions, mostly about how he has a heart and a robot’s primary function is to be huge. That sounds weird but okay. I’m glad they started the English translations on these. Not only are they the most dialogue-driven, but they are also easy to translate due to the fact it is all stills and just a few subtitles are needed to complete them.

Go! Jet Jaguar
It’s fight time! Megalon is attacking and Godzilla is there, Jet Jaguar grows huge to help in the fight, but freezes because he needs a app to fight, so has to spend time downloading it. Then spend time installing it. Then spend time rebooting. Godzilla getting increasingly upset at each new delay is hilarious.

Go! Jet Jaguar
Jet Jeguar grows big to fight Megalon! Megalon punches Jet Jaguar with his drill fist
this punctures Jet Jaguar and it turns out he’s just a balloon and deflates and flies around the field
Godziban ゴジばん Jet Jaguar
Happy Go! Go! Halloween!
A special Halloween graphic as this came out during Halloween season! We got Hedochi and Hedoji in witch costumes on a broom, Jet Jaguar as a ghost, Godzilla as Dracula, Minya as a pirate, Little as a Jack O’Lantern, Baby Mothra as a devil, other Baby Mothra as an angel, Battra as a Chinese lion, and the Twin Fairies and Disney style fairies. It’s amazing and it’s 100% canon now, people!

Hedoji
(Hedoji is now subtitled Master of Monsters, because he is wise) Also I think there is a typo as it says “Hedchi” instead of “Hedochi”, but they clearly say “Hedochi” in the show. Hedochi asks if it is worth living if he is born of sludge. Hedoji says that his soul is more valuable than the people who made the sludge. The zinger Hedochi has been saying is “Okie hedokie!” Wait, has that been the zinger all this time?????? That makes this show a bajillion times more awesome.

Next time Godziban begins a big story arc!
Godziban ゴジばん halloween
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Godziban Episode 08 – Go! Go! Godzilla: Episode 6/ Kamatte Godzilla # 4/”Ask Jetjaguar!” # 1 (Review)

March of Godzilla 2019

Go! Go! Godzilla: Episode 6/ Kamatte Godzilla # 4/”Ask Jetjaguar!” # 1

aka ゴジばん
Godziban ゴジばん
September 27, 2019
Written and directed by Hideyuki Kobayashi
Godziban ゴジばん
Godziban returns for another week with not only a modern day fable for us all, but the beginning of a new series of skits featuring the Jet Jaguar skit from the pilot! We got Godzilla-kun, we got Minya, we got Little, we got Jet Jaguar, we got turtles, we got bunnies, we got everything you need to get your Godzi on!

Go! Go! Godzilla-kun
It’s the Tortoise and the Hare….Godzilla-style! Godzilla-kun-style? Gojira-style! We got Godzilla-kun wearing bunny ears and I repeat my assertion about this series that this is canon now, people. Godzilla wears bunny ears. He does. 100% canon, it’s official!

Little and Minya are wearing shells on their backs because they are the tortoises. They are definitely not baby Gameras, or even baby Kamoebas. We all know the story, the hare raced the tortoise, got so far ahead he took and nap and overslept finishing the race. So here we go! They race….Godzilla-kun bounces up and down (hops???) and sings while doing so, meanwhile Little and Minya crawl on the ground slowly as Godzilla-kun gets far away. This is canon, remember this.

Godzilla-kun gets so far ahead it is nap time. Literally curling up into a ball and covering his eyes with his tail while he sleeps (because the puppets don’t have eyelids, though they CGed eyelids in, so someone was able to fix it in post!)

The two tortoises keep going, saying “nana nana” as they go. Because that’s what tortoises do! Godzilla-kun wakes up and beats himself up for oversleeping and thus losing the race. At least until he sees that Little and Minya are still crawling along far behind him. Dun dun DUN! Did M. Knight Shyamalan write this twist???

Minya and Little then spin around like a certain other famous giant turtle monster and spin off into the sky while Godzilla-kun freaks out.
Godziban ゴジばん
Go! Jet Jaguar
Next up is Jet Jaguar, back again in cartoon form and answering questions, this section is silent with lots of reading but it’s all Japanese so good luck with this translation, lol! Thankfully something happens that we don’t need to translate a bunch of words, but a bunch of deeds!

Luckily Megalon shows up and Godzilla is there too, Jet Jaguar grows big to go help his friend beat up a space cockroach! But a message appears in his eyes as he doesn’t seem to be doing anything. They forgot to update his programming to fight monsters! Jet Jaguar!!!

Kamatte Godzilla
In an apocalyptic wasteland (maybe where Hedojii is wandering around???) two warrior women fight with swords. They are dressed as a mix of gladiators and steampunk
but just as their swords are clashing, Kamatte Gojira is there making noise!

At first they ignore it.

Then suddenly one lady swings her sword at him…but it’s just putting it into the dirt so she can pick him up and cuddle! It’s cuddle time! But the other lady also wants to cuddle! Soon the two are fighting over Kamatte Gojira and it has become a tug of war pulling on poor Kamatte Godzilla. He solved one problem but created another. Kamatte Godzilla!!!
Godziban ゴジばん
Hedojii
Hedojii continues the same joke format, we don’t even see the two ladies in the background still fighting over Kamatte Godzilla like we could have. A missed opportunity for an episode that is very full of jokes and ridiculous enough I’m granting it top score regardless.

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Godziban Episode 07 – “Run! Three Brothers’ Chapter” Go! Go! Godzilla-kun # 5 (Review)

March of Godzilla 2019

Godziban Episode 07 – “Run! Three Brothers’ Chapter” Go! Go! Godzilla-kun # 5

aka ゴジばん
Godziban ゴジばん
September 20, 2019
Written and directed by Hideyuki Kobayashi
Godziban ゴジばん
With the seventh episode of Godziban we are forced to ask the big question. Where is Gabara? Certainly he has to show up soon to bully Minya so the Godzilla brothers can train him to beat him up, right? I know the puppet exists, there are photos of him from the original stage show! Maybe after the monster training storyline concludes. (Future Tars here: Nope, we have a different story yet and several new characters, but no Gabara yet!) Until then, we got more Go! Go! Godzilla-kun! There is a new kaiju who shows up this week, so maybe the cast will continue to expand like a star reaching the end of its life cycle! Wait, maybe I should find a better analogy than that. No time, gotta hit post!

Go! Go! Godzilla-kun
Godzilla-kun is training the boys how to run like real monsters. Suddenly Anguirus and Baragon pop up and want to join in on the running fun. Yes, Baragon is here now! Hooray for Baragon, everyone loves him!
In puppet form! Also even Baby Mothra comes by, it’s a regular Monster Island reunion going on here!
Godziban ゴジばん
Godzilla and Anguirus race first. Baragon and Little also race, Baragon is much faster and jumps ahead. Minya and Baby Mothra then get ready to race, and just like last time in the GEMSTONE pilot, Baby Mothra makes Minya eat her dust by blasting away so fast. Godzilla-kun and Anguirus converse via speech bubbles agian, this time animated instead of on signs. Baby Mothra passes by Little and Baragon (Little has regained much of the lost distance) and then Godzilla-kun and Anguirus, each time making everyone she passes spin around out of control by how fast she is passing them. Baby Mothra then turns and heads back to the start, passing everyone again. The others make it back to the starting line, Little hitching a ride on Baragon’s back. Everyone then faints as Minya says a joke

Now it is time for the big race between all monsters, everyone will race at the same time, reach a far away flag, and then return. Per usual, Baby Mothra shoots off super fast and returns before anyone knows what is going on. I also enjoy thejoke that Minya keeps getting knocked down by her speed and just lies there at the starting line until Mothra returns. Mothra has Minya ride on her back as she races out again, passing by the other 4 and making them eat her dust. Minya and Mothra win, Minya having learned the valuable lesson to have fast friends. Community and solidarity is the key to be a good monster.

Hedoji
We are again on the wasteland, but this time the clouds give the setting sun (or moon??? who knows!) an otherworldly look. Perhaps they have wandered so far on Earth they ended up on another desolate planet. Perhaps they are on the Planet of the Apes and may pass by a Statue of Liberty buried in the sand. Or maybe they are in the near future and Mad Max and his friends will soon drive by in cars. We may never know, but we do know that this stinger keeps the same format as the usual Hedoji episodes.
Godziban ゴジばん
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