Godzilla Island – Story Arc 1

1997

Directed by Shun Mizutani

Godzilla has several TV shows throughout his history. In this year’s March of Godzilla, we will be cataloging one such show, Godzilla Island. Godzilla Island was a series of three minute episodes that ran from October 6, 1997, until September 30, 1998. 256 episodes were created, using a combination of toys and stock footage to bring the characters to life. Throw in some characters acting in front of a blue screen and a basketball-shaped annoying robot, and you got Godzilla Island in a nutshell. One advantage to the toymation approach of monster effects is it allows the appearance of all sorts of kaiju from all over G-history. Multiple Jet Jaguars! All sorts of one-shot characters pop up over the course of the series. But as this was created around 1997, no one from the Millennium series of films is present.

Set in the year 2097, where most kaiju live on an island in the Pacific Ocean. Godzilla Island. I guess, I’m not sure if they give it an actual name, since they speak this Japanese language all the time. Anyway, Godzilla Island soon becomes a center of activity for alien invasions left and right. Aliens being the evil Xilien aliens, as seen in Godzilla vs. Monster Zero. The one individual seen even dresses like them, although she doesn’t follow the contention that all females of the species look identical to Kumi Mizuno. Godzilla Island is governed by the Godzilla-Guard, aka G-Guard, which is staffed by one guy and a robot. The G-Guard Commander is less than capable in dealing with invading monsters and aliens, but luckily he is joined by mysterious young girl Torema, who has a powerful space ship and psychic powers.

According to the credits, the series was directed by Shun Mizutani and written by Takahiko Masuda. With music by The Edge. I guess U2’s The Edge, unless there is another The Edge running around, in which case I must bang my head on the desk. We’ll run through the episodes in order broken up by story arcs. Some stories are only a few episodes long, and some last close to twenty. Each episode ends with “tsuzuku” which basically means “to be continued.” So tsuzuku will be our catchphrase of the series. If you missed this paragraph you’ll probably be very confused, as we will probably type tsuzuku more than Godzilla in these articles.

The action is brought to life with toys. It is toymation at it’s finest, almost a decade before Robot Chicken. This allows for lots of monsters to be in lots of shows, lots of monster fights that we would never see otherwise, and lots of new versions of monsters. Plus the fact they had a deal with Bandai Toys to produce lots of exclusive toys for the show didn’t hurt. Come to think of it this is more of a blatant commercial for toys than the He-Man cartoon! But first let’s meet the human actors who will be appearing in most of the episodes:

G-Guard Commander (Jiro Dan) – G-Guard Commander runs the Godzilla Guard unit on Godzilla Island. He’s all alone except for sassy robot Lucas, so of course he’s bored out of his skull normally. He seems to have been stationed there because it’s a low-priority assignment they could dump someone who can’t work under pressure, because that’s exactly what he is. Luckily Torema shows up to save his pants. I do not know if he has a name but it may be Oji. Torema (Maimi Okuwa) – A mysterious young girl who shows up one day on Godzilla Island right when the dastardly Xiliens begin to attack. She repels the attack, joins the G-Guard, and begins her fight against Zaguresu the Xilien because Xiliens destroyed her home planet (I think that’s what happened – she may have been from future Earth.) Has psychic powers and her own spaceship called the Panatolute. Zaguresu (Naoko Aizawa) – Evil Xilien woman who invades Earth using giant monsters and her giant Independence Day/V rip-off spaceship. Enjoys laughing evilly while contemplating the latest diabolical schemes. Follows the Xilien leader Giant Emperor’s orders, because that’s what they do on Planet X. Sheep! Her spaceship is named the Vabaruda. Lucas (Kenichiro Shimamura) – Annoying robot, Godzilla Island-style! Makes sarcastic remarks, and seems to be even mean at times. An annoying Kenny kid in floating metal sphere form. He must be destroyed! Translates from monster language to Japanese. Narrator – (Yutaka Aoyama) – He’s not a character but the guy who recaps the previous episode in the beginning of the episode. That means thirty seconds of each three minute episode is Narrator recounting events, padding running time beyond levels I want to think about. He’s a typical Japanese male announcer, amazingly excited and epic about even the most mundane things.

Different monster feature in each episode, so we’ll keep track of them in each story arc. The complete Godzilla Island Daikaiju List is located here. We’ll also list any new monster match-ups that weren’t in any film but now exist thanks to this series, such as King Caesar fighting Megalon or something. The R2 Japanese DVD release is unsubtitled, so most of what is going on will be educated guesses thanks to our limited Japanese speaking ability. But here at TarsTarkas.NET we don’t need no stinking subtitles!

Here is the opening credits for each episode!
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Featuring the monsters –

Anguirus – Godzilla’s first foe and now a close friend. His only power is a spiky back but he’s brave on the battlefield. One of the usual residents on Godzilla Island who shows up to watch the action as stories progress. Baragon – Big ears, big horn on the nose, likes to dig underground. One of the usual residents on Godzilla Island who shows up to watch the action. Godzilla – The King of Monsters. Godzilla is pure awesome in giant fire-breathing lizard form. Everyone who comes to Godzilla Island wants a piece of Godzilla. And they all get kicked to the curb. Gorosaurus – Old foe of King Kong who spends most of his days watching whatever happens on Godzilla Island. His special move was to do kangaroo kicks. Jet Jaguar – Built by two bachelors in Japan, Jet Jaguar has the power to program himself to grow. Now helps defend Godzilla Island. Has several other forms that will show up as the series progresses. That name suits him. Mechagodzilla – This is the second Mechagodzilla, which was created by humans to fight Godzilla. Now stationed on Godzilla Island as one of its defenders. Usually automated, but can be piloted at times (and has been by G-Guard Commander.) Usually paired with Moguera. Moguera – The Mobile Operation Godzilla Universal Expert Robot Aero-Type, or MOGUERA, was also built to fight Godzilla, and is also stationed on Godzilla Island to defend it now. In one episode we see Torema pilots Moguera, but other episodes it is unclear who is in control. Moguera can separate into Star Falcon and Land Moguera pieces in the movies, but doesn’t here. Mothra (Larva) – Mothra, Goddess of Infant Island, and defender of Earth. Larva Mothra is part of a continual chain of Mothras that go through larva and mature forms, though this one will be the mother of Mothra Leo. Rodan – A prehistoric monster awakened in modern day, Rodan is a former foe of Godzilla who has learned to work with him to fight off the evil monsters. Has some hot springs named after him on Godzilla Island. Will eventually become Fire Rodan, because he did so in the Heisei movie series that was still recent, in addition to giving Bandai another toy. Space Godzilla – Godzilla…from Space! Really into crystals. Keeps trying to take over Godzilla Island, despite being blown up repeatedly. Even possesses Godzilla at one point.

Episode 1 – Attack of the Giant UFO!

It’s another boring day on Godzilla Island. The monsters stomp around but do little entertaining stunts. G-Guard Commander is surprised when suddenly an Xilien Battle Ship starts laying waste to a nearby city! Those darn Xiliens! Can’t they go one lineage of Godzilla continuity without trying to conquor Earth?

The first of many tsuzuku!

Episode 2 – Space Ship Enigma: Friend or Foe

Soon, Jet Jaguar, Mechagodzilla, and Moguera are sent out to fight the invader, but are brought down instantly by blasts from the alien vessel. NOOOOOOOOO!!! Not Jet Jaguar! Monsters! Xilien commander lady Zaguresu calls G-Guard Commander to taunt him. All is doomed, until another vessel appears, a small fighter craft.

Tsuzuku!

Episode 3 – Torema Appears

The mysterious new craft deftly maneuvers through the Xilien lasers and scores some hits. This new vessel is flown by a young girl named Torema. The Xilien ship is driven off. Yeah, kick those Xiliens’ butts for daring to hurt Jet Jaguar! Don’t you know his name suits him? Torema beams into G-Guard HQ and wants to join up. G-Guard Commander promptly gives her a mop. She is less than pleased. I thought she was going to murder him she’s so displeased.

Suddenly Godzilla roars, and Torema can understand him, as he is roaring about Space Godzilla’s impending arrival. Stock footage of Space Godzilla from Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla is shown as we tsuzuku. Stock footage is even cheaper than waving a toy across the camera! And also even more annoying!

Episode 4 – Godzilla Sortie!

Space Godzilla crashes into Godzilla Island, and starts blasting the G-Guard bubble-domed headquarters. This is the first of many, many attacks on G-Guard HQ’s bubble-domed buildings. The buildings are like bubble wrap to invading monsters, they just have to try and pop them. Xilien Zaguresu gloats in her ship. G-Guard Commander whines about his hurt back until Torema kicks it into shape. If you are getting the feeling G-Guard Commander is useless than you are correct. Torema leaves to help Big G. Tsuzuku.

Episode 5 – An Unbeatable Team

Godzilla and Space Godzilla fight. Torema tells Godzilla to blast the crystals on Space Godzilla’s shoulder. He blows up one with his atomic breath and Torema shoots the other one. Then Godzilla blasts Space Godzilla right in the chest and he explodes. Space Godzilla is killed much quicker than in Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla, which is probably good otherwise we’d have a twenty episode arc going here for just the intro show!

Torema is given a bunch of money from G-Guard Commander (I guess he promised it before or something) and leaves, but he chases after her as Xilien Zaguresu plots and laughs in her spaceship. We still have 251 episodes to go so of course it ends with tsuzuku! And Torema isn’t going anywhere, as you probably guessed since she’s listed in the Roll Call in the beginning of the review.

Exciting Monster Action!
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Well, that was an interesting opening. Okay, not really. But it gets better, I swear! Tune in for the next March of Godzilla Island with Story Arc Number Two, up next! Tsuzuku!

New matchups – none.

Rated 6/10 (Spaceship hat, Prayzilla, GG Logo, Jet Jaguar!, Mop, Space Godzilla in stock footage form!)

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