March of Godzilla: Godman

The new March of Godzilla is here! And like most prior Marches of Godzilla, it is late as heck! March, Smarch, 2015, 2016, Godzilla stomps when he darn well pleases! And also like several other Marches of Godzilla, there is a theme to this March:

SOS SOS SOS GODMAN! Godman is here to murder monsters and also violently kill them dead. If you are unfamiliar with Godman, star of the television series Go! Godman (行け！ゴッドマン – Ike! Goddoman), then you are not alone, so please enjoy the gigantic dump of Godman information.

Our interest in Ike! Godman is purely professional – several Godzilla-related kaiju suits were used on the show, the suits usually credited as the actual Godzilla-related monster. So that makes Godman (and fellow show Ike! Greenman) technically part of the Toho monster universe, even if the series is largely disowned by Toho and regularly condemned as the worst tokusatsu show of all time.

The complaints are not an exaggeration, Ike Godman is TERRIBLE! The basic series runs like this: One or more annoying children are menaced by a monster (often because they provoke it), they scream for Godman, who then flies in and fights the monster for several episodes until he brutally murders it. That’s the entire show. Ike Godman was meant to be digested in tiny chunks every day, and not the binge-watching approach we are attempting. But… YUCK! Getting through these shows was a slog. There was a reason I took a far too long break before finishing up writing about them! (And then I need to do the whole thing over again with Go! Greenman!)

We’ll have plenty of screencaps posted so those jerkwads at the Godzilla wiki can then steal them without attribution like they’ve done so often before to me and other sites. Fuck the Godzilla Wiki. I’ll also borrow photos from other sites that have some pics of the monsters of episodes that aren’t available, but I’ll list my sources, unlike the previously mentioned terrible site of terrible people who are terrible.

Godman himself is a piece of work. He’s silver and red, with long flowing hair (partially hidden behind his red mask) that is rather unique in the tokusatsu hero world. Godman wears a red spandex body pajama with an outside filthy silver diaper, and booties and gloves. Godman is also big at promoting his own brand, with a big “G” imprinted on his belt buckle, boot buckles (actually golden rings), and wrists. Too bad there is another more famous giant creature whose name begins with G that already has that “G” brand sewn up, guy! Godman came to Earth from the Fire God Star, which means there might be a whole planet of Godmen out there punching all sorts of poor monsters. Why can’t the Garogas from Zone Fighter blow up Fire God Star? Get with the program, lazy Garogas!

Godman has a bunch of powers. He can fly and change his height in order to fight gigantic monsters. The height-changing is powered by the G-emblazoned golden rings on his shoes, which occasionally are removed because Godman is too cheap to go to the jewelers and get them fitted properly. Like all tokusatsu, Godman has a bunch of special moves that he does by calling out their name. They include: God-Circle, which is Godman’s Tron disc that explodes. God-Spark, which is explosive finger sparkles. God-Crush, which is Godman’s flail that he uses on monsters to redirect their attack back to them. God-Acid, which is special acid that comes from Godman’s hand. God-Shower, which is a gross-sounding water attack. Godman Supersonic Wave, which is when Godman fires a swirl from his chest that brutally murders his opponents. Godman totally stole that last attack from Yars’ Revenge, despite that video game not even being invented yet!

The episodes of Ike! Godman on the DVD set are out of order, many of them are just partial episodes, and some are completely missing. We’ll be posting them in the order that they originally aired, the one true order! I’ve also found some of the missing episodes thanks to the magic of the internet, but was unable to locate every missing piece. There are also no subtitles, but at TarsTarkas.NET, we don’t need no stinking subtitles! It’s not like many of these episodes even have dialogue, so that’s no big loss. We’ll have a nice Godman Splash Page with all your Godman needs, in case you somehow have needs about Godman. That page will mainly be useful as a kaiju guide, Godman powers guide, and episode guide. Guide guide guide.

Let’s launch March of Godzilla: Godman with the goddest man of all, Godman! Bring on the kaiju!

Ike! Godman Splash Page
Godman vs. Gabara (ゴッドマン対ガバラ その1 – その6) Goddoman Tai Gabara (October 12 – 18, 1972)
Godman vs. Yasugon and Tsunoterah (ゴッドマン対ヤスゴン その1 – その6) Goddoman Tai Yasugon – Tsunokeraa (October 26 – November 1, 1972)
Godman vs. Tsunosilver (ゴッドマン対ツノシルバー その1 – その6) Goddoman Tai Tsunoshirubaa (November 2 – 8, 1972)
Godman vs. Gorosaurus (ゴッドマン対ゴロザウルス その1 – その6) Goddoman Tai Gorozaurusu (November 9 – 15, 1972)
Godman vs. Kamoebas and Folgon (ゴッドマン対カメーバ・フォルゴン その1 – その6) Goddoman Tai Kameeba – Forugon (December 7 – 13, 1972)
Godman vs. Dongolar (ゴッドマン対ドンゴラー その1 – その6) Goddoman Tai Dongoraa (January 11 – 17, 1973)
Godman vs. Skeleton Man No.1 and Skeleton Man No.2 (ゴッドマン対スケルトマンNo.1・スケルトマンNo.2 その1 – その6) Goddoman Tai Sukerutoman No.1 – Sukerutoman No.2 (January 18 – 24, 1973)
Godman vs. Sanda (ゴッドマン対サンダ その1 – その6) Goddoman Tai Sanda (January 25 – 31, 1973)
Godman vs. Gaira (ゴッドマン対ガイラ その1 – その6) Goddoman Tai Gaira (February 1 – 7, 1973)
Godman vs. Green-Mask (ゴッドマン対グリーンマスク その1 – その3) Goddoman Tai Geriinmasuku (February 15 – 21, 1973)
Godman vs. Bat-Man (ゴッドマン対バットマン その1 – その3) Goddoman Tai Battoman (February 22 – 28, 1973)
Godman vs. Tsunojiras (ゴッドマン対オストタム その1 – その3) Goddoman Tai Tsunojirasu (March 8 – 14, 1973)
Godman vs. Totsaurus (ゴッドマン対トットザウルス その1 – その3) Goddoman Tai Tottozaurusu (March 15 – 21, 1973)
Godman vs. Stegojiras and Akumon (ゴッドマン対ステゴジラス・アクモン その1 – その6) Goddoman Tai Sutegojirasu – Akumon (April 5 – 11, 1973)

Shin Godzilla aka シン・ゴジラ aka Godzilla Resurgence