S.H. MonsterArts Heisei Mothra Review and Gallery

Even though I'm a big fan of Bandai's S.H. Figuarts and Ultra-Act sub-line, I haven't gotten too excited about their MonsterArts line that focuses on kaiju mainly from the Godzilla movies.  Part of it is the price tag on these suckers, and the other is that currently most of the figures are from the Heisei era of Godzilla films, including this one.

Mothra ("Mosura") was introduced to Japanese audiences in 1961 in the eponymous Toho movie.  When King Kong Vs Godzilla became a huge success, Toho decided to face Godzilla off against one of their own creations, spawning 1964's Mothra Vs Godzilla, a personal favorite of mine. Since then, Mothra has been in many of Godzilla's films, including a brief nod in the newest American one.

This figure is based off the design from 1992's Godzilla Vs Mothra, apparently my sister's favorite Mothra movie. The detailing on this figure is nothing short of breathtaking.  Bandai did a very good job with capturing the color and look of Mothra's body and wings.



The main thing I tried to capture in my photos was the immense size of the figure, even comparing it to the 2011 Revoltech Mothra, which was based on the original 1961 design.  I suppose I was expecting the figure to be closer in size to the Revoltech figure, but its wingspan matches the length of the box it comes in. In other words, it's huge!


On the plus side, there is a lot of articulation.  Mothra's head has a lot of movement. The wings have hinges for you to move them up and down.  Almost everything on Mothra's face is poseable to a certain extent, including the antenna and mandibles.  The legs have multiple joints, and you can even curl Mothra's abdomen, i.e. its butt.  Unfortunately, all of it feels very fragile, and you should handle the figure with utmost care.  The figure does come with a stand.



I had seen pictures of the figure online, but it was only when I broke down and got it, did I realize how great this figure is. Part of me wished I held out in case they make one based on an older design, but it's probably the best representation of Heisei Mothra you'll find available.

Hey! Where's Mothra? I'm supposed to get my picture with her!

To further give you an idea of scale, here are some pictures of the queens of Japanese tokusatsu: Mothra and Mother of Ultra!

Sayonara, Mosura-chan!

Perfect Soundtrack Collection

News has finally surfaced on the last of the Godzilla Perfect Soundtrack Collection. In celebration of Godzilla's 50th Anniversary (6 years ago), Toho was slowly releasing these limited edition volumes featuring updated version of the movie series' soundtracks. The last volume contains the soundtracks to the last movies in the Millennium Era, which are still fairly easy to find on their own.

Unfortunately, I already own the highlights of the collection: the three scores by Michiru Oshima. The main appeal of this collection is the expanded version of Oshima's Megaguirus score, and the two soundtracks I don't own, GMK and Final Wars. I'm not a big fan of Final Wars, and I'm sure how they can devote three discs to one movie.

The dealbreaker might be that the bonus disks for the set are going to be David Arnold's full score to the American Godzilla movie. It is a great idea, except that it's identical to the limited edition version released by La La Land Records years prior. Which means either you get a second chance at owning the score or it's just another repeat in a set of repeats.

Godzilla VS Sea Monster Review

(For the record, I watched Sony's uncut, widescreen version on DVD.)

Nothing seemed to be going this movie. It was originally a King Kong movie, rewritten for the Big G, and Jun Fukuda, the new director, had to follow up the famous Ishiro Honda. The story follows Ryota Kane who was convinced that his brother was alive and steals a boat with some total strangers and ends up on an island run by the Red Bamboo.

The weak point of this film is that it's not much of a kaiju film. Godzilla and guest star Mothra both sleep through most of the film. Godzilla's nemesis in this film is a large shrimp assisted by a crazed condo, both employed by a SPECTRE wannabe. The film just isn't ambitious enough for it to be a great film.


But it is a fun film, probably the first Godzilla movie with a sense of humor. I mean, it's nice to have social commentaries. (There's one squeezed into the end of this one as well.) But it's also nice to just watch a entertaining film that's doesn't take itself too seriously.

I have no complaints about Jun Fukuda, and it's almost understandable that he choose to focus on the human aspect since it's his first monster film. Masaru Sato adds a wonderful score, and the special effects were still supervised by Eiji Tsuburaya. While it's not the best Godzilla movie, it's still a good start for Fukuda. B-

Movie Review: Godzilla Final Wars

In 2004, Godzilla celebrated his 50th anniversary by being in the last Godzilla movie that will be made in the near future. "Acclaimed" director Ryuhei Kitamura took over the helm from Masaaki Tezuka, who did the previous two Godzilla Millenium films as well as Godzilla Vs. Megagurius. Kitamura has an excellent sense of creating kinetic monster battles but most of the human fighting is stereotypical "guys on wires replaying scenes from the Matrix."

The plot is nothing surprising. The Godzilla series seems a lot like the Gundam series in that the people working on it would much rather reuse material than create new storylines. One could easily call this movie a remake of "Destroy All Monsters" with its cast of monsters and invading aliens.

The first hour was more entralling than I'd thought it'd be, given said reused plot, but most of the second hour has the human reenacting moments from the director's favorite action films. I also like the overall "international" feel of the film, that is, Americans speak English; Japanese speak Japanese, etc.

Also, the whole subplot with Godzilla Junior doesn't have a lot going for it, mainly consists of Junior, a Kid, and his Grandpa standing around. Another flaw is that this movie is over 2 hours, about a half hour too long.

Still, it takes too long for Godzilla to appear in this film and start kicking butt. All of the kaiju battles are loads of fun, and probably every monster in Godzilla's history makes some kind of appearance. Godzilla's new look shows off a sleeker design and the Big G shows everyone that he has a few new tricks up his sleeve.

Unfortunately, the new Gigan and Mothra have rather brief roles, though I like the idea of the two of them being long-time adversaries. Gigan's updated look is awesome, but he loses his head in battle not once but twice and that has to cost him some street cred.

Overall, this movie will become dated (if it isn't already) with its stylized violence, techno music, and monochromatic scene dressing. If you wanted to know what "Destroy All Monsters" would look like today, then this is your movie. It's a solid, yet repetitive, watch. B

What I'm Listening to Now

1. Memoirs of a Geisha - John Williams
2. Intensive Care - Robbie Williams
3. Godzilla VS the Sea Monster - Masaru Satoh
4. Fantastic Four - John Ottman
5. Corpse Bride - Danny Elfman

I've been meaning to write some reviews to a number of these albums, but haven't had the time. Please bare with me since work's kept me very busy.

Movie Review: Godzilla VS Hedorah

(A personal note: the version I saw was from the Sci-Fi Channel, with English dubbing and widescreen format. The movie could have been edited.)

When you talk about Godzilla, you probably think about campy movies with guys in rubber suits. That's very understandable. And this film has a lot of that, but it's also the closest thing to "experimental" as a Godzilla film will ever get. It's also one of the few post-1960s Godzilla films to have social message in the form of the living sludge monster, Hedorah.

That is if you can get past all the weird psychedelic bits that is. Director Yoshimitsu Banno seemed to want a little bit of everything when making this film: poetry, pop songs, and animated interludes, and that's just scratching the surface. All of this can put off a traditional kaiju fan, but I found it strangely refreshing.

The positive points of the film are that Godzilla, suddenly becoming a environmentalist, is in the film a lot more than some of the other films made so far, and his battles with Hedorah are pretty good considering when it was made. Most of the people are decent except for the kid. The movie is also one of the few to show casualities of the monster's rampage, adding to the overall darkness of the film.

The bad: It's the one where Godzilla flies.

Another interesting point of the film is that it shares many similarities to the original Godzilla film. Many fans like to ponder if this was on purpose or not, and if there's other symbolism in the film. (Many people lose an eye in this film including the big G.)

Beyond bizarre, this movie still manages to entertain. If you're looking for a different kind of movie, a really different kind of movie, then this is the one. While it's not without its flaws, it's probably be the most unique entry in the series, and one of the best to come out of the 70s. B-

CD Review: The Best of Godzilla 1954 - 1975

This nicely made collection of music from the "Showa Era" of the Godzilla series spans from the very first Godzilla movie to Terror of MechaGodzilla. Most of the music is composed by Godzilla regulars Akira Ifukube and Masaru Satoh. I was pleasantly surprised to find that "All Monsters Attack" was written by Kunio Miyauchi, known for his work on "Ultra-Q" and the original "Ultraman" series.

Akira Ifukube's scores have a very traditional orchestra sound, while all of the other composers have more of a then-contemporary sound. Ifukube's scores have a timeless quality to them when compared to the other scores. It's easy to hear his "voice" evolve from the first Godzilla film (which sounds like it has a much smaller orhestra than the later ones) to the last film on this CD. Besides creating the Godzilla theme heard on a number of tracks, I also like this wailing jazzy-brass motif first heard in the track for "Ghidorah the Three Headed Monster" (at about the 1:24 point) and later in "Destroy All Monsters" and "Terror of MechaGodzilla" cues.

With the music are some sound effects which give this album a genuine Godzilla feel to it. It also comes with a nice booklet with the full track listing, descriptions of all of the Godzilla movies featured in the collection, and some background information. It even has the lyrics to the Mothra's Song, performed by the Peanuts. So now, you too can sing along. There's also a bonus track by Neil Norman and his Cosmic Orchestra.

The only bad thing is that this album skips over "Godzilla VS the Sea Monster." Joe Sena, the producer and liner notes writer, remarks that it is "an unremarkable score." I personally would like to decide that for myself. The movie's even skipped over in the movie summaries! The least they could have done was put one track on the CD. The other thing is that it's a very uneven selection. Some movies get four to six tracks while others only get one track.

But petty complaints aside, it is a great introduction to Godzilla music and while it was made to cash in on the then-impending 1998 American Godzilla movie, it's professionally done and great fun to listen to. B+