126) Godzilla Raids Again (1955)

Halloween 2022's Godzilla-Maniapalloza Extravaganza #2...For the Love of Godzilla.

All Hail, the Monster King!

"Is there a monster other than Godzilla?"

Director

Motoyoshi Oda

Cast
Hiroshi Koizumi - Shoichi Tsukioka
Setsuko Wakayama - Hidemi Yamaji
Mindru Chiaki - Koji Kobayashi
Takashi Shimura - Dr. Kyohei Yamane
Haruo Nakajima - Godzilla
Katsumi Tezuka - Anguirus

The Godzilla monster brawl is born in "Godzilla Raids Again."

This sequel to "Godzilla" was released in Japan in 1955 - just a year after the first movie. 

American audiences wouldn't get to see it in American theaters until 1959 where it was released under the title "Gigantis the Fire Monster."

I watched the Japanese version for this post. I haven't yet been able to find the American version, which features a young George Takei heard in the English dubbing.

Famed Kaiju director Ishirō Honda, who directed the first Godzilla movie and most of the others in the Showa era, didn't direct "Godzilla Raids Again." Motoyoshi Oda takes the director's chair as Honda was busy directing a movie called "Lovetide." 

Though quickly produced, this is truly the quintessential Godzilla movie. There's something about it that I enjoy more than the first film, and I love the first one.

Even though Godzilla is destroyed and reduced to skeletal remains that sink to the bottom of Tokyo Bay in the first film, he's back again.

Koji Kobayashi (Mindru Chiaki), a pilot for a fishing company, has to make an emergency landing on Iwato Island. He's rescued by another pilot named Shoichi Tsukioka (Hiroshi Koizumi) who's tracking a school of Bonito fish.

While both pilots are on the island, they witness Godzilla in battle with an unknown giant monster.

They manage to escape the island as Godzilla and this mysterious other monster submerge into the ocean.

The pilots make it to Osaka where they meet with Dr. Kyohei Yamane (played again by Takashi Shimura), from the first movie.

All of Osaka is still on edge from Godzilla's initial attack. The fear is there from the beginning of the movie.

Yamane shows them as well as his colleagues' footage of Godzilla's attack on Tokyo as seen in the first film. Yamane is also able to identify the other monster Kobayashi and Tsukioka saw on the island as an Ankylosaurus. They dub this prehistoric yet new monster "Anguirus."

They note how Godzilla was destroyed thanks to the oxygen destroyer invented by Dr. Swirizawa in part one. But the doctor is dead, and his oxygen destroyer is gone. 

I didn't catch any reference to how in the hell Godzilla came back, though? Rather, they claim killing Godzilla is hopeless. However, they take notice how he's also sensitive to light. Light pisses him off because it reminds him of the hydrogen bomb experiments that led to his creation, or mutation. So says the "experts." 

I have to say nothing works better at getting past a difficult plot point in a story than giving that hurdle the middle finger and moving on without it.

Anyways, Yamane and his scientist buddies come up with a plan should Godzilla ever return.

Since Godzilla hates light, they all suggest mandating complete blackouts throughout the city, so the monster won't head towards the light like a moth around a lamp. And while everyone has their lights off, Yamane wants to use flares offshore to lure Godzilla back towards the water.

The Japanese Air Defense Force fly off to search for Godzilla, which "experts" think will be futile as he could very well be hiding in a cave under the sea. Experts are great at killing hope.

Thankfully, the experts are proven wrong when Godzilla is seen heading towards the Kii Channel.

Godzilla takes on his first ever foe, Anguirus, for a
full-on brawl in "Godzilla Raids Again."

But Godzilla suddenly changes direction and starts heading towards Osaka Bay. Immediately the blackout policy is implemented, and the Air Force start dropping flares. Thankfully this works in luring Godzilla away from the shore, until some pain-in-the-ass escaped convicts overpower police, steal an oil truck, and accidentally crash into a refinery.

This collision causes a massive explosion and fire which catches Godzilla's attention. So, the monster starts heading back towards Osaka.

The only option left is for the Air Force to start attacking Godzilla with everything they've got.

And if things weren't bad enough with plans failing miserably, the flares attract Anguirus.

He makes his way to Osaka and starts picking a fight with Godzilla.

They bring their brawl straight into the city, and all hell breaks loose. They destroy pretty much everything, including the fishing company.

Godzilla finally kills Anguirus, and returns to the sea. But he's not quite finished yet.

News broadcasts start claiming that Godzilla attacked and sank a ship somewhere out in the ocean.

Tsukioka tries to help the Air Force locate the monster. And Kobayashi flies out to help Tsukioka.

The head of the head of the fishing company that Tsukioka and Kobayashi work for starts freaking out because should Godzilla kick up a fuss out there in the water, it can lead to huge financial losses for the company. The area Godzilla is heading towards is a prime fishing spot. 

When Kobayashi spots him on snow-packed Kamiko Island, Godzilla shoots his atomic breath at his airplane causing Kobayashi to crash into the mountain side and die. 

The impact causes an avalanche which buries Godzilla. The Air Force fly out to finish the job and make sure the monster is completely under ice. 

Haruo Nakajima dawns the Godzilla suit again. He portrays Godzilla through a majority of the Godzilla films.

His movements inside the rubber suit are masterful at making it seem the massive Godzilla has a lot of weight and mass to carry around as he fights Anguirus and trashes the city.

The fight scenes with Anguirus are done at high speed.

It goes without saying that this movie sees the first monster crazy enough to take on the "King of the Monsters" on screen. 

Anguirus appears again in later Godzilla movies - "Destroy All Monsters" (1968), "All Monsters Attack" (1969), "Godzilla vs. Gigan" (1972), "Godzilla vs. Megalon" (1973), "Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla" (1974) and "Godzilla: Final Wars" (2004).

In "Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters" (2017) and "Godzilla: King of the Monsters" (2019), Anguirus's skeletal remains make an appearance.

"Godzilla Raids Again" certainly takes it time, despite the high-speed monster fights. It's not a slow movie. Rather, it's well paced, and I appreciate how producers are meticulous in telling another science fiction story with a serious tone centering on a 200-foot monster. I think they nailed it.

All things considered, and just like part one, "Godzilla Raids Again" accomplishes being a plausible movie. That is, the movie makes it easy to believe that if a giant monster like Godzilla were real, the reactions of the characters are reasonable and rational. Unlike other sci-fi monster movies of the 1950s, as well later Godzilla movies, the campiness isn't present in this sequel. 

The effects are a bit substandard compared to the first, but who really minds that? "Godzilla Raids Again" is both one of the best movie sequels, one of the best Godzilla films, and certainly one of the best sci-fi movies of the atomic age of horror.