Godzilla (Get Going! Godzilland)
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Today, I have a story from my younger days to tell you. A story from long before the days people called me the King of the Monsters. A story about how I learned addition.
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— Godzilla ("Let's Play with Godzilla! Addition") |
Godzilla (ゴジラ Gojira) is a juvenile monster who appears in Gakken's 1994-1996 educational Get Going! Godzilland original video animations (OVAs).
Name
- Main article: Godzilla#Name.
Godzilla's Japanese name, Gojira (ゴジラ), comes from a combination of the Japanese approximation of "gorilla" (ゴリラ gorira), and kujira (クジラ), the Japanese word for "whale."
Development
Two studios animated Godzilla in the Get Going! Godzilland OVAs: Film Magic for "You Can Read! You Can Write! Hiragana" and "You Can Count! Counting 1-2-3!" in 1994, and Group Tac for "Let's Play with Godzilla! Addition" and "Let's Play with Godzilla! Subtraction" in 1996.
The adult version of this Godzilla appears to be portrayed by an attraction suit built to promote the Heisei era Godzilla films, as its colors are flatter than those on the suits used in the films and its jaw does not move.
Design
This Godzilla is portrayed in a super-deformed or "chibi" style, with a very short rounded body with no defined neck and a very large head and eyes. He is entirely green in color, with his dorsal fins being a lighter shade of green than the rest of his body. The design originated in Bandai's 1984 Godzilland merchandise line, and was previously seen in animated form in Toho's 1993 promotional television show Adventure! Godzilland 2. At the time Get Going! Godzilland aired, no version of Godzilla in film had been green, although he had sometimes been portrayed as such in non-film media, especially in the United States.
"Let's Play with Godzilla! Addition" and "Let's Play with Godzilla! Subtraction" include live-action scenes featuring the now-adult Godzilla interacting with a human woman he calls his "big sister" and telling her about his childhood, represented through the animated segments. He strongly resembles the Heisei Godzilla designs used from Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989) to Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994), although his arms are shorter and thicker and his skin has a smoother texture.
Personality
This Godzilla is a childish monster with a short temper, which often causes him to get into fights with his best friend, Anguirus. However, Godzilla nonetheless cares about Anguirus and his other friends, and he is usually able to overcome any disputes with them. In "Let's Play with Godzilla! Addition" and "Let's Play with Godzilla! Subtraction", Godzilla is shown to have strong feelings for a pink female member of his species named Gojirin. Godzilla frequently tries to impress Gojirin and win her affections, but often does so clumsily, such as leaving her flowers in her bedroom that he had previously stolen from her garden. Both Anguirus and Baragon try to win Gojirin's affections as well, producing some conflict between them. Godzilla and his friends respect Mothra, who acts as an adult figure to them and often tries to mediate conflicts between them.
Another trait this Godzilla exhibits is his tendency to eat a lot of food and not share it with others. This is demonstrated when he tries to get food for Gojirin but ends up eating most of it himself, as well as when he eats all of the pancakes he made with his sister during one of the live-action segments. This Godzilla is also very clumsy and prone to accidents.
Origin
Godzilla hatches from an egg and immediately fires his atomic breath at the start of "You Can Read! You Can Write! Hiragana" and "You Can Count! Counting 1-2-3!". His parentage is unknown.
History
- Get Going! Godzilland (OVA 1994-1996)
Get Going! Godzilland
"You Can Read! You Can Write! Hiragana"
Godzilla practiced his atomic breath, firing a powerful stream into a river. Mothra dropped a letter in front of him which he sucked onto his face while preparing a second blast, causing him to burn himself. It was an invitation, sent to all of Godzilland's monsters, to eat the strawberries she had grown - but like Anguirus, Godzilla couldn't read it. As King Ghidorah, Rodan, and Baragon chowed down, Godzilla and Anguirus got into a fight, inadvertently chasing him to the table where the other monsters were eating. Mothra broke up the fight. Godzilla and Anguirus were shocked when they realized the other monsters ate their share of strawberries; embarrassed, they admitted they couldn't read. Ghidorah offered to teach them hiragana, to which they both agreed.
In the OVA's educational segment, Godzilla introduced か (ka), き (ki), く (ku), け (ke), and こ (ko), having his snout bit by a fox disguised as a turtle in the process. He briefly tied it up before it transformed into a top and spun away. He also watched aghast as Rodan stole his noodles; introduced た (ta), ち (chi), つ (tsu), て (te), and と (to); participated in a quiz show hosted by Baragon, winning a flight to the same island he lived on; laughed at a tanned swan and an owl afraid of the dark on a giant TV set; danced in a circle with all the other monsters; had his tail bit by Anguirus; and added diacritic marks with his footprints to change characters' meanings.
Thus educated, Godzilla played the word-chain game shiritori with the other monsters, though he lost.
"You Can Count! Counting 1-2-3!"
While Anguirus prepared tea for Godzilla's birthday party, Godzilla noticed something moving underground while walking along the beach. After several attempts, he caught it, revealing Baragon, who was approaching Anguirus's place for the party. They were joined there by Mothra, Rodan, and King Ghidorah. Anguirus started handing everyone cupcakes, but gave the last one to Rodan instead of Godzilla. Upset at not having food at his own party, Godzilla began to cry, and Anguirus realized with horror that he had miscounted the number of guests. He offered his own cupcake to Godzilla, but King Ghidorah objected, wanting a cupcake for each of his three heads. Mothra, having anticipated this might be a problem, brought out three slices of cake to appease the monsters. As she encouraged Anguirus to keep practicing his counting, Godzilla asked if she could teach them, and she obliged.
Godzilla hopped on blocks numbered one through ten as Mothra counted them off, then counted down by knocking each block to the ground with his tail. He picked mushrooms with Anguirus, collecting five to the spiky monster's three. In the second round, Anguirus won seven to six. In the third, they couldn't find any mushrooms, having picked every last one in their vicinity. Godzilla noticed what he thought was a bamboo shoot and declared himself the winner, only to discover it was Baragon's tail when he tried pulling it up. Next, King Ghidorah counted off the positioning of the other monsters after they lined up. Godzilla fell asleep before he finished, prompting him to yell at him to wake up through a megaphone while his left and right heads blew on whistles. All of the monsters except Mothra then rode on numbered train cars, with her challenging them to answer which number was blocked from view by an object when the train stopped. Godzilla answered the second question correctly, then picked up and threw the tree in front of the car. He stood on numbered towers as King Ghidorah sang about numbers bigger than ten.
Afterwards, Godzilla sent a letter to Mothra via paper airplane telling her that he was able to resolve a dispute between Baragon and Anguirus about using the swing set with a ladder lottery. He also asked her to bring 100 cakes to the next party, since he could count that high now.
"Let's Play with Godzilla! Addition"
An adult Godzilla prepared pancakes for him and his older sister. After they counted the number of pancakes, Godzilla told her a story of his childhood about when he learned addition. He recalled getting into a fight with Anguirus because the latter bit his tail; Mechagodzilla watched from afar. Later, Godzilla walked through the forest and found Gojirin. He started telling her how "heartless" Anguirus was, only for her to remind him he started the scrap by biting Anguirus's leg. Afterwards, Baragon informed them that Mechagodzilla was kidnapping Anguirus. After seeing Mechagodzilla fly away with his friend in tow, Godzilla tried shooting him down with his atomic breath, but couldn't, since he had an empty stomach. As Mothra arrived and Gojirin also confessed to being hungry, the friends decided to gather some food before they confronted Mechagodzilla. Godzilla ultimately picked three pieces of fruit, despite falling from a tree, and Mothra helped him add it to Gojirin's two, at which point he ate all five and spat the seeds out. Gojirin ate the next round of fruit gathered by Godzilla and Baragon. Even after eating, however, Godzilla could still only produce a small flame. They caught fish next, with Godzilla netting five and Gojirin four; Rodan aided their addition by transforming into a plus sign. Afterwards, Godzilla tried barbecuing a fish with his atomic breath, only to incinerate it.
The monsters journeyed to the mountain where Mechagodzilla had taken Anguirus, only to find a group of ants with spears blocking their path. Godzilla tried scaring them off, but reinforcements quickly arrived. After the monsters added the ants up, they speared Godzilla in the foot, causing him to holler in pain. One of the ants informed Mothra the monsters were trampling their flower garden, and they apologized. They then sang a song about when to use addition. The now-tired monsters reached the mountain, where Mechagodzilla stepped out of a cave to face them. Rather than fight them, he unveiled a quiz show they would have to win in order to free Anguirus. They answered the first three questions quickly, but Godzilla was stumped by the final problem, five plus zero. He then recalled Anguirus collecting five nuts while Baragon couldn't find any, and answered correctly. Godzilla and Anguirus embraced as Mechagodzilla sulked. With Mothra's encouragement, the machine apologized and they all sang a final song together about addition.
His tale concluded, the adult Godzilla counted the pancakes, now ten in all, then ate them after telling his sister to close her eyes.
"Let's Play with Godzilla! Subtraction"
Godzilla and his big sister prepared six cupcakes and four strawberries. Godzilla pointed out that they were two strawberries short, as six minus four equals two. His sister congratulated him and then brought up his childhood girlfriend, Gojirin. Godzilla recalled that she was popular among the monsters of Godzilland. When she pressed him for details, he said that she was a nice girl who loved fruit. In a flashback, a young Godzilla walked along with oranges in his hands, which he wanted to share with Gojirin. He offered to share them with her while she was watering her flowers, but she instead ate them all in one bite. Later, Godzilla walked along with five oranges, the same number he gathered before, but was unsure how many would be left if he gave Gojirin four. When Mothra approached him, Godzilla told her the problem, so she taught him subtraction. Gojirin eventually came along to help, and she again ended up with all five oranges. After a song about subtraction, Godzilla and the other monsters of Godzilland celebrated Gojirin's birthday. Anguirus arrived late and handed Gojirin a basket containing five apples, which Godzilla and Baragon took as a challenge. Godzilla quickly returned with seven apples, which Mothra judged to be more than Anguirus's haul using subtraction, but Baragon outdid him by presenting Gojirin with nine apples. She commented that she won't be able to eat them all, causing them all to laugh. Later, Godzilla left flowers in Gojirin's window while she slept; after she realized the flowers were picked from her own garden, she angrily chased him around. The flashback ended with another song about subtraction.
Back in the present day, Godzilla's sister outraged him by asking if it was hard having so many rivals for Gojirin's affections. He added that they were still close. As they prepared to eat the cakes, his sister asked him to tell her more, resulting in Godzilla falling back from embarrassment.
In another flashback, while Godzilla and Anguirus were surfing on a log, Rodan told them that Mechagodzilla was trying to abduct Gojirin in a misguided attempt to befriend her, causing them to fall off in alarm. When the pair arrived on the scene, Mechagodzilla, having pinned Gojirin's tail, challenged them to a subtraction-themed game show to free her. Godzilla and Anguirus answered all five problems correctly, causing Mechagodzilla to fly away in tears. Godzilla and friends then started singing about subtraction again while playing jump-rope. Mechagodzilla returned and asked if he could play with them; they forgave him and agreed. In the present, Godzilla's sister brought out eight senbei for them to eat after the cupcakes, but challenged him to tell her how many more she would need to make ten first. After he answered correctly, she then gave him just two to eat, leaving him stunned.
Abilities
Atomic breath
Even as a child, this incarnation of Godzilla is able to spit a red blast of atomic flame from his mouth. In the opening to "Let's Play with Godzilla! Addition" and "Let's Play with Godzilla! Subtraction", Godzilla blew up a large chunk of the moon with his atomic breath, although it never demonstrated that level of power in the narratives, simply incinerating a fish at its strongest. He can only produce a small flame on an empty stomach, as demonstrated in "Let's Play with Godzilla! Addition".
Physical abilities
In "You Can Count! Counting 1-2-3!", Godzilla tail-whipped a tower of blocks away one at a time, despite his fatigue from climbing to the top. Later in the OVA, he uprooted and threw a tree roughly twice his height and hopped between tall towers without losing his balance. He wrestled with Anguirus in "Let's Play with Godzilla! Addition", the conclusion of a fight that started when he bit his leg.
Weaknesses
Godzilla is less educated than some of his friends, which sets the plots of the OVAs into motion.
Roar
This version of Godzilla primarily speaks Japanese, although he bellows his traditional roar in his adult form when falling over in embarrassment. The child Godzilla in the animated segments is voiced by Yuko Mita, while the adult Godzilla in the live-action segments is voiced by Naoki Bando.
Gallery
Godzilla after being attacked by ants
Scene in the opening of the Addition and Subtraction OVAs
Scene in the opening of the Addition and Subtraction OVAs
Scene in the opening of the Addition and Subtraction OVAs
Scene in the opening of the Addition and Subtraction OVAs
Godzilla cooking pancakes
Anguirus biting Godzilla's tail
Gojirin hugging Godzilla
Trivia
- This is the first incarnation of Godzilla to be portrayed by a woman, being voiced by Yuko Mita in the animated segments. Subsequent examples have also been young versions of the character: Godzilla-kun in the web series Godziban, voiced by Yumiko Takahashi, and Chibi Godzilla in the web series I'm Home! Chibi Godzilla, voiced by Serika Hiromatsu.
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