Fest Godzilla 4: Operation Jet Jaguar

Godzilla Fest short films
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Fest Godzilla 4: Operation Jet Jaguar Directed by Kazuhiro Nakagawa Producer Keiji Ota et al. Music by Akira Ifukube, Michiru Oshima, Reijiro Koroku, Kow Otani (stock) Production company Episcope Distributor Toho Running time ~11 minutes Rate this film! 4.86 (14 votes)

Fest Godzilla 4: Operation Jet Jaguar (フェス・ゴジラ4 オペレーション ジェットジャガー,   Fesu Gojira Fō: Operēshon Jetto Jagā) is a 2023 tokusatsu kaiju short film directed by Kazuhiro Nakagawa for Godzilla Fest 2023, which took place on November 3, 2023. Produced by Episcope, it is the fourth annual festival film Nakagawa has made since 2020, continuing the story from the previous year's Fest Godzilla 3: Gigan Attacks. It will itself be followed up by Fest Godzilla 5: All Monsters Showdown. The film celebrates the 50th anniversary of Jet Jaguar, who debuted in Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973), and employs a crowdfunded replica of the Jet Jaguar suit built by Shinichi Wakasa.

Plot

Godzilla, left with no other kaiju to battle, begins attacking Japan, stomping through Shibuya and firing his atomic breath at a building. During this chaos, Jet Jaguar is activated at a military base and deployed into battle against the rampaging monster.

As Godzilla continues his destruction, Jet Jaguar descends from the sky and touches down in front of him, entering a battle stance. Godzilla repeatedly fires his atomic breath and Jet Jaguar runs towards him, dodging each blast. The robot reaches the kaiju and knees him in the chest before locking hands while Godzilla pushes him backwards. Jet Jaguar throws off Godzilla's hands, punches him several times, and ducks under a claw swipe as he kicks the reptilian. Godzilla retaliates with a slash from his claws and kicks his opponent away, but Jet Jaguar runs back to him and delivers a leaping punch. Godzilla knocks him down and tries to hit Jet Jaguar with his tail, but the robot dodges it, jumps, and spin-kicks Godzilla in the face mid-air, knocking him to the ground. Jet Jaguar lands and Godzilla returns his feet, roaring. The two charge and lock hands again, with Godzilla throwing Jet Jaguar to the side and firing his atomic breath, but the robot dodges and answers with kicks and punches. Again, Godzilla attempts to use his atomic breath, but Jet Jaguar ducks and grabs Godzilla's tail as it is swung at him.

Jet Jaguar swings Godzilla around into a building and tries to punch him, but Godzilla evades and positions himself behind his adversary. Jet Jaguar turns in time to see the King of the Monsters charging his atomic breath. Jet Jaguar runs in the opposite direction, taking the ray in the back and stumbling to the ground. As he begins to rise, Godzilla kicks him in the chest and stomps towards him. He grabs the robot by the head and lifts him into the air before throwing him away into a building. As Jet Jaguar catches fire in multiple places, Godzilla stands over him, charging his atomic breath to deliver the finishing blow. Suddenly, a bolt of electricity strikes Godzilla in the face, sending him to the ground. Jet Jaguar looks to the sky to see King Ghidorah appear in a massive fireball, cackling as he lands in the city. He begins spewing gravity beams throughout the cityscape, destroying many of the structures. Seeing this, Jet Jaguar gets to his feet and walks over to the struggling Godzilla, grabbing the monster's hand and lifting him to his feet. Godzilla gives a small roar to his new ally and Jet Jaguar returns a thumbs up. The two turn to face the golden invader, and Godzilla roars.

Staff

Staff role on the left, staff member's name on the right.

• Directed by   Kazuhiro Nakagawa
• Executive producer   Keiji Ota
• Co-executive producers   Akito Takahashi, Hidehiko Hotta
• Chief producers   Tetsuya Yoshikawa, Michiaki Yamasaki, Yusuke Ishiguro
• Produced by   Go Miyazaki, Kota Ishizuka, Tomonori Koyanagi
• Stock music by   Akira Ifukube, Michiru Oshima, Reijiro Koroku, Kow Otani (uncredited)
• Cinematography by   Keizo Suzuki
• Edited by   Taki Yasuda
• Production design by   Kohei Sugiyama
• First assistant director   Ryotaro Kogushi
• Suits modeled by   Shinichi Wakasa, Fuyuki Shinada

Cast

Actor's name on the left, character played on the right.

• Shinsuke Kasai   as   doctor / fleeing civilian
• Yuji Kaida   as   military personnel
• Yusuke Tomioka   as   narrator (voice)
• Naoya Matsumoto   as   Godzilla / King Ghidorah
• Hikaru Yoshida   as   Godzilla (leg closeups) / fleeing civilian
• Kenya Saito   as   Jet Jaguar

Appearances

Monsters

• Godzilla (FinalGoji)
• Jet Jaguar
• King Ghidorah
• Hedorah (mentioned)
• Gigan (mentioned)

Development

A crowdfunding campaign to produce a new Jet Jaguar suit, labeled the "Jet Jaguar Suit Reproduction Project," opened on Ubgoe on June 26, 2023 with a goal of ¥8 million. It concluded that August 31, failing to reach its goal but nonetheless raising ¥5,397,552 from 458 backers.

Production

Fest Godzilla 4: Operation Jet Jaguar was the first Godzilla Fest film to employ extras and green screens.

Marketing

The trailer for Fest Godzilla 4: Operation Jet Jaguar was released on October 27, 2023, revealing its title. A series of six behind-the-scenes videos were posted to YouTube from October 28 to November 2.

Gallery

Pre-production

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Production

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Screenshots

Trailer

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Film

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Miscellaneous

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  Jet Jaguar Suit Reproduction Project banner

Videos

Full short Teaser trailer Behind the scenes #1 Behind the scenes #2 with cinematographer Keizo Suzuki Behind the scenes #3 with stunt coordinator Keiya Tabuchi Behind the scenes #4 with wire operator Kenji Kawaguchi Behind the scenes #5 with suit maker Shinichi Wakasa Behind the scenes #6 with art producer Ryuji Ofuna

Trivia

• Shots of military leaders walking towards Jet Jaguar in his hangar mimic the opening of Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993).
• The shot of King Ghidorah firing his gravity beams with a torii in the foreground references a similar shot from Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964).

References

This is a list of references for Fest Godzilla 4: Operation Jet Jaguar. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: ^[1]

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