Godziban (2019-)
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Monster Puppet Show Godziban (怪獣人形劇 ゴジばん Kaijū Ningyōgeki Gojiban), or simply Godziban (ゴジばん Gojiban), is an ongoing multi-segmented Japanese puppet web series co-produced by Toho, AlphaBoat, and Studio Koganemushi which premiered on the Godzilla Channel YouTube channel on August 9, 2019. The series is the result of a Godzilla-based audition campaign held by the collaborative project GEMSTONE and carries over characters from Koganemushi's 2004 puppet show, Gekigoji.
The show concluded its first season on December 31, 2019, with a special episode premiering on February 14, 2020. The second season ran from May 1, 2020, to August 13. Two more specials were broadcast at Godzilla Fest 2020 Online on November 3, 2020, with two others released to buyers of the Godziban Movie Monster Series figures on December 21. A third season premiered on March 26, 2021, and concluded on October 2, with five specials released throughout. A fourth season has also been announced.
The GODZILLA OFFICIAL by TOHO YouTube channel began uploading episodes of the show with English subtitles on August 20, 2021.
Plot
Godziban episodes are divided into a number of unique segments, typically anywhere from two to four. The most prominent of these is Go! Go! Godzilla-kun[note 1] (Go!Go!ゴジラくん Go Go Gojira-kun), in which Godzilla's son, Godzilla-kun, teaches his brothers Minilla and Little various Godzilla skills, such as breathing atomic breath or tail sliding and getting into various misadventures on Gojigoji Island. Attention! Godzilla (かまって！ゴジラ Kamatte Gojira)[note 2] debuted in the show's second episode and follows Kamachi, who appears to comfort people in times of need.
Each Season 1 episode ends with an unnamed entry of Grandpa Hedo (ヘドじい Hedojī), where a conversation occurs between the titular Grandpa Hedo and his grandson Young Hedo as they trek through a seemingly endless wasteland. In episode 6, which included all three of the aforementioned segments, a bonus second installment of Grandpa was included entitled Grandpa Hedo (Spin-Off) (ヘドじい番外 Hedojī Bangai, lit. Grandpa Hedo Extra). A spinoff of Grandpa Hedo, entitled Grandpa Hedo's Travels (ヘドじい漫遊記 Hedojī Manyūki), debuted in episode 10 and comprised a montage of smaller segments in which the Hedos visit an area of Japan while discussing viewer-suggested topics.
The aforementioned segments were revealed to take place in the same universe in the show's Christmas special, which featured characters from all three crossing over.
Episode 8 introduced Go! Jet Jaguar (ジェットジャガーに訊け! Jetto Jagā ni Kike, lit. Ask Jet Jaguar!),[note 3] consisting of 2D animation by artist Onigiri rather than live action puppetry. In this segment, Jet Jaguar is an inflatable robot created by Dr. Roborobo and a friend of Godzilla who springs into action as a guardian mecha to defend the people of Earth against Megalon. The segment also incorporated Minilla and Little from Go! Go! Godzilla-kun in its fourth episode.
Moshi Moth (もしモス) appeared in episode 9, following Battra and two Mothra larvae on their journeys through life. The segment appears to feature the same Mothra from Godzilla-kun and takes place in similar scenery, perhaps suggesting further shared continuity.
In season 2 of the series, a spinoff of Go! Go! Godzilla-kun called Little and Gigan: The Dangerous Duo (リトルとガイガン あぶない
Episodes
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Staff
Staff role on the left, staff member's name on the right.
- Directed by Hideyuki Kobayashi, Jun Shimazaki (pilot)
- Written by Hideyuki Kobayashi
- Executive producer Keiji Ota
- Co-executive producers Taichi Ueda, Akihiro Yamauchi
- Chief producer Koji Azuma
- Produced by Takanori Higuchi
- Assistant producer Tetsuto Yamamoto
- Music by Hideyuki Kobayashi, Nana Morohoshi
- Cinematography by Koichi Inokuchi, Jun Shimazaki
- Edited by Hideyuki Kobayashi
- Puppets created by Hideyuki Kobayashi, Mile Paxton
- Puppet operators Hiroto Nakayama, Megumi Kawano, Emi Takita
- Title logo(s) by Yukihide Toyoda
- Illustrators Junko Kubota, Marunana, Onigiri, Shiu Yoshijima
- "Godzidan" song and dance performed by Luna; Marie Katsura, Rino Shimomura (episode 19); Yae, Kento, Nina (episode 20); Shoko Nakajima (season 3)
Cast
Actor's name on the left, character played on the right.
- Yumiko Takahashi as Godzilla-kun (voice)
- Hideyuki Kobayashi as Little (voice) / Young Hedo (voice) / Anguirus (voice)
- Masamichi Komeno
- Rino Shimomura as Rino, office lady
- Masahiro Omura as Rino's boyfriend
- Clair as Mia, ballerina
- Marie Katsura as Ballet master / Marika, warrior girl / Miyoko, Tetsugoro's wife (photograph)
- Yuko Amami as Yuko, office lady
- Aiko Yuhara as Aira, warrior girl
- Holly Kaneko as Tetsugoro Kuroiwa, widower
- Natsumi Tezuka as Tetsugoro's daughter
- Kota Iijima as Kenji Mizubota, bridegroom
- Fumihiko Nemoto as Kenji's father
- Junko Kubota as Kenji's mother
- Megumi Kawano as MC of wedding (voice)
- Angus, Luka, Norinori as Children awaiting Christmas presents
Appearances
Monsters
|
CharactersWeapons, vehicles, and races |
Gallery
Screenshots
Godziban title card
English Godziban title card
Go! Go! Godzilla-kun title card
Go! Go! Godzilla-kun transparent title card
English Go! Go! Godzilla-kun transparent episode 2 title card
Grandpa Hedo title card
English Grandpa Hedo
title cardGrandpa Hedo (Spin-Off) title card
Grandpa Hedo's Travels title card
Attention! Godzilla title card
Attention! Godzilla episode 2 title card
Attention! Godzilla episode 3 title card
Attention! Godzilla episode 5 title card
Go! Jet Jaguar
title cardEnglish Go! Jet Jaguar title card
Moshi Moth title card
Little and Gigan:
The Dangerous Duo title card
Merchandise
Godziban sheet protector
Godziban decal
Godziban stamps for the LINE app
Godziban T-shirt
Kid's Godziban T-shirt
Godziban convenience store Bromide cards
Godziban pin set
Movie Monster Series Godzilla-kun
Movie Monster Series Minilla
Movie Monster Series Little
Miscellaneous
Internet
Awards
A pilot for Godziban was submitted in March of 2019 to the first GEMSTONE Creators Audition, which had the theme of "Godzilla." It was awarded the grand prize of 300,000 yen, along with G vs. G, Fiction, Gifu Godzilla, DRESS, and Godzilla Trailer.[1] The prize-winning creators were thus given the opportunity to work with producers at Toho, with Godziban becoming a full series aired on the official Godzilla Channel months later.
| Award | Category | Recipient(s) | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| GEMSTONE Creators Audition Vol.1 | Godzilla | Godziban | Won[1] |
Manga adaptation
A 4-panel comic strip-style manga adaptation of Godziban, entitled Godziman (ゴジ漫 Gojiman), began being serialized by the Japanese anime news site Animage Plus on September 12, 2019.[2] New issues were released every Thursday.
Issue 001
Issue 002
Issue 003
Issue 004
Issue 005
Issue 006
Issue 007
Issue 008
Issue 009
Issue 010
Issue 011
Issue 012
Issue 013
Issue 014
Issue 015
Issue 016
Live performances
Live performances of Godziban were held at Godzilla Fest on November 3, 2019, featuring appearances from Godzilla-kun, Minilla, Little, Moshu-Moshu, Grandpa Hedo and Young Hedo, all voiced by their actors from the series. The Three Godzilla Brothers meet an elder Godzilla bearing the ShodaiGoji design, named Grandpa Zilla, who grows giant to face off against the mutated Dorat monster, King Ghidorah. Several displays were also set up around the venue, featuring the first appearances of the Rodan, Gezora, and Gorosaurus puppets. A "digest movie" of the event and performance was posted to the Godzilla Channel on November 8 as episode 14 of Godziban.
|
Videos
- Main article: Godziban/Videos.
Trivia
- Godziban marks the first Godzilla-related series to be produced since 1999's Godzilla TV. It is also the first ever web-exclusive Godzilla series.
- A number of episodes of the Go! Go! Godzilla-kun segment feature references to previous Godzilla and kaiju films.
- In episode 1, Godzilla-kun stepping on Minilla's tail to make him fire stronger smoke rings is a reference to the film Son of Godzilla, in which Godzilla stepping on Minilla's tail causes him to fire atomic breath, rather than smoke rings.
- Anguirus communicates with Godzilla-kun through roars and speech bubbles at the request of Japanese YouTube user Uchi no Angirasu (うちのアンギラス). This is in reference to the Japanese theatrical version of Godzilla vs. Gigan, which featured Godzilla and Anguirus' dialogue being represented with speech bubbles. Anguirus' recurring line "OK!" is even taken directly from the film.
- The "Godzilla Kick" move that Godzilla-kun teaches to Minilla and Little in episode 4 is a reference to an identical move performed by Godzilla in Godzilla vs. Megalon. This too was a fan request, by user Yoshio-kun (ヨシオくん).
- The ending to episode 6 of Go! Go! Godzilla-kun references Gamera, with Minilla and Little, dressed as turtles, spinning around and lifting off into the air.
- Anguirus' rolling in a ball after falling from the cliff in episode 7 is a reference to Godzilla Final Wars, in which Anguirus has the ability to tuck into a ball as a means of quicker transportation. This was requested by Takkī (タッキー).
- Rodan's hatching in episode 8 is reminiscent of a similar scene from the character's debut film. The episode's title, "Son of Minilla," is also a reference to Son of Godzilla.
- In episode 12, Godzilla-kun daydreams about flying through the air using his atomic breath, referencing Godzilla flying in Godzilla vs. Hedorah. The episode's final gathering of monsters against King Ghidorah is also a clear homage to Destroy All Monsters.
- The fight choreography in episode 23 closely follows the final battle in Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster.
- As with Go! Go! Godzilla-kun, fan suggestions have been taken for Grandpa Hedo beginning with episode 8, culled from responses to a Tweet by the official GEMSTONE Twitter.[3] Episode 8's premise was suggested by Yasutaka (泰貴), episode 9's by Kuroneko vs. Godzilla (黒猫vsゴジラ Kuroneko tai Gojira), episode 15's by Hiropon (ヒロぽん), episode 16's by Kai Hodora (ホドラ.改 Hodora Kai), episode 17's by Kamatama (かまたま), and episode 19's by Panda Kopanda.
- Godziban marks the first meeting between Godzilla and Desghidorah outside of video games.
External links
- Official website
- Official Godziban Twitter account, started to announce the show's second season
- Director Hideyuki Kobayashi's Twitter account
Notes
- ↑ Translated on title cards as Go!Go! Godzillakun and in subtitles for the English dub of "Smack It, Godzilla Brothers!" as Go! Go! Mr.Godzilla.
- ↑ Though the exclamation point is present on the segment's title card, it is sometimes absent, such as in the titles of episode uploads.
- ↑ While the segment's Japanese title card lacks an exclamation point, it is present in the titles and descriptions of episode uploads, as well as other sources. Additionally, the English title Go! Jet Jaguar is written in Japanese as ゆけ！ジェットジャガー (Yuke Jetto Jagā) on title cards beginning with episode 11 of Godziban, and as ゴー！ジェットジャガー (Gō Jetto Jagā) at the beginning of episode 15.
References
This is a list of references for Godziban. 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]
|
| ||||||||||||||
Comments
Showing 147 comments. When commenting, please remain respectful of other users, stay on topic, and avoid role-playing and excessive punctuation. Comments which violate these guidelines may be removed by administrators. <comments voting="Plus" /> |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
