Godzilla's roar

Godzilla's roar is a famous sound effect. Originally created by composer Akira Ifukube, his assistant Sei Ikano, and sound technician Ichiro Minawa in 1954, it has been tinkered with by various other sound designers over the decades.

Showa era

When he first signed onto Godzilla, composer Akira Ifukube thought that the monster, being a reptile, shouldn't roar at all. Director Ishiro Honda explained it as another consequence of his mutation by nuclear testing. Sound technicians Ichiro Minawa and Hisashi Shimonaga tried modifying the cries of lions, tigers, and night herons recorded at Ueno Zoo, but everything they produced was still too natural. It was Ifukube who hit upon the idea of using a musical instrument: the contrabass. He unwound the E string and recorded his assistant, Sei Ikano, drawing his hands across it with gloves covered in pine tar. Minawa then manipulated the speed of the recordings, added echoes, and overlaid some of the animal sounds he had previously gathered. This roar would later be altered for use as the roar of other Toho monsters, including Varan, Baragon, and Gorosaurus. Godzilla's roar was increased in pitch starting in King Kong vs. Godzilla, and would remain mostly unchanged for the rest of the Showa series. Manda grunts were repurposed for Godzilla from Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster onward.

Godzilla's roars in the 1954 film and the Showa era

Godzilla (Hanna-Barbera series)

Actor Ted Cassidy voiced the Hanna-Barbera Godzilla.

Godzilla's roars in Hanna-Barbera's Godzilla

Heisei era

Starting in The Return of Godzilla, Godzilla's roar was made to sound closer to what it did in the original film and was given a deep guttural sound at the end. In Godzilla vs. Mothra, Godzilla's roar was changed again to sound higher in pitch, similar to how it sounded throughout the Showa era, with the guttural sounds at the end removed.

Godzilla's roars in the Heisei era

GODZILLA (1998)

In the 1998 American film produced by TriStar Pictures, sound designer Scott Martin Gershin combined the Showa Godzilla roars with elephant sounds. Gary A. Hecker, Frank Welker, and Gershin himself provided additional vocals. These roars were used throughout the film's animated spin-off Godzilla: The Series and were mixed in with Godzilla's other roars in the American version of Godzilla 2000: Millennium. Since then, the TriStar Godzilla's roars have been used for Godzilla in commercials and other media and were also used by the monster Zilla in Godzilla: Final Wars.

Godzilla's roars in GODZILLA

Millennium era

Throughout the Millennium series, Godzilla uttered lower-pitched and slowed-down versions of his roars from the Showa series. Slowed-down animal sounds were sampled and mixed into some of Godzilla's vocals starting with Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack. These roars were reused with added growling effects for Godzilla Filius and Godzilla Earth in the GODZILLA anime trilogy.

Godzilla's roars in the Millennium era

MonsterVerse

Sound designers Erik Aadahl and Ethan Van Der Ryn created a new Godzilla roar from scratch for Legendary Pictures' 2014 reboot. They first tried the same glove-on-a-contrabass technique pioneered by Akira Ifukube, but found the results weren't quite right for the era of 12-channel IMAX theaters. Their breakthrough was metal friction. According to Aadahl, "Dried ice supercools certains types of metal, and it starts contracting and vibrating and produces this shrieking and bellowing." For the rumble at the end of the roar, they manipulated recordings of a potted plant raked across concrete. To capture how the roars would resonate in a city, they blasted them from the Rolling Stones' tour speakers in a Warner Bros. backlot, which could be heard from about three miles away. This roar returned in subsequent MonsterVerse films; in Godzilla: King of the Monsters, it was mixed with many of Godzilla's roars from the Showa series.

Godzilla's roars in the MonsterVerse

Reiwa era

Godzilla's first and second forms never roar in Shin Godzilla, but the third and fourth forms do. The third form utilizes Godzilla's roars from the original 1954 film, while his fourth form primarily uses Godzilla's roars from King Kong vs. Godzilla through Terror of Mechagodzilla in the Showa series. Just before being frozen at the film's climax, Godzilla's fourth form emits a roar from The Return of Godzilla. Though the filmmakers experimented with new sounds, they found they couldn't surpass the older ones.

In the GODZILLA anime trilogy, Godzilla Earth reuses roars from throughout the Millennium series, with added new deeper growl sound effects. In GODZILLA: The Planet Eater, he also uses some lower-pitched Showa Godzilla roars.

In Godzilla Singular Point, Godzilla Aquatilis briefly utilizes Toho King Kong roars. Godzilla Amphibia utilizes Varan's roars, which have also been reused for numerous other kaiju such as Baragon and Gorosaurus. When using his flammable ice vapor, he reuses the 1954 Godzilla's roar. After evolving into Godzilla Terrestris, he uses the 1984 Godzilla's roar, occasionally mixed with Millennium-era roars. Godzilla Ultima's roar seems to be a combination of the roars used by Godzilla in The Return of Godzilla and the Millennium films. The Showa Godzilla roar is used when he fires his atomic breath rings.

Godzilla's roars in Shin Godzilla Godzilla Earth and Godzilla Filius's roars in the GODZILLA anime trilogy Godzilla's roars in Godzilla Singular Point

Comics

Godzilla's roar has been written out in comic books on numerous occasions, and not only as a simple "roar." In the Marvel Comics stories, Godzilla's roar was spelled "Mrawww." In the Dark Horse Comics stories and Godzilla: Rulers of Earth, Godzilla's roar was spelled "Skreeongk." In most of the IDW Comics stories, Godzilla's roar is spelled "Skreeonk." In Japanese, the official onomatopoeia for Godzilla's roar is "Gyaoon" (ギャオーン,   Gyaōn) — additional "o"s can be added to extend the roar. Another onomatopoeia is "Gaooo" (ガオオオ).

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  "Gaooo" used in Godzilla 1954-1999 Super Complete Works, page 175

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  "Gawowowo" used in the box for a toy

Use by other characters

While Toho is fiercely protective of Godzilla's likeness, his roar has been reused for numerous other creatures in film, television, and video games, and sampled in music. These lists are meant to be comprehensive, but given the broad subject matter, they may be incomplete.

Film

• 1958/02/20: Dragon in Hercules (1954 roar)
• 1986/03/10: Rockasaurs in Challenge of the Gobots: Battle of the Rock Lords (Hanna-Barbera roar)
• 2005/09/03: Godzilla-like kaiju suit in Tom and Jerry: The Fast and The Furry
• 2006/07/21: Unknown character in Monster House
• 2008/02/01: Stock footage of Gorgo in Over Her Dead Body
• 2011/12/03: Animatronic kaiju in K-On! The Movie
• 2021/09/14: Cicada monster in Straight Outta Nowhere: Scooby-Doo Meets Courage the Cowardly Dog (Showa roar)

Television

If a character using Godzilla's roar appears in multiple shows, only their first appearance is listed.

• 1972/10/01: Various mecha in Science Ninja Team Gatchaman
• 1985/11/19: Zod in the Challenge of the Gobots episode "Destroy All Guardians" (Hanna-Barbera roar)
• 1994/04/01: Yakko in the Akazukin Chacha episode "Do Your Best, House-sitter!"
• 1994/06/17: Dorothy in the Akazukin Chacha episode "I'm the Legendary Princess?"
• 1995/10/29: Lard Lad in The Simpsons episode "Treehouse of Horror VI"
• 1999/08/30: Unknown character in the Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles episode "Freefall" (TriStar roar)
• 2005/07/08: Snake in the Camp Lazlo episode "Snake Eyes" (TriStar roar)
• 2007/03/25: Stegosaurus/Lisa Simpson hybrid in The Simpsons episode "Homerazzi"
• 2008/04/27: Dino-Robo-Bots in The Simpsons episode "Apocalypse Cow"
• 2009/11/20: Fing Fang Foom in the Iron Man: Armored Adventures episode "Tales of Suspense" (TriStar roar)
• 2010/01/29: Chemo in the Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode "Clash of the Metal Men!"
• 2010/08/12: Robot Plesiosaurus in the Futurama episode "A Clockwork Origin"
• 2011/03/05: Gustavo in the Big Time Rush episode "Big Time Songwriters"
• 2011/11/18: Miss Martian in the Young Justice episode "Secrets"
• 2015/11/26: Giant squid in the Mickey Mouse episode "Wonders of the Deep"
• 2016/07/15: Rory in the Stranger Things episode "The Weirdo on Maple Street"
• 2017/10/27: Rory in the Stranger Things episode "Chapter One: MADMAX"
• 2018/01/13: DeeDee in the Oggy and the Cockroaches episode "Super DeeDee" (TriStar roar)
• 2018/03/12: Bunnicula in the Bunnicula episode "Bunzilla" (TriStar roar)
• 2019/10/08: Alpha Tyrannosaurus and Fang's hatchlings in the Primal episode "Spear and Fang" (TriStar and Baby Godzilla roars, respectively)
• 2019/10/09: Snake in the Primal episode "River of Snakes" (Baby Godzilla roar)
• 2019/11/04: Entrapta's robot in the She-Ra and the Princesses of Power episode "Destiny Part 1"
• 2020/04/01: Fang in the Primal episode "Plague of Madness" (TriStar roar)

Video games

• 2014/11/11: Animatronic Tyrannosaurus rex and Plastic Man in Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham

Music

• 2006/02/21: "Woman from a Hell" by Acid Mothers (Heisei roar)
• 1988/09/25: "Posse on Broadway" by Sir Mix-a-Lot

References

This is a list of references for Godzilla's roar. 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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