Godziban

Godziban Air date August 9, 2019- Producer(s) Keiji Ota, Taichi Ueda, Koji Azuma, Akihiro Yamauchi, Takanori Higuchi Distributor Toho Channel(s) Godzilla Channel (YouTube) Genre(s) Comedy, puppetry

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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 reuses puppets from Koganemushi's 2004 puppet show, Gekigoji.

Plot

Godziban episodes are divided into a number of unique segments, typically anywhere from two to four. The most prominent of these are Go! Go! Godzilla-kun (Go! Go!ゴジラくん,   Go Go Gojira-kun), in which Godzilla-kun teaches his brothers Minilla and Little various Godzilla skills, such as breathing atomic breath or tail sliding, and Attention! Godzilla (かまった！ゴジラ,   Kamatte Gojira), in which Kamatte-kun appears before people in times of need. Each episode ends with a nameless entry of Master of Monsters: Hedoji (ヘドじい,   Hedojī, lit. Old Man Hedo), where a conversation occurs between the titular Hedoji and his grandson Hedochi as they trek through a seemingly endless wasteland. In episode 6, which included all three of the aforementioned segments, a bonus second installment of Hedoji was included entitled Master of Monsters: Hedoji Extra (ヘドじい番外,   Hedojī Bangai, lit. Old Man Hedo Extra). Episode 8 introduced the animated segment Go! Jet Jaguar (ジェットジャガーに訊け!,   Jetto Jagā ni Kike, lit. Ask Jet Jaguar!), in which Jet Jaguar is an advanced robot created by Dr. Roborobo who answers press questions from a podium at a news conference, while Moshi Mosu (もしモス) appeared in episode 9, following two Mothra larvae on their journeys through life. In episode 10, a spinoff of Hedoji was introduced entitled Hedoji Adventures (ヘドじい漫遊記,   Hedojī Manyūki), comprised of a montage of smaller segments in which Hedoji and Hedochi visit an area of Japan while discussing viewer-suggested topics.

Episodes

Go! Go! Godzilla-kun "Volume of: We Are the Three Godzilla Brothers!" "Volume of: Hit it! Three Godzilla Brothers" "Volume of: the Secret Training Dojo" "Volume of: Secret! Dropkick" "Volume of: Run Past! Three Brothers" "Volume of: Godziban Tales - the Tortoise and the Hare" Attention! Godzilla "Parting Lovers" "The Sad Ballerina" "Office Lady Yuko's Depression" "The Sorrowful Warrior Girls"

Go! Jet Jaguar "Volume of: First in History!! The Robot Press Conference" "Volume of: Jet Jaguar Activates!!" Untitled episode Moshi Mosu "Volume of: Moshu Moshu Transmission" Hedoji Adventures "Volume of: Aso, Kumamoto, Hinokuni"

Staff

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

• Directed by   Hideyuki Kobayashi
• Written by   Hideyuki Kobayashi
• Executive producing by   Keiji Ota, Taichi Ueda, Akihiro Yamauchi
• Produced by   Koji Azuma, Takanori Higuchi
• Music by   Hideyuki Kobayashi, Nana Morohoshi
• Cinematography by   Koichi Inokuchi, Jun Shimazaki
• 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

Cast

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

• Yumiko Takahashi   as   Godzilla-kun (voice)
• Rino Shimomura   as   Rino, office lady
• Masahiro Omura   as   Rino's boyfriend
• Clair   as   Mia, ballerina
• Marie Katsura   as   Ballet master / Marika, warrior girl
• Yuko Amami   as   Yuko, office lady
• Aiko Yuhara   as   Aira, warrior girl

Appearances

Monsters Godzilla-kun Minilla Little Hedoji Hedochi Kamatte-kun Mothra (larvae) Anguirus Baragon Jet Jaguar Godzilla Megalon Battra (larva) Rodan (silhouette)

Weapons, Vehicles, and Races Shobijin (Go! Go! Godzilla-kun and Moshi Mosu title / end cards)

Gallery

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  Godziban title card

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  Godziban English title card

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  Go! Go! Godzilla-kun title card

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  Go! Go! Godzilla-kun episode 4+ title card

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  Master of Monsters: Hedoji title card

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  Master of Monsters: Hedoji English title card

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  Master of Monsters: Hedoji Extra title card

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  Hedoji Adventures title card

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  Attention! Godzilla title card

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  Attention! Godzilla episode 2 title card

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  Attention! Godzilla episode 3 title card

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  Go! Jet Jaguar
  title card

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  Go! Jet Jaguar English title card

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  Moshi Mosu title card

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. 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

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 beginning on September 12, 2019. New issues are released every Thursday.

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  Issue 001

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  Issue 002

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  Issue 003

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  Issue 004

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  Issue 005

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  Issue 006

Videos

GEMSTONE submission video Episode 1 Episode 2 Episode 3 Episode 4 Episode 5 Episode 6 Episode 7 Episode 8 Episode 9 Episode 10 Episode 11

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 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 may be seen as a reference to Gamera. Minilla and Little, dressed as turtles, spin around and lift off into the air, similar to the manner in which Gamera flies.
• As with Go! Go! Godzilla-kun, fan suggestions began being taken for Old Man Hedo beginning in episode 8. Episode 8's premise was suggested by Yasutaka (泰貴), and episode 9's by Kuroneko vs. Godzilla (黒猫vsゴジラ,   Kuroneko tai Gojira).

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]

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