Godzilla may have returned to theaters last year but now the world’s first kaiju is coming back in a wholly different form after Toho International Inc. announced a re-release of the second season of a rather obscure Godzilla anime series from the 70s premiering for free on the monster’s own YouTube channel.
However, this Godzilla series doesn’t find its origins in Japan like the 1954 movie that gave birth to the kaiju genre, instead, it comes from the studios of Hannah-Barbera who in association with Henry G. Saperstein released the first season as part of The Godzilla Power Hour for two seasons, with each one consisting of 13 episodes that originally ran along with Jane of the Jungle. Although this piece of kaiju history had been released previously in physical formats, the second season now joins the first one on Godzilla Official by Toho.
Funnily enough, this children’s approved Godzilla is among the first American takes on the kaiju genre as a whole, meaning it’s a rare dilution of the type of destruction that was first portrayed by Japanese filmmakers. News of the second season’s release, completely free on YouTube, was accompanied by a short teaser that gives a glimpse at some of the monsters this lizard will be fighting in the show, as well as the promise of “more Gadzooky”, Godzilla’s cute tiny nephew that lacks the imposing presence of his uncle.
It would take quite a while for Godzilla to strike American shores again, something that didn’t happen until Roland Emmerichs critically panned, though commercially salvageable, Godzilla premiered in 1998, shortly before a Godzilla: The Series animated effort that ran on Fox Kids until the year 2000. Naturally, this Godzilla caters to the most die-hard kaiju fans out there, although with Warner’s MonsterVerse doing so well, it’s about a good a time as any to unearth this classic.
Last year Godzilla vs. Kong became the third MonsterVerse movie to turn a decent profit for the studio, with at least a solid $95m being the estimated number of earnings after deducting the film’s budget plus promotion cost, so definitely good enough for a Godzilla vs. Kong sequel. Right now, Godzilla’s next big appearance looks destined to be the monster’s MultiVersus debut, thus joining Warner’s true top tier talent to dish the kind of chaos all kaiju movies are known for.
Considering Godzilla is still big enough to carry a Call of Duty: Warzone event and even get incite anger and disappointment among players, it's clear this kaiju still has some pop culture influence.
Godzilla is currently available on GODZILLA OFFICIAL by TOHO’s YouTube channel.