Godzilla vs. Megaguirus



The 24th entry of the Godzilla franchise and the second of the Millenium era. Another Continuity Reboot, it's a direct sequel to the first film. It involves the return of the obscure Meganulon from Rodan and the introduction of Megaguirus, their queen and an addition to the tiny number of female monsters.

In a world where Godzilla never met his end to Doctor Serizawa's Oxygen Destroyer, his later attack on a Tokai village nuclear power plant forced the country to move to green energy. It isn't enough to power the country, so plasma energy is created. But 1996, Godzilla is attracted to it, and in his rampage, Kiriko Tsujimori's Major is killed. Swearing vengeance, Kiriko rises to an important position in newly formed G-Graspers and recruits independent technological engineer, Hajime Kudo. They plan to get rid of Godzilla through Dimension Tide, an artificial black hole that would swallow the King of the Monsters whole.

But in a test on an abandoned school, a portal is created and an egg is layed by a large insect that flies through it. A innocent boy moving to Tokyo unwittingly takes the egg; he is unable to keep it hidden, and dumps it in the sewer, where it floods Shibuya and unleashes the Meganulon upon the world. The Dimension Tide project gets derailed when the Meganulon metamorphose into Meganula and attack Godzilla to drain away his power. Godzilla escapes the black hole and moves toward Tokyo, where the Meganula who have taken his power give it to a monster that could take the King of the Monsters' place as the ultimate threat. Can Godzilla defeat the fast and wicked Megaguirus? And can the G-Graspers swallow Godzilla in the Demension Tide when the satellite it's on begins to fall to Earth?

This film introduces the first character to climb onto Godzilla in the main film franchise and begins the Millenium tradition of introducing older veterans in older, more authoritarian roles. Although it was well recieved by fans overall, the film tanked at the box office in Japan, selling fewer tickets than any Godzilla movie since Terror of Mechagodzilla. Like Godzilla vs. Biollante, this set the tone for reintroducing older, popular monsters in future films.

The film provides examples of

 * Action Girl: Kiriko Tsujimori, who climbs onto a swimming Godzilla and risks her life so the failing Dimension Tide would target Godzilla.
 * Corrupt Corporate Executive: Motohiko Sugiura, who admits that a secret plasma energy generator was housed in the science institute...which was the reason for Godzilla's attack in the first place. He does say that the generator was shut down, but either way, Godzilla knew about it.
 * Extreme Graphical Representation: The program Kudo uses to fix all the faltering tech is represented by a little man in a jetpack flying through a digital space and shooting corrupted data patches with a laser.
 * Fragile Speedster: Megaguirus. She uses a lot of hit and run attacks on Godzilla, but once he catches her...game over man.
 * Gainax Ending: Godzilla's been defeated! The Megulon are gone, and so is Megaguiurus! But what's been causing earthquakes? IT'S GODZILLA!!!
 * Giant Flyer: Megaguirus.
 * Implacable Man: Godzilla himself. Seriously, being attacked by energy sucking bugs, and being hit with a freaking miniature black hole is nothing to him in his quest for a secret energy reactor.
 * Kuudere: Kiriko, whose quite cool to the flirtious Kudo and very focused on the mission. However, she's kind to children, respectful of Professsor Yoshizawa, and doesn't want to endanger her teammates. Also, it's hinted she begins to respect Kudo, and maybe even return his feelings.
 * Oh Crap: Megaguirus has two. The first is when Godzilla jumps on her, and the second one is when Godzilla finally catches her tail...in his mouth.
 * Slasher Smile: Megaguirus seems to sport one at various moments during her battle with Godzilla.
 * Team Mom: Professor Yoshizawa. Warm and kind, she's a prominent figure in the Dimension Tide project and has the respect of the noncomforming Kudo and the cool Kiriko. She even breaks up a fight between the two when Dimension Tide first fails.
 * Too Dumb to Live: The squad who tries taking on Godzilla with bazookas. You're going to take a weapon designed to destroy tanks, and use it against something that has a reputation for destroying tanks by the hundreds?