Monster Zero x SciFi Japan - Archive Only

I need to know before I buy it...

I hate to be the wet blanket here, but I've never been crazy about Atragon. Toho cranked this out awfully fast, and it kinda shows, I think. Manda's just another Tanaka-mandated kaiju, and isn't very well done (the shot of him slinking back to the cave after being zapped by the Gotengo is particularly poor).

And I've never been crazy about the Gotengo's design, either. It just looks like a cigar with fins on the back and a drill head on the front - pffftt. Just doesn't stack up to other Toho mecha.

True, Jun Tazaki is good in it. But I wish his chance to shine had been in a better movie.

It's not awful, by any means. But compared to other Toho non-kaiju SF flicks like Battle in Outer Space or Gorath, Atragon is my least favorite. Still worth picking up the very nice Media Blasters DVD, however!

One of my absolute favorite Toho Sci-Fi movies.

Blows away alot of Heisei/Millenium Godzilla flicks that's for sure.

This is a very good sfx film. Excellent casting with a superb match of character and actor in dealing with Jun Tazaki and his character. It also has a tour de force music score with one of the best parts being when the Gotengo heads out of its devastated secret base to finally challenge the Mu Empire at last.

I also liked the Gotengo design alot as well although I wonder if they could have also used those main guns that she had as well.


Finally, as August stated, the fact that the film turned out so well when part of the huge flood of excellent Toho films at the time speaks volumes about the skills of everyone involved.

I heard Honda wanted Toshiro Mifune to play the Captain, but he was unavailable due to his commitment to Kurosawa's Red Beard.

Tazaki is amazing but Mifune would have been something else.