Monster Zero x SciFi Japan - Archive Only

Looks like there is a new "Mook" (What the Japanese call a cross between a "Book" and a "Magazine") by Yosensha, who has been churning out some outstanding Godzilla-related books. They have a new one coming out tomorrow:




http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/aw/d/4800306 ... NDRE4E1KD#



Just by skimming the cover using my rather crappy kana/kanji reading skills, it shows that the contents will contain info on G2016, Ultra Seven, KitaKawa Retrospective, Battle of the Sea of Japan (One of Ifukube's last films, about the Russo-Japanese War and the Battle of Tsushima) Beverly Lin from GvsMG74. I honestly have no idea if this "Mook" will become a regular series, but the fact that it says "Vol. 1" might be indicative that this could turn into a running series (It's amazing that Japan has no real equivalent of G-Fan Magazine that's widely available). The release date is 5/18 in Japan (tomorrow my time), so I'll try to pick it up and post some info and review of it.

Curious if they have any new info on G'16

Due to work, no time to go to the bookstore tonight. I'll try again tomorrow.

Mine's on the way from Amazon Japan. So far, it has all 5 star reviews - should be here by the weekend.

Went to my local book store, and they didn't have it I swear, even in Japan it can be a pain in the ass to hunt G-related stuff down. It seems that only the big Kinokuniya stores in Shinjuku or Shibuya are the only places to find new G books, so I may not be able to make it up there until this weekend.

This will probably get lost in the shuffle due to the pending release of the ROE comic , but I was finally able to hunt this down. It’s basically the same size as Yosensha’s other well-known and excellent All TOHO Daikaiju and Shodai Godzilla “Mooks” and the “Haruo Nakajima Photo Collection” Book (which Yosensha considers a “Book” and not a “Mook”, despite being nearly the same dimensions as the two aforemention "mooks" ...gotta love the quirks of Japan!).

However, this particular book is far more text heavy than the richly photo-heavy All TOHO Daikaiju and Shodai Godzilla, in the same vein as the recently eleased Godzilla-New Century Special Effects Movie MOOK. However, the book is leaps and bounds more pleasing than **** in that its main focus is on Godzilla, Ultra-7, Kitakawa restrospective, whereas “Godzilla-New Century Special Effects Movie MOOK” focused solely on Hollywood sci-fi/monster movies and barely mentioned Godzilla (despite the Godzilla-centric cover. It’s the only Yosensha G-related book I’ve passed on it).

In regards to this particular "mook" in question, this is a very hard one to review, as I'm sure it has some great content, but my kanji skills are still limited, so it's hard for me to judge it's comments. However, it has some really interesting stills from Ultra-7 along with the cast of the series and how they look today. For me personally, the highlight of the book was a spotlight of Beverly Li from GvsMG74, who was the Okinawan girl who sang to wake King Ceasar. They also had a retrospective on the recently deceased Kawakita, an interesting spotlight on the Godzilla "Hotel" room (I would love to stay a night there, but at nearly 30,000 yen-50,000 yen ($300-$500), even a Godzilla maniac as myself has to balk at that. In regards to G2014, the article doesn't appear to offer anything new that we don't already know (just a rundown of news a speculation), but I'll try to have my Japanese GF gloss over it and see if there is anything special I missed.

Overall, would I recommend it? While not a bad book, it is very text heavy, so unless one is fluent in Japanese, I would recommend this for serious G book collectors, but not for more casual book collectors. Since the words "Vol. 1" in its title, I hope we can get another book with a little bit more emphasis on Godzilla down the road. Yosensha has started something good with their line of Godzilla "Mooks"...

Anyways, here are few photos: