Monster Zero x SciFi Japan - Archive Only

Well, in Japan, the Heisei era has officially come to an end (1989-2019). For us fans, we had some interesting Godzilla movies during that span, but we also had some very bad G-flicks as well (each with our own preference). We finally saw Hollywood getting into the act, not once but twice! (with more success the second time around).

This era had a little more unevenness than the Showa period, but I attribute that to having many different filmmakers at the helm, where as earlier, it was mainly Honda and Jun Fukuda among others.

Welcome to the Reiwa era! What will be in store? What type of series does Toho have in mind after "G vs. K"? Will Legendary continue with the Monsterverse? Will Gamera be incorporated into the Godzilla or Legendary universe? Will we have another Godzilla animated feature? Will there ever be a T.V. series associated with Godzilla (or even Monarch)? God willing, we will all be around long enough to see some of the end results.

I'm thoroughly convinced that naming series after Imperial Japanese eras is actually kind of stupid and I vote that we start calling the 1984 to 1995 films the "vs. series" like the fans in Japan do.

...do they? This seems like one of those weird "facts" that somehow has gotten perpetuated by online fandom and supposed "experts" who don't actually know anything about the fandom in Japan except via very VERY limited exposure, and take things that are their own personal opinion, present those things as facts, and the general fandom runs wild with (I've seen it happen with quite a few of the comics artists on social media, and then seen August Ragone or similar come in to correct this inaccuracy - sadly, once enough people have latched onto the idea that Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah would have been Honda's favorite Heisei entry despite his specific statements during his life to the contrary, it's hard to completely stamp out that kind of viral misinformation).

Toho calls it the Heisei era. Would the fans in Japan (of which there are actually far fewer die-hards than here in the US) call it anything different? Would they care enough to do so? The movies are marketed and branded, BY TOHO, IN JAPANESE BOOKS, as the Heisei era. That's good enough for me.

Personally, I think the whole conversation about the "right" name to call an era is kinda stupid anyway. It's a simple, easy lump naming convention used for the sake of convenience. If someone says "Heisei era" would anyone in the fandom NOT know what they're talking about? I might even argue the same of "vs series" (though personally, considering how many movies in the franchise have 'vs' titles, I'd probably have been confused as hell by that as a younger fan). It's all just used for the convenience of saying "movies from a similar time period made in a similar type of style under similar budgetary and production schedules by similar crews." Getting hung up on the semantics is silly. Call it whatever you want. If people know what you're talking about, it doesn't really matter.

Whether "VS series" is the more common name with Japanese fans or not it's the name I prefer. Admittedly neither name is perfect.

I personally think it's silly to use the word "era" to refer to a series of movies, and I think that's probably a big cause of the fandom's uncertainty and confusion over this.

The real-world "Heisei Era" is the span of time from January 8, 1989 to April 30, 2019 during which Emperor Akihito reigned in Japan.

The Godzilla film franchise's "Heisei Series" consists of the seven Godzilla movies produced from 1984 to 1995.

When fans deduce that every Godzilla film released during Akihito's reign must be considered a "Heisei Era Godzilla movie" or that Godzilla '84 must be part of the Showa Series because it was released during the actual Showa Era, that just creates unnecessary confusion. Like Jelly said, referring to the films as the Showa Series or the Heisei Series is a lump naming convention for the sake of convenience. It's not meant to be a factual indicator of who was Japan's emperor when a particular Godzilla movie was released. Toho drove that point home when they christened the Godzilla flicks released from 1999 to 2004 as the Millennium Series.

I like the idea of moving away from referring to the Heisei series as such, and adopting the Vs series name, but I honestly don't think I would ever be able to get used to it. I would constantly catch myself calling it the Heisei series from now till the day I die.

I wonder if Shin Godzilla and the anime trilogy will be retrospectively adopted as the first entries in a 'reiwa series', the way Return of Godzilla is considered a heisei movie.

As per the SDCC booth, Toho’s apparently decided to fold Shin Godzilla and the animated trilogy into the Reiwa era.

I know this might sound like heresy to some, but here me out.I propose actually just splitting Godzilla into 2 era's, and allowing Shin & the anime films to start a 3rd era.

The reason being...Between 1975 and 1984 there was a Nine year gap. Not only was there no Godzilla films, but there were basically no other kaiju films from Toho during that time either.

Even though the Heisei films have a tight continuity, and no connection to the films between 1999-2004, there was a Mothra Trilogy between 1996-1998. So basically from 1991-2004, there was at least one Toho Kaiju FX movie EVERY YEAR, (also there was Yamato Takeru)...but I digress...

Then there was another LONG gap of 10 years between 2004-2014.

I know there are staunch lovers of both Heisei and Millennium films that probably don't want to have any association with each other, but that Mothra Trilogy that bridges the gap is pretty hard to ignore.

Also it not only balances the two long gaps in Godzilla films history, but also more closely balances out the eras:

1954-1975 Showa: 15
1984-2004 Heisei/Millennium : 14
2014-**** Reiwa: 6 (and counting)

Now I don't think I'm going to change fandom overall with this crazy idea. It's just that, the further we distance ourselves in time from the films of the 90's/00's the more sense it makes, to me at least.

I hate the stupid Reiwa decision. Hate it hate it hate it hate it. I hate it.

^^ Yeah, the Heisei and Millennium series are really part of a single era of a resurgence in the genre. If you were giving a panel summarizing the genre for people unfamiliar with it you'd group it together in the same way you group The mid '50s through the mid '70s.

That being said: awesome display at SDCC! Not only do they have the G2K Godzilla suit, but Ghidorah's heads from Godzilla vs. Gigan, the adult Destoroyah head, the Super-X II, and the oxygen destroyer on display!

Mothra vs. Godzilla and Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (the official Toho-sanctioned names for those films) are called "Godzilla vs. Mothra" and "Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla," respectively, at Toho's booth. "Reiwa era" may not be the official name either, although obviously films that have been released under several different titles are more prone to error than something that's probably never had a sanctioned English name before.