Shigeru Kayama's Godzilla Novels Official English Release!

[lhb412]

The sci-fi author who was hired to develop the plots of Godzilla and several other Toho genre flicks also wrote tie-in novellas for Godzilla and Godzilla Raids Again, both published in 1955. Now, we're getting both books bundled together in an official English language translation!

https://www.amazon.com/Godzilla-Raids-Again-Shigeru-Kayama-ebook/dp/B0BYR59YB4/ref=sr_1_2?crid=1EAV2H5GAXYZL&keywords=godzilla+shigeru+kayama&qid=1679183994&sprefix=godzilla+shigeru+kayam%2Caps%2C278&sr=8-2

Love that we're finally getting Japanese print stuff that's toku related (Godzilla artbooks, original Kamen Rider manga and the like). I hope it continues with biographies, behind the scenes and making ofs, and more artbooks!

[Benjamin Haines]

Now this is exciting! I've never heard of the translator Jeffrey Angles before but if this description from the Amazon page is true then it seems like this is in good hands:

"Jeffrey Angles is professor of Japanese at Western Michigan University. He is author of Writing the Love of Boys (Minnesota, 2011) and award-winning translator of Orikuchi Shinobu’s The Book of the Dead (Minnesota, 2017) and Hiromi Ito’s The Thorn Puller."


And it's being published as an actual paperback book, not just a digital Kindle release!

[lhb412]

Well, took me over a year (I got the book for the Christmas before this previous Christmas) but I've finally read this thing!

The novelization of the original will be of most interest just because of how different the character relationships are. Mostly the same plot, same characters, but exactly how those characters link up with one another is quite different. Thanks to Angles' substantial essay in the back I now know that the characters are different still in the radio drama that aired in the months leading up to the film's release! Kind of wild there was so much drift between the different versions.

Godzilla Raids Again is much closer to the movie in Kayama's novelization. It feels like Honda really put his stamp on Kayama's work when the original was made because the book and movie just feel so different even if the story is mostly the same. Raids Again, however, feels like they adapted Kayama's scenario onto film in a very straightforward way. I do think that under Kayama's pen the comradery between the characters and the thrilling moments of adventure just pop a bit more on the page than in Oda's film. Lot of the stuff with the planes reminds me of action in Minus One.

[Benjamin Haines]

I actually just started reading this last week too even though I've had it for more than a year. So far it seems like the character of Shinkichi has Ogata's role from the movie, being forced to cancel his plans with Emiko because of the Eiko-maru's sinking. That's wild.