Vocaloid & Godzilla (Johnsonverse)

Vocaloid & Godzilla is a 2012 American anime-kaiju hybrid film directed by Timothy Hill and produced by Yoshimitsu Banno, based on the Godzilla franchise by Toho and the Vocaloid voice synthesizer by Yamaha Corporation. It stars Tim Johnson, Chloe Johnson, Belle Armstrong, Jenny Smith, Kristen Schaal, Seth Green, Olivia Olson, Kelly Hu, Tara Strong, and Tim Curry. The film follows Len Kagamine and his friends, who must stop the mad scientist Dr. Mustafa from taking over the world with his army of cloned kaiju. 
Production began in 2008 after Johnson Studios and Yamaha struck an agreement for multiple feature films and a Vocaloid television series. The film premiered at the San Jose Theatre on June 8, 2012 and was theatrically released on June 13, 2012. It received widespread acclaim from critics and audiences for its story, animation and effects, and voice acting. It won three Academy Awards in 2013, as well as several other awards. Five sequel films have since been released.
==Plot==
Four months have passed since the final Vortaak invasion in June 2012. With the assistance of the humans' alien allies, the Sterlans, civilization quickly recovers.
In an underground lab, Dr. Shinji Mustafa monologues to himself about the failures of the world's governments to provide adequate protection against not only the Vortaak, but also the Mysterians, Xiliens, Kilaaks, Space Hunter Nebula M, Seatopians, Simians, Garogas, and the various aliens Gamera and the Ultramen have had to fight. To that end, he has developed a variety of cloned kaiju, but spurned by the scientific community and governments, he has retreated underground to continue his research in peace, and ultimately, unleash his clone kaiju to take over the world.
In Koga, Kanto, 15-year old Len Kagamine, son of former GDF psychic Miki Saegusa, is preparing for his first day of high school. He has an encounter with his older sister Neru, who constantly bullies him, but is helped up by his twin sister Rin, who loves him dearly. On the way to school, they meet up with fellow kaiju nut Haku Yowane, as well as Miku Hatsune and Kaito Shion, a pair of idiots they barely tolerate. After a few minutes, Len's childhood friend Meiko "Mei" Sakine and her sister Luka arrive, while spying Neru walk off with her best friend, Teto Kasane, who they are convinced is a toxic influence on Neru given how misanthropic the latter is.
Arriving at school, the day is relatively uneventful, until lunch comes and Neru and Teto attack Mei, only for Len to defend her. At the principal's office, Neru is handed a suspension by the principal, who responds by picking up his desk and throwing it at Len hard enough to send him through the wall and onto the sidewalk below. Horrified by what she's done, Neru runs away before the police show up.
Len survives, but barely, and spends a month in a full-body cast, being bedridden at home afterward and basically shutting the whole world out. One night, Rin crawls in bed with him and manages to get him to open up, revealing that he feels responsible for Neru becoming such a destructive bully when she wasn't like this before. Rin reassures him that he is not to blame for their father's death.
Two months after the incident, Len finally returns to school, much to Mei's delight. Neru and Teto, meanwhile, have been on the run from the law, finally coming across Dr. Mustafa's lab near the coast. Initially intent on killing the pair, upon hearing their story, Mustafa realizes they're in the same boat as him: cast out by society for not conforming to its strict standards. He recruits the two as his henchwomen, as he had been relying on a workforce of easily-bribed criminals up to that point.
A few days later, Dr. Mustafa makes his move, but instead of using a clone kaiju, he activates the control chip he managed to shoot into Godzilla 2000 some years ago, giving him full control. Making landfall in Tokyo, Godzilla 2000 picks up a container ship and throws it at downtown, causing immense death and destruction, before beginning his rampage in earnest. Len and co., on their way to Akihabara to celebrate Len's recovery, soon find themselves split up by debris, with Len, Rin, Miku, and Kaito on one side, and Mei, Luka, and Haku on the other. Reluctant to leave each other, Len promises Mei that he will find her. Suddenly, Godzilla 2000 starts pursuing Len and his group, as Neru takes manual control. Cornered at a Howard Johnson's restaurant, Neru is conflicted as to whether she has the will to take her own siblings' lives, before pressure from Teto causes her to charge up Godzilla 2000's Atomic Breath.
Just before Clone Godzilla can fire, another Atomic Breath hits him, signalling the arrival of Godzilla IV from Monster Island. With him are Anguirus and Rodan. As Godzilla signals to Len and co. to get clear, he and his allies start corralling Godzilla 2000 towards a nearby Sterlan-made landfill full of debris from the Vortaak's last invasion. Ultimately, Godzilla 2000 is cast into a large incinerator and immolated to death, finally ending his reign of terror for good.
WORK-IN-PROGRESS
==Cast==
=== Voices ===
* Tim Johnson as Len Kagamine and Fuyuki Hinata
* Chloe Johnson as Rin Kagamine and Natsumi Hinata
* Belle Armstrong as Meiko "Mei" Sakine
* Jenny Smith as Luka Megurine Sakine
* Kristen Schaal as Miku Hatsune
* Seth Green as Kaito Shion
* Olivia Olson as Neru Akita Kagamine
* Kelly Hu as Teto Kasane
* Tara Strong as Haku Yowane
* Tim Curry as Dr. Shinji Mustafa
* Megumi Odaka as Miki Saegusa-Kagamine
* Akira Takarada as General Ogata
* Peter Fonda as Moonhopper
* Wendee Lee as Konata Izumi
=== Suit actors ===
* Tim Johnson as Godzilla IV
* Chloe Johnson as Anguirus
* Belle Armstrong as Rodan
* Kenpachiro Satsuma as Clone Godzilla
* Tsutomu Kitagawa as Godzilla 2000
* "Hurricane" Ryu as King Ghidorah, Mecha-King Ghidorah (MKG-4), and Battra
* Kazuhido Yoshida as Gigan
* Naoko Kamio as Megalon
* Makoto Ito as M.O.G.U.E.R.A.
* Minoru Watanabe as Krystalak
* Kurt Carley as Zilla
* Hirofumi Ishigaki as Kiryu
==Development==
=== Pre-production and writing ===
The film began production in 2008 after a series of discussions with Yamaha Corporation. Plans for a Vocaloid television series were also discussed, with the series greenlit in 2009. The movie was meant to be both the animated debut of the Vocaloid characters, and the beginning of a new series of Godzilla movies after his last theatrical appearance in 2004's Godzilla: Final Wars (not counting the Monster World film Revenge of Cthulhu).
The character of Dr. Shinji Mustafa was directly based on Doctor Oniyama from the short-lived 1992 comic series Godzilla, King of the Monsters (the latter of which has never been confirmed nor denied by Johnson as canon).
=== Casting ===
The voice actors for the Vocaloid characters were selected by Hill.
===Live-action filming===
Filming for the live-action shots took place between January and June 2010. 
=== Animation and special effects ===
The 2D animation for the characters was provided by TMS Entertainment.
== Soundtrack ==
Much of the soundtrack is stock music from prior Godzilla films. The ending music was lifted from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and a piece of music from The Transformers (which had since become stock music for Detective Jenny).
* Opening Credits
* Dr. Mustafa's Ambitions
* Clone Godzilla Comes Ashore
* GDF March #1
* Godzilla IV Arrives
* Rumble in the Landfill
* Evil Godzilla Appears
* Shinkansen Attack
* King Ghidorah's Ambush
* Godzilla Intervenes
* The Head of King Ghidorah
* Megalon's Sudden Appearance
* Godzilla vs. Megalon
* Gigan Attacks Fukuoka
* GDF March #2
* Godzilla and M.O.G.U.E.R.A. vs. Gigan
* Dr. Mustafa Remembers
* GDF March #3
* Monster Attack on Tokyo
* Operation: Clone Wars
* Tokyo in Ruins
* MKG-4 Deployed
* MKG-4 vs. Evil Godzilla
* Mechagodzilla Revealed
* Mothra on the Scene
* Len and Rin's Last-Ditch Kamikaze
* Ejection/Sunrise/Reunion/Godzilla and Mothra Depart/End Credits
==Release==
The film premiered at the San Jose Theatre on June 8, 2012.
==Reception==
=== Critical response ===
The film was widely acclaimed upon its release.
=== Box office ===
== Sequels ==
== See Also ==
* Vocaloid & Godzilla (Johnsonverse)/Gallery
Category:Johnsonverse