Godzilla Raids Again

***Godzilla Raids Again***  (ゴジラの逆襲,   *Gojira no Gyakushū*?, lit. *Godzilla's Counterattack*) also known as ***Gigantis, the Fire Monster*** is a 1955 tokusatsu kaiju film produced by Toho, and the second installment in the Godzilla series as well as the Showa series. The film was released to Japanese theaters on April 24, 1955, and to American theaters on May 21, 1959.

The first of many sequels to the original *Godzilla*, *Godzilla Raids Again* introduced the series' staple of pitting Godzilla against another monster, in this case the giant *Ankylosaurus* known as Anguirus. The film follows pilots Shoichi Tsukioka and Kojikawa Kobayashi, who discover a second Godzilla locked in battle with Anguirus and report their story to Japanese authorities. As Godzilla and Anguirus' battle threatens to decimate the pilots' beloved home of Osaka, the two men will play a key role in the decisive battle to save Japan from Godzilla's wrath.

The film featured a relatively rushed production, and the overall negative reception to the film lead to a hiatus in the series. This was ended with the arrival of a sequel in 1962: *King Kong vs. Godzilla*, in which Godzilla engages in combat with fellow cinema icon King Kong.

## Plot

Two pilots named Tsukioka and Kobayashi are hunting for schools of fish for a tuna cannery company in Osaka. Kobayashi's plane malfunctions and is forced to land near Iwato Island, an uninhabited strip of rocks formed by volcanic eruptions. Tsukioka then looks for Kobayashi and finds him safe, with only a wrist sprain. While talking, the two men hear some strange sounds and find two monsters fighting. Tsukioka immediately recognizes one of the monsters to be Godzilla. The two monsters then fall off a cliff, into the ocean.

Tsukioka and Kobayashi report to the authorities in Osaka, and find out that the other creature, Godzilla was fighting Anguirus. A group of scientists with the two pilots researched Anguirus in a book written by a Polish scientist. Anguirus and Godzilla lived around the same time millions of years ago. Anguirus hated hostile creatures, which explains the intense rivalry between Anguirus and Godzilla.

Dr. Yamane, who experienced Godzilla's first attack, was also present at the meeting, and shows a film of Godzilla attacking Tokyo just one year before. He then explains that the monster Tsukioka and Kobayashi saw is another Godzilla. Yamane states that there is no way to kill Godzilla, and that Daisuke Serizawa, the inventor of the weapon used to kill the previous Godzilla, the Oxygen Destroyer, had died and burned the formula. Yamane, though, suggests that the military should use flares on Godzilla to attract the monster away from the shore. Godzilla becomes angry when he sees lights because the hydrogen bomb's bright explosion had awakened him.

One day unexpectedly, Godzilla shows up on the shore of Osaka. Jets are sent to shoot flares from their planes to lead Godzilla away from the shore. Godzilla sees the flames, and, as Yamane predicted, starts to walk away.

Meanwhile, a prison truck transports dangerous criminals to another part of the country. All of the criminals, using body language, decided that this would be a great opportunity to escape from prison. The prisoners beat up the two policemen guarding the back door of the truck, and run away. A few of them find a gasoline truck, and put the petal to the metal. The truck crashes into an industrial building and starts a massive fire.

The fire attracts Godzilla to the shore of Osaka again. A few minutes later, Anguirus swims to shore and attacks Godzilla. The two creatures fight an intense battle, while destroying several buildings, including the tuna cannery that Tsukioka and Kobayashi work for. Godzilla finally bites Anguirus' neck, and throws him on a moat near Osaka Castle. Godzilla then fires his atomic ray, and burns Anguirus to death.

Tsukioka and Kobayashi are transferred to a Hokkaido plant. During a company party, Tsukioka and Kobayashi are notified that Godzilla destroyed one of the company fishing boats. The military, and Tsukioka begin a massive search for Godzilla. Tsukioka spots Godzilla swimming to the shore of a small, icy island. He notifies the cannery, and Kobayashi takes off in his plane to switch shifts with Tsukioka.

Kobayashi dives his plane towards Godzilla to distract him from walking back into the ocean. Tsukioka then transferred to the air force, travels on a jet with an old college friend. They drop bombs on Godzilla but are unsuccessful. Godzilla then wades towards shore. Koboyashi dives towards Godzilla again but Godzilla fires his atomic ray on Kobayashi's plane. The plane then crashes on an icy mountain, killing Kobayashi.

Tsukioka grieves but then notices that the military can shoot missiles at the mountain, and bury Godzilla in an avalanche. The jets fire the missiles, and bury Godzilla in snow to his waist.

The jets return to base to reload, and Tsukioka is authorized to fly in his own jet. The jets return to the icy island, and shoot missiles at the mountain, burying Godzilla to his neck. Tsukioka then shoots his missiles burying Godzilla completely. Tsukioka looks to the sky, and says, "Kobayashi, we buried Godzilla for you".

## Cast

Template:Col-begin Template:Col-2

* Hiroshi Koizumi   as   Shoichi Tsukioka, Marine Fisheries KK pilot
* Setsuko Wakayama   as   Hidemi Yamaji, Marine Fisheries KK radio operator
* Minoru Chiaki   as   Kojikawa Kobayashi, Marine Fisheries KK pilot
* Takashi Shimura   as   Dr. Kyohei Yamane, paleontologist
* Masao Shimizu   as   Dr. Tadokoro, zoologist
* Seijiro Onda   as   Captain Terasawa, commander of Osaka's Self Defense Forces
* Sonosuke Sawamura   as   Shingo Shibeki, Marine Fisheries KK Hokkaido branch manager
* Yoshio Tsuchiya   as   Tajima, JSDF member
* Mayuri Mokusho   as   Yasuko Inoue, Marine Fisheries KK radio operator
* Minosuke Yamada   as   Osaka SDF captain
* Yukio Kasama   as   Kohei Yamaji, President of Marine Fisheries KK
* Senkichi Omura   as   Convict fleeing to the subway
* Ren Yamamoto   as   Ikeda, captain of Landing Craft
* Shin Otomo   as   Convict fleeing to tanker truck
* Hirotoshi Tsuchiya   as   Marine Fisheries KK manager
* Takeo Oikawa   as   Osaka police inspector
* Sokichi Maki   as   Convict fleeing to the subway
* Shoichi Hirose   as   Convict fleeing to tanker truck
* Shin Yoshida   as   Convict
* Junpei Natsuki   as   Convict fleeing to tanker truck / Marine Fisheries KK Hokkaido branch associate
* Teruko Mita   as   Yayoi Restaurant proprietress
* Katsumi Tezuka   as   Anguirus
* Haruo Nakajima   as   Godzilla
* Miyoko Hoshino   as   Cabaret singer

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* Masaaki Tachibana   as   Driver of prisoner transport / voice of Osaka emergency announcer (uncredited)
* Toku Ihara   as   Policeman in front passenger seat of prisoner transport (uncredited)
* Tadao Nakamaru   as   Policeman monitoring convicts / convict (uncredited)
* Yoichi Matsue   as   Convict (uncredited)
* Yasumasa Onishi, Ryusuke Saijo, Keiji Sakakida   as   Osaka SDF officers (uncredited)
* Takuzo Kumagai   as   Captain of the *Hokkai-Maru* (uncredited)
* Koji Uruki, Rinsaku Ogata, Haruya Sakamoto   as   *Hokkai-Maru* sailors (uncredited)
* Ryoji Shimizu   as   *Hokkai-Maru* wireless communications operator (uncredited)
* Kazuo Imai, Yukio Kawamata, Akira Kitchoji, Akira Sera, Mitsuo Matsumoto, Akijiro Hikari   as   Marine Fisheries KK employees (uncredited)
* Ken Echigo, Takuya Yuki   as   Marine Fisheries KK eployees / JSDF members (uncredited)
* Shizuko Azuma   as   Marine Fisheries KK employee / Yayoi Restaurant waitress (uncredited)

Template:Col-end

### *Gigantis, the Fire Monster*

* Keye Luke   as   Shoichi Tsukioka (voice)
* Marvin Miller   as   Kojikawa Kobayashi (voice) / Narrator
* Paul Frees

```
  as   Doctor Kyohei Yamane / Captain Terasawa / Kohei Yamaji (voice)

```

* George Takei   as   Ikeda (voice)

## Staff

* Directed by   Motoyoshi Oda
* Written by   Shigeaki Hidaka and Takeo Murata
* Story by   Shigeru Kayama
* Produced by   Tomoyuki Tanaka
* Music by   Masaru Sato
* Cinematography by   Seiichi Endo
* Edited by   Kazuji Taira
* Production Design by   Teruaki Abe, Takeo Kita, and Akira Watanabe
* Special Effects by   Eiji Tsuburaya

## Titles

* Gigantis, the Fire Monster (United States; Gigantis, el Monstruo de Fuego; Mexico)
* Godzilla's Counterattack (Literal Japanese)
* The Return of Godzilla (Le Retour de Godzilla; France; De Terugkeer van Godzilla; Belgium)
* Godzilla Returns (Godzilla kehrt zurück; Germany)
* The King of the Monsters (Il Re dei Mostri; Italy; El Rey de los Monstruos; Spain)
* Godzilla: The Sea Monster (Godzila: Morsko Čudovište; Yugoslavia)

## Foreign releases

### U.S. release

Following the successful U.S. release of *Godzilla, King of the Monsters!*, Toho sold the American distribution rights to *Godzilla Raids Again* to Harry Rybnick and Edward Barison. Their idea was to create a new film for AB-PT Pictures Corporation using the special effects sequences from *Godzilla Raids Again*. Ib Melchior and Edwin Watson drafted a screenplay, titled *The Volcano Monsters*, in which Godzilla and Anguirus, now respectively referred to as a Tyrannosaurus and an Ankylosaurus, are discovered in a volcanic cave. Toho shipped the Godzilla and Anguirus suits to Hollywood to allow the producers to film new footage of the monsters. Ultimately, AB-PT Pictures Corp. closed down in 1957 before production started on *The Volcano Monsters*. The monster suits were eventually lost.

In 1958, the film's U.S. distribution rights were acquired by producer Paul Schreibman, who hired Hugo Grimaldi to re-write and re-edit the film, re-titling it *Gigantis, the Fire Monster*. Aside from changing Godzilla's name to "Gigantis," Grimaldi's version changes the origins of the monsters: "Gigantis" and Anguirus are described as two related species of prehistoric fire monsters. The sound effects of the monsters were altered to reflect this, with several shots of Godzilla augmented with Anguirus' roar. Additionally, nearly all of Masaru Sato's original score was replaced with library music, most of which was composed by Paul Sawtell and Bert Shefter for other science fiction films. Stock footage from other science fiction films featuring dinosaurs was also added into the film. For years, it was believed that the reason for these changes was that Warner Bros. did not have the rights to Godzilla's name. However, Paul Schreibman said that he changed Godzilla's name to "Gigantis" to give the audience the impression that they were seeing a new monster, believing an original film would sell better than a sequel. He has since claimed he came to regret that decision

The English dubbing, also supervised and directed by Grimaldi, was recorded at Ryder Sound Service, Inc. in Hollywood. The voice cast featured veteran performers Keye Luke, Marvin Miller, and Paul Frees, as well as a very young George Takei, of *Star Trek* fame. Luke was cast as Tsukioka, whose character now narrated the events of the film. In addition to voicing Kobayashi, Miller narrated a pre-credit stock footage montage detailing man's scientific progress.

After completing the Americanization of the film, Paul Schreibman sold the theatrical rights to Warner Bros., which released the film on May 21, 1959. *Gigantis, the Fire Monster* was presented on a double bill with *Teenagers from Outer Space*, which Warner also purchased from Schreibman.

*Gigantis, the Fire Monster* did not enter standard television syndication after its theatrical run. The film remained obscure in the U.S. until its reappearance on cable TV in 1984, followed by a VHS release via Video Treasures in 1989. A video generated title card restoring Toho's English title, *Godzilla Raids Again*, accompanied the film in syndication in the late 1980's and early 1990's. This version was released on DVD alongside the Japanese version by Classic Media on November 7, 2006. The North American distribution rights to *Godzilla Raids Again* are currently held by Janus Films, who has labeled it and the other Godzilla films it has acquired as part of the Criterion Collection despite not yet making them available on Blu-ray or DVD.

### United Kingdom release

Eros Films brought *Gigantis, the Fire Monster* to UK theaters in April 1960, as part of a double feature with *The Nights of Lucretia Borgia*. It received an A rating from the British Board of Film Censors, preventing children under 11 from seeing it unless accompanied by a parent or guardian. Sony released *Godzilla Raids Again* on Blu-ray in 2019 as part of the The Criterion Collection's *Godzilla: The Showa-Era Films, 1954–1975* box set.

### German release

*Godzilla Raids Again* was released in West Germany on Feburary 24, 1958 by Donau Film. Less than a minute of footage was excised. Among other mistakes, the opening credits erroneously give directorial credit to production designer Teruaki Abe instead of Motoyoshi Oda.

## Box office

*Godzilla Raids Again* sold approximately 8,340,000 tickets in Japan, less than its predecessor but still more than every Godzilla film that followed, save for *King Kong vs. Godzilla*. It grossed around ¥170,000,000, becoming Toho's fourth-highest earner in 1955, and tenth among Japanese films overall.

## Reception

The film was generally poorly received by fans and critics, who criticized it as a rushed sequel. It is, however, notable for being the first Godzilla film to introduce the formula of Godzilla battling other monsters, which would become a staple of the franchise.

The poor response to the film briefly put the series on hiatus until 1962's *King Kong vs. Godzilla*.

## Video releases

**Toho** DVD (2001)

* **Region:** 2
* **Discs:** 1
* **Audio:** Japanese (2.0 Mono)
* **Subtitles:** Japanese
* **Special features:** Audio commentary by Sadamasa Arikawa and Tomioka Motoyoshi, isolated score, massive image gallery (several thousand)

**Classic Media** DVD (2006)

* **Region:** 1
* **Discs:** 1
* **Audio:** Japanese (2.0 Mono) and English (2.0 Mono)
* **Subtitles:** English
* **Special features:** Audio commentary by Steve Ryfle (for the American version), The Art of Suit Acting featurette (14 minutes), poster slideshow
* **Notes:** The American version of the film has a video-generated *Godzilla Raids Again* title card in place of the original *Gigantis, the Fire Monster* title card. Reissued in 2012, both releases are out of print.

**Splendid** DVD (2009)

* **Region:** 2
* **Discs:** 1
* **Audio:** German (1.0 Mono), Japanese (1.0 mono)
* **Subtitles:** German
* **Special features:** Trailers

**Toho** Blu-ray (2014)

* **Region:** A/1
* **Discs:** 1
* **Audio:** Japanese (LPCM 2.0)
* **Subtitles:** Japanese
* **Special features:** Audio commentary by Sadamasa Arikawa and Tomioka Motoyoshi, isolated score, dispatch trailer, radio ads for *Godzilla* (1954) and *Godzilla Raids Again*, image gallery (12 minutes), "Godzilla’s Creation! Yoshio Suzuki" featurette (20 minutes)

**Splendid** Blu-ray (2014)

* **Region:** B/2
* **Discs:** 1
* **Audio:** Japanese (DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0), German (DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0)
* **Subtitles:** German, Dutch
* **Special features:** None

**The Criterion Collection** Blu-ray (2019) [*Godzilla: The Showa-Era Films, 1954–1975*]

* **Region:** A/1 or B/2
* **Discs:** 8
* **Audio:** Japanese
* **Subtitles:** English
* **Special features:** All bonus features on Criterion's *Godzilla* Blu-ray, 1990 Ishiro Honda interview by Yoshimitsu Banno, interview with director Alex Cox, interviews with actors Bin Furuya and Tsugutoshi Komada, 2011 interview with critic Tadao Sato, unused effects sequences from Toho releases including *Destroy All Monsters*, trailers, illustrated hardcover book with an essay by Steve Ryfle and liner notes on each film by Ed Godziszewski
* **Notes:** Uses a new English subtitle translation by Kerim Yasar. Sony distributed a Region B/2 version of the set in the United Kingdom.

## References

This is a list of references for **Godzilla Raids Again**. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 ゴジラの逆襲 *Wikipedia*. Retrieved June 18, 2017 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; name "Minimum Budget" defined multiple times with different content
2. ↑ Monsters From An Unknown Culture: Godzilla (and friends) in Britain 1957-1980 by Sim Branaghan – Part 1
3. ↑ [1]
4. ↑ [2]
5. ↑ Amazon.com: GODZILLA RAIDS AGAIN (1959)
6. ↑ If it's possible, I'd like to submit a DVD review
7. ↑ Disc Love: Godzilla Raids Again 「ゴジラの逆襲」 (2014 Toho Blu-ray)
8. ↑ Godzilla: The Showa-Era Films, 1954-1975 | The Criterion Collection

## Gallery

*Main article: Godzilla Raids Again/Gallery.*
## External links

* Godzilla Raids Again on Wikizilla
* Godzilla Raids Again on IMDb
* Godzilla Raids Again on Eiga.com
* Godzilla Raids Again on Wikipedia
* Godzilla Raids Again on JMDB