Yoshimitsu Banno

Yoshimitsu Banno (坂野芳光 Sakano Yoshimitsu) was the man who Directed (made) Godzilla vs Hedorah he lived from 1931-2017

## Death

on May 7, 2017 several media outlets reported that Yoshimitsu had died, at the age of 86

## Unmade work

### *Godzilla vs. Deathla to the MAX*

The film opens with a chorus of children singing "Return the Sun!", set to imagery of pulsating amoebas.

A locust-like swarm of monsters called Deathla descend on Iguazu Falls in the Amazon, transforming into mushrooms which begin to consume the forest. The Bahamas and Denmark also see outbreaks of the deadly fungus. Godzilla shows up to attack the Amazon infestation, only for them to coalesce into a kaiju. After a back-and-forth battle, Godzilla's atomic breath forces Deathla to split into its locust form and retreat. Using the power of flight he first displayed in *Godzilla vs. Hedorah*, Godzilla gives chase, confronting Deathla in the Virgin Islands and at a Florida amusement park, but is unable to land a killing blow.

Deathla finally stands its ground in New York City as a blizzard rages. Godzilla puts out its right eye; it counters by growing to a truly enormous size and hurling him into Central Park. Covered in sludge and near death, Godzilla finds the strength to get back up as children all over the world shout encouragement. After protecting the "9/11 Monument" (presumably Tribute in Light), he takes out Deathla's other eye with his atomic breath. Transforming into its locust form again, Deathla leaves the earth. Godzilla returns to the Amazon and winks at the viewer before disappearing behind Iguazu Falls.

### *Godzilla 3-D to the MAX*

This revision follows the same basic structure, with these changes and clarifications:

* Deathla arrives on Earth by way of a meteor which lands in the Sargasso Sea.
* The main characters are Mischa, an American reporter, and Jim, her younger brother. They have traveled to Iguazu Falls so that Mischa can do a report on the "Spray of Iguazu," a rainbow that appears in the area when the full moon is in the sky. Their father was a firefighter killed on 9/11, and Jim still carries his harmonica.
* Jim's only friend is Little Beard, a German Shepherd, although the dog's role in the story is unknown.
* Deathla's locust form awakens Godzilla as it attacks the Amazon.
* The blizzard at the end of the film takes place during the summer.
* Deathla's growth is the result of it absorbing the contents of a New York City dump.
* Godzilla kills Deathla instead of driving it off the planet, slicing it into pieces with a technique called the "Ultra Spin Tail Punch."
* In the final scene, Godzilla's tail is revealed to be the source of the Spray of Iguazu.

### *Godzilla 3D*

All references to 9/11 are removed. The final battle between Godzilla and Deathla takes place in Las Vegas, with stops in Mexico and California. A location shoot in Tokyo was also planned.

### *Gamera 3D*

Following the abandonment of *Godzilla 3-D* in exchange for Legendary Pictures' *Godzilla*, Yoshimitsu Banno, the unmade film's producer, turned his eyes to a Gamera project. Banno repackaged the screenplay for *Godzilla 3-D* into *Gamera 3D*, featuring Gamera battling a pollution-based monster called "Gaira" (no relation to the Green Gargantua), which transforms into the more powerful Namagon. Gamera would then team up with the mythical creature Son Gokuu and defeat Namagon. Like *Godzilla 3-D*, this was intended to be a 40-minute short IMAX film to be produced by Banno's independent company Advanced Audiovisual Productions. This idea was discarded in favor of another film featuring Hedorah battling a green algae-based kaiju called Midora, on which Banno was still actively working at the time of his death.

### *Hedorah vs. Midora*

Banno and Advanced Audiovisual would later attempt to rework the story of *Godzilla 3-D* into an IMAX Gamera film, titled *Gamera 3-D*. Even after the release of Legendary's *Godzilla*, Banno was still discussing a new Hedorah project, called *Hedorah vs. Midora*.