Thread:Shanethefilmmaker/@comment-397235-20140930004652/@comment-397235-20141002024217

Destroy All Monsters pits everyone against Ghidorah at the end: Godzilla, Mothra, Rodan, Anguirus, Gorosaurus (who had a bit part in King Kong Escapes! and is mostly just a filler monster; they even refer to him as Baragon, whose role he assumed because Eji Tsubaraya had more or less destroyed that suit in Ultraman), Minya (who I refuse to call "Minilla" because that's just stupid), and the main antagonist of Son of Godzilla, Kumunga; even Manda, Baragon, and Varan show up to at least provide...moral support (in Manda's case, I've always figured it was more a matter of her being a combat pragmatist: she's a sea serpent and Ghidorah shoots lighting; I rather like Manda). Monsters who up until now have been either directly antagonistic toward Godzilla (Kumonga spends most of her debut trying to eat Godzilla's son, which was the movie previous to this one) and Anguirus (the first monster Godzilla ever fought), or monsters who were harmful to humanity before now (Baragon is a man eater, Varan is a savage property-destroyer, Manda is the goddess of an underwater civilization bent on destroying the surface world, and is probably not too happy the surface torched her kingdom instead) are willing to step up to the plate against King Ghidorah. It drives home both, A, the monsters are intelligent enough to work together, and B, Ghidorah really is that dangerous and that evil.

The other thing which makes me like DAM is it's the first time Godzilla and Anguirus fight side by side. Like I said earlier, the first Godzilla movie I saw was Godzilla vs. Gigan and in that outing they're pretty much best buddies. I've always liked Anguirus anyway, because like Baragon in GMK, he's gutsy (I mean, he takes on Ghidorah alone in DAM) and simply does not give up. He's also a great foil for Godzilla: like with Kouichi and Mei (sort of), certain aspects of Godzilla's personality come out when he and Anguirus are together. He and Anguirus tag-team Ghidorah in both DAM and Gigan (mainly because Toho recycled parts of the climactic battle from DAM for the later film, which is why Rodan and Gaira both show up by mistake); there's genuine anguish when the two get separated by the Seatopian's earth quakes at the beginning of Godzilla vs. Megalon (and I have to wonder if the Seatopians did that on purpose; alone, Godzilla's at a severe disadvantage against Megalon and Gigan); in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla you can see the absolute fury of both Godzilla and Anguirus when they fight the title monster for the first time (for Anguirus I've always figured it was "How dare you pretend to be my buddy!" and with Godzilla I imagine at least a part of it is "You're already pretending to be me and then you nearly killed my friend, so now I'm really gonna fuck you up").

One of the many things I hated about Final Wars was them forcing Godzilla and Anguirus to fight; number one, it was a ridiculous fight, and number two, it's like watching Mario and Luigi go at it: it just should not happen. Godzilla at least looks a little bit confused, like he's not sure what's going on when they first run into each other; in a sense I suspect he has a history with Anguirus, Rodan, and Ceasar in this universe since they're the only three monsters he doesn't kill (not so in the original script; the director wanted Godzilla to nuke them when they're all piled on top of each other and they even filmed the scene; Toho wisely decided against allowing Godzilla to kill his two best buddies on camera).

I didn't know that about the lady who played Emiko dying after Destroyer; I did know it was also Akira Ifukube's last film (though he didn't die until several years later). Ironically, he was there for the first Godzilla movie, and he was there for what Toho planned to be the last.

Fun fact: Akira Takarada (Ogata) shows up all the time in the Showa series: he's the bank robber in Ebirah: Horror of the Deep he's Fuji the astronaut in Godzilla vs. Monster Zero; he's also the Secretary General of the UN in Final Wars and he got to cameo as an immigration office in Godzilla 2014.

Likewise, the late Akihiko Hirata (the original Doctor Serizawa) was also in King Kong vs Godzilla as another kaijuologist; he was the leader of the RED BAMBOO terrorists in Ebirah: Horror of the Deep, and he played Doctor Mafune in Terror of Mechagodzilla.

There's also Emiko's father, Yamane, who's the only link between Godzilla and Godzilla Raids Again. And of course, Raymond Burr plays Steve Martin in both Godzilla: King of the Monsters! and Godzilla 1985 which I at least thought was pretty nifty; would've been interesting if Tristar had been on the ball a little more and included a reference or two to his character in GMK, the same way Toho gave a friendly nod toward Godzilla: the Series (a lot of people misinterpret that as a jab toward G98; however, Tachibana specifically states the "other monster" has been sighted numerous times in various countries: Zilla only attacked New York, but his son gets around a lot more).