Going to Tokyo has always been a lifelong dream of mine, and I finally went not too long ago for my 41st birthday.
Now, in those 41 years of existence, I've been a Godzilla fan for probably 36 of them. I've seen all of the best Godzilla movies, and hell, I even got my 7-year-old son into the King of the Monsters when I took him to see Godzilla Minus One in the theaters.
So, it was a great pleasure (And surprise!) for me when my friend informed me that there was a show titled Godzilla Attack on Tokyo that would be displayed on the facade of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. I got to see it, and I just have to talk about it.
Never In My Wildest Dreams Did I Ever Think I Would See A Life-Sized Godzilla Right Before My Eyes
Godzilla Minus One is my favorite Godzilla movie of all time, and I love that the MonsterVerse movies have given me the opportunity to see Godzilla on the big screen.
Because other than the 1998 Godzilla movie (Which I actually kind of like!) all of my other Godzilla experiences were on the small screen, which was fine, but Godzilla really deserves to be seen on the biggest screen imaginable.
However, never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would see Godzilla projected on the front of a building!
I actually had to tilt my head back to see him in all of his glory. Like, have you ever watched the movie Cloverfield? Well, what’s cool about it is that you see the story from the character’s perspective on the ground level, and that’s how it felt while watching Godzilla Attack on Tokyo.
He stood before me, stomping and roaring, and all I could do was stare up at him and watch the destruction. It was so cool!
It Was A Truly Epic Experience, And One That I Will Remember For The Rest Of My Life
I can’t emphasize enough what a unique experience it was to watch a kaiju story told in this manner. Though it was quite short (less than 10 minutes even), I feel like just being there, sitting on the steps with other Godzilla fans, was well worth the short runtime.
As weird as this may sound, it also helps that it was slightly raining. Because this show was outside, and we had to deal with the elements. When the siren blared, indicating that Godzilla was coming, it was even more epic because it was occurring in the rain.
It kind of reminded me of that scene in King of the Monsters, toward the end, when Godzilla had his final confrontation with King Ghidorah out in the storm, as there were occasional flashes of lightning in the far-off distance during the show.
Long ago, I went to see Captain EO at Disney World. The seats would rock back and forth, and there would be the occasional spray of mist in my face. That was cool, but it was also really artificial. This, however, was like the heavens opened up in the wake of Gojira. It truly was a night to remember.
Hearing The Godzilla Theme Blasting While Staring Up At Godzilla Gave Me Goosebumps
Another thing I have to talk about was the sound, as it was amazing. I could only imagine what it would have been like if I was just walking down the street during the show, and wasn’t aware that there was going to be a mini-movie about Godzilla nearby, because I probably would have pissed my pants.
The show opened up stating that this was the monster's 70th anniversary, which filled my heart with pride since even though I haven’t been alive for that long, I’ve still watched every single Godzilla film from every single era.
Then, we were hit with the Godzilla theme, which literally gave me goosebumps. It was followed by the sound of a siren and a frantic person shouting in Japanese about the incoming threat that was approaching.
He roared, and you could hear his stomping as he entered the scene. All throughout, the sound was incredible, and it really added to the overall experience of the show.
While It Was Short, I'm Still Impressed It Told A Story
Godzilla Attack on Tokyo was brief, and yet, I wasn’t disappointed. I think it’s because it managed to tell a complete story in its limited runtime. He appears, and people attack him with a sort of advanced spaceship.
He gets mad, and then revs up his atomic breath and fires at it. The ship was knocked back, but was not defeated, so it fired again at Godzilla, which only pissed him off even more.
All the while, I have to talk about how good the technology was for this event, as even though it was told on a flat surface on the facade of a building, the ship moved in a sort of 3D perspective around Godzilla, to which he spread out his arms and grabbed it in his clutches, destroying it.
We then see that the military is building itself back up again, only for the story to crescendo with them constructing one of Godzilla’s greatest enemies, Mechagodzilla. Honestly, if I have any one complaint with the performance, it’s that I didn’t get to see Godzilla tussle with my favorite antagonist of his. That was kind of a bummer.
Overall, I Really Want To See A Whole Godzilla Film Projected On The Front Of A Building
I know beggars can’t be choosers, but seeing Godzilla Attack on Tokyo really just made me want to see an entire movie projected on a building, or at least the action scenes. I can only dream of seeing some of Godzilla's best movies, like Destroy All Monsters, or the original 1954 movie, way up high on the biggest “screen” you could ever imagine.
Attack on Tokyo opened my mind to the possibilities of such an event, and while I’m well aware that it will likely never happen, I’d really love to see Toho explore the possibilities of branching out from just movies, and maybe having more wide-scale events like this.
The trip to Japan wasn’t cheap, and I don’t know when I’ll go again (or even if I’ll go again), but if I heard that Toho was making a longer, possibly 30 minute show of Godzilla on the front of a building, then I think I would scrounge around in my couch cushions and dig into my savings account to take another trip to the land of the rising sun. I’m dead serious. You have no idea how much I love Godzilla.
What are your thoughts? Would you like to see Godzilla projected on a building’s facade?
