Anybody who knows me knows that I LOVE anything related to Kaiju. Specifically if it’s Godzilla-related. Unfortunately, even though I had high hopes for the Netflix anime, Godzilla Singular Point, I wound up being rather disappointed with it, and I detailed what worked, but what also didn’t work about the show.
Well, Gamera Rebirth released not too long ago, and while I’m not the biggest Gamera fan in the world (I’ve seen most of his movies, but not all of them), I found myself pretty surprised with just how much I liked the 6-episode series. Hell, I even liked it a lot more than I did Godzilla Singular Point. Here’s why.
The Pacing Is Much Quicker In Gamera Rebirth
Look, I’m a Godzilla fan who has sat through every era (Including the MonsterVerse), and yes, I know. Some movies are much slower than others. But, here’s the thing. Watching a slow Godzilla movie is not the same as watching a slow Godzilla series, and Godzilla Singular Point just seemed to drag on and on to no end.
For 13 grueling (and it pains me to say that) episodes, I had to sit through boring and seemingly pointless dialogue and plot developments that sometimes even put this seasoned Godzilla watcher to sleep, only for me to have to rewind a few episodes.
Thankfully, Gamera Rebirth doesn’t have that problem at all. It doesn’t hurt that there are less than half of the episodes of Godzilla Singular Point here, as there are only six. And, you know what? The six episodes don’t feel like they’re wasting any time.
Instead, the episodes move at a mostly brisk pace (even though some of the middle portion on the boat is a little tedious), and I never felt myself dozing off or looking at my phone. That’s not to say that the pacing is perfect. But, when comparing it to Godzilla Singular Point, it’s night and day.
The Human Characters Are Actually Endearing
I could not name a single human character from Godzilla Singular Point. In fact, I’m having a hard time picturing any of them. And, this is a big problem, because a VAST MAJORITY of Godzilla Singular Point focused on boring human characters.
Yes, I know that there are Godzilla movies that have the same problem (the somewhat terrifying/somewhat hilarious Shin Godzilla has this problem, as well as most of the movies in the MonsterVerse), but again, to be stuck with boring characters for 13 whole episodes is not my idea of how to spend a nice weekend.
Interestingly, Gamera Rebirth has some endearing characters who I didn’t mind spending six episodes with. Since the Gamera series as a whole often focuses on how Gamera is a protector of children, Gamera Rebirth has that as a main focus here, as its main characters are all kids. You have Boko, Junichi, Joe, and Brody, and all of them are unique in their own way. Then, you have the adult characters, who also have their own issues and quirks.
The fact of the matter is, even though the action in this show is pretty awesome (Which I’ll get into next), I didn’t mind the human characters at all, and actually enjoyed my brief time with them.
The Gamera Action Is Phenomenal
Okay, so the action in Godzilla Singular Point was almost nonexistent. Sure, there were some cool moments, most of them involving characters like Jet Jaguar, Anguirus, and Rodan, but the actual Godzilla action was pretty lame, as he had almost zero personality, and was more of just a lumbering monster.
Yes, Godzilla is sometimes just portrayed as a lumbering monster, but if you’ve been waiting MULTIPLE episodes for Godzilla just to show up, and once he arrives, he’s just plain boring, then you have a problem on your hands.
At least in the animated series, Skull Island (which also had its issues), the King Kong we got was actually pretty cool. Not so in Godzilla Singular Point when it came to its title character. In fact, I don’t really love any interpretation of Godzilla from the Reiwa-era thus far, so I’m hoping that the upcoming Godzilla Minus One rectifies that.
But anyway, Gamera Rebirth doesn’t have this problem. Even the very first episode, with its 44 minute runtime, manages to get in an awesome Gamera battle. Sure, the battles, animation-wise, might be a little rough to look at at times (It’s not a major thing, but the creatures don’t always mesh with the backgrounds), but the fact that there are pretty much always fights on this show, and they’re usually pretty badass, definitely puts Gamera Rebirth over Godzilla Singular Point. I mean, isn’t that ultimately why we’re all here in the first place? To witness amazing Kaiju battles?
Gamera Is Also Featured Prominently And Isn’t Teased Throughout
Oh, God. So, look. As a Godzilla fan, I KNOW that Godzilla is often teased way too often when it comes to his movies. Aside from a scant few, Godzilla is usually in each film less than even 20 minutes, which kind of sucks when the Big G is the main reason we even want to watch these movies in the first place.
But, you know, it is what it is, and so we’re willing to sit through people discussing Godzilla, or strategizing around Godzilla, for several movies. It’s a give-or-take situation, and some Godzilla movies are much more interesting than others (As I’ll always mention, that’s why Godzilla: Final Wars is one of my favorites. Even the “slow” moments are pretty fast).
When it comes to Gamera, though, I don’t know if I have similar feelings. From the movies I have watched of his (primarily from the Showa-era), they were mostly pretty silly, so they were enjoyable for that reason alone. That said, Gamera Rebirth has Gamera in pretty much every episode, and he’s doing very Gamera-like things, such as his spinning shell technique, and of course his trademark roar, which is a lot more high-pitched than Godzilla’s.
I really appreciate this. Why tease Gamera when you could just show him instead? Gamera fights a famous villain of his in almost every episode here, and that makes me happy.
Gamera’s Villains Make Appearances Throughout
Now, I know Gamera’s villains aren’t as familiar (or as cool) as Godzilla’s enemies, but the ones that are recognizable, like Gyaos, Jiger, Zigra, and my personal favorite, the blade-faced Guiron, are all here. And, not only that, but they make appearances in their own episodes, almost as if each episode is like a mini-movie.
You have no idea how much I wanted to see this in Godzilla Singular Point. For some reason, rather than relying on some of the old favorite villains of Godzilla to fill up most of the episodes, we only got a meager few. And my question is, why? Why were we drip fed Godzilla characters when there’s such a plethora to choose from? It would have made the disturbing lack of Godzilla in a majority of the episodes feel a little less noticeable.
But, as it stands, Gamera Rebirth didn’t have this problem, while this lack of Kaiju villains in Godzilla Singular Point just adds to the pile of things that were wrong with that series.
But what do you think? Did you get to catch Gamera Rebirth, and if so, did you prefer it to Godzilla Singular Point (I’m just assuming that every Gamera fan is also a Godzilla fan). For more news on all things Kaiju, make sure to swing by here often!
