For many years, I’d been waiting patiently for an opportunity to begin watching the Godzilla films, arguably one of the most important franchises in Japanese popular culture. Recently, I began watching the Godzilla movies after I picked up Criterion’s release of the Showa era Godzilla films and have since become determined to explore the world of tokusatsu in greater depth. However, with an official 36 Godzilla films, many people are understandably confused or intimidated by the series and, so, I decided that it would be worth providing an overview of the Godzilla franchise and the eras and timelines.
Arguably the most important film in the franchise is the one that started it all, the original 1954 film that introduced the world to Godzilla (known in Japanese as Gojira). The film opens up with several Japanese fishing vessels being destroyed mysteriously and the discovery of a giant radioactive creature that threatens Japan. The film was the originator of “Suitmation”, a technique developed by the late Eiji Tsuburaya which had the monster portrayed by a person in a latex suit. This technique would go on to become a staple of not only the kaiju industry but the tokusatsu industry as a whole. However, another important aspect of the original Godzilla film is that it would become the springboard from which nearly every Godzilla timeline would begin.
