I have mixed feelings about the millennium era films. I think the individual movies were all good, but I had trouble over the fact that each movie had an entirely different Godzilla (except I think the Mecha Godzilla and the Tokyo SOS ones). Even though they were all Godzilla it was a different Godzilla each time... like swapping Batmen or James Bonds. When you get one version you like, you don't necessarily want to see him changed.
But lack of contunuity aside (aside from those 2 movies), the movies were really fun.
The Heisei era is definitely my favorite overall, in part because of how interwoven it was, and that's something I love about the Monsterverse, too. If we don't get more in the series after Godzilla vs Kong, I won't be heartbroken since we'll have gotten four awesome films (hoping on the last one, of course).
It'd just be nice to see more since I have no idea what Toho's plans are.
What can I say but, "I love comics."
Heisei was my favorite era by far. The consistent continuity and quality, save for the Space Godzilla movie which showed they were running out of steam. The Biogoji design is my favorite Godzilla suit and they actually kept that pretty consistent. And the effects mostly hold up well enough.
Showa is often unwatchable because of the cheapness and cheasiness, and most of the Millenium films are too by the numbers for having so many reboots - though GMK is spectacular.
Yeah, the design of Godzilla in the Heisei series is my favorite too. It's pretty consistant, and looks cool and edgy without looking too weird or too cheesy. When I imagine Godzilla, he looks like he does in the Heisei series.
It is really hard to rewatch any of the Showa movies as an adult. I'll fastforeward to the monster fights, and that's about it. Loved them as a kid, but they don't age well at all.
I really have to be in the right state of mind to watch a Showa film, but I can always watch Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster. Love that one. In fact, Ghirodah and King Kong vs Godzilla are the only Showa films* I own: I own the entirety of the Heisei and Millenium series.
*I don't count '54 as a Showa film, but I do own the Criterion Collection bluray.
What can I say but, "I love comics."
An interesting thing about Godzilla fans is there seems to be little orthodoxy about which films are preferred. A lot of people like the continuity, and, as you say, beginning middle and end, of the Heisei series. Personally, I'm not overly fond of those and think they sort of blend together and appreciate the Millennium films' greater emphasis on lead characters and utter lack of continuity leading to different takes. In the end, I think the 60s films are the most creative and fun, but some people are turned off by vintage nature and tonal mashup of those (sci-fi/adventure/comedy/musicals!).
Honestly, I wouldn't mind if every Godzilla movie was a reboot with a filmmaker giving their own personal spin on the character building on the pre-existing mythology but beholden to nothing but that single film. That's one of the reasons I I hope they never continue from Shin Godzilla, because I think it works really well as a stand-alone.
I've had the opposite reaction as I've gotten older. The way those movies blend comedy, sci-fi, romance, musicals, gangster movies, spy movies... it really makes my head spin how eloquently they pull off such strangeness. Generally speaking, in the 60s films I'm just as entertained by the human scenes as I am by the monsters. Maybe the apex of this is an Invasion of Astro Monster and Ebirah, where I honestly might like the human beings a bit more! I love the monsters, but the characters are so fun in those movies! Add to that the groovy visual style and some amazing scores by Ifukube and Sato and I think those films are just aces.
I think a big problem a lot of people have is that they expect these movies to be one thing. 'This movie is an adventure, this movie is science fiction,' and a modern English-speaking audience tends not to be prepared for weird tonal jumps. You see this in a lot of criticism of Korean films.
I can agree with this. The stuff I liked about Shin Godzilla (that being the political intrigue/process) doesn't really lend itself to sequels or serialization. I know extended political dramas (The West Wing, Madame Secretary, etc.) have their fans, but I'm not one of them.
I'm sure we won't hear anything about Toho's plans for the franchise until the Monsterverse wraps up, but I'm still interested to see where they take things.
What can I say but, "I love comics."
I hope we won't get any more Godzilla animes in the meanwhile. The three we got were painfully boring.
So when can we talk about the movie without spoiler tags?
I hope they do a Godzilla anime thing again! I didn't like the initial one they did, but I respected how radically different it was (whole still drawing heavily from the classic movies). Next time they give some prominent anime maker carte blanche to reinvent Godzilla it may be a classic! I'm all for them trying new things.
I loved that ORCA communication device. Wonder if it would've worked on Kong?