First full-body look at new Japan-made Godzilla movie’s kaiju star has old-school fans happy

New Godzilla is a return to the design language of classic Godzilla.

We’ve been seeing a lot of Godzilla at movie theaters in the last few years, but you could make the argument that he doesn’t look much like Godzilla. In Legendary Pictures’ Hollywood-produced Godzilla movies, the King of the Monsters is noticeably chunkier than he traditionally was, causing many Japanese fans to wonder how he’d gotten so fat. Meanwhile, in Godzilla’s last made-in-Japan outing, Shin Godzilla, the kaiju star had a different dramatic redesign, with stunted arms, a borderline bizarrely long and thick cylindrical tail, and a body that looked like it was melting or decomposing.

So there’s been a lot of anticipation as to what Godzilla is going to look like in the recently announced Godzilla Minus One movie. Set in the aftermath of World War II, Godzilla Minus One looks to be hewing closer to Shin Godzilla by presenting the creature as a terrifying force of suspenseful destruction that mankind must respond to, as opposed to the bombastic antihero of the Legendary Pictures movies. Perhaps for that reason, we only got a few quick glimpses of Godzilla in both Minus One’s initial teaser and the newer trailer seen below.

▼ Not exactly the most illuminating, or illuminated, shot of the big G

But the official Godzilla Minus One Twitter account has finally revealed a clear, full-body image of the new Godzilla, and the design has been an immediate crowd pleaser.

『ゴジラ‐1.0』
全身ビジュアル解禁

今まで明らかになっていなかった
本作 #ゴジラ の全身が明らかに。

ゴジラ全身ビジュアルや
場面写真が組み込まれたチラシは
9/15(金)より全国の映画館 (※一部を除く)にて
順次設置予定です。#11月3日公開#ゴジラマイナスワン#Godzilla pic.twitter.com/ywYIa8lnJm

— 『ゴジラ-1.0』【2023年11月3日公開】 (@godzilla231103) September 14, 2023

With a stout yet muscular physique, tastefully tapered tail, and healthy skin, spikes, and claws, this is in many ways a return to the classic Godzilla design language, but with enough dynamic-looking details and flourishes to still give it a modern look, and the reveal has been earning appreciative comments such as:

“Whoa, that looks seriously cool!”
“So awesome!”
“This classic Godzilla style is just what I wanted to see, not the Shin Godzilla one.”
“This is exactly the kind of Godzilla design that’s best.”
“Absolutely going to go see this.”
“The design has an overwhelmingly sense of presence.”
“He looks unstoppable.”
“He’s posed like the letter G.”
“This is what’s going to be rampaging around on the screen?!? All of a sudden I need to see the movie in IMAX.”
“He’s got great, sharp dorsal fins, [which were missing] from the Roland Emmerich movie’s design. He looks so dangerous and ominous, just the sort of thing to push people’s spirits from zero down to minus one.”

Of course, whether he’s being showered with appearance-based compliments or not, it’s pretty clear that Godzilla isn’t going to be humanity’s friend in Godzilla Minus One, but at least he’s going to look cool as he shows humanity just how deeply they can sink into despair when the movie opens on November 3.

Source: Twitter/@godzilla231103 via Otakomu
Images: YouTube/東宝MOVIEチャンネル
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