Excellent new translations of some Godzilla tales treasured by the hoards of Godzilla fans, providing glimpses of the original concepts of Godzilla independent of the ensuing film series and their own canon.

Thank you to the author Shigeru Kayama, publishers University of Minnesota Press, and also to NetGalley, for an advance digital copy of GODZILLA & GODZILLA RAIDS AGAIN. All views are mine.

Three (or more) things I loved:

1. I love the notes at the end of the book about the places and names in Japanese, as well as expressions used in the text. On my second read, I read this section first, and it opened a new dimension of the story for me.

2. The descriptions of the sea with all the otemotepia are beautiful and terrifying: Quote loc. 187

3. I absolutely adore the hyperbolic language in this! It's very much what I expect of an adaption from a comic book written in the '40s. Big language, big onomatopieia, like here: Quote loc. 1064

4. There's another kaiju, and he's a turtle 🐢😍!

Three (or less) things I didn't love:

This section isn't only for criticisms. It's merely for items that I felt something for other than "love" or some interpretation thereof.

1. I think there are some small issues that might have been issues of translation. But honestly, I quite like the effect of the current translation, with emphasis placed squarely on the most relevant action. Quote loc. 1007

Rating: 🐢🐢🐢🐢🐢 turtle kaiju!
Recommend? Yes!
Finished: Aug, Oct '23
Format: Digital arc, Kindle, NetGalley
Read this book if you like:
🦄 myth stories
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 family stories, family drama
🧿 good vs evil stories
🖌 comics / graphic novels

I really enjoyed reading this. The writing and storytelling took a bit to get used to, but once I was able to adapt to it, I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Godzilla and the characters he affected. I definitely enjoyed the first novella more than the second, but the second felt super fast-paced so it was super easy to read through. All in all, really enjoyable and I have already recommended it to many of my Godzilla fans.

Godzilla and Godzilla Raids Again by Shigeru Kayama (translated by Jeffrey Angles), 256 pages. University of Minnesota Press, 2023. $20.
Language: PG13 (35 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: PG; Violence: PG13
BUYING ADVISORY: HS - ADVISABLE
AUDIENCE APPEAL: LOW
After the war, people are going about their lives again. Sailors are out working, and friends are going to concerts—until a monster from the sea ruins all those plans. Destruction and devastation has returned in the form of Godzilla, and no missile is a match for him.
In and of itself, Godzilla isn’t a very well written story. The story is choppy, and the characters—including Godzilla—and settings are inconsistent. What makes the story of Godzilla good is recognizing the monster as a metaphor for war. When the book is read through the lens of how people might respond to war, then it is interesting. Through that lens, an appearance of Godzilla is always a possibility.
All of the characters are Japanese. The mature content rating is for alcohol use. The violence rating is for blood and gore, gun use, persistent death, suicide, and fantasy violence.
Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen

Jeffrey Angles has provided us with a beautiful and much needed translation of the novels that started the Godzilla phenomenon. What a joy to encounter Godzilla in his earliest form, already so rich with significance and metaphor. Reading this as both a riveting novel AND a historical source and glimpse into a culture still reeling from the ravages of war, I could not put this down and will definitely return to it.

I love old school Godzilla movies. And I jumped at the chance to read this version of two Godzilla stories: Godzilla and Godzilla raids again. While I did receive this as an E-ARC via Netgalley, I'm such a fan of Godzilla I bought a copy.

This book read like the script from the old Godzilla movies. It's melodramatic, it's action-packed, and it's everything a Godzilla fan could possibly want.

The essay that's at the end of the book is incredibly interesting and really worth the whole book and reading the two novels. The post-war trauma in Japan and the fear of nuclearization jump off of the page.

If you're a Godzilla fan it's definitely worth checking out. If you're a fan of creature features, it's also definitely worth checking out.

A book i am 100% buying physically!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have neved had any contact with Godzilla before reading this wonderful translation, and now i am hooked in the history behind Godzilla and the lore! REALLY interesting read once you take the context into account.

Monster movie fans and readers of nuclear bomb history alike will love this new translation of Godzilla and its sequel, Godzilla Raids Again.

The translation is new but the books were written in the 1950s. Godzilla serves as an allegory and a result of nuclear weapon deployments. The Japanese psyche was impacted by the devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as by the subsequent H-bomb tests performed by the US and the Soviets.

The end of the book relates the history of the novels as well as the spirit in which they were written, proving fascinating to the casual reader; it added so much more to these novellas.

It was really interesting to see the origin story (as it were!) of this iconic monster, and to learn how very, very different the movie incarnations of Godzilla have been in some ways from the original books. However, the book definitely felt like a product of its time, with an omniscient, fairly limited depth perspective that may be disorienting to readers who have cut their teeth on books written in the US in the 2000s.

That doesn't mean this book isn't worth reading--just that you should go in with clear expectations of gender roles, writing style, and other narrative elements. And of course, for those interested in the study of post-war Japan and/or kaiju movies, this book presents a very interesting read!

Thank you Net gallery for the advanced copy. This is a translation on the original book written for the first two movies way back when. A nice little tidbit of a book for G-fans everywhere.

My son LOVES all things kaiju and Godzilla related so I thought we might try reading this together as it is a classic retelling. It follows the storyline set by the film well enough and adds a great deal of insight and detail to the mindsets, backgrounds, and actions of the characters. I think if you really enjoy classic Japanese cinema you would greatly enjoy this book. It does seem a bit confusing and repetitive at certain points and the dialogue, like the original film, is dated to the time so it may be a bit slow or confusing to young readers who are used to modern dialect and fast paced action. I did and do find the anti nuclear warning about what happens when you mess with nature reassuring and timeless and ofcourse all the scenes where Godzilla stomps about wreaking havoc are fun and translate into a book well. Overall a fun book and the extra material is very useful.

I love the Godzilla movies but never realized that there were Godzilla novellas. This is an exciting translation and don't miss the afterward.

I've always been curious about what the original Godzilla novels were like, as they haven't been released in translation prior to now. Well, now we have them in translation, and it's fascinating seeing the emphasis on devastating power that is always come up with to fight against Godzilla, and the Japanese scientists specifically going "hey, wait, maybe this isn't a great idea, using this thing that fucking explodes oxygen". It's also interesting to see now each of the stories is framed in terms of the various working class folks (guy dating scientist's daughter, two fishermen one of whom is dating the company owner's daughter), Also, key rule after these two novels - never assume Godzilla is dead until you see a corpse, lol. Great to finally have these in English!

Godzilla and Godzilla Raids Again are novellas expanding on the classic films of the same names written by the man who developed the story for the movies. With Godzilla being such a famous film and character, it's actually insane to me that this is the first English translation of the novellas.I have not yet watched the original Godzilla movies, so I was genuinely on the edge of my seat wondering how they were going to stop an essentially unkillable monster that can survive nuclear warfare.

The introduction and afterword in this case are required reading. I've never seen an author be so explicit about their analogy in their opening before, but I appreciate how clear Kayama is with stating that this is a direct criticism of nuclear weapons. Sometimes there is no need for leaving things up to interpretation. The afterword also adds a lot of useful context to the stories, especially as someone who was never really taught about Post-World War II Japan. The Japanese conversation in class always started and ended with the dropping of the bombs, so I learned so much from reading the afterword.

The first Godzilla is definitely stronger thematically and plot-wise than the second but both were entertaining and worth the read.

How many of you can remember watching the classic monster films that used to play on Thanksgiving Day or the Afternoon movies that used to air on ABC in the 70s and 80s? We watched Godzilla, King Kong, Mothra, Mighty Joe Young, Gameron…giant monsters, some with a prehistoric look, enveloped us in their adventures and their destructive nature. How many of you had a Godzilla toy and used it to knock down buildings of blocks, roaring that distinctive roar of his, and wishing we had something that could resemble the incinerating fire he used to aim at anything that tried to stop him? When I saw that novelizations of the first two Godzilla movies had been translated to English and compiled in one book, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on them. Reading Godzilla and Godzilla Raids Again would be like bringing myself back to that simpler time, when all I cared about was toys, books, and watching movies.
The first novelization, Godzilla, takes us back to the 1954 movie in which an unknown terror is causing Japanese commercial fishing boats to sink. We soon learn that the reason for this is not a waterspout or a typhoon. It’s not an enemy of Japan preparing to launch an attack against the country. No, it is something much worse! A kaiju, a strange monster of legend come to punish the people of Japan for some unknown offense. Of course, we soon learn that this is not a legendary monster, but in fact a manmade one, a beast awakened and transformed by hydrogen bomb testing in the ocean. Godzilla is awake and he is angry, causing great destruction to major cities in Japan. No one has been able to stop the monster, but one scientist thinks he knows a way…something so horrific that, if unleashed, it can be used to strike against all humanity.
In the second novelization, Godzilla Raids Again, we learn that this is not truly the original Godzilla, but another of his kind that is awakened by more hydrogen bomb testing. This time, he is not the only monster, another dinosaur-like creature with horns that does not like Godzilla encroaching on his territory. This time around, two skilled pilots normally used as spotters for a commercial fishing operation are working with the military to take down the monster. They corner him on an island and prepare for a multiangled attack, an attack designed to place Godzilla at a distinct disadvantage to his human adversaries. Will the monster be vanquished yet again…and at what cost?
Reading this book brought me back to my childhood when I was totally captivated by the action in the films. They are a tad different as science fiction author Shigeru Kayama was writing them from screenplays he had created for the films. The film versions I saw contained some extra characters and some different scenes, but the feeling was the same. The emotion in the dialogue was just as I remembered. I could actually picture the scenes and hear the characters talking in anguish as they lamented their losses to the monster and tried in anguish to find a way to vanquish him.
I loved reading the stories, but one of my favorite parts of the book came at the end when the whole Godzilla concept was explained. It was interesting to learn that the original Godzilla films were actually protests against nuclear bombs and the testing that was occurring in the Pacific Ocean. Godzilla and his destructive behavior were supposed to be symbolic of the destructive behavior of mankind. His behavior was supposed to be a metaphor for mankind’s lack of foresight before using technologies that can bring about mass destruction and long-term consequences for the world we live in. Subsequent films were created simply to appease the audience’s clamoring for more Godzilla, but the first two were meant as a message to the world. This part of the book was incredibly interesting and made me love the stories that much more.
If you are a fan of the original 1950s Godzilla films, I highly recommend you check out Godzilla and Godzilla Raids Again, if only for nostalgia’s sake…though you might learn a thing or two by the time you are done.

Godzilla (or Gorjira) has surpassed cultural and geographic boundaries, to become an icon of pop culture.

For the first time, the original Godzilla novellas have been translated into English. Written by Shigeru Kayama, who wrote the scenarios for the first two films, published these novellas aimed at teens. Awakened and transformed by nuclear weapons testing, Godzilla ravages Japan. This kaiju is a metaphor for nuclear fallout and the morality of scientists and their creations.

This isn’t just a retelling of the Godzilla and Godzilla Raids Again movies. These writings reveal insights into Kayama’s vision for the Godzilla story, and feature plots that differ from the movies. These changes push the author’s antinuclear position to the forefront. They also expand the author’s pro-environmental stance.

This book is written like a movie which isn’t a big surprise. But this structure is an issue as a reader. Things moved too quickly, and I didn’t always understand what happened when we bounced from one character/place to another. There is very little description of places and people though as you get more toward the end of the first book.

Godzilla is a legend, not just because of the kitschy movies or bad Hollywood remakes but because of the anti-human sentiment that still resonates today. Between climate change, animal species extinction, and deforestation, humans are destroying the world. Godzilla reminds us that nature will fight back.

This is an excellent , accessible translation that will make for enriching language studies.
5 stars

As a life-long fan of Godzilla that has watched every Godzilla film multiple times, the sort of Godzilla renaissance that is happening right now is awesome. Jeffrey Angles' translation of Shigeru Kayama's original Godzilla novellas is the absolute icing on the cake. It is a dream come true and a must buy and must read for any real Godzilla fan!

After watching the movies, over and over again, I had to grab me a copy of Godzilla and Godzilla Raids Again by Shigeru Kayama, when I had the opportunity. I didn’t even know there were novellas out there and Jeffrey Angles did a great job translating this Japanese classic into English. The stories flowed smoothly and rolled out like the movies I’ve seen. That always makes it easier to visualize the action as Godzilla leaves his devastating mark on Japan. Of course, he may never have risen, if we didn’t create nuclear weapons, and that is Shigeru Kayama’s statement against the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

I learned some of the facts that are shared in the part of the book about the author, Shigeru Kayama and the how and why of his desire to create a monster that is payback for humans disregard for the world around them. His ‘bio’ is about a third of the book, and though I found it interesting, I wanted more of Godzilla and the other creatures he comes up with.

All in all, it was worth the read and I recommend grabbing a copy for yourself. It may be a fluff piece, but it is loaded with action and a quick read. If you are a creature feature lover, like me, this is a must have. HA HA HA HA HA

See more at http://www.fundinmental.com

I was so excited to see that they were finally translating Shigeru Kayama’s novellas into English! The first novella was some classic kaiju vs. human action and I really enjoyed it. The second novella was an action-packed heavyweight fight between Godzilla and Anguirus with a lot of human collateral damage.

Recommended for: fans of the 1950s movies

Content warning: death and destruction

I received a digital ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.