The Godzilla Chronology Project
Org Chart
Scope
Drinking Game
Quality, images, and acknowledgements
Comments Policy

The Godzilla Chronology Project

My partner Min and i (fnord12) generally watch a good chunk of Toho films every year when we take an annual staycation together. So now we've started taking screengrabs and making notes while we watch the films, and we put up these reviews. I write the main review and then Min will come along and add additional commentary. Hello! Min's superhero name is Too Many Projects Girl, so you won't always see a lot of direct commentary from her Shh! You're not supposed to tell people that! especially in the later entries, but even the main reviews are influenced by things we both say while we're watching the movie, so this is definitely a joint project. Unlike the comics project, where Min, who was originally going to read the comics along with me, fell behind, I said shh! so you'll still see her making the occasional comment on Silver Age comics as a normal commentator instead of integrated into the review.

This project is less about the specific chronological order of the movies, so we basically just review them in release order and you won't see, for example, the movies that take place in the future getting pushed to the end of the list, but we'll mention stuff like that in the reviews. Toho chronology does include a wrinkle that Marvel's doesn't (at least at time of writing!): Toho has gone through at least three reboots of their chronology. The first Godzilla movie is always canon, but in 1984 they created a direct sequel to that one and moved on from there in what is known as the "Heisei" era, ignoring their earlier "Showa" movies. Then they restarted again in 1999, beginning what is known as the "Millennium" era. And the reason i said that they rebooted "at least" three times is that most of the Millennium films all take off from the original Godzilla film, ignoring even each other (the one exception is Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S., which is a sequel to Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla). Then Toho, in a film that was meant to retire their Godzilla efforts, released Godzilla: Final Wars, which sort-of acknowledges the continuity of every prior film!

We've tried to capture all of the above eras with the organizational chart that we've got on the front page of this site. The site is color-coded based on the three eras, and we've also branched off the non-mainline films, some of which aren't even technically daikaiju films but which end up being related to the Tohoverse thanks to Final Wars or some other factor.

Someone will come along and say this if i don't mention it: the names of the Showa and Heisei eras are based on the names of Japan's emperors. The (posthumously renamed) Emperor Showa actually died in 1989, so that's when the Heisei era begins in real life. But it's general convention when talking about Godzilla films to refer to the entire Godzilla continuity after the first reboot as the Heisei era, and that begins with The Return of Godzilla, which came out in 1984 (and was called Godzilla 1985 for the American release). So on this site, the cut-off between the Showa and Heisei era is 1984. The Millenium era is a little easier to figure out, except for the minor detail that the first movie from that era actually came out in 1999. And the original 1954 Godzilla is in continuity for all three eras, so that occupies a special place on the site (and allows us to use a single org chart format).

Org Chart

Movies that don't feature Godzilla himself also have a dashed border around them. You can also just click on the names of the eras and get a straight listing of that era's listings, if that's easier. The legend also allows you to pop the org chart into its own window.

The org chart is unfortunately a little unwieldy. You should be able to move the org chart around by click-dragging it, kind of like Google Maps. There is also code to direct mobile users to a different version that should work better there. It seems to work ok on an Android, but less so on an iPad. Popping the org chart to its own window works better for iPad.

Note that it's debateable which movies are "mainline" Godzilla films vs. sideline films and which films are sequels to other films. Don't let it bother you, and i'm probably not going to make a change at this point if you suggest something else. It would be nice to have a couple different visualizations for the Tohoverse, including something like a mind map. But the org chart is a fun way of looking at it.

Scope

The decision around what to include in this project is as follows. First, every Toho-produced Godzilla film is of course include included. Next, any Toho film that features a character or concept that later appears in a Godzilla film will be included. Finally, and this is a little weird, there was a video game for the 8-bit Nintendo system called Godzilla: Monster of Monsters that included a lot of elements from other Toho films, including some characters and concepts that otherwise are not normally associated with the Godzilla franchise. And since i played that game as a kid and have enjoyed the archaeology of seeking out where all those concepts came from, anything in that game will also be included here. So that's while you'll see some odder films like Dogora and Mantango included.

Note that i said "Toho-produced Godzilla film". That therefore excludes any American Godzilla films. That's not necessarily a statement on the quality of those films; i just don't consider them to be part of the Tohoverse. There are also some Toho tokusatsu ("special effects") movies that do not meet the above criteria (e.g. H-Man, Latitude Zero) and are therefore not included. We also won't be covering any cartoons or comics or anything else besides the films, with one exception: we'll be taking a special look at a few episodes of the Zone Fighter tv show which had some important developments for Godzilla and some of his villains.

Another difference here from the Marvel project is that we're only tracking the daikaiju characters. So even when the same human characters appear in multiple films, we're not listing them in the Characters Appearing section (which has been renamed to Monsters Appearing, naturally).

Drinking Game

Quality, images, and acknowledgements

A special note here about the screenshots: we're taking all of those ourselves, and our films are of various quality and format. It's also sometimes difficult to get a great shot of something when trying to capture a scene in motion, so sometimes they come out a little blurry. And screengrabs can sometimes be very dark, and whatever else. You get what you get!

Toho also seems to be very aggressive about enforcing their views on copyright; i've tried to put small clips from films on YouTubes and had them flagged as violations immediately. So no film clips here, and if Toho ever finds this site they may force us to take it all down. We don't have the resources to fight that even though i'm sure what we're doing here is in no way meant to be a substitute for watching their films and should fall under fair use. Obviously every image on this site is the copyright of Toho and we're not claiming any ownership or making any money off anything.

When you click on the monster icons and go to the monster search page, those icons are from a few different sources. Most are the official Toho trademark icons. A few i suspect were actually created by fans; i pulled them off of Google Image Search where they seem to be floating around, so i am not sure who to credit but thanks to whoever made them. And then a fair number i had to make myself; you can identify these by finding the ones without the trademark (TM) icons. I know that the images i used for Dagahra and Maguma came from the NES Godzilla Creepypasta. If you know who made any of the other images let me know and i will credit them (or take it down if they prefer).

I also want to thank the people responsible for some of the code i'm using. The org chart itself is a jQuery plugin created by Wes Nolte. And the ability to grab-and-drag the org chart is thanks to a JavaScript widget called SpryMap, originally created by Charlie Andrews and then tweaked by Slav123. Both are freely available on GitHub, but i wanted to thank them here. When it comes to stuff like this, i am kind of like a guy 200 years after the apocalypse; i can get the technology to work with a lot of tinkering, but i could have never created it myself.

Comments policy

Testing that comments work! And welcome to anyone that has found their way here.

Actually, we're hoping to complete all the entries before "releasing" the site.

Alright, we are considering the site officially "released". Welcome again.

Oh wow I'm excited to start following this! Love Godzilla, already mentioned that. I only read the few paragraphs of several reviews before commenting. I'll read in depth when I'm less tired.

Y'know I've started following a neat podcast over a place called Kaijusaurus. There's two Scottish Godzilla fans, I was shocked too, one long time and one newish, and they're watching each movie and discussing them. Only just started and put out Raids Again yesterday. It's super cool hearing from a new fan since so much of Godzilla has been ironed into my head since year 4 or so.

David, thanks for all your comments and i'm glad you are enjoying the site. I've actually known that you were a Godzilla fan from some of your comments on the comics blog, and there were a couple of times where i almost pointed you over here before we were finished, but decided against it since we wanted to wrap everything else up before we opened it up. So i'm glad you found it.

I will check out the Kaijusaurus podcasts. Thanks.

And what is up with the icons on the top right? I'm sure those aren't the usual Toho icons. At a glance the King Ceasar one made me think of Monster X.

The ones in the top left come from the current official icon sheet - see here for example. Since that doesn't cover all the monsters, if you click on that corner and go to the character listing page, some of the other icons i've picked up around the internet and some of i've made myself (as mentioned on this page).

Oh right, man Matt Frank has his fingers every where. Left. I meant left.

So I keep talking about this IDW Godzilla comics and I think I should give a run down since I don't think the folks here have read them.

Godzilla Kingdom of the Monsters: First series, 2011, lasted 12 issues...Garbage. It has some neat ideas, it goes into the dark satire days of monsters being disasters. Good lord the satire was done by a 13 year old. There's some neat ideas, like evil anti-Peanuts who control Battra or showing Rodan blowing poison gas back to Earth. Skip this. Just skip it unleash you're a completist and like punishment.
Godzilla Legends: I think this is the first mini. This is neat, five single issues with each one focusing on a different monster. Anguirius (great), Rodan (not too good), Heisei MechaG and Godzilla vs. Hedorah (great), Titanosaurus with Miki Segusa making an appearance (good stuff, want more of that) and Kumonga guest starring in his own issue. This was a neat idea and actually really good compared to the above.
Godzilla Ongoing/History's Greatest Monster: 13 issues...a step up! Not a fan of the art but there are actual characters and a neat idea. Think A-Team meets Godzilla. But sadly the pacing has some issues but the last four issues is basically Godzilla and Earth monsters vs. Monster X, Gigan, Hedorah and Space Godzilla. Again not my favorite artist but kind of neat.
Gangsters and Goliaths: An interesting mini, a hard boild detective tries to take down a criminal empire with his new ally...Mothra! Not a lot of action but we see a bunch pop up for the finale but it has a neat idea and it's great Mothra gets to shine for a whole mini. Might be worth it.
Godzilla Rulers of the Earth: 25 issues with a double sized finale. This ended and it's great, first eight issues are rough but it's fun. I recommend this sine Fford and Min seem to prefer campy crazy fighting Godzilla. The human characters kind of grow on you but they pull out the stops with making Titanosaurus, the Gargantuas, Manda, Gezora, Space Godzilla, Zilla and Mogura quite bad ass plus many more. The comic is loaded with easter eggs and while I love dark scary Godzilla the first series just sucked at it so I say this is the best ongoing Godzilla.
Godzilla Half Century War: 2012, amazing five issue mini series. Basically Captain Ahab meets Godzilla. Just wild crazy kinetic energy that celebrates Godzilla as a 19 year old tank rider sees Godzilla in 1954 and follows after him for nearly half a century while becoming a major bad ass. Around here and Rulers did IDW finally go 'oh let's make comics fun!'
Godzilla Cataclysm: Another great mini, monstes and humanity has done it at last: society has collapsed. Awesome for being pretty creepy and still giving good monster action. Like this, Half Century and Rulers we're starting to see new things, be it new monster fights or just brand new scope and scale we don't see in the comics. A neat morality tale about screwing up and plenty of monster battles for five issues.
Godzilla in Hell: Just started coming out, it's like Legends as Godzilla goes further into hell but a different team for each issue. Off to a great start since the guy who did Half Century did the first issue. Eagerly awaiting issue 2.

And if you're already checking these out or have zero interest in Godzilla comics then sorry for the clutter. I think even Kingdom of Monster is...no...nooo I dunno...everything else is a step up over Marvel Godzilla. Some dozens of times moreso.

The 1980 film "Gamera-Super Monster" also had a Godzilla cameo...sort of...

@David, thanks for the review of the Godzilla comics. I did try the first issue of Kingdom of the Monsters and found it pretty bad, and i didn't try any more after that. But Rulers of the Earth sounds right up our alley and we've ordered the first trade.

@Mark, looks like it was a scene of Gamera knocking over a Godzilla billboard? Who knew Gamera was such a jerk!

Oh cool, glad you're trying the first volume. There's sadly no scientists explaining dino science with kid's books but as the series goes on a few weird little plotholes pop up...just like the movies in that regard. One point Godzilla disappears for a long time deep in the sea then shows up in an iceberg. Now I didn't have a problem with that but other people while I'm like 'uh nod to King Kong vs. Godzilla I guess?'

So,uh, any luck with that Rulers of the Earth volume? Just got the sixth and final volume in the mail and got the third issue of Godzilla in Hell. Pretty happy camper at the start of the new term.

We did read the first trade. It was definitely the best Godzilla comic that i've read. Loved the use of all the monsters. I didn't realize that it was part of an already ongoing continuity, though, so it was a little surprising at first when the humans recognized some of the monsters and not others. Min liked it a lot less than me, though. And i'm still of the opinion that Godzilla works best in movie form. I may still get the next trade.

Oh I'm glad,and surprised, you enjoyed it. Yes I should have mentioned Rulers is part of an ongoing, or was, main spine book so to speak.

Kingdom Of Monsters: The first and horrible. Just horrible. Godzilla, Rodan, Angurius, Millenium King Ghidorah, Kumonga, Battra larvae and Heisei Mecha Godzilla appear and not a lot of monster fighting until the end. It's trying to be dark but it has the maturity level of a 14 year old doing grim dark. Commander Woods appears here but he was more of a stoic guy.
Godzilla Ongoing: A big improvement! Think A-Team meets Godzilla. It has problems with pacing and not big on the art but it is a step up. Brings in Titanosaurus, adult Mothra, Kiryu, Monster X, Space Godzilla, Hedorah and Showa Gigan.

Volume 2 for Rulers brings back some favorites but the pacing is a little weird. The team was told 5 issues, then 8 issues, then 12 then 16 then 26 so their endings kept not working out. If 2 is good I hope 3 is even better since that's where it picks up.

There is something to be said about Godzilla monster in comics: suddenly a lot easier to have a mass pitch battle without all those wires fumbling into each other.

Did the Green Slime show up in the Godzilla Nintendo game?

No, and it looks like it wasn't actually a Toho movie. Looks like it was made through Toei. But it does look like something i'll need to watch.

Maybe you've addressed this elsewhere, but is Shin Godzilla on the horizon? It's Toho. It's Godzilla. It's here.

I talked about it a little bit in the Final Wars comments, but essentially we will cover it although not necessarily right away. We'll want to digest it a bit first.

Were you joking when you mentioned a planet of the apes chronology project or are you actually considering doing it.

Just a joke! :-)

Awesome chronology list you got here! But you are missing one, Latitude Zero is part of the timeline too! But other then that one you got them all, even Matango which I see most people leave off the their lists a lot.

In the Scope section on this page, i mention H-Man and Latitude Zero as examples of out of scope Toho films. If there's even a halfway good reason to include it, let me know!

The Black Shark that shows up in the movie also appears in the NES Godzilla Monster Of Monsters game and they also have the same music from one of the later Godzilla films as well. Which I think is from Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla but may have to re-watch the two of them to see if it is the same soundtrack. I know it's from one of the Godzilla films, so those are the reasons why I always include it in the Toho Showa series.

Cool thanks. We've been trying to work up the motivation to add the Godzilla: Resurgence to this project. Having a classic era Toho film to add to the list will sweeten the pot.

Just wanted to thank Matthew Bradley for leaving all his comments on this site. I haven't responded but i've been enjoying his reviews.

My pleasure, and I hope you'll forgive me for recycling them on my blog; once I saw that they were taking on a life of their own, it seemed a shame not to get a little more mileage out of them! I knew the "Starzapalooza" would make me want to wax eloquent about these films, and after the vast pleasure afforded by your Marvel site, this was clearly the best place to do so. You and Min have done an endlessly entertaining job.

I wonder how many have watched all them in chronological order of the timeline instead of the order of release dates? If there are any that are wondering about that order I'm willing to post it for the fun of it! So for everyone out there this is the order in the showa series:

1.Gojira/Godzilla King Of The Monsters (1954/1956)

2.Godzilla Raids Again (1955)

3.Rodan (1956)

4.The Mysterians (1957)

5.Varan The Unbelievable (1958)

6.Frankenstein Conquers The World (1965)

7.Mothra (1961)

8.King Kong vs Godzilla (1962)

9.Atragon (1963)

10.Matango (1963)

11.Mothra vs Godzilla (1964)

12.Dogora The Space Monster (1964)

13.Battle In Outer Space (1959)

14.Ghidrah The Three Headed Monster (1964)

15.Invasion Of The Astro Monster (1965)

16.War Of The Gargantuas (1966)

17.Godzilla vs The Sea Monster (1966)

18.King Kong Escapes (1967)

19.Son Of Godzilla (1967)

20.Latitude Zero (1969)

21.Monsters All Out Attack (1969)

22.Space Amoeba (1970)

23.Godzilla vs Hedorah (1971)

24.Godzilla vs Gigan (1972)

25.Godzilla vs Megalon (1973)

26.Zone Fighter (tv series 26 episodes 1973)

27.Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla (1974)

28.Terror Of Mechagodzilla (1975)

29.Gorath (1962)

30.War In Space (1977)

31.Destroy All Monsters (1968)

Thanks Tim. I'd be interested in hearing your reasoning for some of the placements (better to do it on the individual entries). I was intrigued by ChronosCat's idea to watch Destroy All Monsters and was thinking Min and i would try a true "chronological" viewing the next time we do a marathon.

In answer to Tim Lyon, I just finished watching through the Showa series in chronological order this February (well, almost in chronological order; I watched Frankenstein Conquers the World at the wrong point because the list I was following failed to take into account that it was set several years before it was made). It was really fun how after watching the last of the movies made and set in the 70s, you continue on to movies set in the 1980s & 90s but made much earlier.

And then, to tie together all the stand-alone monsters that didn't show up in Destroy All Monsters and to provide a final epilogue to the Showa Era, I played the NES Godzilla: Monster of Monsters. It was really neat seeing all the references to the old movies, and it was nice to see Godzilla and Mothra fighting together to save the world one last time...

As far as I know Frakenstein Conquers The World is suppose to take place in between Varan and Mothra. Near the beginning of the film at the end of WW2 in 1945 it flashes 15 years later which the rest of the film is suppose to take place in the year 1960.

I'm pretty sure I got the order right, didn't I?

Had a chance to recheck and it looks like most of Frakenstein Conquers The World timeline does take place in 1961, which puts the events of Mothra ahead of it by one whole month. So it goes 1945, then 1960 and again skips to a year later to 1961.

Just a thought: The Abominable Snowman, as portrayed in Half Human, made a cameo appearance in one of IDW's Godzilla comics. Shouldn't that grant it a place in this chronology project?

It doesn't meet my personal criteria but i wasn't aware of this movie and i'll have to seek it out now. Thanks!