Godzilla, when taken as a single fictional entity over his 70 year career (and especially on rewatching Minus One), I think you could argue is a personification of the ocean itself. Impossibly huge, indestructible, invincible, unthinkably strong, crashing down on anyone caught in its path, washing away everything from the smallest insect to entire landmasses. It can be a savior to humanity or it can be humanity’s cruelest, most bloodthirsty executioner. He defeats all challengers, even if it takes ages for him to wake back up after his last war. Sometimes he wages war on us, other times on things that threaten us.
He is unknowable, his motivations fluid and alien to our landlubbing monkey minds. He will die, resurrect, mutate, and evolve forever: he was here before humanity and will go on for eons after we die out. Human intervention turned a fierce but fair nature spirit into a wrathful, radioactive demon hellbent on decimating the warring, polluting human race.
The humanist themes of Godzilla Minus One are a balm for the bleak, chaotic, violent times we live in. The world is better with you in it, even if you don’t agree or believe it. You can survive disaster and grow again after. Each of us is like Godzilla in that way: when tragedy strikes or when life takes a painful turn, we too can resurrect, evolve, and survive… even if it takes longer than we hope. For all the havok it can wreak, the Earth would be worse without the ocean, and it would be worse without you.
Holy balls it’s been over a year since I’ve done an Ultraman round-up?! Happy to say the wait is finally over! I’ve got a pair of Ultra-sodes ready and rarin’ to be recapped, reviewed and reminisced over! This time we got a smoke monster (eat your heart out Lost!) and we got a burrowing worm monster!
Reviewing more Ultraman episodes after a couple months of movie reviews (especially new zillion-dollar Hollywood movies) has weirdly started to feel like coming home. One of the benefits of Ultraman being a steadily episodic TV series instead of a more disjointed film series like Godzilla or Gamera is its charming and consistent human cast. I wasn’t so sure about these orange-clad action-scientists early on, but now I tune in for them almost (almost) as much as I do for the giant monster smackdowns!
Whoa I haven’t reviewed any Ultraman episodes all year! Time to fix that with a trio of titanic tales! If you’re new here or just need a refresher, be sure to hit up the six previous installments in my review series: 
After a couple months off it’s time to get Ultra once again! As always here are links to the previous installments if you need a refresher: 
MONSTERS CONQUER THE WORLD 
