Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Masaaki Tezuka directs. Yoshinori Sekiguchi behind the camera. Michiru Oshima scores. Shinichi Fushima cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in Japan. Dialogue in Japanese, English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 1Released 23 years ago.
• 2Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Japanese, English.
• 3Part of the "Godzilla (Millennium) Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
• 4Directed by Masaaki Tezuka, shot by Yoshinori Sekiguchi. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 5Original score by Michiru Oshima. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 6Editor Shinichi Fushima shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 7Noboru Kaneko and Miho Yoshioka and Mitzuki Koga carry the top of the cast.
• 8Marketing tagline: "No human being may touch the souls of the dead.".
• 9IMDB entry: tt0366526 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 10Classified under 11 themes, including "japan", "submarine", "fairy", "mechagodzilla".
• 11Released under 16 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography

Yoshinori Sekiguchi

Original score

Michiru Oshima

Editing

Shinichi Fushima

Production design

Yukiharu Seshimo

Costume design

Shinichi Wakasa

Makeup / hair

Emi Mizuno

VFX supervisor

Hajime Matsumoto

Stunt coordinator

Ryuta Takaya

Runtime

91 min · 1h 31m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Box office

$12,000,000

Original language

JA

Certification (US)

PG

IMDB

Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. (2003) ↗

Part of

Godzilla (Millennium) Collection

Film series featuring Godzilla from the Millennium period.

• 
  Godzilla 2000: Millennium

  1999
• 
  Godzilla vs. Megaguirus

  2000
• 
  Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack

  2001
• 
  Godzilla Against MechaGodzilla

  2002
• 
  Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.

  2003 · this one
• 
  Godzilla: Final Wars

  2004

Also by

Masaaki Tezuka

• 
  Rescue Wings

  2008 · ★ 8.0
• 
  Godzilla Against MechaGodzilla

  2002 · ★ 7.5
• 
  Godzilla vs. Megaguirus

  2000 · ★ 6.7
• 
  Samurai Commando Mission 1549

  2005 · ★ 5.3

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  Fathom Events Spot

  Teaser · Official
• 

  ▶
  GODZILLA: TOKYO S.O.S. (ゴジラ_モスラ_メカゴジラ_東京S.O.S.) - Official Japanese Trailer [HQ]

  Trailer · Official
• 

  ▶
  Tokyo SOS Director EXTRA / 東京SOSの監督〜EXTRA〜 (SciFi Japan TV #27)

  Featurette
• 

  ▶
  Tokyo SOS Director / 東京SOSの監督 (SciFi JAPAN TV #27)

  Featurette

Community reviews

What people are saying

• Rodney Wollam2024-10-10
  ★ 7/10

  I really liked how the end of the first act was met with a delightful little musical number sung by the twins. It made me both pumped for the next segment and feeling good about the old one. Fastidious piece of music. But, about the human segments. Because when I close my eyes I hear the action hero dramatics of the the late 1950s. Don't believe me, try it next time you watch it and tell me that doesn't sound like the Van Johnson heroics of the big studios. I think it's funny as hell a corps of professional aviators not once ever thought about having a mechanic as part of the plane's (Mechagodzilla) crew. Their response to the suggestion makes them look very foolish. I mean- isn't knowing that stuff part of their job? Another thing is I think the director would be good at directing westerns. I liked when humans mazered Godzilla and he just turned around and his face was like 'what the fuq, man'. Then, when Mechagodzilla was coming out of the sky right in his path all dramatic-like, Godzilla's face: 'you got to be shitting me' (ha!). Godzilla's whole posture is like a mom come home from a long days work, and she's got five kids, and all the stuff that's thrown at her from every direction, and all she really wants to do is sit down for five minutes. His face, when Mecha pulls out something flashy to use against him, I adore it. It's definitely 'mom when she throws up her hands and is all 'I give up goddamnit''. This next part kind of needs you to know your Godzilla chronology so bear with me. And then, when I mistakenly thought the Godzilla bones hugging Godzilla was Papa hugging Junior (Godzilla was a dad), I don't know who I need to tell that to, but that wasn't Papa. Papa wouldn't kill Junior. That was some unknown, third party, spirit who grabbed and ran away with Godzilla to the bottom of the sea just because that (whatever makes sense to a maniac). A monster who makes you want Papa Godzilla to come back. Finally, I like to think the Prime Minister was addressing the world on behalf of Japan. He basically said they know they made mistakes, but they're trying to fix them, and they're sorry. The actual lines are ... ... ... "But one thing's sure. We made many mistakes in the past. It's up to us to correct those mistakes. Perhaps we learned humility." ... I thought that was cool. One last thing. Godzilla wouldn't come to human cities if their governments didn't steal things that don't belong to them, okay? There, I said it. That's the truth. That was his dad, man! All that's left of him used against him! If anything, Godzilla deserves a fucking medal for not completely melting down at what they did.

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• 

  Toho Pictures

  JP

Key crew

• VFX Director of PhotographyKenichi Eguchi
• GafferHideki Mochizuki
• EditorShinichi Fushima
• Production DesignYukiharu Seshimo
• Executive ProducerShogo Tomiyama
• ProducerKazunari Yamanaka
• Associate ProducerRitsuko Suzuki
• Music ArrangerMichiru Oshima
• MusicYūji Koseki
• First Assistant DirectorHideaki Murakami
• Special EffectsEiichi Asada
• Visual EffectsEiichi Asada
• Visual Effects DirectorEiichi Asada
• Special EffectsAkira Kato
• Special Effects AssistantAkira Kato
• Visual EffectsAkira Kato
• Visual Effects DirectorAkira Kato
• Visual Effects SupervisorHajime Matsumoto
• Sound RecordistTeiichi Saitô
• CastingKenji Saito
• Production ManagerTakashi Hirayama
• VocalsMasami Nagasawa
• VocalsChihiro Ohtsuka
• Music ProducerKyoko Kitahara

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• japan
• submarine
• fairy
• mechagodzilla
• giant robot
• tokyo, japan
• miniature people
• ejector seat
• shobijin
• air base
• gojira

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical (limited)2023-03-22· Fathom Events/Toho International 20th anniversary showings. Uses the Sony transfer & subtitle script. Screened alongside "Godzilla vs. Gigan Rex" (2022).
• Physical2004-12-14PG· Columbia TriStar Home Video 50th Anniversary DVD. In Japanese w/subtitles + International English dub. Subtitles transcript the English dub instead of translating the Japanese dialog.
• Physical2014-05-06PG-13· Sony Blu-ray titled "The Toho Godzilla Collection: Godzilla: Tokyo SOS/Godzilla: Final Wars". Same features as 2004 DVD. Packaged with "Godzilla: Final Wars" (2004) (two discs).

Also known as

International titles

• Godzilla × Mothra × Mechagodzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.JP
• Gojira tai Mosura tai Mekagojira: Tôkyô S.O.S.JP
• Godzilla - Tokyo SOSDE
• Godzilla 27 - Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.US
• Godzilla Tokyo S.O.S.DE
• 哥斯拉 東京SOSTW
• Ґодзілла, Мотра, Мехаґодзілла: Врятуйте ТокіоUA
• Godzilla Tokyo SOSJP
• Godzilla x Mothra x Mechagodzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.JP
• Gojira, Mosura, Mekagojira: Tōkyō Esu Ō EsuJP
• GMMGJP
• Godzilla: Tokyo in DangerMX
• Godzilla: Tokio en PeligroMX
• S.O.S. for TokyoPL
• S.O.S. dla TokyoPL