Godzilla, also known as Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters, is the first ever anime film to star Godzilla — but it won’t be the last. A release date for the sequel and concept art have just been announced, and it looks like longtime fans of the franchise will have plenty to be excited over.
The next anime Godzilla film will be titled Godzilla: The City Mechanized for the Final Battle, a cumbersome title that will almost certainly be changed for the film’s American release. But what’s sure to stand out in that lengthy chunk of text is the word “mechanized,” as it doesn’t take a detective to figure out that this means that a working Mechagodzilla will be making his anime debut in the film.
The film is also being released incredibly soon, as in, a couple of months soon. Mechagodzilla will take on Godzilla in Japanese theaters on May 18 of this year, and like its predecessor, will be released worldwide on Netflix a few weeks later. That means that by the time summer rolls around, yet another new Godzilla movie will be available to watch here in the States. Not a bad way to beat the heat. The film’s website also released a new concept image for the film, and while it looks like it will continue the gorgeous style of its predecessor, it unfortunately doesn’t offer a glimpse of Mechagodzilla.
However, the movie’s newly-released poster does offer a shot of Mechagodzilla, and it looks like the humans are gearing up to activate him. If you recall, the deactivated version of the robot appeared briefly in the first film, but the humans were forced to flee before they were able to bring him into their battle against Godzilla.
The alien Mechagodzilla first appeared in the 1974 film Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, where he was an antagonist to the giant reptile, and has gone on to appear in several films since. With the creature now getting a starring role in the next anime Godzilla film, here’s hoping that this robotic and heavily-armed incarnation of Godzilla will finally start getting the respect he deserves.
