The American Monsterverse Godzilla is like a juicy hamburger while the recent Japanese Toho Godzilla is like a gourmet steak - both are “delicious” depending on your mood. * The latest American “MonsterVerse” Godzilla movies were full of CGI “eye candies,” and did not require me to think very hard. In licensed “monster” movies such as Godzilla vs Kong (2021) and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024), I just “kicked back” and enjoyed the CGI spectacles. More importantly, these two big-budget (over 130 million USD each) “popcorn flicks” were hugely profitable globally. This contractually restricts when and where the Japanese Toho could release or stream its Godzilla movies. * The latest Japanese “Toho” Godzilla movies were allegories of Japan’s traumas, which required me to think deeply. In Shin Godzilla (2016), the bureaucratic Japanese government failed to address the 2011 (rapidly unfolding) triple disasters of earthquake -> then tsunami -> then nuclear plant meltdown using an “evolving” Godzilla as an allegory. In Godzilla Minus One (2023), the people-led effort defeated Godzilla (temporarily) as Japan rebuilt after World War II (post-1945) with a compelling human story of “survivor guilt.” These two low-budget (under 12 million USD each) “monster” movies won numerous awards including Best Picture in Japan (both) and Godzilla Minus One won an Oscar in the US for Best Visual Effects (the first-ever for a low-budget monster movie).

I like your sister's open-mindedness towards the movie as a whole. She didn't just dismiss the earlier forms of Godzilla as "stupid" or "ridiculous". She just said that it was interesting. And she's open to the satire/black comedy nature of it instead of deeming it as "boring".

More Godzilla movies would be great. Everyone reacts to these new ones, but there are so many others. I would recommend The Return of Godzilla, from 1984, and Godzilla vs. Biollante, from 1989, if you haven’t seen them. More Harryhausen would be cool too. I’m glad you guys like Gwangi, that movie is very underrated in my opinion.

Not like the old days, when the JSDF would deploy at the first Godzilla alarm. Per your comment on military force: I think every JSDF anti-Godzilla mission should be called 'OPERATION: PISS HIM OFF.' I love the POV from the camera in the car driving past him and looking waaay up. COVID was part of what derailed this film's sequel. In my opinion, they also kind of wrote themselves into a corner with this ending: Godzilla was just starting to evolve into the Godzilla Sapiens shown emerging from the end of his tail, at the end; so the next movie would have dealt with large numbers of evolved G Sapiens, not necessarily one enormous monster.

Let's have a new Gamera movie.