Toho Godzilla Suit 15

SokogekiGoji (2001)

Who will be the last monster standing?
This suit can be seen in these movies:

For GMK: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, Shusuke Kaneko decided to give Godzilla a whole new look.

For Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, director Shusuke Kaneko hired Fuyuki Shinada to design a more traditional Godzilla than the MireGoji design featured in the previous two films, using elements from the ShodaiGoji and the MosuGoji. The skin of the suit returned to its original texture and charcoal black color, while the dorsal plates became smooth and bone-white again. Significant muscle was given to this suit and the pointer and thumb claws were made longer than the other two. This is the tallest Godzilla suit ever used in a Godzilla film. Shinada and Takuya Yamabe built four Godzillas in total for the film:

  1. a regular suit capable of moving its mouth and neck,
  2. a more expressive performance suit,
  3. an animatronic for close-ups,
  4. and an altered MireGoji attraction suit for the scene where King Ghidorah blasts Godzilla into Yokohama Bay.

Actor Mizuho Yoshida drew from Haruo Nakajima’s fight scenes in King Kong vs. Godzilla and Kenpachiro Satsuma’s walking technique when portraying Godzilla, while also taking advantage of the improved motion of the suit’s claws. – WikiZilla

GMK: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001) – Japanese Commercial

Moving Dorsal Plates

When Godzilla charges and expels his atomic breath, the dorsal plates on the suit shift slightly via a mechanism on its back.

Lifeless Eyes

Most distinctly, the eyes are white and surrounded by grey veins, to suggest a more malevolent and mystical Godzilla, akin to the design of Ghost Godzilla, an unused kaiju.

Breathing Chest

The chest had a unique ability to move in and out which made Godzilla look like he was breathing. 

Japanese blu-ray SPECIAL FEATURE

Making of the GMK Godzilla Suit

In this hour long video you’ll see practically every detail of building the GMK suit. This remarkable team behind the movie GMK: All Monsters Attack created the most detailed and sophisticated suit ever. Inside you’ll see…

  • How every inch was meticulously sculpted first out of clay
  • Special techniques in fabricating and creating the foam base
  • Testing the fit all the time to ensure the perfect fit
  • The amazing FX used to animate the head/neck/eyes and chest
  • And so much more!

SokogekiGoji Suit Reference Images

The screencaps were captured from the original Japanese Toho Blu-ray and the rest were found online and/or scanned in from magazines and books. Some of the images may have been modified to see the textures more easily.

Becoming Godzilla

Contact

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