Until a couple months ago, I had no idea that Godzilla 1954 and Godzilla Raids Again (Godzilla's Counterattack; Gigantis, the Fire Monster in the U.S.) had been novelized. Thanks to University of Minnesota Press, Shigeru Kayama's Godzilla adaptations, as translated by Jeffrey Angles (who, by the way, supplies a substantial afterword), have finally stomped their way across U.S. pages.
For those unaware, Kayama was a leading science-fiction author back in the day, whose work helped shape Toho's Half Human and The Mysterians. The studio found him an obvious choice to flesh out Godzilla/Gojira for book tie-ins; but even before the author embarked on his novelizations, he conceptualized the basic plots for each film. (He was inspired by Ray Bradbury/Eugene Lourie's Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, to the point that some consider Godzilla a remake.) Knowing this makes one appreciate the movies' literary constructions all the more.
The first novella builds upon historical platforms, with various WWII references to guide the reader along. However, though close to the bone, the story moves with a breeziness which evades the pervading darkness of Ishiro Honda's vision. (It's a good read, all the same.)
The second novella is more conducive to director Montyoshi Oda's Godzilla-vs-Anguirus narrative. In other words, it's more fun than contemplative and a more faithful, cinematic translation, in my humble estimation.
No matter which book one prefers, the combination is a long-overdue treat for Toho/Godzilla fans.
On a "side" note (and pardon me for editorializing), the set's one drawback is that, though Kayama and Angles emote an understandable concern over nuclear annihilation (and the desired curbing and/or elimination of such weaponry), they miss a blaring point in the impassioned process. The Allies didn't request or desire WWII. The war was thrust upon them (upon innocent members of their societies) by the self-entitled Axis, which prompted and perpetuated the war's destructive domino effect. Japan stood with Nazi Germany. Japan attacked the U.S., unprovoked. Human-rights atrocities were committed daily by both Germany and Japan. Therefore, if the resulting bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki can be emblemized as Godzilla's allegorical mother (and indeed, why not?), then Japan's sneak attack on Pearl Harbor should be deemed the behemoth's deceitful father. It would have been better if such hadn't been ignored by the authors for this otherwise worthy release.
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