Toho International Inc. announced today that it will re-release the second season of the classic Godzilla animated series for free. The second season of the ‘70s animated series will become available for fans on the Godzilla official YouTube channel, which already features all the episodes of the first season.
Produced by Hanna-Barbera in association with Henry G. Saperstein, the Godzilla animated series premiered in 1978 as part of The Godzilla Power Hour. Initially, each half-hour episode of Godzilla was paired with an episode of Jana of the Jungle, with 13 episodes being developed in total. Due to the series' success, another 13 episodes were produced in 1979, airing as part of several repacks featuring reruns and new episodes of other animated series. The animated series got its official title once all 26 episodes were renamed Godzilla: The Original Animated Series for its DVD release in 2006.
Based on the original Godzilla story, the animated series explores the adventures of the giant lizard monster as he fights against other creature that threatens humanity. However, since the series is aimed at children, the usual violence of Godzilla movies was drastically reduced for the series, turning the colossal monster into a gentle helper of humanity. Even so, it is still fun to see how the Godzilla mythos was deconstructed to fit both a Western production and an animated series suited for the whole family.
Godzilla: The Original Animated Series is also remembered for introducing Godzooky, the coward nephew of the giant monster who’s appropriately human-sized. Godzooky bridges the gap between humans and the King of the Monsters, helping coordinate the missions against other giant threats.
Godzilla: The Original Animated Series was only the first of many animated series dedicated to the classic Japanese monster. In 1998, the American-produced Godzilla: The Series served as a tie-in to Roland Emmerich's take on the kaiju, a movie that’s still despised by pretty much everyone. Although Godzilla: The Series is arguably a lot better than the movie that inspired it, the King of Monster only got a fair representation in the animated world recently, with Netflix’s release of Godzilla Singular Point. Premiering in 2021, Godzilla Singular Point was produced by the studio BONES (Fullmetal Alchemist) and CG experts Orange Co. Ltd. (BEASTARS).
The second season of Godzilla: The Original Animated Series will be released for free on the Godzilla YouTube channel this June 6. You can check a new trailer for the re-release below.