Formerly known as GODZILLA: MONSTER PLANET, the animated Godzilla film – a first for the franchise that has been around since 1954 – is now going by the longer title GODZILLA: PLANET OF THE MONSTERS… and anyone with a Netflix subscription is going to have the chance to watch it very soon.
Released theatrically in Japan this past November 17th, the film is set to receive a worldwide release through the Netflix streaming service exactly two months after it hit the big screen. GODZILLA: PLANET OF THE MONSTERS will be available for viewing as of January 17th.
This information comes from a trailer posted online by Netflix Japan, which also lets us know that the anime deals with "humankind vs. the largest Godzilla ever".
How large? Almost 1000 feet tall.
Directed by Kobun Shizuno and Hiroyuki Seshita from a screenplay by Gen Urobuchi, GODZILLA: PLANET OF THE MONSTERS has the following synopsis:
The last summer of the 20th Century. That day, the human beings learn that they are not the only ruler of the planet Earth.
The appearance of the giant living creatures “Kaiju’s” and the ultimate existence that destroys all monsters: Godzilla. Through the battle against kaiju’s that lasted for half a century, human beings have experienced continuous defeat, and finally plan to escape from the Earth. And in 2048, only those who were selected by the A.I. managed under the central government boarded the inter-sidereal emigrant spaceship “Aratrum” to head for “Tau Cetus e”, the planet beyond the distance of 11.9 light-year. However, the environmental condition differences between that of the Earth and Tau e, which they finally arrived after 20 years were far beyond the predicted numbers, and was not an environment considered to be habitable by human beings.
The young man on the emigrant ship: Haruo, who saw his parents killed by Godzilla in front of his eyes when he was 4 years old, had only one thing in his mind for 20 years: to return to the Earth and defeat Godzilla. Shut out from the possibility of emigration, as the living environment in the ship deteriorates, the group of “Earth Returnists” led by Haruo became the majority, and determines to head back to Earth through a dangerous long-distance hyperspace navigation. However, the Earth they have returned has already passed the time of 20,000 years, and has become an unknown world with the ecosystem reigned by Godzilla.
At the end, will human beings win back the Earth? And what will Haruo see beyond his fate?
I've been a Godzilla fan since childhood, so I will definitely be watching PLANET OF THE MONSTERS at the first opportunity.