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Mothra

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File:Mothra Larva.jpg
Mothra's larval form (Mothra, 1961)

Mothra (モスラ, Mosura) is a daikaiju that has appeared in several Toho tokusatsu films since her introduction in Mothra (1961). Generally regarded as female by English-speaking audiences, she is a giant lepidopteran with characteristics both of butterflies and of moths. The name "Mothra" is the suffixion of "-ra" (a common last syllable in kaiju names) to "moth"; whereas the Japanese language does not contain a "th" phoneme, it is approximated "Mosura" in Japanese. In Mothra vs. Godzilla Mothra is also referred to as The Thing.

About Mothra

Since her first film, Mothra has been depicted in various stages of the lepidopteran life cycle: Mothra's mammoth egg is decoratively colored in blue and yellow waves; her larva, a giant caterpillar, is brown and segmented with glowing blue—sometimes red—eyes; this caterpillar eventually spins a silken cocoon around itself—the pupa stage; from this cocoon hatches the imago (adult) form, a gigantic moth-like creature with brightly-colored wings that produce winds of hurricane speed during flight. Mothra's life cycle—particularly the tendency of an imago's death to coincide with its larva's hatching—echoes that of the Phoenix, resembling resurrection and suggesting divinity. Though having wrought more destruction than most Toho daikaiju, she is almost always portrayed as a kind and benevolent creature, causing destruction only when acting as protector to her worshippers on Infant Island or to her egg.

Mothra has proven a formidable adversary in combat: in larval form she may use her silken spray to wrap and immobilize an opponent, and has a knack for biting and clinging to foes' tails. In imago form her powers vary widely from film to film, including very animalistic scratching and dragging, incorporating several bolt and beam weapons in the Heisei era, and often concluding with a poisonous yellow powder (or "scales")—her last defense.

Mothra has become one of Godzilla's most challenging opponents, having achieved the greatest success rate in battle[1]: She has once overcome Godzilla in imago form, and twice Godzilla has fought her to her death only to later be bested by her newborn larvae. It should be mentioned that Mothra has never beaten Godzilla alone (in her Imago Form). The only victory by an insect(s) over Godzilla were the Mothra twin-larvae in Mothra vs Godzilla in the Showa Era, Imago Mothra and Imago Battra in Godzilla & Mothra: Battle for Earth, in the Heisei series and the twin-larvae and Kiryu (MechaGodzilla) in the Shinseiga (aka Millenium) Series.

In the Heisei Era (1984-1995), Mothra gained her own series of films dubbed in America as the "Rebirth of Mothra" series. These movies were not called "Rebirth of" in Japan, but just simply "Mothra" 1, 2 or 3 with a byline title...Adventure Under the Sea or Advent of King Ghidorah. These series are not connected to the Showa, Heisei or Shinseiga Eras and are stand alone films. Mothra is smaller in size. The movies start off as the elder and last of her line puts the last of her energy into a new egg. While fighting the new menance that is Death Ghidorah (or Desghidorah), her egg hatches, revealing Mothra Leo. Mothra Leo is a small larvae who hadn't achieved the "perfect" level yet. The elder Mothra later dies of old age and trauma from the first of two battles with Desghidorah, and Mothra Leo goes off in search of a suitable location among nature to undergo metamorphisis. It finds an ancient 10,000 year old tree in the forest and spins a cacoon at the tree's base. It later emerges as a full-grown and perfectly healthy Mothra Leo adult. Furthermore, it would prove itself to be the most powerful Mothra in history, and even one of the more powerful monsters of Toho's universe.

Mothra Leo is male, as opposed to the pure female Mothras before him (though the English dubbing is inconsistent, going back and forth between "she/her" to "he/him"). He also has "ever increasing energy" which allows him to absorb energy from other sources to become stronger. The tree in Rebirth of Mothra allowed Mothra Leo to change into his Imago form as "Mothra Leo", with an amazing array of beam weapons. In Rebirth of Mothra 2: Adventure Under the Sea, Mothra Leo is given the power of Ghogo and becomes Rainbow Mothra (and Aqua Mothra to battle under the sea). He uses these powers again in Rebirth of Mothra 3 (and Aqua becomes Lightspeed Mothra). After being coccooned by his ancestors in the cretaceous era, Mothra Leo becomes Armor Mothra. Armor Mothra is well-characterized by its ability "Transcending Fate", which can utterly destroy anything it touches. Mothra Leo's final form is "Eternal Mothra". Eternal Mothra is merely Armor Mothra after releasing its armor. No powers besides flight are seen in this form, but it is assumed he has the same powers as all his previous forms.

Mothra is one of the most powerful psychics in the Toho universe. She has had the ability to use this power benevolently, to communicate with humans, or defensively, to destroy her enemies. As suggested earlier, Mothra is assumed to be divine and draws many parallels to the Phoenix, which makes her one of the more powerful kaiju of the Toho universe.

Popularity

File:Mothra.jpg
Mothra's imago form ("Godzilla: Tokyo SOS" 2003)

Toho had intended to follow 1989's Godzilla vs. Biollante with a revival of Mothra in her own spinoff film, Mothra vs. Bagan, for 1990 release. However, following the unimpressive box office performance of Biollante, Toho discarded the project in favor of another Godzilla film, Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991).[2] A 1992 survey revealed that Mothra was Toho's most popular daikaiju among women, an observation which inspired Toho to again revise its plans, abandoning a proposed sequel to King Ghidorah in favor of a Godzilla–Mothra feature.[3] Following the end of the Heisei Godzilla series, Toho produced a trilogy of Mothra films, known in the U.S. as Rebirth of Mothra (1996–1998). Mothra thus became the first Toho daikaiju to lead its own film(s) after its incorporation into the Godzilla franchise. From her egg hatched Mothra Leo, whose adventures led him to adopt several forms with such monikers as "Rainbow Mothra" and "Aqua Mothra".

Shobijin

Mothra is usually accompanied by two tiny priestesses or fairies (often called shobijin—Japanese for "small beauties") who also speak for her. For Mothra's first three film appearances these twin fairies were played by the Peanuts. In Mothra they demonstrate telepathic ability, within speaking range with people and over great distances with Mothra. As in all future appearances, they call to Mothra in prayer and song, but they and Mothra are also connected on some deeper level beyond their control. In Mothra vs. Godzilla they seem also to demonstrate short-range teleportation, and in Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster they translate not only Mothra's chirps but an entire conversation among three daikaiju. Decades later, in Godzilla: Tokyo SOS, two other shobijin (portrayed by Masami Nagasawa and Chihiro Ôtsuka) demonstrate telekenesis as well.

In the Godzilla films of the 1990s Mothra's priestesses (played by Keiko Imamura and Sayaka Osawa) identify themselves as Cosmos, the last survivors of an ancient civilization which had threatened, and eventually been destroyed by, the very life force of Earth. They had constructed Mothra as their guardian deity, to which the Earth life force had responded with Battra—a "Black Mothra" (as described in Godzilla vs. Mothra) or "Battle Mothra" (as described in the Super Godzilla video game manual).

In the Rebirth of Mothra trilogy, made in the late 1990s, Mothra's priestesses were the Elias; the Elias differ from earlier incarnations in that they are not mindlinked twins but individual persons, Moll (or Moru or Mona) and Lora. They are also seen to have an older sister, a dark Elias called Belvera. In addition to accompanying Mothra, the Elias would also ride smaller offspring called Fairy Mothras. Mothra would reprise the role of ancient guardian, though with only a passing homage to the Cosmos, in Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack.

The shobijin's famous song "Mosura No Uta" ("Mothra's Song") was written in Malay, though the shobijin often sing Japanese approximations to the original lyrics.[4] Other verses and entirely new songs (in Japanese) have been added by various composers over Mothra's film history. The shobijin have also been portrayed by Pair Bambi (Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster) and Megumi Kobayashi and Sayako Yamaguchi (the Mothra Trilogy).

The original song went, as follows (in Malay and English)

  • Mosura ya Mosura
    • Mothra O Mothra
  • Dongan kasakuyan Indo muu
    • If we were to call for help
  • Rusuto uiraadoa
    • Over time
  • Hanba hanbamuyan
    • Over sea
  • Randa banunradan Tounjukanraa
    • Like a wave you'd come
  • Kasaku yaanmu
    • Our guardian angel!


Mothra in Other Media

In episode 40 of the Kimagure Orange Road anime TV series, the cast are making an amateur movie referencing certain elements from Mothra. They use the Kasuga family cat to play the part of a giant monster heading towards Tokyo with a final confrontation at Tokyo Tower and the Kasuga Twins playing the part of lost princesses that the monster is seeking. The twins even sing to the monster in order to calm it down and they ride on the monster back to their island paradise.

Trivia

  • In Mothra's eleventh film appearance, Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, one scene shows Mothra flying gracefully over Yokohama at night during a massive evacuation. Below, a pair of twins is seen staring with hope at Mothra. The two twins were a homage paid to the twin priestesses that worshipped Mothra in every past film appearance. Director Shusuke Kaneko (director of the highly-acclaimed Gamera trilogy of the 90's) had changed Mothra's origins and persona and also had to drop the priestesses as one of Mothra's characteristics. Kaneko knew, though, that the twins were an incredibly important and familiar part of Mothra, so he "sneaked" them in, so to speak.
  • In Mothra's 13th and most recent appearance, Godzilla: Final Wars, a cut scene in the end credits showed Mothra flying back to her island (earlier in the film, she had perished in an explosion after sacrificing herself to destroy Gigan). The scene had to be cut from the final product as it would not have made any sense to the audience for Mothra to have returned alive and well after supposedly dying.


Filmography

References

  1. ^ Lees, J.D. and Cerasini, Marc. The Official Godzilla Compendium, Random House, 1998. ISBN 0679888225
  2. ^ "Lost Project: Mothra vs. Bagan", TohoKingdom. Retrieved January 25, 2006.
  3. ^ Milner, David. Interview with Koichi Kawakita, December 1994.
  4. ^ Leibach, Mary (2004). Moth with Heart, retrieved January 16, 2006.


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