Godzilla back as animation has human drama, fewer monsters

to wandering around in space, surviving in a gigantic spaceship that’s factory-like and sterile, unlike the lush greenness that was once home.

“I’m not a Godzilla expert and so I simply made a film I thought would be enjoyable,” said Shizuno, who has also directed the “G.I. Joe: Sigma 6? and “Detective Conan” animation series.

Yet the film is scattered with tributes to Godzilla, according to the directors, who declined to disclose too many specifics. For one, the hero’s name is Haruo, the same as the actor Haruo Nakajima, who was inside the rubber Godzilla suit in the original 1954 film. Nakajima died last year.

Toho has made 29 Godzilla films, not counting the animation trilogy. The last work, released in 2016, used an actor skilled in traditional Japanese theater known as Kyogen, whose movements were interpreted into computer graphics that brought a terrifying Godzilla to life.

There are two Hollywood Godzilla films, the most recent in 2014. A third is promised for next year.

Ryota Fujitsu, an expert on Japanese animation, said the animated trilogy was commendable for its visual beauty, as well as for tackling Godzilla as a science fiction movie.

“So much has been tried in the long-running series that taking a new approach was inevitable,” he said, noting the work explores the dilemma between civilization and the individual.