Godzilla Movies - Watch Order: Showa Era

1954 - 197520 Films29h 22m3.7 Average

This watch order features the original Japanese Toho kaiju universe from 1954-1975, telling an interconnected story that extends beyond just Godzilla. The era includes standalone films for Rodan and Mothra before they join Godzilla's world, plus the Frankenstein duology that exists in the same continuity. Note that Godzilla himself doesn't appear in five of these films, but they introduce monsters and establish the shared universe.

The Showa Era chronicles not just Godzilla's evolution but the creation of an entire monster mythology where kaiju coexist. Watch as the series gradually shifts from serious horror to colorful spectacle, building a rich universe where continuity matters and monsters from different films eventually unite in epic crossovers like Destroy All Monsters.

1
Godzilla poster

Godzilla

19541h 36m4.6
Director: Ishirō Honda
Cast: Akira Takarada, Momoko Kôchi, Akihiko Hirata, Takashi Shimura, Fuyuki Murakami

Japan is thrown into a panic after several ships are sunk near Odo Island. An expedition to the island led by Dr. Kyohei Yamane soon discover something far more devastating than imagined in the form of a 50 meter tall monster whom the natives call Gojira. Now the monster begins a rampage that threatens to destroy not only Japan, but the rest of the world as well.

ThrillerHorrorScience Fiction
2
Godzilla Raids Again poster

Godzilla Raids Again

19551h 22m3.2
Director: Motoyoshi Oda
Cast: Hiroshi Koizumi, Setsuko Wakayama, Minoru Chiaki, Takashi Shimura, Masao Shimizu

Two fishing scout pilots make a horrifying discovery when they encounter a second Godzilla alongside a new monster named Anguirus. Without the weapon that killed the original, authorities attempt to lure Godzilla away from the mainland. But Anguirus soon arrives and the two monsters make their way towards Osaka as Japan braces for tragedy.

Science FictionHorrorAction
3
Rodan poster

Rodan

19561h 12m3.6
Director: Ishirō Honda
Cast: Kenji Sahara, Yumi Shirakawa, Akihiko Hirata, Minosuke Yamada, Yoshibumi Tajima

Mining engineer Shigeru investigates the disappearance and death of his fellow coworkers when prehistoric nymphs are discovered emerging from the mines. After an attack on the local village, Shigeru heads deeper into the mines only to make a more horrifying discovery in the form a prehistoric flying creature. Soon a second monster appears as the two converge in Fukuoka.

HorrorScience Fiction
4
Mothra poster

Mothra

19611h 41m4.2
Director: Ishirō Honda
Cast: Frankie Sakai, Hiroshi Koizumi, Kyōko Kagawa, Jerry Itō, Ken Uehara

Shipwreck survivors found on the presumably uninhabited Infant Island leads to a scientific expedition that discovers a surviving native population along with the Shobijin, tiny twin fairy priestesses of the island's mythical deity called Mothra. After the fairies are kidnapped by an exploitative businessman named Clark Nelson, Mothra sets out to rescue them.

AdventureScience FictionFantasy
5
King Kong vs. Godzilla poster

King Kong vs. Godzilla

19621h 37m4
Director: Ishirō Honda
Cast: Tadao Takashima, Kenji Sahara, Yū Fujiki, Ichirō Arishima, Jun Tazaki

The advertising director of Pacific Pharmaceuticals, frustrated with the low ratings of their sponsored TV program, seeks a more sensationalist approach. He orders his staff to Faro Island to capture King Kong for exploitation. As Godzilla re-emerges, a media frenzy generates with Pacific looking to capitalize off of the ultimate battle.

Science FictionComedyAdventureFantasyAction
6
Mothra vs. Godzilla poster

Mothra vs. Godzilla

19641h 29m4.1
Director: Ishirō Honda
Cast: Akira Takarada, Yuriko Hoshi, Hiroshi Koizumi, Yū Fujiki, Kenji Sahara

Journalists Ichiro Sakai and Junko cover the wreckage of a typhoon when an enormous egg is found and claimed by greedy entrepreneurs. Mothra's fairies arrive and are aided by the journalists in a plea for its return. As their requests are denied, Godzilla arises near Nagoya and the people of Infant Island must decide if they are willing to answer Japan's own pleas for help.

DramaActionScience Fiction
7
Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster poster

Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster

19641h 32m4
Director: Ishirō Honda
Cast: Yōsuke Natsuki, Yuriko Hoshi, Hiroshi Koizumi, Takashi Shimura, Emi Ito

After a meteorite unleashes a three-headed beast upon Tokyo, Mothra tries to unite with Godzilla and Rodan to battle the extraterrestrial threat.

Science FictionActionFantasyThriller
8
Frankenstein Conquers the World poster

Frankenstein Conquers the World

19651h 30m3.8
Director: Ishirō Honda
Cast: Tadao Takashima, Nick Adams, Kumi Mizuno, Yoshio Tsuchiya, Koji Furuhata

During WWII, Germans obtain the immortal heart of Frankenstein's monster and transport it to Japan to prevent it being seized by the Allies. Kept in a Hiroshima laboratory, it is seeming lost when the United States destroys the city with the atomic bomb. Years later a wild boy is discovered wandering the streets of the city alone, born of the immortal heart.

HorrorScience Fiction
9
Invasion of Astro-Monster poster

Invasion of Astro-Monster

19651h 36m3.9
Director: Ishirō Honda
Cast: Nick Adams, Akira Takarada, Keiko Sawai, Kumi Mizuno, Jun Tazaki

Astronauts Glenn and Fuji investigate Planet X and encounter mysterious aliens known as the Xiliens, who ask Earth's people to help save their world from "Monster Zero". In exchange for borrowing Godzilla and Rodan, the Xiliens offer a cure for cancer. As Glenn investigates, he develops a romance with Miss Namikawa and uncovers the Xilien's true intentions.

Science FictionAction
10
Ebirah, Horror of the Deep poster

Ebirah, Horror of the Deep

19661h 27m3.5
Director: Jun Fukuda
Cast: Akira Takarada, Kumi Mizuno, Akihiko Hirata, Jun Tazaki, Hideo Sunazuka

Searching for his brother, Ryota stows away on a boat belonging to a criminal alongside two other teenagers. The group shipwrecks on Letchi island and discover the Infant Island natives have been enslaved by a terrorist organization controlling a crustacean monster. Finding a sleeping Godzilla, they decide to awaken him to defeat the terrorists and liberate the natives.

Science FictionActionFantasy
11
The War of the Gargantuas poster

The War of the Gargantuas

19661h 28m3.5
Director: Ishirō Honda
Cast: Kenji Sahara, Kumi Mizuno, Russ Tamblyn, Jun Tazaki, Kipp Hamilton

Gaira, a humanoid sea beast spawned from the discarded cells of Frankenstein's monster, attacks the shores of Tokyo. While the Japanese military prepares to take action, Gaira's Gargantua brother, Sanda, descends from the mountains to defend his kin. A battle between good and evil ensues, leaving brothers divided and a city in ruins.

ActionHorrorScience Fiction
12
Son of Godzilla poster

Son of Godzilla

19671h 26m3.6
Director: Jun Fukuda
Cast: Tadao Takashima, Akira Kubo, Bibari Maeda, Akihiko Hirata, Yoshio Tsuchiya

Reporter Goro Maki stumbles upon scientists conducting weather experiments on Sollgel Island in the South Seas. He discovers the island is inhabited by giant mantis and a woman named Saeko who's been cast away since the death of her father. The pair soon find a helpless infant monster that Godzilla must adopt and learn to raise as one of his own.

AdventureFamilyScience Fiction
13
King Kong Escapes poster

King Kong Escapes

19671h 44m3.4
Director: Ishirō Honda
Cast: Akira Takarada, Mie Hama, Rhodes Reason, Linda Miller, Hideyo Amamoto

An adaptation of the Rankin/Bass cartoon, "The King Kong Show". King Kong is brought in by the evil Dr. Who to dig for Element X in a mine when the robot Mechani-Kong is unable to do the task. This leads to the machine and the real Kong engaging in a tremendous battle atop Tokyo Tower.

ActionFantasyHorrorScience Fiction
14
Destroy All Monsters poster

Destroy All Monsters

19681h 29m3.9
Director: Ishirō Honda
Cast: Akira Kubo, Jun Tazaki, Yukiko Kobayashi, Yoshio Tsuchiya, Chōtarō Tōgin

At the turn of the century, all of the Earth's monsters have been rounded up and kept safely on Monsterland. Chaos erupts when a race of she-aliens known as the Kilaaks unleash the monsters across the world.

Science FictionAction
15
All Monsters Attack poster

All Monsters Attack

19691h 10m2.5
Director: Ishirō Honda
Cast: Tomonori Yazaki, Hideyo Amamoto, Sachio Sakai, Kazuo Suzuki, Kenji Sahara

Ichiro Miki is a child living in the industrial district of Kawasaki, where his parents' constant struggle to make ends meet often leaves the schoolboy alone. Constantly teased by a bully nicknamed Gabara, his only friends are toy consultant Shinpei and fellow classmate Sachiko. Ichiro turns to escapist dreams of Monster Island where he befriends the equally bullied Minilla.

FantasyScience FictionFamily
16
Godzilla vs. Hedorah poster

Godzilla vs. Hedorah

19711h 25m3.9
Director: Yoshimitsu Banno
Cast: Akira Yamanouchi, Toshie Kimura, Hiroyuki Kawase, Keiko Mari, Toshio Shiba

An ever evolving alien life-form arrives on a comet from the Dark Gaseous Nebula and proceeds to consume pollution. Spewing mists of sulfuric acid and corrosive sludge, neither humanity nor Godzilla may be able to defeat this toxic menace.

Science FictionActionHorror
17
Godzilla vs. Gigan poster

Godzilla vs. Gigan

19721h 29m3.6
Director: Jun Fukuda
Cast: Hiroshi Ishikawa, Tomoko Umeda, Yuriko Hishimi, Minoru Takashima, Zan Fujita

Manga artist Gengo Odaka lands a job with the World Children's Land amusement park only to become suspicious of the organization when a garbled message is discovered on tapes. As Gengo and his team investigate, Godzilla and Anguirus quickly decipher the message and begin their own plan of action.

ActionAdventureScience Fiction
18
Godzilla vs. Megalon poster

Godzilla vs. Megalon

19731h 22m3.4
Director: Jun Fukuda
Cast: Katsuhiko Sasaki, Yutaka Hayashi, Hiroyuki Kawase, Kanta Mori, Kotaro Tomita

Inventor Goro Ibuki creates a humanoid robot named Jet Jaguar. It is soon seized by an undersea race of people called the Seatopians. Using Jet Jaguar as a guide, the Seatopians send Megalon as vengeance for the nuclear tests that have devastated their society.

ActionAdventureScience FictionFantasy
19
Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla poster

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla

19741h 24m4.1
Director: Jun Fukuda
Cast: Masaaki Daimon, Kazuya Aoyama, Reiko Tajima, Akihiko Hirata, Hiroshi Koizumi

An Okinawan prophecy that foretells the destruction of the Earth is seeming fulfilled when Godzilla emerges to return to his destructive roots. But not all is what it seems after Godzilla breaks his ally Anguirus's jaw. Matters are further complicated when a second Godzilla emerges, revealing the doppelgänger as a mechanical weapon.

ActionAdventureScience Fiction
20
Terror of Mechagodzilla poster

Terror of Mechagodzilla

19751h 23m4
Director: Ishirō Honda
Cast: Katsuhiko Sasaki, Tomoko Ai, Akihiko Hirata, Tadao Nakamaru, Gorō Mutsumi

A submarine expedition to salvage the remains of Mechagodzilla is thwarted by a massive dinosaur named Titanosaurus. An Interpol investigation leads biologist Ichinose to uncover the work of Dr. Mafune and his mysterious daughter Katsura. Aligned with the Black Hole Aliens, Katsura's life becomes entwined with the resurrected machine.

Science FictionActionDrama