Destoroyah

Destoroyah (Japanese: デストロイア, Hepburn: Desutoroia, lit. 'Destroyer') is a crustacean kaiju who first appeared in Toho's 1995 film Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, as its titular main antagonist.

Destoroyah
Godzilla film series character
Destoroyah in its Perfect Form, as featured in Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995).
First appearanceGodzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)
Created byTakao Okawara
Kazuki Ōmori
Portrayed byRyo Hariya
Eiichi Yanagida
DesignerMinoru Yoshida
In-universe information
SpeciesMutated crustacean

Overview

Destoroyah originated as a colony of microscopic Precambrian crustaceans that had been awakened and mutated by chemical reactions in Tokyo Bay when the Oxygen Destroyer was detonated to kill the original Godzilla in 1954. In 1995, the Destoroyahs are released from the rock strata that held them as a consequence of the construction of the Tokyo Bay Aqua Line. They eventually grow into man-sized creatures which repel a JSDF assault. The Destoroyahs later combine into a flying form which fights Godzilla Junior. Destoroyah is defeated, but then morphs into an even larger form that is significantly larger than Godzilla and towers over Junior. The creature proceeds to kill Godzilla Junior and faces Godzilla in Haneda Airport, but is finally killed through the combined efforts of Godzilla and the army.[1]

Development
Early "Barubaroi" concept art

In conceptualizing Godzilla's final adversary, screenwriter Kazuki Ōmori initially proposed having the Heisei Godzilla battle the ghost of the original 1954 Godzilla.[2] Instead, the filmmakers settled on a new monster that was a by-product of the Oxygen Destroyer.[3] The character was initially going to be named "Barubaroi", though this was rejected on account of it sounding too similar to Berber, and thus could have been considered offensive.[4] The Barubaroi designs were more chimeric, in the style of the creature from The Thing, than the finalized Destoroyah look, though they shared Destoroyah's trait of surpassing Godzilla in height.[5]

All of Destoroyah's forms were designed by Minoru Yoshida, who'd been instructed to make the creature a crustacean. His design for Destoroyah's final form was given to illustrator Noriyoshi Ohrai, who incorporated it into the movie poster. Ohrai's depiction was later used as the basis for the 3D model used in constructing the creature's suit.[6]

Composer Akira Ifukube had initially wanted to give each of Destoroyah's forms their own motif, though he subsequently chose to give them all the same theme. He chose not to use the Oxygen Destroyer theme from the original 1954 film, as he felt that the theme expressed the tragedy of the weapon's creator, and thus was inappropriate for a monster.[7]

Reception

Miles Imhoff of Toho Kingdom called Destoroyah "perhaps the most heartless and cruel of any kaiju to ever exist." He said "the props and suit look amazing, and are really an excellent choice for Godzilla's final Heisei foe. The reddish hues, the jagged features, and the demonic appearance of the many forms of Destoroyah are handled nicely. In fact, its wild and deadly features, coupled with its personality and several stages, can easily be seen as a loose remake of Hedorah. Destoroyah's many forms are portrayed as vicious, but it is the final form that is shown to be truly cold. The portrayal of its ruthless murder of Junior is a form of cruelty truly unseen since the vicious tooth-and-claw battles of the latter Showa entries, and it is this one act that best sums up the character Destoroyah as a whole."[8] Complex listed the character as No. 3 on its "The 15 Most Badass Kaiju Monsters of All Time" list.[9] Godzilla historian Steve Ryfle called Destoroyah a "nearly immobile Predator-meets-SpaceGodzilla clone", stating the character is "more laughable than menacing, and should be placed alongside Megalon and Gigan in the back rooms of the Toho monster gallery."[10] Destoroyah was one of the inspirations behind the name of Japanese heavy metal band Destroya.[11]

Appearances

Films

Television

Video games

Literature

References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Destoroyah.
  1. Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995). Directed by Takao Okawara. Toho
  2. Ryfle 1998, p. 313.
  3. Ryfle 1998, p. 307.
  4. 東宝特撮映画大全集 ["Toho special effects movie Complete Works"], Village Books, 2012, pp. 248-251. ISBN 9784864910132
  5. Kawakita, Koichi (2012). 平成ゴジラパーフェク [Heisei Godzilla Perfection] (in Japanese). Dengeki Hobby Books. ISBN 978-4048861199.
  6. David Milner, "Koichi Kawakita Interview II", Kaiju Conversation (December 1995)
  7. David Milner, "Akira Ifukube Interview III" Archived 2016-10-06 at the Wayback Machine, Kaiju Conversations (December 1995)
  8. Miles Imhoff, "Review: Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995)", Toho Kingdom (April 16, 2005)
  9. Josh Robertson, "The 15 Most Badass Kaiju Monsters of All Time", Complex (May 18, 2014)
  10. Ryfle 1998, p. 309.
  11. "DESTROSE Mina隊長 登場！". HMV Japan (in Japanese). December 14, 2010. Retrieved May 31, 2020.

Sources
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