All 6 Eras of Godzilla, Ranked

Godzilla has enjoyed multiple reigns since debuting in 1954, growing into a series of nearly 40 films across more than 70 years. There are four official Japanese eras (one still ongoing), an American era that functions like its own run, and a separate set of anime films that are often treated as distinct.

One big outlier is Godzilla (1998), which fits no era and is widely dismissed, though it did lead to an animated series viewed more favorably. Ranked lowest here is the anime trilogy (2017–2018). It opens with a promising prologue in Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters, but then narrows into a human-centered story that squanders a newly massive Godzilla and novel takes on Mechagodzilla and King Ghidorah.

The two follow-ups fail to build on that promise, and the trilogy is treated separately from the Reiwa era for this ranking. The MonsterVerse (2014–) delivered a strong, blockbuster-sized 2014 Godzilla that hit spectacular moments even while often teasing the creature.

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