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| Species: | Infant Godzilla |
| Height: | Showa: 18 Meters Millennium: 20 Meters |
| Weight: | Showa: 3,000 Metric Tons Millennium: 5,000 Metric Tons |
| Appearances: | Son of Godzilla (1955) Destroy All Monsters (1968) All Monsters Attack (1969) Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972) Godzilla: Final Wars (2004) |
Summary
Minilla (Minira) is an infant Godzilla kaiju who first appeared in the 1967 Toho Godzilla film, Son of Godzilla.
An infant member of Godzilla's species, Minilla emitted a distress signal from his egg on Sollgel Island, attracting Godzilla to the island. When Minilla's egg was broken open by three Kamacuras, Godzilla arrived and rescued him. Godzilla went on to raise Minilla as his son and trained him to take up his mantle. Minilla eventually used the knowledge he learned from Godzilla to save his father's life in battle against Kumonga. In Destroy All Monsters, Minilla lived with his father on the human-monitored Monsterland at the end of the 20th century. Minilla was initially nowhere to be seen after the Kilaaks invaded the island and unleashed the monsters across the globe, but later did appear to assist Godzilla and the other Earth monsters in battle against King Ghidorah. In All Monsters Attack, Minilla appeared in the dreams of Ichiro Miki, befriending him and helping him learn to stand up for himself. Minilla also made an appearance in Toho's tokusatsu program Go! Greenman, where he was a creation of the villain Tonchiki and sent to do battle with Greenman. Minilla returned in Godzilla: Final Wars, the final entry of the Millennium series, where he traveled with a young boy and his grandfather to Tokyo so he could reunite with Godzilla. A different version of Godzilla's son, Godzilla Junior, was featured in the Heisei series films in place of Minilla.
Name
Minilla's Japanese name, "Minira," is a combination of mini, meaning small, and Gojira, the Japanese name for Godzilla. Minilla's name was decided upon in a naming campaign created by Toho which had as many as 8,211 applicants, 135 of which suggested the final name. Prior to Minilla's name being chosen, the monster was referred to simply as Child Godzilla (Kodomo Gojira) or Godzilla Junior (Gojira Junia), while he was referred to as Childzilla (Kojira) in the script for Son of Godzilla.[2]
"Minilla" is the character's official trademarked English name, while Minya and Milla are alternate translations used in English dubs. In Son of Godzilla, Minilla is never referred to by name, only called "baby Godzilla" or "Godzilla's son." Minilla is finally referred to by name in the Japanese dialogue for Destroy All Monsters, however in the international English dub he is simply referred to as "the son of Godzilla."
Minilla is given several subtitles throughout various Japanese sources, including Naughty Prince (Wanpaku Purinsu), Son of Godzilla (Gojira no Musuko), and Small Child Monster (Chibikko Kaijū). Additionally, Minilla is referred to as Godzilla the Second (Gojira Nisei) in the Japanese trailer for Son of Godzilla.
The incarnation of Minilla featured in Godzilla: Final Wars is sometimes referred to as Minilla (2nd Generation) (Minira Nidaime) in official books
Design
Minilla resembles a smaller, pudgy version of his father. His snout is slightly upturned and his eyes are larger and placed further forward on his head, giving him a more human-like appearance. He also possesses pronounced brow ridges above his eyes, and a small crest along the top of his head. In the Showa series, his head is slightly elongated, the dorsal fins on his back are small and undeveloped, and he only has three toes, like his father did from 1962 through 1975. Additionally, he lacks the charcoal gray coloration and rugged skin of his father, with his smooth skin instead being a uniform desaturated green-gray. As a newborn, he was more of a tan color. For Destroy All Monsters, the original suit's face was modified slightly. Further modifications to the face were done for All Monsters Attack.
The Godzilla: Final Wars Minilla was designed by Shinji Nishikawa, who created the design to be a more refined version of the original. Minilla's new design for this film retains the core look of the Showa version, though it possesses a few differences. Namely, his body is more of a saturated green that is lighter on the belly and palms, and he has more noticeable dorsal plates, orange claws, prominent brown irises around his pupils, and more spread out teeth. This Minilla also has four toes on his feet instead of three.
Personality
Minilla is notably much more friendly with humans than any of the other monsters featured in the Showa Godzilla films, and demonstrates human-like behaviors and emotions. He is very playful, enjoying games like kicking large boulders and jumping over or riding on his father's tail. He also shook ecstatically after firing an atomic heat ray on his own while his father slept, and he showed childlike disobedience by falling on the ground and refusing to cooperate. While he is usually fearful of other monsters, he occasionally shows courage, although he is often outmatched by other monsters. Minilla's toddler-like waddling gait was a product of the suit's shape, which suit actor Little Man Machan had difficulty walking in.[10]
Minilla's personality in Godzilla: Final Wars was unchanged from the Showa series, as he was very friendly towards humans. He also interceded on behalf of humanity to Godzilla, prompting Godzilla to end his war with the human race.
Origin
Minilla is an infant member of Godzilla's species. In both the Showa and Millennium series, it is never stated if Godzilla is Minilla's biological father or if he simply adopted him. However, the 1998 informational book The Official Godzilla Compendium and Toho's official English-language website both state that Minilla was adopted by Godzilla in Son of Godzilla. In Son of Godzilla, Minilla hatches from an egg on Sollgel Island after it is broken open by the Kamacuras. In Godzilla: Final Wars, Minilla appears near Mount Fuji with no explanation as to his origins.
History
Showa Era
Minilla was an infant member of Godzilla's species inside an egg buried on Sollgel Island. He began emitting a brain wave to call out for Godzilla, which interfered with the scientific equipment of a team of United Nations scientists on the island and caused their weather-controlling experiment to malfunction and trigger a radiation storm. The storm mutated the island's native giant mantises into huge kaiju dubbed Kamacuras, which dug up Minilla's egg and broke it open, intending to eat the hatchling. Fortunately, Godzilla arrived on the island and confronted the Kamacuras, killing two and forcing the third one to retreat. The recently-hatched Minilla came to befriend a human woman living on the island, Saeko Matsumiya, who fed him fruit and gained the ability to summon him with her call. Godzilla decided to raise Minilla as his son and train him to take up his mantle. Godzilla and Minilla took up residence next to a boiling red lake on the island, where Godzilla attempted to teach Minilla how to use his atomic breath. Minilla could only breathe pitiful smoke rings, but Godzilla found that when he stepped on his tail, Minilla fired a full atomic beam. When Saeko was threatened by the surviving Kamacuras, Minilla rushed to her rescue, but could not fight off the Kamacuras. Godzilla soon arrived, and Kamacuras promptly retreated. However, during the struggle Minilla accidentally knocked a boulder into the valley of Kumonga, a giant spider, awakening it.
While his father was asleep, Minilla began to wander the island, only to be ensnared in Kumonga's webbing, along with Kamacuras. Kumonga instantly killed Kamacuras by injecting it with venom, then prepared to do the same to Minilla. Minilla cried out for help, rousing Godzilla from his sleep. Godzilla arrived and attacked Kumonga, but found himself fighting a losing battle against the huge arachnid. Just as Kumonga prepared to move in for the kill, Minilla unleashed his atomic breath at the beast. Godzilla and Minilla then combined their atomic breath and set Kumonga ablaze, seemingly killing it. In the meantime, the U.N. scientists successfully executed their weather experiment, causing a snowstorm to form over the island. Godzilla and Minilla attempted to reach the ocean before Sollgel Island froze over, but Minilla fell in the snow and began to fall asleep. Rather than abandon his son, Godzilla went back and embraced Minilla, falling into hibernation with him.
By the end of the 20th century, Minilla was living with his father and several other kaiju on the human-monitored Monsterland in the Ogasawara Islands. When the Kilaaks assaulted the island and took control of its monster inhabitants, Minilla vanished and was not seen attacking any of Earth's cities. After the crew of the Moonlight SY-3 destroyed the Kilaaks' mind control device on the Moon, Minilla was the first monster to arrive at Mount Fuji to assault the invaders' Earth base. Minilla was joined by his father and the rest of the Earth monsters as they closed in on the aliens' base. However, the Kilaaks unleashed King Ghidorah as their final defensive measure to attack the monsters. Minilla took part in the battle against King Ghidorah alongside Godzilla, Anguirus and Gorosaurus, and managed to deliver the killing blow to the space monster by strangling his last living neck with a smoke ring. With King Ghidorah dead, Minilla stood triumphantly on the fallen kaiju's body and joined in celebrating the victory of Earth's monsters. After Godzilla obliterated the Kilaaks' base, Minilla was returned to Monsterland with the rest of the monsters to live out his days in peace. Minilla was seen standing next to his father as a group of humans observed the island from a helicopter.
When Ichiro Miki dreamed of visiting Monster Island, he found himself chased by a Kamacuras, eventually tripping and falling into a pit. Minilla, having shrunk to human size, lowered a vine into the pit and rescued Ichiro. Minilla told Ichiro how he was often lonely living on the island, with his father spending most of his time fending off the other kaiju. Minilla was also constantly harassed by a monster called Gabara, who liked to bully him. Godzilla would not fight Gabara for Minilla, as he believed Minilla should learn to defend himself. Ichiro helped build Minilla's confidence and the two worked together to spring a trap for Gabara. The trap worked and Minilla successfully beat Gabara. Godzilla arrived to congratulate his son, but the enraged Gabara bit Godzilla, sending him into a furious rage. Godzilla held Minilla back and personally beat Gabara into submission, sending him fleeing into the jungle. Ichiro then awoke from his dream, and using the lessons he had learned from Minilla, was able to escape from two bank robbers who had kidnapped him.
Minilla was living peacefully with his father on Monster Island, which the M Space Hunter Nebula Aliens planned to destroy as part of their invasion of Earth.
Millennium Era
In the year 20XX, Minilla was encountered by the young boy Kenta while he and his grandfather were hunting in the forest near Mount Fuji. Minilla joined the two in their truck, which they used to drive to Mt. Fuji to witness Godzilla's battle with Anguirus, Rodan, and King Caesar. Upon witnessing this battle, Minilla's height sprung up to 20 meters. Minilla then traveled to Tokyo in the aftermath of Godzilla's battle with Keizer Ghidorah. When he arrived, he convinced Godzilla to let go of his hatred of the human race and spare the crew of the Gotengo. Godzilla then returned to the sea with Minilla, who fired a full blast of atomic breath into the sky before departing.
Trivia
- Following the conclusion of Toho's naming campaign for the still unnamed-Minilla prior to the release of Son of Godzilla, where as many as 8,211 applicants had submitted entries,[1] a raffle was conducted and "Minilla" (which had been submitted 135 times) was drawn and ultimately became the monster's final name. The name was publicly revealed in a "naming ceremony" party at the film set with the movie's stars.
- There is a popular fan theory that the Godzilla featured in the films from Godzilla vs. Hedorah through Terror of Mechagodzilla is actually the Showa Minilla, now grown to adulthood. Although officially the 1970's Godzilla is the same incarnation of the character introduced in Godzilla Raids Again, the 2004 informational book Godzilla Dictionary actually acknowledges this theory.
- Minilla, specifically his role from All Monsters Attack, is referenced in GODZILLA: Monster Apocalypse, the official prequel novel to GODZILLA: Planet of the Monsters. In one chapter, the character Alberto Ichiro Santos finds himself in the middle of the Amazon rainforest and meets an indigenous tribal woman named "Mira," who serves as the priestess of Mothra. Together, they spring a trap for the cruel monster Gabara, injuring him and leading him to be eaten alive by crocodiles and piranhas.
