Why Gigan is Godzilla's greatest rival

Hi hello me again (if you remember me for some reason, no I’m not returning I just felt like making this cus funny)

Before I begin, I would like to say that this is simply my opinion based on the way I have interpreted the films. Imo King Ghidorah, Gigan and Mechagodzilla can be argued as Godzilla’s best rivals on a thematic level. Me personally, I just think what Gigan embodies when looking at his relationship with Godzilla makes him Godzilla’s strongest rival on a thematic level other than maybe Mothra. While King Ghidorah and Mechagodzilla embody different aspects of Godzilla’s characterisation (Ghidorah is Godzilla’s divine wrath at its worst while Mechagodzilla is Godzilla’s obsessive ego driven to insanity), Gigan is almost a mirror image - almost.

This is why Gigan is Godzilla’s greatest rival, and my favourite character in the entire franchise.

Design

Before I get into the big character analysis thing, I wanna talk about character design. A good character design is incredibly important. Without it, half of a character’s memorability is gone. So how does Gigan hold up? Well, uh, all three of his designs are incredible. They’re not just memorable but also contribute to the thematics of Gigan.

Showa’s design is really good. He actually has quite a lot of similar design traits when compared to Godzilla. They’re both bulky, with leathery/scaly skin, a long neck with rounded heads with small, sharp teeth, with spikes and fins running down their head, back and long tail, with sharp claws. The way these designs go about it are different, sure, but again this difference adds to their parallels (the main difference is how Godzilla’s traits are natural, while Gigan’s are mechanical but we’ll get to that). Even excluding this relation to Godzilla’s design, Gigan himself has an extremely solid character design. Not only is it extremely distinctive but also it tells you a lot about his character. His golden scales are incredibly reminiscent of Ghidorah’s, a character associated with divinity and regality. Along with his fins, bright colour scheme and permanent smile carved into his beak, Gigan’s design displays the massive ego the character possesses. Simply by looking at his bright gold and greens, Gigan’s personality can already be seen. The smile also gives an indication about the type of villain he is, a sadist. Gigan is the most sadistic character in the franchise (besides Skar King, but tbf he’s thematically a Kong villain rather than a Godzilla one) and this smile shows that perfectly.

Final Wars takes the basic idea of Showa Gigan, but completely redefines it. Firstly, he has a new colour scheme, and this time is almost completely cybernetic. Gigan’s design also makes use of one of my favourite villain design tropes, angular shapes. A lot of solid villain designs will make use of extremely angular shapes, and FW Gigan has this in spades. Showa did as well, but the more rounded pot-belly giving him his bulk did somewhat take away from this. FW Gigan, due to his slimmer build, has a full angular design. While he still has all the traits of the original Showa design, his silhouette is completely different, while still keeping true to the nature of the original character. It’s incredibly clever and fun.

Meanwhile, Gigan Miles/Rex have a completely different design philosophy. Rather than mirroring Godzilla like the Showa design did, these designs actually do the complete opposite. Gemstone Godzilla is slimmer than most, with extremely rough skin. Compare this to the Gigans, which have a larger pot-belly than ever and extremely smooth, metallic skin. It’s actually unknown if the Miles or even Rex are truly cyborgs or rather fully mechanical (the Miles are implied to be fully mechanical though). Rex also trades the traditional colours for a red colour scheme. This can be seen as again contrasting Godzilla, who’s associated with the colour blue. While Gigan’s beam has always been red in contrast to Godzilla’s blue, now he’s fully red. Along with this, their beak no longer has the iconic smile of the character, showing the more serious and subdued personality of these variants compared to the original.

Yeah that’s just design, now onto the actual analysis lmao.

The actual analysis (of Showa Gigan)

What makes Gigan such an interesting character is that he acts as a dark reflection of what Godzilla could have been. While the two seem completely unrelated, especially compared to Ghidorah and Mechagodzilla, the two are actually extremely intertwined, especially in the Showa era.

Tell me if what I’m about to say sounds familiar:

A prehistoric animal, some may call or compare to dinosaurs, being fused and combined with modern weaponry and technology, until they themselves are turned into a living weapon. After this, they lay waste to anything and everything that they come across.

Now if that sounds like it’s describing Godzilla, you’d be correct, but it’s also describing Gigan. Sure, some details were left out, but at the end of the day, the two’s origins are intertwined. This similarity in origins is actually extraordinary, as Gigan is the only monster that shares an origin this similar. The next closest would be Rodan or Anguirus but even then, not only are their relationships with Godzilla completely different but in Rodan’s case, him and Godzilla grow and develop alongside each other. Meanwhile, Gigan is sort of the opposite - Godzilla is a mirror image to what Godzilla is, or rather, was.

Think how Godzilla acts in movies from Raids Again to Ghidorah, the Three Headed Monster, especially in the 60s era movies. In these movies before Ghidorah arrives, Godzilla is extremely egotistical and obsessed with destroying humanity. He was extremely violent and aggressive, but also incredibly immature, especially in KKvG and GtTHM. Despite the tragedy of his existence, he was generally awful, acting only for himself and no one else. A self absorbed, almost childish violent monster - exactly like how Gigan acts.

What makes Godzilla and Gigan such an interesting dynamic is how and why they act the way they are. Both are the fusions of nature and technology, creating violent weapons in the forms of monsters (Godzilla as a metaphorical representation of the bomb, Gigan as a literal weapon). However, the difference is growth. Over the course of the Showa era, Godzilla had genuine character development. Yes, he started as violent and immature, but as the Showa era continued, he found people he genuinely cared about, people who he could protect and care for, genuine friendships. Yes, he was a weapon at first, he did become the very weapon that created him, but the difference is that he grew beyond it. Gigan, on the other hand, didn’t grow. He didn’t change for the better, if anything he did the opposite happened, he embraced it. He loved the fact he was a weapon. While Godzilla was aggressive, there was always an air of tragedy to him. Gigan, on the other hand, has no sympathy. Godzilla is aggressive, Gigan is sadistic. While Godzilla was aggressive, originally he’d rather be left alone. Compare this to Gigan, who loves nothing but to slaughter anything and everything. Ghidorah is dignified, Mechagodzilla is composed, Gigan is blood thirsty.

Gigan isn’t just early-Showa era Godzilla, but he’s a twisted version of it. He’s what Godzilla would be if, instead of growing and changing, he accepted and embraced the monster he had become, enjoying nothing more than hearing the screams of his victims. It’s a horrifying concept, and yet, it’s why he always loses. Godzilla’s growth has caused him to have grown completely beyond anything Gigan was capable of. See how they fight in teams. Godzilla, after more than a decade of growth, not only coordinates with his allies, but genuinely cares for them, always making sure to protect them. Compare this to Gigan, who’s notorious for leaving his allies behind if the battle isn’t going his way. Both have power, but Godzilla will always fight, while Gigan will only use his power if he knows he’s won the battle. This also shows how Gigan, in a sense, has the loneliness Godzilla originally did. No matter what allies he has, they wouldn’t be called friends or people he actually cares for. Gigan truly is alone, lacking any true friends. Compare this to Godzilla, who originally was alone, his loneliness playing into his tragedy, but as he grew and developed as a character, he no longer became lonely. He became a friend, a father, someone who cared for everyone. Gigan’s sadism caused him to embrace the weapon he became, but also has become enslaved to this sadism. It’s consumed him, made him a horrible coward no one cares for, but unlike Godzilla, he can never grow beyond this. He’s stuck like this, he can never change, never grow, never become anything other than a pathetic coward. He simply just isn’t capable of growing, his sadism has ultimately become his downfall.

Something that’s also extremely interesting is how Gigan is always controlled. Godzilla is someone who is defined by his mental fortitude. He simply cannot and will not be controlled, he will always persist. Gigan, on the other hand, lacks the agency Godzilla has. Again, despite Gigan’s sheer sadism, he’s mentally far inferior compared to Godzilla, again why Gigan can never change like Godzilla and why Gigan is so cowardly compared to Godzilla. Gigan is not only an inferior version of Godzilla physically but is also mentally inferior compared to Godzilla. Everything about Gigan is an inferior Godzilla, but he can never grow beyond that point because of his inferiority. A sad, pathetic hollow shell of a monster.

Also, what I find interesting is the monster chosen to battle Gigan alongside Godzilla. Keep in mind, they could’ve chosen Rodan or Mothra or even someone like Gorosaurus, but they decided to use Anguirus, the monster that despises the old version of Godzilla until he grew and developed. Just something to think about.

Analysis of Final Wars Gigan

What’s interesting is that Gigan in Final Wars is exactly the same character as the original version. Interestingly, though, he’s not exactly a rival to Godzilla per say, mostly cus of the different character arc Final Wars has (though they still share most of the traits that make them rivals and mirror each other). Instead, interestingly, Gigan actually acts as a rival to Mothra. Now, originally this may seem a bit odd at first but it actually makes a lot of sense. By the time of the 70s, Godzilla had adopted a lot of Mothra’s ideologies. By Vs. Hedorah, he is unquestionably heroic, acting similar to Mothra. Thus, making Gigan a rival to Mothra actually makes a lot of sense, and man it works incredibly well.

Firstly, their designs are amazing contrasts to each other. Mothra is round and fluffy, Gigan is angular and spikey. Mothra has bright whites, yellows and oranges, Gigan has dark and harsh blues and reds. Even compare their eyes. Mothra’s are round, big and bright blue. Meanwhile, Gigan’s is sharp, small and glowing red, in a permanent angry expression. Despite the fact that neither character was designed to rival each other, they work perfectly well as rivals. It’s actually incredible. Their designs aren’t the only thing that mirror each other though, it’s their actual selves. Despite the fact that they’re seemingly randomly paired up together, they bounce off each other incredibly well. This is a battle of arguably the most pure monster in the series vs. the most evil monster in the series, a literal goddess vs. an egotistical nothing who thinks of himself as a god.

It’s not just this though, but in terms of their power. Gigan is arguably stronger than Mothra, eventually in his modified state, and yet, both 12,000 years in the past and in the modern day. Once again, despite Gigan being objectively more powerful, there’s something holding him back; his sadism and powers. Mothra, despite her physical weakness, has possibly the greatest willpower of any kaiju in the series. This is shown during Final Wars, where even after Gigan slices Mothra’s wing off, she continues fighting. If that was Gigan, he’d have given up and retreated immediately. Gigan cannot beat Mothra simply because he lacks the mental fortitude to. This is also shown in how Mothra takes Gigan out, a self sacrifice. Gigan could never even hope to manifest the mental power to even attempt a self sacrifice. In fact, he’ll usually do the opposite and retreat from a battle. This is a literal representation of why Gigan can never beat either Mothra or Godzilla: he’s a pathetic coward.

Many people often say that Gigan Rex is the most “badass” version of the character. If anything, I see him as the opposite. He’s actually an incredibly pathetic character if you really look at what he truly is. He’s exactly in line with someone like the original two versions of Gigan, a pathetic coward who hides behind his sadism, and in this case, control to compensate for his physical and mental weakness. Something interesting about Gigan Rex is that his moveset is something that allows him to be as cowardly as possible. His melee weapons turn into whips, the longest-ranged melee weapon possible, and his buzzsaw, a weapon that required him to get up close, is now replaced with a ranged eye beam. Along with this, as soon as he begins getting beaten by Godzilla, he immediately calls for his Miles army, and when that fails, he kills them all just to make himself stronger. The word Rex means king, and in context, is paralleling Godzilla’s title of king of the monsters. However, this is meant to show how completely and utterly pathetic Gigan is as a king compared to Godzilla, mindlessly slaughtering his subjects rather than uplifting and helping them like a true king, like Godzilla does.

Analysis of Gigan Rex

To conclude this minor yap session, Gigan is the perfect parallel to Godzilla. Unlike Ghidorah or Mechagodzilla, who focus on a certain aspect of Godzilla, Gigan encompasses everything Godzilla used to be and everything he isn’t. It’s incredibly interestingly told and really shows how interesting the characters can be when treated as proper characters. Personally, to me, Gigan is everything the ultimate rival should be, something the hero should strive to never be despite their similarities.

Tell me what you thought of this, and if you agree with this opinion. If you don't, feel free to explain why you disagree and which kaiju you see as more fitting.