The Japanese Are Fat-Shaming the New Godzilla

Many Americans are waiting in anticipation for the May 16 premiere of Godzilla, a Bryan Cranston-starring reboot of the 1954 Japanese horror classic. And the recent string of trailers has only increased excitement.

But in Japan, fans of the original film aren’t exactly thrilled with the look of the new Godzilla. In fact, some fans are down-right annoyed with how fat the monster appears in the American trailer. “When I finally saw it, I was a bit taken aback,” Godzilla fan Fumihiko super-fan Abe told the AFP at a Tokyo exhibition of paintings of the monster. “It’s fat from the neck downwards and massive at the bottom.”

Other fans joked online that the American version of the monster had “done a ‘super-size me,'” calling it “a calorie monster” and “Godzilla Deluxe.” And perhaps the most cutting insult of all, posted to a Japanese forum, read, “He’s so fat, I laughed.”

Luckily for Japanese fans, who will get the opportunity to judge the reboot in theaters in late May, it sounds as if the Hollywood version of Godzilla doesn’t actually feature that much Godzilla, fat or otherwise. Vulture reports that the monster is an “elusive presence” in the film.

[AFP]