Godzilla (1998 film) however, was not without its supporters. Kevin Thomas of the "Los Angeles Times", wrote that the film was an "expertly designed theme park ride of a movie that packs nonstop thrills." In a slightly positive fashion, Gary Kamiya of Salon commented that "The plot is about as ridiculous as you'd expect, but for the most part its absurdities are tolerable." Joe Leydon of "Variety" contributed mildly to the positive sentiment by saying "Throughout "Godzilla", New York endures the most sustained rainfall in all of movie history. Most of the action takes place at night, but even the daytime scenes unfold
Godzilla (franchise) box office. It was the highest-grossing film franchise in Japan, up until it was surpassed by the anime film series "Doraemon" in 2013. In Japan, Godzilla appeared in five out of 26 episodes of Toho's live-action television program "Zone Fighter" in 1973. Also in Japan, Godzilla (along with a plethora of other kaiju) appeared in an animated toy show called "Godzilla Island" that ran from 1997–1998. Between 1994 and 1996, four 30-minute episode OVA's were created, featuring Godzilla and various other kaiju from the Showa series of movies. The characters were depicted in a cute and friendly 'chibi'-esque anime style.