Godzilla (ゴジラ Gojira) is a 1954 tokusatsu kaiju film directed and co-written (with Takeo Murata) by Ishiro Honda from a story by Shigeru Kayama, with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. Produced by Toho, it is the first installment in the Godzilla series as well as its Showa era. It stars Akira Takarada, Momoko Kochi, Akihiko Hirata, Takashi Shimura, and Fuyuki Murakami.