Mothra is a mythical monster, also known as a kaiju, that originally appears in the 1961 film Mothra, which was produced and marketed by Toho Studios. Mothra has featured in a number of Toho tokusatsu films, most notably as a recurrent character in the Godzilla series. She is usually shown as a massive intelligent larva (caterpillar) or imago, accompanied by two little fairies who speak for her. Mothra, unlike other Toho monsters, is mostly heroic, having been depicted as a defender of her own island civilization, the Earth, and Japan. Mothra's design is inspired by silk worms, their imagos, and huge silk moths of the Saturniidae family. While nearing death, the figure is often represented hatching children (in some instances, twins), an homage to the Sasra theory of many Indian faiths.
Mothra is one of Toho's most popular monsters, coming in second only to Godzilla in terms of overall cinematic appearances. Surveys performed in the early 1990s revealed that Mothra was especially popular with women, who were the biggest demographic among Japan's moviegoers at the time, prompting the production of 1992's Godzilla vs. Mothra, which was the best-attended Toho picture since King Kong vs. Godzilla. Mothra was ranked third on IGN's "Top 10 Japanese Movie Monsters" list, and seventh on Complex's "The 15 Most Badass Kaiju Monsters of All Time" list."
