ゴジラ-１．０

Godzilla -1.0

Stats & Staff
Release: November 3rd, 2023
Produced by: Minami Ichikawa
Written by: Takashi Yamazaki
Directed by: Takashi Yamazaki & Kiyoko Shibuya
Composed by: Naoki Sato
Runtime: 125 Minutes

Appearances
Monsters: Godzilla (Minus), Gojira

Story
Synopsis: During the Pacific War, zero fighter pilot Koichi Shikishima lands their plane on an outpost on Odo Island after reporting mechanical issues with his plane. The head mechanic, Sosaku Tachibana, finding nothing wrong with the plane, comes to realize that the claim is false, and Koichi is just trying to survive. Corpses of deep sea fish rise to the surface, heralding the arrival of a creature the islanders call "Godzilla," who arrives later that night, killing all personel present aside from Shikishima and Tachibana. Shikishima returns to his parent's home after the war to find the house in shambles amidst the ruins of Tokyo. He meets Noriko and the infant Akiko struggling to survive in the aftermath and the three of them become something of a found family along with their neighbor Sumiko. Struggling to survive in the years after the war, Shikishima eventually finds a government job disposing of mines deployed during the war, which manages to bring in enough money for him to rebuild the house and properly provide for his family. Despite this, the trauma and survivor's guilt he carries from the war continue to haunt Shikishima, and after awakening from a nightmare he reveals to Noriko his encounter with Godzilla. The Godzillasaurus itself, however, is mutated by US atomic testing on Bikini Attol, and begins making a path towards Japan, taking down a series of US battleships on its path. Shikishima's mine disposal crew is ordered to try and stall the monster's advance so that Japan can send the battleship Takao back into action in an attempt to stop it. Shikishima's crew is successful, but the Takao fails to stop Godzilla, who makes landfall in Ginza, where Noriko has recently gotten a job in the newly rebuilt ward. Shikishima heads to Ginza, but in the chaos of Godzilla's attack, it's ultimately Noriko who saves Shikishima when Godzilla unleashes their atomic breath, which is so powerful as to be the equivalent of the third bomb. Noriko is lost in the encounter and presumed dead. Anxious to get revenge, Koichi falls in with a private citizen's attempt to stop Godzilla, which plans to sink the monster with huge freon tanks to crush it with deep see pressure applied extremely quickly, and if that doesn't work, to bring it back up and kill it with the power of decompression. Neither, of course, work. In the end, Shikishima is able to find Tachibana to repair a Shinden plane and use that to fly an explosive payload directly into Godzilla's mouth, which is successful. And, unlike during the war, Tachibana saw fit to include an ejector seat. After the operation against Godzilla, Koichi gets news from Sumiko that Noriko has been found, and is alive, recovering in the hospital. The reunion is only slighly brought down by a strange growth on Noriko's neck.

Theme: Like the last film, Minus One deals heavily with themes related to mental health. It explores them in a new way for a Godzilla movie, and so the angle is a lot different. While Planet Eater spent a lot of its time making a case for suicidal ideation using the stock themes of the Godzilla series as a jumping off point, this film spends more time with the lived experiences of victims, showing us graphic depictions of Shikishima's symptoms and how they affect his life. Also, while Planet Eater ultimately agreed with Haruo's point of view, it did so on the basis of the same case the rest of the film made, but Minus One's much more personal approach frames those same justifications as an obstacle to be overccome. So, in this way, there are times where Minus One feels incredibly nihilistic, but the audience is always aware that there is a reason to fight the trauma and keep living. Curiously, despite the setting of the film, it has very little to say out loud about Imperial Japan or the war in specific. That's not to say it has nothing to say, however, as there are many precision mines laid out in the script that do directly address Imperial Japan's treatment of soldiers and the nature of war in general. It is, after all, a Godzilla movie. For a far more in depth exploration of the film and Godzilla in general and my relationship with them, there's my three hour long The Minus One Video on my youtube channel if you really want to get into the weeds.

English Versions
Godzilla Minus One (June 1st, 2024): Straight English dub produced by Netflix. It's mostly okay, sounds like an anime dub, nothing special but not the worst or anything like that. A few lines are translated in really interesting ways or fully rewritten to have a heavier impact, and those are worth watching for, but the overwhelming majority of the dub is very average. Completely uncut, as usual these days, with EOST and translated 70th Anniversary start card and "G Minus One" end card. Yes, the title card doesn't appear until the very end of the movie. Yes, that does make this the longest cold open in the entire series. Also probably in history.

For rumors and other speculation from before the film released, click here.