A human drama in the postwar world

Since this film is directed by Takashi Yamazaki, a top-runner in making VFX films in Japan, about Godzilla, a global brand and a milestone in special effects movies, you would expect a monster action film (that is what I thought before watching the film). (That’s what I thought before I saw the movie.)

However, this film focuses on a human drama directed by Takashi Yamazaki, famous for “ALWAYS: Sunset on Third Street.

The main character, Shikishima (played by Ryunosuke Kamiki), escaped from a suicide mission because of his strong desire to live during the Second World War. Even after the war ended, the ghosts of those who died during the war appeared in his dreams, and he was unable to realize that he was still alive. Noriko (played by Minami Hamabe) and Akiko come to live with Shikishima by chance. Shikishima finds temporary comfort in his pseudo-family but is overcome with despair when Godzilla lands in Tokyo, and Noriko is lost.

He turns his despair into anger and tries to fight Gojira in exchange for his life. This action is not to live but to die. The people he meets after the war urge him to live.

This film is centered on the human drama of Shikishima’s struggle to live and his time with his friends and neighbors. Sumiko (played by Sakura Ando) and Akitsu (played by Ryunosuke Sasaki) bring out the best in this 

Godzilla is the most fearsome Godzilla series to date.

The Godzilla series since 2010 includes the Monsterverse series that started in 2014 and Shin Godzilla. Of these, this one is the best subject that genuinely strikes fear and despair into the hearts of humanity!

The Monsterverse series was a monster wrestling and dark hero feel, a movie that enjoys rampaging through the city on an overwhelming scale. Shin Godzilla, directed by Anno, which will be compared to Godzilla-1.0, is a film that focuses on how we as a nation face and deal with the colossal disaster that is Godzilla.

Godzilla in this film is genuinely terrifying. The horror and despair of confronting a colossal monster that is not a disaster. I thought of giant sharks Jones and Megalodon as what the author envisioned as only giant monsters. The words “giant, terrifying monster” might be close enough. However, Godzilla in this film is entirely different. It has a strong symbolism as a monster of fear and despair. That’s how realistic it is. That’s how real it is.

In particular, the sea chase scene between the wooden ship Shinsei Maru and Godzilla and the subsequent sinking of the heavy cruiser Takao by radiation is robust and one of the best scenes in this film.

And let’s remember Godzilla’s radiant heat rays. This time, the radiating heat rays are directed from the tail to the tail fin on the back, and the closest to this is Godzilla King of Monsters of the Monsterverse.
However, the sense of despair and the weight of the air before the radiation and the way it conveys the destructive power are the best in this film.

For better or worse, it has the feel of the world in the 1940s

This film, Godzilla-1.0, is a thoroughly realistic recreation of Japan immediately after the war’s end. This work is the director Yamazaki’s commitment to this film. I believe this is because, after all, he used VFX to create Showa-era townscapes and wartime Japanese fighter planes and battleships, such as in “Always: Sunset on Third Street,” “The Eternal Zero,” and “Archimedes’ War.

However, as for the characters, there were not a few people and situations with stereotypical 1940s values. This movie is natural because the worldview of this film is the 1940s, and it is only natural to reproduce the Showa era world. However, there were some questionable depictions of women, especially in the way they were portrayed in the film, which made me wonder if this film would be shown now to a 2025 audience.