Lost in Translation 471 – Godzilla Minus One (2023)

Godzilla is a foce of nature. While not the first daikaiju, or giant monster, he became king with his debut in the 1954 Godzilla. The original film was as much a warning about atomic energy and atomic warfare. It takes a weapon of unbelievable destruction, the Oxygen Destroyer, to stop Godzilla’s rampage, with the designer killing himself to prevent the world from discovering how to duplicate the weapon.

The movie, itself inspired by King King, spawned a new genre in Japanese cinema, leading to Mothra (1961), Gamera, the Giant Monster (1965), and even Pacific Black (2013). Godzilla remained king, facing such opponents as Rodan, Mothra, MechaGodzilla, and King Ghidorah over a number of movies. There have even been two American adaptations, one in 1998 that wasn’t well received and another in 2014 that made up for everything that went wrong in ’98.

To celebrate the 70th anniversary of Godzilla’s first appearance, Toho released Godzilla Minus One. The films stars Kamiki Ryunosuko as Shikishima Koichi, Hamabe Minami as Oishi Noriko, Yoshioka Hidetaka as Noda Kenji, Sasaki Kuranosuke as Akitsu Seijo, Munetaka Aoki as Tachibana Sosaku, and Ando Sakura as Ota Sumiko. The film is essentially an origin story for Godzilla, showing how the daikaiju became the King of Monsters.

Godzilla Minus One starts late in 1945, with Koichi, a kamikaze pilot, landing on a makeshift landing strip on Odo Island to have the garrison repair his damaged Zero. The lead mechanic, Tachibana, figures out that Koichi fled from battle, but doesn’t bring it up. That night, a monster of local legend, Godzilla, attacks. Tachibana tells Koichi to use the 20mm cannons on the Zero to shoot the monster, but the pilot panics and freezes. Only Koichi and Tachibana survive the assault.

After the war, Koichi returns to his home in Tokyo only to find bombed out rubble where the house once stood. His neighbour, Sumiko, tells him that his parents died during the bombings. As Koichi processes the news, a young woman, Noriko, runs by, passing him a baby as she is pursued by the authorities. He returns the baby, Akiko, to Noriko later and finds out that, like him, she had lost her parents in the bombings, too.

In 1946, the nuclear weapon tests happen at Bikini Atoll. Beneath the sea, unseen by the Americans, Godzilla awakens, changed from the radiation. His rampage begins, destroying American warships. Tensions between the US and the Soviet Union prevent the Americans from sending aid to Japan, whose miliary has been pared back in post-war agreements. To prevent panic, the Japanese government sits on the information.

In the meantime, in order to earn money to feed his found family, Koichi gets a job on board a decommissioned, wooden minesweeper tasked with removing mines from shipping channels. Working under Captain Akitsu and with Noda, Koichi shows that he knows how to fire the main gun to destroy mines cut loose by the minesweeper. In 1947, the minesweeper is sent to the Ogasawara Islands. The mission, one to be kept secret, is to delay Godzilla to buy time for the heavy cruiser Takao to arrive. Godzilla destroys a fellow minesweeper before Koichi has his crew place a mine so that it enters the daikaiju‘s mouth. Koichi detonates the mine, stopping Godzilla, but the monster regenerates. The Takao arrives in time to distract Godzilla, firing its main weapons. Godzilla uses its heat ray, destroying the cruiser outright.

Using the destruction of the Takao as a destruction to escape, the minesweeper returns to Tokyo. Godzilla arrives days later, rampaging through Ginza, where Noriko has been hired as office staff. Ginza survived the bombings during the war mostly intact. Godzilla marches through the district, destroying buildings and sending mobs of people fleeing. Noriko is unaware of the destruction being on a train heading home. A destroyed train flies overhead and blocks hers from continung. Godzilla picks up her train, breaking it apart and sending her into the harbour. Koichi catches up with her and tries to find a way out, but Godzilla unleashes his heat ray. Koichi survives thanks to an alleyway but there’s no sign of Noriko.

Noda, a former naval engineer, works out a plan to destroy Godzilla. Avoiding the Japanese government, he calls in war veterans. His plan is to take four decommissioned destroyers, unarmed, to use freon gas to create air bubbles around Godzilla to sink him in the deepest trench available. To ensure destruction if the sudden pressure change doesn’t work, the backup plan is to quickly inflate balloons to bring the monster back up. To get Godzilla into position, Koichi will fly a prototype Shinden bomber/interceptor to lure the monster into chasing him. Koichi has his own plan, though; a kamekaze-style attack with bombs hidden in the airplane’s fuselage.

The original Godzilla was a warning about nuclear war, with Godzilla being the uncontrolled result. Godzilla Minus One explores what it meant to be a veteran of Word War II in Japan. It calls out the actions of the Japanese government of the time, when the country had to rebuild while still figuring out what to do with the veterans. For some, like Koichi, the war never ended for them. For others, despite not being in the military, like Noriko, they still suffered during the war. Koichi obviously has PTSD, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, when he lands on Odo Island. His encounter with Godzilla just makes things worse, leaving him wondering if the events of the movie would have happened if he had been able to shoot his Zero’s guns.

Godzilla Minus One establishes the Godzilla that appears in the 1954 film and everything that follows. Originally a legend on an island, the daikaiju became a credible threat to Japan and its defanged military. Yet, military might didn’t work.and hasn’t worked in any of the Godzilla films, not even MechaGodzilla.

The cast is strong, conveying the sense of lost in the post-war era. There’s a hint of hope from the survivors even as they deal with the grief and rebuilding the destruction. Koichi embodies PTSD and survivor’s guilt, carrying around photos of the men who died on Oda Island. Noriko, in contrast, is able to move on, mainly because without her, Akiko has no one to raise her.

There are callbacks to the original Godzilla. The “Godzilla March“, first used in the 1954 film and in the movies following, makes a return with full orchestration. Godzilla’s roar is spot on. Godzilla Minus One takes the effort to get details set up, to lead into the earlier movies.

Godzilla Minus One is a big budget Godzilla film, keeping with the original’s design and behaviour and keeping with themes about the dangers of war. Godzilla is shown becoming a force of nature, one that is almost unstoppable. At the same time, the conflict is at a human level, a journey of atonement. Godzilla Minus One is a good entrance to the Godzilla mythos, laying out the daikaiju in a way that a new audience can follow while giving the existing audience a new look at the seventy year old.