SPOILER WARNING: This section may contain major plot and/or ending details. Proceed at your own discretion.

Godzilla Minus One^[7], also stylized as Godzilla -1.0 is a Japanese kaiju film directed by Takashi Yamazaki.^[8] It is produced by Toho Studios and distributed by Toho Company Ltd. The film is the thirty-seventh installment in the Godzilla film series and the fifth in the Reiwa era of films. The film had a Japanese theatrical release on November 3rd, 2023, marking it the second installment in the franchise to release on this date, after the original 1954 film.^[9] It was also released in the United States on December 1, 2023.^[2] A special black-and-white version of the film, called Godzilla Minus One/Minus Color (stylized as Godzilla -1.0/C), was released globally for one week only, starting on January 26, 2024.

Plot[]

Kōichi Shikishima is a kamikaze pilot during World War 2. After being instructed to commit suicide with his plane, he pretends that his plane is faulty and lands on Odo Island seeking repair. The workers begin working on the plane, but Sōsaku Tachibana approaches Shikishima and implies that he had landed the plane on purpose. During the night, the soldiers are awoken by a siren. When a light is shone on the beach, it reveals a gigantic dinosaur-like creature referred to by the locals as Godzilla. Godzilla attacks the watchtower and kills the soldier manning it. Shikishima is ordered to fire upon Godzilla with his plane’s guns, but freezes up from fear, leading the other soldiers to be slaughtered after they shoot at it out of fear. Shikishima wakes up the next morning after being knocked unconscious by his plane exploding, and sees Tachibana burying the corpses of the dead. Tachibana blames Shikishima for their deaths, as he did not fire upon the monster.

Shikishima returns to Japan, seeing Tokyo in ruins after an air raid. He sees his neighbour Sumiko Ōta, who berates Shikishima for surviving considering his role as a suicide bomber. Ōta reveals to Shikishima that his parents passed away during the air raid, along with her children. Later, Shikishima is at a marketplace when he hears a shop owner chasing a thief. The thief hands a bundle to Shikishima which he opens, revealing an infant girl. Shikishima finds the thief, a woman named Noriko Ōishi, who talks to him, questioning why Shikishima didn’t simply abandon the child. Shikishima learns that Noriko is not the mother of the child, but took her in at the request of the infant’s dying mother. Shikishima begrudgingly allows her to stay in his home. The next morning, Shikishima leaves his home and encounters Sumiko, who accuses him of trying to act like a saint by taking in Noriko and the baby, who is named Akiko, and claims that she won’t forgive him for not fulfilling his duty. However, she offers her supply of rice to make food for Akiko after learning that Noriko couldn’t breastfeed the baby due to not being her biological mother.

Shikishima and Noriko hit it off and effectively become the surrogate parents of Akiko. To pay for food and clothes, Shikishima gets a job as a minesweeper, clearing the underwater mines leftover from the war. Noriko points out that this is a dangerous job, but Shikishima doesn’t care, saying that he needs the money. He is also plagued by survivor's guilt, and suffers recurring nightmares of Godzilla’s attack on Odo Island. He sees the ship, a seemingly decrepit old wooden fishing boat. The leader of the group, Kenji Noda, tells him this is because certain mines are triggered by metal boats. Noda introduces the other two members of the group; Yōji Akitsu, the captain of the boat, and rookie Shirō Mizushima, nicknamed ’Kid’ due to his age, as well as being the only member of the group who isn’t ex-military.

When the United States began conducting nuclear weapons tests on Bikini Atoll during Operation Crossroads, Godzilla was exposed to the radiation, causing it to mutate. Over the following year, Godzilla begins attacking US ships as it makes its way towards Japan. Due to rising tensions between the US and the Soviet Union, the American government is unable to take action, but warns Japan of the approaching threat. A year later, in 1947, Shikishima has become good friends with his team, and has seemingly mended his relationship with Sumiko, who helps look after Akiko when Shikishima goes to work. Noriko reveals that she is taking a job in Ginza to in order to help make some extra money.

In May of the same year, Shikishima and his team are sent out to impede Godzilla while they wait for the arrival of the heavy cruiser Takao, in the hopes that it will defeat the creature. Seeing Godzilla appear and attack another boat, the crew attempts to flee while Godzilla pursues them. They detonate a mine in an attempt to stop it, but Godzilla is unfazed by the explosion. Their second mine is dropped and is caught in Godzilla’s mouth, but the line ends up getting severed, leaving them unable to detonate it. Shikishima gets the idea to use the boat’s machine gun to fire at the mine and successfully detonate it, destroying Godzilla’s face and incapacitating it. However, Godzilla quickly regenerates, fully healing itself in just a few seconds. The Takao then arrives and begins firing at Godzilla, but its artillery proves ineffective and only serves to aggravate the creature. Godzilla proceeds to attack the Takao before diving underwater. A bright light begins to shine under the ship before a blast of energy rises and destroys the Takao in a massive explosion. After returning to Tokyo, Shikishima suffers a mental breakdown, and reveals the truth to Noriko about his past as a kamikaze pilot and Godzilla’s attack on Odo Island. He questions if he actually died on the island, and everything that has happened since then is just an illusion, but Noriko attempts to comfort him, assuring him that he is still alive.

Several days later, Godzilla makes landfall and begins attacking Ginza. Shikishima hears an alert on the radio talking about the attack, and realizes that Noriko is in danger. Noriko witnesses Godzilla’s attack while riding on the train to work, before Godzilla bites down on the train and begins pulling it into the air. Noriko attempts to hang on, but jumps into the water to avoid being killed as Godzilla continues its rampage, destroying buildings and crushing fleeing civilians underfoot. Shikishima manages to find Noriko, and the two attempt to flee before Godzilla is engaged by Type 4 Chi-To tanks. While the attack is initially thought to be successful, Godzilla quickly emerges unscathed before it begins charging its atomic breath, its dorsal plates beginning to glow blue and extend out of its back and tail. Shikishima comments that it’s the same as when Godzilla attacked the Takao. Godzilla’s dorsal spines retract as it fires its atomic breath at the tanks, which creates a massive explosion that quickly spreads across the city. Shikishima is frozen in place as the explosion closes in, but Noriko manages to push him to safety, but is caught in the blast herself. Shikishima is horrified by the sight of the city being reduced to rubble, and is unable to find Noriko, believing her to be dead. Godzilla roars into the sky before leaving, and Shikishima falls to his knees, screaming in anguish.

Tens of thousands are left dead or injured following Godzilla’s attack, and Shikishima swears to get revenge against the monster. Godzilla is predicted to return within a matter of days, but the government is unwilling to do more to prevent a second attack. Kenji Noda gathers a group of private citizen soldiers to demonstrate his plan to defeat Godzilla; by surrounding it with Freon tanks and rupturing them, they would decrease the water’s buoyancy and rapidly plunge Godzilla to a depth of 1,500 meters, causing it to be crushed by the sudden pressure change. As a backup in case that plan fails, they would use balloons to quickly raise Godzilla back to the surface, killing the creature through explosive decompression. Noda had managed to commandeer four disarmed destroyer ships to enact his plan: the Yukikaze, Hibiki, Yūkaze, and a Matsu-class vessel. Additionally, to lure Godzilla into the trap, Noda acquired a broken-down Kyushu J7W Shinden fighter plane for Shikishima to fly, but needed a mechanic in order to repair it. Shikishima then began looking for Tachibana, believing there was no one better for the job. After several failed attempts to locate Tachibana, Shikishima sends out several letters addressed to him. Some time later, he is attacked and knocked unconscious by an unknown person.

Waking up, Shikishima discovers the person to be Tachibana, who angrily confronts him as to why the letters blamed him for the attack on Odo Island. Shikishima apologizes, explaining he knew Tachibana would want to find him if he made him angry. He tries to convince Tachibana to help him, but he initially refuses, until Shikishima reveals his plan to fly his explosive-laden plane into Godzilla’s mouth, knowing that the creature was more vulnerable on the inside, and claims that the war wasn’t over for either of them yet. Tachibana then agrees to repair the Shinden, outfitting it with the explosives Shikishima had asked for. While going over how to arm the explosives, Shikishima’s hands begin shaking, as he claims a part of him still wants to live. Later, while he is home with Akiko, she shows Shikishima a drawing she made of her, him, and Noriko while she was staying with Sumiko. Soon after, she begins to cry, and Shikishima holds her, claiming he wouldn’t leave her. The next morning, while Akiko was still asleep, Shikishima leaves an envelope with her, containing money and a note for Sumiko asking her to take care of Akiko, before he leaves to begin the operation.

Godzilla eventually resurfaces, having been lured by recordings of its roar, but arrives quicker than expected and briefly makes landfall, destroying a small village. Shikishima arrives soon after and lures Godzilla back to the water, successfully managing to draw it into the trap. Godzilla fires its atomic breath at two of the destroyers, which were unmanned and used as decoys, leaving it unable to use it until it had finished regenerating. The remaining two destroyers are able to wrap Godzilla in the Freon tanks, which are then detonated, causing Godzilla to be rapidly dragged down 1,500 meters underwater and crushed by the water pressure. Godzilla manages to survive, and the backup plan is deployed, inflating the balloons and lifting the creature back to the surface. However, its ascent is suddenly halted at the 800 meter mark, as Godzilla managed to bite through the balloons and free itself. Hibiki and Yukikaze attempt to pull Godzilla up but are unable to do so, lacking the necessary engine power. Shirō Mizushima, who had previously been left behind, arrives with a fleet of tugboats, and their combined strength manages to help successfully pull Godzilla back to the surface.

Heavily wounded and enraged, Godzilla begins charging its atomic breath once more. Shikishima arrives in his plane once again and flies straight at Godzilla’s head, crashing it into the monster’s mouth and causing it to explode. The blast destroys Godzilla’s head, causing the energy of its atomic breath to tear apart its body, causing it to fall apart in the water. Initially believing Shikishima dead, everyone is overjoyed to see him parachuting down from the sky. A brief flashback reveals that Tachibana had shown Shikishima that the Shinden plane had been outfitted with an ejector seat, telling him how to use it and encouraging him to continue living. Returning to land, Shikishima is reunited with Akiko and Sumiko, who gives him a telegram she had received earlier that day. He brings Akiko with him to the hospital where he finds Noriko, injured and suffering from an unknown type of radiation sickness, but alive, having survived the attack on Ginza. She asks him if his war is finally over, to which he nods in reply as he breaks down from joy and embraces her, revealing a marking on her neck in the shape of Godzilla’s dorsal plates.

Meanwhile, a piece of Godzilla’s flesh is seen sinking to the bottom of the ocean, convulsing and expanding as it begins to regenerate.

Staff[]

Staff role on the left, staff member's name on the right.

• Directed by Takashi Yamazaki
• Written by Takashi Yamazaki
• Produced by Minami Ichikawa, Kazuaki Kishida, Keiichirō Moriya, Kenji Yamada
• Music by Naoki Satō
• Cinematography by Kōzō Shibasaki
• Edited by Ryūji Miyajima
• Special effects by Takashi Yamazaki, Kiyoko Shibuya

Cast[]

• Ryunosuke Kamiki as Koichi Shikishima
• Minami Hamabe as Noriko Oishi
• Yuki Yamada as Shiro Mizushima
• Munetaka Aoki as Sosaku Tachibana
• Hidetaka Yoshioka as Kenji Noda
• Sakura Ando as Sumiko Ota
• Kuranosuke Sasaki as Yoji Akitsu
• Mio Tanaka as Tatsuo Hotta
• Yuya Endo as Tadayuki Saito
• Kisuke Iida as Akio Itagaki
• Sae Nagatani as Akiko

Development[]

2022[]

At Godzilla Fest 2022, Toho announced the film on November 3, 2022, exactly a year before the release of the movie. A teaser image was released with the announcement.^[9]

2023[]

In May 2023, social media accounts were set up for the film. On July 11, 2023, the film's Twitter account released a short teaser hinting at the film's title.^[10] A teaser trailer and teaser poster were subsequently released later that day, along with the unveiling of its title, Godzilla Minus One.^[7][2]

GODZILLA MINUS ONE Official Teaser

Teaser trailer

The following day, Toho unveiled the full design for Godzilla in a tie-in merchandise promotion.^[11]

On September 4, 2023, the full film trailer was released.

GODZILLA MINUS ONE Official Trailer

Official trailer

Trivia[]

• Yamazaki previously directed Always: Sunset on Third Street 2, which featured a cameo by Godzilla designed by Yamazaki himself.
• In preparation for the official reveal, the film's Twitter account highlighted every live-action Japanese Godzilla film from June 12 to July 11, counting from the currently-recent film (Shin Godzilla) to the original 1954 Godzilla film. This would lead up to Godzilla Minus One after reaching thirty days.
• Godzilla Minus One is the first ever film in the Godzilla franchise to receive an Oscar nomination, and the first to win one.

References[]