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SPOILER WARNING: This section may contain major plot and/or ending details. Proceed at your own discretion. |
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Godzilla (ゴジラ Gojira?), also referred to as Goshira (古史羅 Koshira?), is a reptilian-like kaiju in the Singular Point continuity and the fourth incarnation of Godzilla in the Reiwa era.
A mythical beast whose existence was prophesized to bring about a global cataclysm when the seas were stained with red, Godzilla made his first appearance in the episode "Tigerish". From there, Godzilla rapidly developed through four different forms, beginning with Godzilla Aquatilis (ゴジラ・アクアティリス Gojira Akuatirisu?), Godzilla Amphibia (ゴジラ・アンフィビア Gojira Anfibia?), Godzilla Terrestris (ゴジラ・テレストリス Gojira Teresutorisu?), and finally Godzilla Ultima (ゴジラ・ウルティマ Gojira Urutima?).[1]
He debuted in the 2021 Netflix-exclusive animated series, Godzilla Singular Point.
Name[]
The name "Godzilla" is a transliteration of Gojira (ゴジラ), a combination of two Japanese words: gorira (ゴリラ), meaning gorilla, and kujira (クジラ), meaning whale.
An ancient depiction of the folklore creature Gojira spells his name in kanji as 古史羅, incorporating the word koshi (古史), which is Japanese for "ancient history." This spelling differs from that used for Godzilla in the 1954 film and Shin Godzilla, which was written 呉爾羅 but pronounced the same. Because 古史 is typically pronounced koshi rather than goji in modern Japanese, Mei Kamino and Yun Arikawa both misread the name as "Koshira."
Japanese fans have dubbed it GyuraGoji (ギュラゴジ GyuraGoji?), derived from Singular Point, particularly "Singular" (シンギュラ Shingyura?).
Godzilla Aquatilis and Godzilla Amphibia were first revealed on the official Bandai Monster Series figures.[2][3] Godzilla Aquatilis was previously listed as "???" on the official website, before it was unveiled on May 6, 2021, prior to the airing of "Enfatico".[4] His surname is derived from the Latin word aquatilis, meaning "aquatic".
Godzilla Amphibia is the name of the class of aquatic vertebrate organisms that is derived from the Greek word amphíbion, meaning "both kinds of life".
Godzilla Terrestris is derived from the Latin word terrestris meaning "terrestrial".
Godzilla Ultima is derived from the Latin word ultimus, meaning "last". This could be alluding to this phase of Godzilla being the fourth and highest point form of his evolution.
Design[]
Appearance[]
Godzilla's appearance changes multiple times througout the anime, though each form retains consistent traits, such as the ridged smooth underbelly, multiple rows of teeth within his mouth, a narrow tongue, three tubes at the back of his throat, an extremely long tail, and maple leaf-shaped dorsal plates, with red, vein-like structures running through them.
His first form, Godzilla Aquatilis, has an elongated, marine reptile physiology, with traits similarities to whales and mosasaurs such as Mosasaurus and Tylosaurus, as well as the kaiju Titanosaurus. He has red-violet scales and orange tail fins, while his back has orange stripes and its underside has pale yellow ridged plating. He has large dorsal spines that run to his tail; the spines vary from jagged with vein-like structures to curved and conical as they go along. The creature also has four large webbed flipper-like legs with large claws.
Godzilla Amphibia strongly resembles Varan when crossed with Godzilla. In this form, his tail now has three barbs instead of a splayed fin, while his hind legs are smaller than his forelegs. His feet are flat and spread apart. His head strongly resembles Varan's while a row of Godzilla-esque dorsal fins are carried over from his Aquatilis form, though are framed with Varan-esque spikes on the neck and tail. Like Varan, his quadrupedal and plantigrade body mirrors the structure found in terrestrial reptiles such as iguanas, tuataras, and monitor lizards. Similarly, his back is covered in a knobby scaled carapace, with these scales also running along his limbs, with his underbelly being smoothly textured.
Godzilla Terrestris begins to resemble a traditional Godzilla with the features of Gorosaurus. He has teal skin with a yellow underbelly, an elongated face with a large lower jaw and eyes set very forward on his skull close to the snout. Starting from this state, he becomes bipedal and adopts a more grounded, theropod-like stance, hunched forward, rather than standing directly upright. He has traits of theropods such as Allosaurus and Carcharodontosaurus.
As his fourth and primary form, Godzilla Ultima harkens back to the early Showa era[5], featuring a more monstrous version of his Terrestris form; a deep, charcoal coloration, and white dorsal plates. The design also features an array of jagged teeth. The creature also has multiple, osteoderm-like structures on his neck and forearms, similar to those found on crocodilians.
Roar[]
Godzilla Aquatilis briefly utilizes Toho King Kong's roars.
Godzilla Amphibia utilizes Varan's roars, which are themselves a Rodan screech mixed with altered 1954 Godzilla roars.
After evolving into Godzilla Terrestris, he uses the 1984 Godzilla's roar, occasionally mixed with Millennium-era roars.
The roars of Godzilla Ultima, just like Godzilla Terrestris, are a combination of those used by Godzilla in the early Heisei series and the Millennium series, sometimes mixed with his roars from the Showa series. He used a Showa roar when firing his atomic breath rings.
Each form also shares a pair of unique growling sounds.
The atomic breath sound effect from Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack was used when Godzilla Ultima decapitated a Manda with his atomic breath.
Personality[]
Godzilla, like most incarnations, appears to be animalistic, yet quite ominous and menacing. Although not much is understood about his nature and intentions, Yun Arikawa and Goro Otaki theorize that Godzilla is like all creatures trying to survive, taking note of his actions of terraforming his environment as establishing a nesting ground, and comparing his aggressive behavior to predators filling a specific niche.
Additionally, in his Aquatilis form, he had a drive to hunt other kaiju in order to grow and evolve, where Godzilla was invested in pursuing the school of Manda and followed the humans that were tracking the school at a cautionary distance, only exposing himself from the waters when it was obstructed by the ships that were in its way of pursuit.
In his following forms, Godzilla's previous focus seems to settle down, as he mostly continues forward without going after other kaiju. However, this comes to the point he ignores everything else entirely and incurring excessive damage to the landscape as he goes, becoming highly destructive as a result. His apparent indifference, alongside his hazardous size and power, portrays this Godzilla as a passive destroyer whose presence alone begets disaster, as his advances spread more of the Red Dust; Godzilla seemingly disregarding the changes made to the surrounding environment, nor how this started attracting the attention of other kaiju that were eager to challenge him.
Godzilla also shows some signs of intelligence, as once he was bombarded with missiles and harming it, Godzilla used his own blood to catch the next missile and safely smother its detonation; from there on out, he formed a blood barrier to protect himself from ongoing warheads.
As he evolved further, Godzilla demonstrates the capacity to become aggressive toward any creature he encounters. Initially, the shifts in temperament occur when he is provoked by an enemy kaiju or physically assaulted, and at this will release power to devastate everything around him, notably the only time when he drops his apathetic behavior. Whether this nature is for self-defense or natural competition for dominance is unclear; although this suggests Godzilla does not deem anything worth destroying as long as they do not interfere with him. In the case of the Rodans seen with him, the flock flew next to Godzilla without the monster paying attention to them, suggesting a neutral relationship, though it is possible that this was due to him not recognizing the Rodans at first, as he did not seem to notice the Rodans that were incapacitated by the first wave of Red Dust he released. The only exception was when he cast a hostile gaze of the giant Rodan that charged at him, and struck it down.
Later into his evolution, however, this violent temperament becomes much more prevalent, as Godzilla starts to assert himself over humans and kaiju alike, killing those that not only contend with him, but so much as happen to be in his range. This was supported by him killing the same Rodan flock that flew by him earlier while trying to destroy at Yun and Jet Jaguar at the same time, without hesitation. He was also set on annihilating a defenseless Yun with an atomic blast as soon as the beast saw him, behaving in a way not unlike an aggressively territorial animal.
Origins[]
Little is known about the nature of this Godzilla and where he came from, but it is assumed that Godzilla has been around for several centuries as he is seen in many legends and myths, suggesting he has interacted with humanity before at various stages of his life.
The earliest case of the ancient creature occurred in the Boso Peninsula in Chiba Prefecture, as a massive sea monster called "Gojira" is depicted in an ukiyo-e mural of Nigashio City that was destined to bring the end of the world when the seas were stained red. Once more, in the 1950s, Godzilla appeared and destroyed the fishing village in Misakioku, but his existence disappeared from the minds of the people still recovering from the tragedy of the second World War. Michiyuki Ashihara, one of the scientists of the village, sealed his corpse in a facility underneath Misakioku where he discovered his bones started to emit a mysterious radio signal. Following his death, Misakioku carried out his will for the next fifty years, keeping the fossilized skeleton secretly beneath Misakioku headquarters and monitored the signal it emitted.
His third manifestation first appeared in 2030 as the marine-dwelling Godzilla Aquatilis. This Godzilla could generate and control the mysterious Red Dust. Furthermore, he had the ability to rewrite its DNA and manipulate evolution, from which he generated more red dust over the course of his evolution, from his aquatic stage to higher stages. With the ability to produce and control Archetype to reshape everything around him, Godzilla himself was a Singular Point of the material that enabled his manifestations across time.
History[]
Godzilla Singular Point[]
Tigerish[]
In the year 2030, Godzilla Aquatilis was first discovered by the crew of a submarine 900 meters beneath the sea. Godzilla Aquatilis was detected moving swiftly on the radar stalking the crew slowly. An operator onboard confirmed that the creature was screeching at the sub, and soon began approaching it rapidly.
Enfatico[]
Godzilla Aquatilis, while hunting a swarm of Manda, encountered a JMSDF blockade. The monster leapt over the ships and continued after the Manda.
Omniarch[]
Godzilla Aquatilis made landfall in Tokyo, engaging in a brief struggle with one of the Manda. After killing it, he took on a second, transitional form better suited to terrestrial environments.
Graftage[]
Godzilla Amphibia engaged in a brief battle against the military. As soon as the tanks stopped firing, Godzilla released a flammable vapor freezing the area of where he breathed. When a tank shell hit Godzilla's face, the blast was absorbed into a vapor causing it to explode and create a giant mushroom cloud reaching a height of 500 meters. Godzilla was burnt, but created a shell of his second form and began evolving once more inside of it.
Erumpent[]
The JSDF bombed Godzilla in his cocoon-like state. The shell started to fall apart as a new form of Godzilla emerged: Godzilla Terrestris. As Godzilla made his way throughout the city, again spreading massive amounts of red dust, he vomited blood. Two more JSDF bombs managed to injure him, spilling massive amounts of blood. As the third closed in, massive tentacles emerged from the wound, enveloped the missile, and smothered the explosion. The wound rapidly healed. Now aggravated, Godzilla's dorsal fins flashed blue as a blue halo of energy appeared in front of his mouth. As it dissipated, Godzilla generated a titanic plume of red dust.
Encipher[]
Godzilla Terrestris continued his rampage throughout Tokyo when he was briefly intercepted by a large, black Rodan, which he instantly shot down with an atomic breath ring. That night, the JSDF ordered an bombing run which briefly brought the kaiju down, only for him to evolve once more into Godzilla Ultima and get back on his feet. JSDF tanks began to fire at the kaiju but only succeeded in enraging him. He destroyed them with his atomic breath, then used it to cleave through several buildings.
Relaunch[]
Godzilla Ultima was fighting off a Manda before ultimately killing it with his atomic breath. After defeating the Manda, Godzilla and the Rodans continue their journey through Tokyo.
Explorer[]
Godzilla Ultima remained in the same spot he was before and had not moved all day, but he did form a large mass of red dust around himself that grew over 100 meters.
Together[]
Jet Jaguar and Yun Arikawa arrived in the heart of Godzilla's storm in preparation for destroying him with an Orthogonal Diagonalizer. The two found themselves between a flock of Rodan, but however Jet Jaguar manages to defeat a huge number of the flock. As the Rodans struggle to eliminate Jet Jaguar, they sense Godzilla's presence and call out to him for help. However, Godzilla, who had grown bigger in the area, was no longer tolerant of anything near him and attacks them along with Jet Jaguar, forcing Jet Jaguar and Yun to crash-land on his back. The duo end up falling off and became separated after being attacked by insect-like kaiju, the fall attracting Godzilla's attention. Godzilla prepared to blast Yun with his atomic breath, but Jet Jaguar, having received a code from Pelops II which allowed it to grow to massive size from the O.D., fought Godzilla until he begins blasting the robot with his atomic breath. As Jet Jaguar becomes weakened by the blast, it released one last code that caused Godzilla to disappear and Jet Jaguar explodes, turning the Archetype into blue crystals.
Abilities[]
Atomic breath[]
Both Godzilla Terrestris and Godzilla Ultima have the ability to fire his signature atomic breath. Instead of a ray, Godzilla Terrestris's atomic breath takes the form of a large blue ring of nuclear energy which forms in front of his mouth. It proved powerful enough to knock a large black Rodan out of the sky, seemingly killing it. When Godzilla Ultima's charges his more focused atomic breath, seven rings of various sizes form in front of his mouth before firing it as a condensed blue-violet beam of ionized radiation that destroyed a column of JSDF tanks and cleaved straight through multiple buildings, and was potent enough to leave large areas of buildings destroyed and engulfed in flames. The atomic breath is also strong enough to slice straight through a Manda with ease. After Godzilla's growth spurt to a staggering 100 meters, his atomic breath increased considerably in power, with it slicing a building in half in mere seconds and blasting a hole straight through a supersized Jet Jaguar's face, and killed him. Godzilla's dorsal spines glow, flickering from neck-to-tail, unlike most other Godzilla incarnations, whose spines operate the other way around.
Amphibiousness[]
Godzilla Aquatilis is an adept swimmer, able to traverse the sea at speeds of at least 50 knots but can reach speeds of 80 knots, while Godzilla Amphibia, Terrestris, and Ultima are all able to travel on land.
Durability[]
Godzilla Amphibia has shown a great amount of resistance to Type 16 maneuver combat vehicle gunfire, not even being fazed by being struck in the face and other parts of its body. Godzilla Terrestris has an ability similar to Anguirus but one difference of, only reducing the damage against powerful weapons, seeing him bleeding a bit with the impact of the missiles. Godzilla Ultima was not affected by the tanks firing at him but he was temporally injured when a Manda bit him in the neck, causing him to bleed before he killed the Manda with a blast of his atomic breath. But note this was before Godzilla Ultima grew to 100 meters.
Pressure resistance[]
In addition to Godzilla Aquatilis' high maneuverability, he is able to withstand significant underwater pressure, stalking a submarine at depths of 900 meters.
Evolution[]
Godzilla Aquatilis was able to assume a second, amphibious form after making landfall in Japan. Shortly after, Godzilla Amphibia formed a cocoon around himself before taking on his Terrestris form. He evolved into Godzilla Ultima during an attack by the JSDF. This form soon grew to over 100 meters tall while idling near Tokyo Station.
Archetype production[]
In all of his forms, Godzilla expels large amounts of Archetype from his skin in the form of red dust, creating a dense cloud around him. Godzilla Terrestris expelled an even larger plume after generating a blue halo of energy in front of his mouth.
Immortality[]
Godzilla is a Singular Point, and is in control of the Red Dust Archetype. While Godzilla can be killed and die from other factors, he will always manifest itself again after his death with improved control over the Red Dust as he comes to understand our reality better. However, it is not known how long the revival process takes, with his last incarnation dying 50 years prior to the series before remerging.
Flammable ice vapor[]
Godzilla Amphibia can breath a flammable vapor that has a temperature of -20 degrees Celsius. If ignited, the vapor creates a massive explosion about 500 meters tall. Following the explosion, Godzilla freezes in place, his skin becoming charcoal black in color. It is stated in the same chapter that this is just a temporary effect, like a chrysalis, in order to protect himself.
Blood tentacles[]
Godzilla Terrestris was able to extend the blood from his wounds into tentacle-like formations that were able to catch a bomb out of the air and smother its explosion.
Extendable arms[]
Godzilla Terrestris can extend his arms to make them become twice their normal size.
Regeneration[]
After retracting his blood tentacles into his body, Godzilla Terrestris rapidly healed from the injuries caused by the two JSDF bombs. Godzilla Ultima's regeneration is much faster, as it immediately regenerated after a Manda was killed.
Terraforming[]
Godzilla's Archetype is able to create bizarre plant-life over a period of time. This plant life is able to distort dimensions such as space. He can also alter local wildlife.
Strength and combat[]
In his Godzilla Aquatilis state, Godzilla was able to kill a Manda by biting and eating the creature.
Video Games[]
Godzilla Battle Line[]
Godzilla Terrestris
Godzilla Ultima's default appearance
Godzilla Ultima appears as a selectable unit in Godzilla Battle Line. He is a 2 stage evolution unit. He starts off in his Godzilla Terrestris form, firing his Atomic Ring attack and having health regeneration for a few seconds after he is placed. When he evolves, he becomes Godzilla Ultima, giving his a long ranged atomic breath and more health.
As a leader, his special ability deals damage and lowers energy cost of the current event piece by 1.
Trivia[]
- This Godzilla shares several similarities with a Reiwa era counterpart, the Godzilla of the Shin Godzilla continuity.
- Both Godzillas are initially aquatic creatures.
- Both Godzillas evolve into new forms based on their circumstances, with their fourth form being the 'traditional' Godzilla.
- Both Godzillas possess atomic breath abilities strong enough to slice through buildings.
- An unfinished sequence from Shin Godzilla would have had Godzilla's third form vomiting blood after evolving from its second form. Godzilla Terrestris also vomits blood after evolving from its second form.
- The method of which Godzilla Ultima fires his atomic breath straight up into the sky after dispatching a swarm of Rodan in episode 13, is a reference to the "call to arms" ray Godzilla fired in Godzilla: King of the Monsters.
- Although he first appeared in the tenth episode, the announcement of Godzilla Ultima came prior to his evolutionary forms' debut in the anime,[1] and was depicted separately from them on the official website,[4] likely to keep his connection to his other forms a secret.
- Before his true identity was revealed, Godzilla's Aquatilis form was believed to be a redesigned version of Titanosaurus, due to their designs and colors being fairly similar. This led to similar cases with Godzilla Amphibia being thought to be Varan and Godzilla Terrestris being Gorosaurus.
- The way he terraforms Tokyo with the red mist is very similar to how Godzilla Earth terraformed Earth.
- Additionally, both Ultima and Earth have been compared to the Beast of Revelation; Yukie Kanoko compares the prophecy of Goshira to similar verses from the Book of Revelations during a discussion with Mei Kamino; the president of the United States explicitly calls Godzilla Earth the Beast of Revelation on live television before going insane and killing himself.
- Godzilla Ultima's initial size of 45 meters made him the smallest incarnation of Godzilla to date. However in the 13th episode he is at 100 meters in height. The same height as the Heisei Godzilla and Final Wars Godzilla
List of appearances[]
- Tigerish (Aquatilis debut / cameo)
- Enfatico
- Omniarch (Amphibia debut)
- Graftage
- Erumpent (Terrestris debut)
- Encipher (Ultima debut)
- Relaunch
- Explorer (cameo)
- Together (defeat / final appearance)
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 ゴジラS.P「ムービーモンスターシリーズ ゴジラウルティマ」「ムービーモンスターシリーズ ジェット・ジャガー」が3月6日発売！. LadyEve (March 1, 2021).
- ↑ ムービーモンスターシリーズ ゴジラアクアティリス-ゴジラS.P-. Bandai.
- ↑ ムービーモンスターシリーズ ゴジラテレストリス-ゴジラS.P-. Bandai.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 怪獣. Godzilla Singular Point. Archived from the original on April 27, 2021. Retrieved on April 4, 2021.
- ↑ Sakai, Yasuna (February 12, 2021). 春アニメ「ゴジラ S.P」山森英司描き下ろし、本編登場"ゴジラ"のデザイン画が公開！. Anime Anime. Retrieved on February 12, 2021.
