So, I was watching one of the Super Robot Wars Y trailers1, when this happened:

I am not a Godzilla/Gojira2 fan.

But, wow - that reveal made me want to give the franchise a try again.

The Godzilla series has always been one of those things that I’ve wanted to try and get into - but the MonsterVerse movies haven’t really appealed to me, and it’s been kinda hard where I live to find any of the Toho3 Gojira movies which had a premise that grabbed me while still being a good entry point.4

Also, I usually prefer my giant monsters/kaiju stories to feature a hero (or heroes) fighting off the kaiju - like the Ultra Series, the Gridman series (both the original tokusatu series and the more recent Studio Trigger anime entries), or Pacific Rim.

So, unfortunately, the majority of Godzilla’s entries being about rampaging monsters destroying things and fighting each other rarely appealed to me.

(I know that it’s more complicated than that, but going into it would make this article too long - sorry, Godzilla fans! 😅)

So, imagine my surprise when I found out about Godzilla Minus One.

Being released between 2021’s Godzilla vs. Kong and 2024’s Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, this 2023 Godzilla film that was NOT in the MonsterVerse received very little marketing here - so much so that I didn’t even know it existed until earlier this year!

So I looked into the movie, and there was just something about Godzilla Minus One’s revisiting of the franchise’s roots that spoke to me and made me want to give it a watch - something about that original concept of a Japan which is just climbing out of World War II having to then also deal with the atomic bomb analogy that is Godzilla/Gojira made me really interested in the movie.

So I gave it a try…

And I LOVED it!

The movie follows Shikishima Koichi closely, as he returns home a failed kamikaze pilot after World War II. Already plagued by survivor’s guilt, he is dealt another blow when he finds out that his parents were killed in the bombing of his hometown.

By chance, Shikishima meets a woman who is caring for an orphaned child, and the three of them come together as a makeshift family of sorts to support each other as they, and the rest of Japan, recovers from a devastating war.

However, unbeknownst to them, Godzilla approaches - threatening to plunge the recovering country and its people into further devastation…

The movie felt very human to me, and it took me on an emotional roller coaster of despair, then hope, then GODZILLA!

I was really engaged with Shikishima and the rest of the characters’ stories, and that closeness to these characters’ lives made the story hit that much harder more for me when Godzilla finally showed up.

And the analogy of Godzilla being the atomic bomb, the reason that this movie intrigued me so much, was made VERY frightening and dreadful - which is exactly as it should be!

I do have two critiques - but they are minor nitpicks, so I’ll just leave them in a footnote.5

I love this movie a lot, and while I’m still not a Godzilla fan, I am definitely a Godzilla Minus One fan!

I highly recommend this movie - if any of what I’ve said has piqued your interest, please give it a watch!

As for me, I can’t wait to revisit this movie in its black-and-white version that’s been so-cleverly titled Godzilla Minus One/Minus Color 😆, and I am super excited for the recently announced sequel - Godzilla Minus Zero!

Oh, and to bring it all back to a full circle - after watching what Godzilla did in Minus One, I cannot wait to kick its butt with an army of giant mechs in Super Robot Wars Y!

And now, I leave you with… the Godzilla March! 😱

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