History Film / ShinGodzilla

** Godzilla's metamorphic, adaptational development draws influence from [[Film/GodzillaVsHedorah Hedorah]] and [[Film/GodzillaVsDestoroyah Destoroyah]]. His evolution from a simple dinosaur-like beast to a truly imposing mutated {{Kaiju}} also recalls his {{origin story}} shown in ''Film/GodzillaVsKingGhidorah'', where he was shown to have evolved from a simple dinosaur known as "Godzillasaurus" after being exposed to nuclear fallout.

* ButNotTooForeign: Kayoco Anne Patterson (Satomi Ishihara), the American envoy to Japan, is half-Japanese. Her loyalty primarily lies to the American government, even if she's facilitating things like searching for Goro Maki's research or as a go-between for the Japanese and American governments, and is more blunt and casual than the other Japanese characters--even asking Yaguchi if they can talk [[{{Keigo}} without honorifics or politeness, as she's unused to the levels of politeness common with Japan]]--but reasserts she won't let the Americans nuke her grandparents' country ''again'', and is one of the reasons why the United Nations stalls their nuclear strike.

The film enjoyed immense success in Japan, winning several awards and dominating the box office. However, despite that, [[http://www.godzilla-movies.com/news/toho-plans-godzilla-cinematic-universe-after-2020-no-shin-godzilla-2 it has been confirmed that there won't be a sequel]], though a 4D ride crossing over with ''Franchise/NeonGenesisEvangelion'', ''Ride/GodzillaVsEvangelionTheReal4D'', was created as a temporary attraction at [[Ride/UniversalStudios Universal Studios Japan]]; And ''Godzilla Intercept Operation'', a zipline attraction in the form of a life-size model of Shin Godzilla's head and neck opened at Nijigen no Mori park on Awaji Island in October 2020.

* LuckyTranslation: The "god" meaning of "Gojira" for this version of Godzilla translates easily to English, since "God" is already part of its name.

* AmericaSavesTheDay: {{Downplayed|trope}} [[Administrivia/TropesAreFlexible from a Japanese perspective]]. Even as it becomes clear Godzilla poses a threat to the entire Earth, any attempts spearheaded by countries outside Japan fail and make things worse. The US (who accidentally created Godzilla and covered up its existence until it attacked) are the only one able to injure Godzilla, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero but this just makes it much more destructive]]. The UN then decide to resort to nuclear weapons, which would destroy more than Godzilla had and has the obvious potential to go very, ''very'' wrong, making the rest of the film a RaceAgainstTheClock. Ultimately the best solution comes from the Japanese-led task force made to deal with Godzilla in the first place, but they end up needing a ''lot'' of support from outside countries.[[labelnote:In total]]Germany provides computers to analyze Godzilla's DNA faster, numerous world experts join Yaguchi's task force to get the coagulant to work despite Godzilla's BizarreAlienBiology, France uses their pull at the UN to delay the nuclear bombing by one critical day, Shanghai provides trucks for the coagulant, and the US both assists with pre-operation recon and fields [=UAVs=] to waste Godzilla's energy and distract him while some Marines work with the JSDF in the suicide mission.[[/labelnote]]

* AdaptationalVillainy: Zigzagged. After decades of being portrayed as more of an AntiHero, this film does a great job in reminding the audience that Godzilla is at its core a rampaging monster who kills millions of people and destroys cities. On the other hand, he is not shown to be outright malicious during the first half of the film where seems mostly content with walking a straight line through Japan and the destruction he causes is entirely collateral from his one-route way though of course this is still enough to make him a high-priority threat, it's not until he's attacked and wounded outright by American B-52 bombers that he begins to purposefully destroy things and mostly as retaliation for being hurt.

* AdaptationalVillainy: After decades of being portrayed as more of an AntiHero, this film does a great job in reminding the audience that Godzilla is at its core a rampaging monster who kills millions of people and destroys cities.

** The Americans dropping bunk-busters on Godzilla only gave him the ability to use his iconic BreathWeapon, which he used to decimate entire cities instantly.

* NotSoStoic: Every character so far, save Hiromi Ogashira, lost their nerves when the US deciding to use a nuclear bomb on Godzilla. If you know your history class, you know exactly [[UsefulNotes/AtomicBombingsOfHiroshimaAndNagasaki why]] [[labelnote:Note]]This includes the nuclear accident in 1954 when the US tested a hydrogen bomb in the US when a fishing boat called the ''Daigo Fukuryū Maru'' was accidentally caught in its explosive burst, and lead the creation of ''Film/Godzilla1954'' in real life[[/labelnote]].

''Shin Godzilla'' (''シン・ゴジラ Shin-Gojira''), also known as ''Godzilla Resurgence'' in some territories, is a 2016 {{kaiju}} {{tokusatsu}} film. It's the 31st entry in the ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' franchise, the 29th Godzilla film produced by Creator/{{Toho}}, the first ''Godzilla'' movie produced in Japan since ''Film/GodzillaFinalWars'' in 2004, and the first in the ''Reiwa'' series. Announced in December 2014 as a ContinuityReboot made in response to the [[Film/{{Godzilla 2014}} 2014 American Godzilla movie]], it was released on July 29, 2016. In March 2015, it was announced that Creator/HideakiAnno of ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' fame and Creator/ShinjiHiguchi of the Heisei ''Film/{{Gamera}}'' trilogy would be co-directing, with Anno writing the script and Higuchi in charge of special effects. The music was directed by Shiro Sagisu, also of ''Evangelion'' fame. Visual effect duties are handed off to Creator/{{Shirogumi}}, the studio behind ''Anime/StandByMeDoraemon''.

See also ''Film/ShinUltraman'' and ''Film/ShinKamenRider2023'', similar film reboots of classic tokusatsu franchises by Anno and Higuchi -- which, when combined with ''Shin Godzilla'', form the ''Franchise/ShinJapanHeroesUniverse''. ''Shin Ultraman'' is written by Anno and directed by Higuchi, while ''Shin Kamen Rider'' is written and directed by Anno.

* AdaptationalVillainy: After decades of being portrayed as more of an AntiHero, this film does a great job in reminding the audience that Godzilla is indeed a rampaging monster who kills millions of people and destroys cities.

* ArcWords: "Do what you will", the DyingMessage of Goro Maki found in the beginning of the film. [[spoiler:Maki, hating the usage of nuclear technology, left behind the notes and data that, if properly interpreted and used, had the potential to neutralize Godzilla. Come the end of the film, humanity's only options left for stopping Godzilla were between Yaguchi's coagulant and nuking it, a prospect considered ''horrifying'' by many characters due to Japan's history with atomic weapons. Thus, Maki's words take on a whole new meaning.]]

** The English subtitles state that Godzilla is "evolving". Evolution is a multigenerational process, and what Godzilla is doing is technically mutating at that point in the movie. However, at the end of the movie, [[spoiler:the humanoid growths on its tail do constitute a sort of "evolution" in rough terms, as they're Godzilla's progeny.]]
* ArtisticLicenseChemistry: Operation Yashiori was a plan to pump Godzilla full of a coagulant in order to cool Godzilla down. It's also stated that Godzilla's blood is a cooling mechanism for his radioactive heart. If Godzilla is a walking nuclear reactor, and his blood is the cooling mechanism, then using a coagulant to stop Godzilla's blood from cooling Godzilla would result in Godzilla overheating, not freezing. Granted, that was the point: since they also knew that Godzilla could adapt to any situation that could bring it harm, they were counting on Godzilla's body to respond to his blood failing to cool his overheating reactor by shutting down in response.

* BreatherEpisode: Despite being [[DarkerAndEdgier the bleakest]] ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' film since [[Film/Godzilla1954 the original]], the film serves as a palette cleanser to both Hideaki Anno and Creator/StudioKhara after the former’s CreatorBreakdown while making the even darker ''[[Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion EVANGELION:3.0 YOU CAN (NOT) REDO.]]''.

* BreatherEpisode: Despite being [[DarkerAndEdgier the bleakest]] ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' film since [[Film/Godzilla1954 the original]], the film serves as a palette cleanser to both Hideaki Anno and Creator/StudioKhara after the former’s CreativeBreakdown while making the even darker ''[[Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion EVANGELION:3.0 YOU CAN (NOT) REDO.]]''.

* BodyHorror: This film uniquely depicts Godzilla as a horrifically deformed mutant. He has a very emaciated frame with patches of exposed blood-red flesh and tumors over his body, small, shriveled, vestigial-looking arms, and a second ''head'' growing out of his tail. The film ends on the image of [[spoiler:several skeletal humanoid-looking Godzilla creatures petrified while emerging from the tip of the frozen Godzilla's tail]], and a close examination of the prop for the tail shows that it contains a huge, disturbingly human-looking jaw and ''eye''.
* BreathWeapon: Godzilla, of course, has his Atomic Breath, but it doesn't use it until it's injured by the MOP bombs, and it starts out very differently. At first, Godzilla bends over until it's facing the ground and jets out [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shingojifirstbreath.png a thick cloud of dark grayish-purple smoke]]. The smoke then ignites, [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shingojisecondbreath.png acting like a flamethrower]] and incinerating several square miles of Tokyo at once. Finally, Godzilla [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shingojithirdbreath.png focuses the flame jet into a narrow, bright purple beam]] that's capable of slicing through anything in its path. After emitting this beam for a while, it returns to the flame jet and then shuts it off completely before going dormant. Later on, Godzilla goes straight to the purple beam, but it [[spoiler:steadily loses the ability as his internal reactor starts shutting down]]. The different forms of the atomic breath are possibly a reference to the different presentations of it, with the older Showa films depicting it as a stream of fire while the later films, such as ''Film/GodzillaFinalWars'', depict it as a long-range beam.

''Shin Godzilla'' (''Shin-Gojira'' in Japan), also known as ''Godzilla Resurgence'' in some territories, is a 2016 {{kaiju}} {{tokusatsu}} film. It's the 31st entry in the ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' franchise, the 29th Godzilla film produced by Creator/{{Toho}}, the first ''Godzilla'' movie produced in Japan since ''Film/GodzillaFinalWars'' in 2004, and the first in the ''Reiwa'' series. Announced in December 2014 as a ContinuityReboot made in response to the [[Film/{{Godzilla 2014}} 2014 American Godzilla movie]], it was released on July 29, 2016. In March 2015, it was announced that Creator/HideakiAnno of ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' fame and Creator/ShinjiHiguchi of the Heisei ''Film/{{Gamera}}'' trilogy would be co-directing, with Anno writing the script and Higuchi in charge of special effects. The music was directed by Shiro Sagisu, also of ''Evangelion'' fame. Visual effect duties are handed off to Creator/{{Shirogumi}}, the studio behind ''Anime/StandByMeDoraemon''.

See also ''Film/ShinUltraman'' and ''Film/ShinKamenRider2023'', similar film reboots of classic tokusatsu franchises by Anno and Higuchi -- which, when combined with ''Shin Godzilla'', form the ''Franchise/ShinSeries''. ''Shin Ultraman'' is written by Anno and directed by Higuchi, while ''Shin Kamen Rider'' is written and directed by Anno.

* CrusadingWidower: Goro Maki's tragedy. He TookALevelInCynic, seeing the only way to prove was point was to [[spoiler:awaken or ''merge'' with Godzilla]].

* NuclearNasty: Godzilla was empowered by nuclear waste instead of nuclear weapons in this continuity.

* BodyHorror: This film uniquely depicts Godzilla as a horrifically deformed mutant. He has a very emaciated frame with patches of exposed blood-red flesh and tumors over his body, small, shriveled, vestigial-looking arms, and a second ''head'' growing out of his tail. The film also ends on the image of [[spoiler:several skeletal humanoid-looking Godzilla creatures petrified while emerging from the tip of the frozen Godzilla's tail]].

* HollywoodEvolution: Godzilla's AdaptiveAbility is often called "evolving", even though evolution only describes changes in a species as a whole and thus couldn't apply to a SingleSpecimenSpecies. If anything Godzilla's evolution is similar to a ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}''. Bizarrely, one scientist points out that lifeforms normally evolve through generational change, but the term continues to be used regardless.

* MainliningTheMonster: The Americans discovered Godzilla long before he hit land, but kept this secret to be the first to benefit from researching its BizarreAlienBiology (including a new element formed inside its body). [[spoiler:As Godzilla is left frozen but intact, many are hoping such discoveries could help fund the reconstruction of Tokyo.]]

** This depends on interpretation of the statement. The "eight times the genetic information" is mentioned in context of analyzing Godzilla's genome, where amount of genetic information is clearly important. However, the "ultimate lifeform" is mentioned in the next sentence, but in the context of its ability to mutate. Thus, it is likely that amount of genetic information has no relation to its status as ultimate lifeform.

* AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever: Toho made clear their intentions to one-up Legendary's incarnation of Godzilla, stating that their version will be ''[[UpToEleven even bigger]]'' (specifically, it will be 118.5 meters tall, 10 meters taller than Legendary's incarnation and 18.5 meters taller than Toho's previous biggest Godzilla).

When the Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line mysteriously floods and collapses, Japan's Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary, Rando Yaguchi (Hiroki Hasegawa), is convinced that the incident was caused by a living creature, but his claims are shrugged off by Prime Minister Seiji Okouchi (Ren Osugi), who assumes the accident was caused by a natural disaster... but when a long massive tail surfaces from the Bay, the possibility of a [[{{Kaiju}} giant monster]] becomes a reality.

* GenreDeconstruction: The "giant monster" film genre (including the ''Godzilla'' series) is full of scientists that are renowned and know perfectly well what is going on (or at the very least they are renowned but because of the single crackpot theory -- that, obviously, involves the monster -- they were treated by the community as TheWormGuy up until they were needed). In this film the renowned scientists the Japanese government consults at the very first sign of Godzilla are as much of a HeadInTheSandManagement as everybody else, and refuse to risk their reputations by making any kind of theories. The Prime Minister, in a very justifiable rage after such a snafu of a meeting, orders his subordinates to find ''anybody'' who can provide ideas to deal with the monster. Making this worse is that the one scientist with the most in-depth knowledge of Godzilla and his anatomy is long dead by the start of the movie from implied suicide, thanks to the ridicule and censorship of his work by the government, and the death of his wife from radiation poisoning nobody cared to deal with.

* HopeSpot: Hooray, the military actually got a good hit on Godzilla! Everything should start getting better, [[TemptingFate right]]? [[spoiler:Cue Godzilla unleashing its atomic breath, destroying much of Tokyo's skyline in an instant...and the spine beams taking ''every bomber and fighter that had been sent'' '''and''' most of Japan's government officials.]]

* ItOnlyWorksOnce: One of Godzilla’s most terrifying abilities is his adaptive biology, from growing into new forms repeatedly, to developing new abilities to counter tactics used against it. Prior to the bombs the Americans dropped on it, Godzilla hardly reacts to anything the military throws at him. After the Americans bomb him, he utilizes his atomic beam, first through his mouth, then through his spines, while also developing a biological radar to detect incoming attacks. What’s more, after this development, even while Godzilla is hibernating, he becomes much more cautious, refusing to allow any airborne object to approach him, even if it’s something as harmless as a drone. When the military launches Operation Yashiori, Godzilla uses his spine beams to shoot down anything and everything coming at him, even though it’s clear that nothing that’s being fired at him is on the level of the first bombs the Americans dropped. After being hurt once, Godzilla stops taking any chances.

* KillItWithFire: Careful study of Godzilla reveals that he's essentially a living atomic reactor and one of the most feasible (and in the loosest sense of the term, safest) ways of neutralizing him is to overload his capacity to channel energy, burning him out. Unfortunately, given how ineffective conventional bombardments have been on him (a massive aerial raid just puts him into brief stasis to cool himself off), the only weapons capable of forcing him into critical mass are [[spoiler:nuclear warheads; an option despised by the Japanese for obvious reasons and attractive to the other countries of the world because at the rate Godzilla is mutating, he may soon be capable of flight, making him an international menace.]]

** The first thing the Prime Minister does is meet with three elderly paleontology and biology experts in suits and glasses. Unlike [[Film/Godzilla1954 Drs. Yamane]], [[Film/KingKongVsGodzilla Shigezawa]], or [[Film/TheReturnOfGodzilla Hayashida]], they're absolutely useless, instead spouting off common-sense platitudes that waste the prime minister's time and angers him.

** [[spoiler:Due to the politicians convincing the Prime Minister to evacuate during said attack, he and his cabinet ended up getting killed when Godzilla's Atomic Breath blasted their helicopter.]]

* SequelHook: The film ends with [[spoiler: several frozen humanoid Godzillas emerging from Godzilla's tail, meaning as soon as Godzilla thaws,so will those things]].

* SuitWithVestedInterests: About 90% of the [=PM=]'s cabinet function as this, as it's composed of stuffy bureacrats and career-driven company men who are unjustifiably skeptical and out of their element when dealing with the mass disaster of Godzilla's presence.

** Yasuda initially scoffs at Ogashira's hypothesis of Godzilla running on nuclear fission, only to spook the research team office with a flabbergasted screaming fit when it turns out she's right.

When the Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line mysteriously floods and collapses, Japan's Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary, Rando Yaguchi (Hiroki Hasegawa), is convinced that the incident was caused by a living creature, but his claims are shrugged off by Prime Minister Seiji Okochi (Ren Osugi), who assumes the accident was caused by a natural disaster... but when a long massive tail surfaces from the Bay, the possibility of a [[{{Kaiju}} giant monster]] becomes a reality.

When the Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line mysteriously floods and collapses, Japan's Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary, Rando Yaguchi (Hiroki Hasegawa), is convinced that the incident was caused by a living creature, but his claims are shrugged off by the Prime Minister, who assumes the accident was caused by a natural disaster... but when a long massive tail surfaces from the Bay, the possibility of a [[{{Kaiju}} giant monster]] becomes a reality.

* ArtisticLicenseChemistry: Operation Yashiori was a plan to pump Godzilla full of a coagulant in order to cool Godzilla down. It's also stated that Godzilla's blood is a cooling mechanism for his radioactive heart. If Godzilla is a walking nuclear reactor, and his blood is the cooling mechanism, then using a coagulant to stop Godzilla's blood from cooling Godzilla would result in Godzilla overheating, not freezing.