History YMMV / ShinGodzilla

** The use of a CGI Godzilla in a Japanese film also harkens back to the similarly Toho-produced ''Always: Sunset on Third Street'', in which ''Shin'''s VFX vendor Creator/{{Shirogumi}} recreated the 1954 incarnation of the character for the opening scene. It gets funnier as the director for ''that'' film wound up directing [[Film/GodzillaMinusOne his own Godzilla movie]] seven years later.

** Whether or not the movie needs a sequel has also become a point of content for some fans. Some believe that the movie opens up the possibility of a sequel given its ambiguous ending. Others feel that the movie works so well as a standalone story that a sequel would be entirely pointless.

* OneSceneWonder: The movie has several cameos of Japanese celebrities (including Anno himself), but Western audiences are likely to notice above all Creator/HayaoMiyazaki as a scientist/"useless expert" among the think-tank concerning Godzilla.

** Goro Maki opens up many questions about his true nature, since all we have is secondhand information. It's definitely clear he'd become embittered with humanity, since he obfuscated the solution in his notes on purpose. But to what extent was he involved in the events? The timing feels far too perfect for him to have killed himself without knowing that Godzilla was about to emerge, so did he predict it, or even actively ''cause'' it? This is something speculated on in the film itself, and never shown to us. We also never learn [[NeverFoundTheBody how he killed himself]], which leaves room for all kinds of questions as to whether he simply committed mundane suicide or killed himself in a way that involved Godzilla. [[WasOnceaMan One theory even suggests that he ''is'' Godzilla in some sense--"Who Will Know" certainly works well from his perspective.]]

** The split second the new look was revealed, it split the fan base right down the middle. Some loved it and praised the creepy design giving it the feel of a mutated abomination, while others either felt it was trying too hard to be scary or [[NightmareRetardant failed to be scary]] due to eye design and the jaws going so far back they compared it to the love child of the {{Film/Critters}} and the [[Series/SesameStreet Cookie Monster.]]

* FriendlyFandoms: When they are not acting petty toward each other, [[UltimateShowdownOfUltimateDestiny there are people from both fandoms who just want to see Shin Godzilla and Legendary Godzilla duke it out]], divided between those who think the larger, more destructive Shin Godzilla has the upper hand, and those who favor the tougher, and more experienced Legendary incarnation. There's even [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmMzJbOpU3o a video in Youtube]] with such a fight, and it doesn't let down.

* HePannedItNowHeSucks: More like gave it a mixed review than panned it. Jim and JR of [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCU03keCaesfRWZPYV1FUxXw CHO Japan]] who are well known Godzilla fans and helped promote this film gave it a mixed review. While they never said it was terrible nor bad, they felt the film had a lack of identity for trying to mix the new with the old. Many supporters of Shin Godzilla criticized their review for "not making sense" or being "cringe worthy". Their video review was met with more negative reactions from fans of the film.

** Since Godzilla's reveal from the poster, fanart exploded with him horrifying his allies with his new design, and Shinji Nishikawa seemed to get on with the act, drawing the monster cast from ''Film/DestroyAllMonsters'' as [[http://36.media.tumblr.com/0c8f46136f758c922a1c8b4a62f64765/tumblr_nz9h0r5m3B1uo248ro1_1280.jpg if they were on meth.]]

* ToughActToFollow: In terms of commitment to deconstruction and narrative originality in contrast to the source material, ''Shin Godzilla'' is this compared to later entries ''Film/ShinUltraman'' and ''Film/ShinKamenRider2023''. Despite the more crowd-pleasing tenor of the two films, they were critically received as {{Contested Sequel}}s due to [[ItsTheSameSoItSucks their fidelity to the original story arcs]] (albeit modernized and reworked), as well as the original television story arcs becoming noticeable when translated to a cinematic release.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation:

* AmericansHateTingle: Downplayed, but there. The film is largely considered one of the best films in the entire franchise in Japan (to the point where it won best picture at the Japanese Academy Awards), whereas it got a less enthusiastic (though mostly positive) reaction in some Western countries, excluding in Latin American countries (see {{Woolseyism}} below for the reason)