| 1 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/godzilla_minus_one_xlg.jpg]] |
| 2 | [[caption-width-right:350:[[AC:[[{{Tagline}} Survive and Fight]]]]]] |
| 3 | |
| 4 | ->''Post-war, Japan had lost everything.\ |
| 5 | From "zero," to "minus."'' |
| 6 | -->-- Text from the reveal trailer |
| 7 | |
| 8 | ''Godzilla Minus One'' (''ゴジラ−１.０ Gojira Mainasu Wan'') is a 2023 {{Kaiju}} [[{{Toku}} Tokusatsu]] film. It's the 37th film in the ''{{Franchise/Godzilla}}'' franchise, the 33rd produced by Creator/{{Toho}} and the fifth in the Reiwa series after ''Film/ShinGodzilla'' and the Creator/GenUrobuchi anime Trilogy.[[note]]''Anime/GodzillaPlanetOfTheMonsters'', ''Anime/GodzillaCityOnTheEdgeOfBattle'', and ''Anime/GodzillaThePlanetEater''[[/note]] Formally announced on November 3rd 2022, the movie released in Japan on November 3rd 2023, and in North America on December 1st 2023. The movie is directed and written by Takashi Yamazaki (''Anime/LupinIIITheFirst'', ''Anime/StandByMeDoraemon'', ''Anime/DragonQuestYourStory''), who previously depicted Godzilla in a cameo role in ''Always: Sunset on Third Street 2'', and later in the attraction ''Godzilla the Ride: Giant Monsters Ultimate Battle''. ''Minus One'' stars Ryunosuke Kamiki as Koichi Shikishima, Creator/MinamiHamabe as Noriko Oishi, Yuki Yamada as Shiro Mizushima, Munetaka Aoki as Sosaku Tachibana, Hidetaka Yoshioka as Kenji Noda, Sakura Ando as Sumiko Ota, and Kuranosuke Sasaki as Yoji Akitsu. |
| 9 | |
| 10 | [[WorldWarII/TheAftermath After the end]] of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, Japan's economic structure had practically collapsed, reducing the nation to a "zero state". However, things quickly go FromBadToWorse as Godzilla comes ashore to the war-torn country in 1947, threatening to plunge the country into the negative state by "minus one". Can the Japanese survive the rampage of this vengeful monster, let alone resist against it? |
| 11 | |
| 12 | An AlternateMonochromeVersion of the film, called ''Godzilla Minus One/C'' (''ゴジラ−１.０／C'')[[note]]Pronounced as ''Godzilla Minus One Minus Color''[[/note]], was released on January 12, 2024. This version of the film got a short release in the US on January 26th, 2024 for one week before the movie left theaters in the region altogether reportedly to make way for the then-upcoming ''Film/GodzillaXKongTheNewEmpire'' per contractual requirements between Toho and Creator/LegendaryPictures. |
| 13 | |
| 14 | Having won the MediaNotes/AcademyAward for Best Visual Effects in 2024, the film has the distinction of being Creator/{{Toho}}'s first ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' film to win an Oscar. |
| 15 | |
| 16 | Promotional materials: [[https://godzilla-movie2023.toho.co.jp Official Japanese Website]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlceGpbGgvE First Teaser Trailer]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBm3MJlunPM Second Teaser Trailer]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7DqccP1Q_4 Official Trailer]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvSrHIX5a-0 Official Trailer 2]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPIKfDGmNaM Final Trailer]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PShgB-ielBI Godzilla Minus One/C (Japanese version)]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4nR1BI_33Y&ab_channel=GODZILLAOFFICIALbyTOHO Godzilla Minus One/C (English)]] |
| 17 | |
| 18 | ---- |
| 19 | !!''Godzilla Minus One'' contains examples of: |
| 20 | |
| 21 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 22 | |
| 23 | [[folder:A-B]] |
| 24 | |
| 25 | * AdaptationalEarlyAppearance: In this continuity, Godzilla emerges much earlier than most previous incarnations, first appearing at the Odo Island garrison in 1945 and then later at Tokyo again in 1947, instead of 1954. Also, he's shown attacking Odo Island ''before'' he's mutated by nuclear testing, rather than the other way around, as it was in the original film. His mutation is caused by Operation Crossroads, a 1946 atomic bomb nuclear test, to justify his early appearance, instead of the Castle Bravo hydrogen bomb which was heavily implied to have mutated the original Godzilla in 1954. |
| 26 | * AdaptationalMundanity: |
| 27 | ** In the original film, when Godzilla arrives on Odo Island, he dredges up with him the fresh body of a trilobite, a prehistoric arthropod that died out hundreds of millions of years ago, evidence that Godzilla originated from a LostWorld beneath the sea. Here, he just dredges up nondescript deep-sea fish, which merely shows that Godzilla normally slumbers very deep in the ocean. |
| 28 | ** In the original film, one of Japan's last-ditch attempts to stop Godzilla from reaching Tokyo was the construction of a giant electric fence around the coast, something which seems rather implausible to have been built in the few days it would take Godzilla to get from Tokyo Bay to the shore. This film changes it to a chain of explosive buoys running along the mouth of the bay, something that could easily be deployed in a short time frame (given the amount of marine explosives Japan had already deployed for World War II). |
| 29 | ** [[spoiler:Rather than using a FantasticNuke (the Oxygen Destroyer) to deal with Godzilla, a much more grounded plan to kill Godzilla is put out, wrapping giant canisters filled with pressurized freon gas and giant inflatable cushions. The freon gas produces a huge stream of bubbles that rapidly sink Godzilla to the bottom of an oceanic trench by taking away his buoyancy, and in case the pressure isn't enough to finish him off, the inflatable cushions rapidly ascend him in an attempt to kill him by explosive decompression. It isn't quite able to kill him, but it does weaken him enough for a plane-delivered bomb to the face to finish him off.]] |
| 30 | * AdaptationalVillainy: While this is hardly the first film where Godzilla is antagonistic towards humans, most films portray the relationship as humans just being caught in Godzilla's path of destruction, especially when something else—usually another {{Kaiju}}—has his attention. ''Minus One'' is one of the rare entries in the franchise where Godzilla actively ''goes out of his way'' to hunt humans down and inflict the most possible damage, with no other threat present to interfere. One particular scene in the film has Godzilla grab the heavy cruiser ''Takao'' and destroy it with his Atomic Breath, and another shows him throwing train carriages into the path of moving trains and crushing fleeing civilians under his feet in Ginza. After he flattens Ginza with his Atomic Breath, he looks back at the nuclear explosion his beam generates and seems ''impressed'' by it. The film's beginning first shows him as an unmutated reptile attacking Shikishma and the mechanics on Odo Island. Much of his animosity seems to stem from his animalistic instincts, viewing humans as trespassers intruding on his "territory". Unlike the original Godzilla, or even Shin, there's no sympathy attached to him, making him the first genuinely evil Godzilla since ''Film/GodzillaMothraKingGhidorahGiantMonstersAllOutAttack''. |
| 31 | * AdaptationalWimp: |
| 32 | ** ZigZagged. Though Godzilla's Atomic Breath is actually more powerful than usual (being akin to a tactical nuke rather than a stream of fire or an energy beam), unlike in previous films, it takes a few seconds to charge up before firing, so he can't use it freely. Using it also inflicts damage to Godzilla himself, requiring him to [[HealingFactor regenerate from the damage before he can fire it again]], but it doesn't shut him down as it did in ''Shin Godzilla''. This iteration of Godzilla is also less than half the height of the Legendary or Shin incarnations, and does not benefit from GiantEqualsInvincible, able to be damaged by conventional weapons (though he's still very, ''very'' tough). However, this Godzilla expressly possesses a HealingFactor, meaning even ''if'' you can injure him, he won't stay injured for very long. |
| 33 | ** Godzilla is also shown to be hurt by the Takao's armaments when he was about to destroy the ''Shinsei Maru'', and he visibly roars in pain. This isn't too drastic though, since his HealingFactor prevents him from kicking it too early. |
| 34 | ** And speaking of which, usually when Godzilla recovers, it's due to his regeneration kicking in, and no signs of scarring. Godzilla's regeneration in this film seems to be limited, as when Shikishima literally blows up a water mine in his face, the damage from the explosion is visible, and stays there for the rest of the film. |
| 35 | * AnAesop: Violence begets violence, which is embodied by Godzilla himself, he notably ignores Shikishima when he doesn't shoot him on Odo island but then returns the violence he receives tenfold on everyone else who does, later when Godzilla becomes a victim of the nuclear testing he returns that same pain and destruction back on humanity with a vengeance. |
| 36 | * AfterTheEnd: While the world hasn't literally ended, a core concept of the film is that Japan has been left 'at zero' by the war. The characters spend the first act struggling to rebuild in the firebombed ruins of a devastated Tokyo, which is presented in a borderline apocalyptic light. It takes several years before they manage to even partially rebuild... only for Godzilla to attack. |
| 37 | * AllegoricalCharacter: Interestingly, this movie shifts away from the usual "Godzilla is nuclear weapons" allegory. It's still present to some degree, his Atomic Breath is more literal this time, causing an actual atomic explosion on impact complete with fallout in the form of black rain. This time, though, he seems to mainly represent the direct trauma experienced by soldiers during the war. Our protagonist, Shikishima, is a would-be Kamikaze pilot who feels intense SurvivorGuilt due to an encounter with Godzilla during the war. He remains unable to move on from the war even years later, thinking he should have died there. Despite living with Noriko and Akiko like a family for years, he refuses to open up to them, thinking he doesn't deserve happiness. When Godzilla reappears, it's as if a ghost of his war trauma has come back to haunt him. The team formed to defeat Godzilla is almost entirely made up of fellow veterans, [[spoiler:and Shikishima dealing the finishing blow to Godzilla coincides with him overcoming his trauma and finally moving forward.]] |
| 38 | * AllJustADream: Discussed. At a few points, Shikishima is so tormented by his wartime experiences that he asks aloud if this is all real, or if he died in the war and his life with Noriko and Akiko is some kind of purgatory or DyingDream. |
| 39 | * AllLoveIsUnrequited: Koichi Shikishima and Noriko Oishi both very clearly grow to love and emotionally rely on each other after several years post-war, raising Akiko together. But Koichi, being traumatized by the war and what happened on Odo Island, refuses the prospect of getting serious with or marrying her, despite multiple people noting it would be good for both of them. [[spoiler:The ending implies they did finally get married after Noriko is revealed to have survived the Tokyo attack.]] |
| 40 | * AllThereInTheManual: In addition to a novelization published by Shueisha written by the director that is of arguable canonicity, there was a brochure released at Japanese theaters that provided additional background information and context to the movie. One notable fact is that it implies that Godzilla's unmutated form [[spoiler: already had a HealingFactor, and exposure to the nuclear weapon caused the healing factor to heal him ''wrong'']]. |
| 41 | * AlternateMonochromeVersion: The film received a limited theatrical re-release in Japan known as ''Godzilla Minus One/C'' (''ゴジラ−１.０／C'')[[note]]Pronounced as ''Godzilla Minus One: Minus Color''[[/note]]. The deliberate monochrome was used to evoke the feelings of [[Film/Godzilla1954 the original 1954 film]], since ''Minus One'' was released to celebrate the 69th and 70th anniversaries of the ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' franchise. |
| 42 | * AntagonistTitle: Can't get any closer to this than when Godzilla goes out of his way to kill hundreds of people just by arriving in Japan, and will potentially doom the country unless something is done. |
| 43 | * AntiRegeneration: Having seen Godzilla's HealingFactor, Noda creates a plan to kill Godzilla by sinking it deep in the ocean where water pressure would kill it and, should that fail, immediately raise it to the surface for decompression to kill it. Noda notes that because Godzilla is a mysterious creature he cannot guarantee his plan will kill it. [[spoiler:And while the plan goes off along with Shikishima flying a plane armed with a bomb into Godzilla's mouth and detonating, Godzilla is shown to be healing as its corpse sinks into the ocean.]] |
| 44 | * ApocalypseHow: Japan has suffered a localized societal collapse, with Tokyo being left a firebombed ruin with people struggling just to survive and get food. This is part of the core idea: Japan has been reduced to zero, and the advent of Godzilla drops it to the negative. |
| 45 | * ArcWords: Variations on the phrase "The war never ended" show up a lot, referencing the lingering trauma and survivor's guilt those who fought in World War 2 suffer through on a daily basis. |
| 46 | * ArmorPiercingQuestion: Koichi poses one to [[spoiler:Tachibana after getting in contact with him: "[[NotSoDifferentRemark The war hasn't ended for you either, has it?]]"]] |
| 47 | * ArtisticLicenseHistory: While ''Minus One'' largely follows the history of Japan immediately after WWII, there are some crucial differences that bring the plot into an AlternateHistory angle: |
| 48 | ** ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_cruiser_Takao_(1930) Takao]]'' was sunk as a target ship in 1946, a year before Godzilla's appearance in the film and the ship's return to action. The cruiser was pretty much inoperable to boot by the end of the war, with cumulative damage from allied attacks and lack of maintenance and ammunition turning it into little more than a barely functional hulk whose only remaining utility was its AA batteries. |
| 49 | ** All four destroyers that appear in the final battle against Godzilla, ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_destroyer_Hibiki_(1932) Hibiki]]'', ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_destroyer_Yukikaze_(1939) Yukikaze]]'', ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_destroyer_Yūkaze Yūkaze]]'', and ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_destroyer_Keyaki_(1944) Keyaki]]'' also survived the war in real life. However, by 1947, ''Hibiki'' was transferred to the Soviet Union, ''Yukikaze'' was transferred to the Republic of China, and ''Yūkaze'' was transferred to the Royal Navy as war reparations. In this film, the aforementioned three ships were returned to Japan in order for the country to deal with Godzilla. ''Keyaki'' is the only ship that was still in Japan in real life during 1947, as it was repatriating war personnel before being turned over to America and then sunk as a target ship in July 1947, while the film's climax occurs in March 1947. |
| 50 | ** There are four [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_4_Chi-To_medium_tank Type 4 Chi-To medium tanks]] attacking Godzilla during his rampage through Ginza, but only two were ever completed towards the end of the war, in part due to limited supply lines and material shortages. |
| 51 | ** Similarly, there were only two ''Shinden'' prototypes completed when the war ended, with one being handed over to the Americans while the other was scrapped. While plans were in place to begin manufacturing production versions (which the ''Shinden'' seen in the film is implied to be, as it has a set of four nose-mounted cannons, which neither of the prototypes was armed with), the end of the war immediately after the prototype finished its three test flights[[note]]Two of these test flights were conducted on the same days the USA dropped the atomic bombs[[/note]] meant that none were built. Noda mentions that a few were built and field-deployed in Japan for a mission that never came, indicating that they would have likely been used as a last-ditch defence attempt against [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Downfall Operation Downfall]], the intended invasion of the Japanese main islands by the allies. |
| 52 | ** During Noda's pep-talk to the team giving the Imperial Japanese military a TheReasonYouSuck speech, he laments all the dangerous things implemented that got people killed, like kamikaze attacks, poor supply lines, and planes without ejector seats. Back in the 1940s ejector seats were only just created and experimental, but Noda speaks as though these were common, like in today's aircraft, and the military simply did not utilize them. |
| 53 | * ArtisticLicenseNuclearPhysics: Because of how the atomic breath operates, when Godzilla uses his atomic breath, it literally goes off like a nuke with a powerful flashbang, which is powerful enough to blind ''anyone'' looking at its general direction. ''No one'' suffers from instant blindness when the flashbang goes off after the atomic breath detonates. Nuclear weapons in real life were known to cause instant blindness the moment it goes off, as a few survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki can attest to. |
| 54 | * AttackTheMouth: Godzilla's scaly hide is nearly impenetrable to anything short of a nuke, but his mouth proves to be more vulnerable than the rest of him. The ''Shinsei Maru'' is able to detonate a sea mine which stuns Godzilla and blows off a chunk of his face, although it quickly regenerates. [[spoiler:In the climax, Shikishima is able to finish off a weakened Godzilla by flying a bomb-laden plane into his mouth just as he's about to unleash his atomic breath, blowing the monster's head off.]] |
| 55 | * AttemptedRape: Invoked in a scene where Shikishima wakes up from a PTSD-induced nightmare and has a panic attack believing himself to be dead and Noriko to be a figment of his imagination. As Noriko tries to comfort him, he jumps on her demanding to know if he's alive or dead and whether or not she's real, and she assumes he's trying to rape her and fearfully kicks him hard enough to send him sprawling across the room, resulting in him curling up into a ball and sobbing. |
| 56 | * AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: A platonic example. When Shikishima returns home to find Tokyo devastated by the war, his neighbour Ōta realizes that he deserted (since being a kamikaze pilot and returning alive are mutually exclusive) and angrily blames people like him for why Japan ended up like this. She's similarly standoffish when she sees he's brought home a vagrant with a baby when he's already struggling just to care for himself. However, when she finds they have no way to feed the infant, she donates her valuable white rice and helps the two take care of the child like a third parent. [[spoiler:At the end of the movie, she's furious at Shikishima because he originally intended to die in the battle against Godzilla and is leaving behind Akiko, who clearly sees him as her father, and tearfully punches him when he returns alive and unharmed- especially as she'd just received a telegram informing that Noriko had survived after all.]] |
| 57 | * BatmanGambit: [[spoiler:When Shikishima is unable to find Sōsaku Tachibana's current address, he guesses he's in the area of his last outpost before Odo Island, and sends many hate mail letters to that area, blaming him for the deaths of the other airbase groundcrew, knowing that Tachibana would be so enraged that he would seek Shikishima out to demand to know why he's sending such slanderous messages. It works, although Tachibana does kick the crap out of him and only agrees to help with the promise that Shikishima will [[HeroicSacrifice fulfill his duty as a kamikaze pilot]].]] |
| 58 | * BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Noriko and Shikishima almost always look clean and pretty, even while they live in a hovel made of scrap and with no indoor plumbing for a while. Averted later on; Shikishima gets the crap kicked out of him by [[spoiler:Tachibana]], with one eye being swollen completely shut, and still having notable swelling at the end of the film. [[spoiler:We don't see what kind of injuries Noriko has after surviving Godzilla's first attack, but fully half her face is bandaged, indicating they're rather severe.]] |
| 59 | * BigDamnHeroes: All hope seems lost when [[spoiler:a now horrendously mutilated Godzilla hits his RageBreakingPoint during the FinalBattle, then prepares to unleash his atomic breath on all the boats. Just as he's about to release his atomic breath and kill everyone in one fell swoop, Shikishima carries out a high-speed approach with the ''Shinden'' and crashes into, then blows up Godzilla's head, finally putting him to rest.]] |
| 60 | * BilingualBonus: |
| 61 | ** The minesweeper boat ''Shinsei Maru'' has the kanji 新生丸 painted on it, where 新生 ''shinsei'' meaning "rebirth" matches well with Shikishima and his crewmates having a new life post-war. |
| 62 | ** There is a German nameplate for [[spoiler:an ejection seat, visible in the cockpit of Shikishima's plane.]] |
| 63 | * BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Shikishima delivers the final blow to Godzilla, while ejecting from his plane and parachuting to safety, having decided to forgive himself and continue to live. Afterward, Sumiko directs him and Akiko to a hospital, where Noriko--injured but alive after the Tokyo attack--is staying, although seemingly with radiation poisoning, but the black spots are apparently alive and crawling up her neck. On the other hand, it turns out Godzilla is NotQuiteDead, as a fragment of his body is revealed to have not disintegrated with the rest, and its HealingFactor kicks in again, suggesting that he will return to attack Japan in the future. Even worse, Tokyo is an Atomic mess and countless lives are dead as a result of Godzilla's rampage, Shikishima, Noda and the other crew members, as well as most of the attack survivors, have been exposed to a massive amount of radiation that could severely shorten their lifespan, and, of course, the horrors of the UsefulNotes/ColdWar [[ForegoneConclusion are yet to come]].]] |
| 64 | * BlastOut: While ordered not to shoot at Godzilla during his attack on Odo Island, one of the engineers is so [[FearInducedIdiocy frightened]] that he starts firing anyway which leads to a chain reaction and everyone blasting their guns. Godzilla doesn't take the attack well. |
| 65 | * BlindIdiotTranslation: The English subtitles for the film's international release repeatedly refer to the ''Shinden'' as a jet fighter, even though no jets were deployed in the Pacific Theatre of World War II (only [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakajima_Kikka one]] was completed by Japan before the war ended, and it never saw service), on top of the obvious fact it has a clearly visible propeller. Coincidentally, a jet-powered version of the ''Shinden'' ''is'' speculated to have been on the drawing board, but the impending end of the war meant that only the propeller version was built, and was never able to leave the prototype phase. |
| 66 | * BodyHorror: |
| 67 | ** Every time Godzilla uses his atomic breath this time, it injures him quite significantly, burning off chunks of his flesh, even exposing his bones at some points. The only reason repeated usage doesn't kill him is because of an extremely rapid HealingFactor, though it means he can't [[BeamSpam repeatedly use the beam in quick succession]], a fact which is exploited by the humans during the final battle. |
| 68 | ** [[spoiler: Later, the plan to kill him by subjecting him to extreme changes in pressure results in his flesh cracking and tearing apart all over his body, with his [[EyeScream eyes popping out of his skull]] from the decompression.]] |
| 69 | * BombDisposal: Shikishima takes a job as a minesweeper to clear away {{Sea Mine}}s from the war, which puts him on a crew with a wooden boat, which is ideal to avoid setting off American-made magnetic mines which would be triggered by metal hulls. |
| 70 | * {{Bookends}}: After getting back home, Shikishima is physically accosted by one of his neighbors, Sumiko, who calls him a disgrace for not fulfilling his role as a kamikaze pilot and daring to show his face. Shortly after, Shikishima reads a letter from his late parent begging him to come back alive. Near the end of the film, [[spoiler:Sumiko accepts a telegram on Shikishima's behalf, saying that Noriko is alive. After the Godzilla elimination operation is wrapped up, Sumiko rushes up to him with Akiko in her arms and starts hitting him before giving him the note. [[AngerBornOfWorry Her anger is now directed at Shikishima accepting the possibility of dying and leaving Noriko and Akiko]].]] |
| 71 | * BoringButPractical: Shikishima is understandably unimpressed when he sees the [[ExactWords "specially designed"]] minesweeper boats are just wooden fishing boats with guns and ropes, until Dr. Noda explains their function: since American sea mines are magnetic, an all-wood boat is [[RockBeatsLaser effectively immune to attraction,]] and all that's needed to take them out is to cut the lines holding them and hit them with gunfire. This deceptively simple design foreshadows the plan to kill Godzilla: [[spoiler: use freon gas to rapidly force him down to crush depth, and inflatable rafts to bring him [[ExplosiveDecompression right back up]].]] |
| 72 | * BreakingOldTrends: |
| 73 | ** Whereas other entries depict Godzilla first making landfall on Japan at the very earliest in 1954 (as per the release year of [[Film/Godzilla1954 the first film]]), ''Minus One'' is the first installment in the franchise to depict Godzilla attacking Japan prior to the 1950s. Specifically 1947, shortly after the end of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII and Japan's surrender to the Allies. |
| 74 | ** This is also the first Godzilla movie which is entirely a PeriodPiece, rather than being set in the present day or TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture. |
| 75 | ** After years of films [[SerialEscalation increasing Godzilla's size]], culminating in the massive [[Anime/GodzillaPlanetOfTheMonsters Godzilla Earth]], ''Minus One'' makes the creative decision to reverse the trend, bring Godzilla closer to his original size at [[https://twitter.com/godzilla231103/status/1715563622674714764 50.1 meters tall]] (only 0.1 metres taller than the original Showa Godzilla). |
| 76 | * BreakOutTheMuseumPiece: From the perspective of the audience, anyway. The ''Takao'', a Japanese heavy cruiser intended to be decommissioned after the war, is brought back into service in an attempt to kill Godzilla due to Japan being short on serviceable military vessels. [[spoiler:It doesn't go well, with Godzilla easily annihilating the ship with his atomic breath, but not before the ''Takao'' [[DefiantToTheEnd puts up one hell of a fight]].]] Things get considerably better with the arrival of the Kyushu [=J7W=] ''Shinden'', as well as the fleet of ex-IJN vessels sent to participate in Operation Wada Tsumi. |
| 77 | [[/folder]] |
| 78 | |
| 79 | [[folder:C-E]] |
| 80 | * CallBack: Noda talks about how Japan was far too careless with the lives of its men during World War II, citing among other things how Japan went to war with poorly armored tanks and fighter planes that lacked ejection seats. [[spoiler:At the end, Koichi survives the confrontation with Godzilla because Tachibana discovered an ejection seat in his fighter plane and informed him about it.]] |
| 81 | * CameBackStrong: When Godzilla uses his HealingFactor to survive the nuke, he intakes a bunch of radiation that mutates him into a monster much different from what he's accustomed to. |
| 82 | * CannonFodder: |
| 83 | ** At one point, the ''Shinsei Maru'' and its sister boat are reassigned to confront Godzilla while a heavy cruiser, the ''Takao'', arrives from the south. Godzilla has taken down many much larger and more fortified warships at this point, so two wooden tugboats that were never meant to see any sort of combat at all have zero chance of killing him and everyone knows it, they're just meant to stall Godzilla for a few minutes. [[spoiler:Ironically, the ''Shinsei Maru'' ends up surviving after the ''Takao'' arrives and draws Godzilla's attention, resulting in the cruiser's destruction and Godzilla continuing on his way.]] |
| 84 | ** A recurring point of the film is that Imperial Japan's 'honorable death' mentality was truly just an excuse to treat its own people as expendable and convince them to think they were and ultimately, the ''entire army'' might as well have been this trope in their government's eyes. |
| 85 | * TheCavalry: |
| 86 | ** The ''Shinsei Maru'' is assigned by the government to stall Godzilla as the ''Takao'' arrives from Singapore to try and deal with him. The little tugboat puts up a decent fight against the monster, but is about to be overcome when the cruiser finally arrives, guns-a-blazing, saving the crew of the minesweeper boat. [[spoiler:Godzilla destroys the Takao in fairly short order, but it nonetheless puts up one hell of a fight, and makes him forget about the ''Shinsei Maru'', whom the crew would later plan to kill him.]] |
| 87 | ** [[spoiler:This happens twice in the final battle, both times when it seems the plan is doomed to fail. As Godzilla is being floated back up to the surface, he starts ripping apart the balloons tangled around him and breaking free. The two destroyers--''Yukikaze'' and ''Hibiki''--attempt to lift him up by force and fail, due to Godzilla being far too heavy. Fortunately, [[ProhibitedHeroSavesTheDay Mizushima arrives on the scene]] with a huge fleet of tugboats, which help the two destroyers finally drag Godzilla back up.]] |
| 88 | * CentralTheme: The primary theme of the film is that it's better to live for the future than to [[SenselessSacrifice die pointlessly]] and that life isn't something to be treated as disposable or expendable. From the first scene, Saito states that he actually approves of Shikishima faking engine trouble to avoid the kamikaze run, as he sees no point in an 'honorable death' that serves no purpose, given Japan has clearly already lost the war. [[spoiler:Noda gives a speech during the climax about how Japan had taken people's lives for granted, and ultimately Shikishima resolves to live rather than make a SenselessSacrifice to kill Godzilla out of misplaced honor.]] |
| 89 | * ChekhovsSkill: Akitsu was initially dismissive of Shikishima as the sniper of their four-man minesweeper crew aboard ''Shinsei Maru'', thinking that someone who used to fly in the air wouldn't be as useful on a naval activity. However, Shikishima's experience as a former fighter pilot means he's able to compensate for the movements of both their boat and the mine when detonating it on the first try. He even explains it partly in effect for Mizushima after the younger man fails to detonate the mine twice. |
| 90 | * CloseOnTitle: Unlike [[Film/Godzilla1954 the original film]] and ''Film/ShinGodzilla'', ''Godzilla Minus One'' never actually shows its title card until the ending credits. |
| 91 | * ClosestThingWeGot: The team organizing the plan to kill Godzilla is able to re-acquire four decommissioned [=IJN=] destroyers. The ships don't have any usable guns on them due to Japan's disarmament, but given the circumstances (Japan not even having any sort of military at this point and the US refusing to help[=/=]unable to help due to worries of possible Soviet retaliation), it's much better than nothing. Also, they've already learned that he's [[ImmuneToBullets immune to conventional weapons]], so the guns wouldn't have helped much anyway. |
| 92 | * ConscienceMakesYouGoBack: When Noriko doesn't return to pick up Akiko from Shikishima in the marketplace, the latter abandons the toddler. He walks a few steps away but then turns around, looks at the bundle and changes his mind. |
| 93 | * ContinuityReboot: The sixth ''Godzilla'' film continuity after ''Film/Godzilla1998'', ''Film/GodzillaFinalWars'', the ''[[Franchise/MonsterVerse Monsterverse]]'', ''Film/ShinGodzilla'' and [[Anime/GodzillaPlanetOfTheMonsters the anime trilogy]] to not take after ''Film/Godzilla1954''; after the Showa, Heisei, and Millennium series used the original film as the origin point in their respective series. Instead, the trailers reveal ''Minus One'' is a complete reboot set in 1947, seven years earlier than 1954. |
| 94 | * ContrastingSequelAntagonist: While the Godzilla in ''Film/ShinGodzilla'' was portrayed as a TragicMonster with little intention or awareness of the suffering he's causing, this film's Godzilla is presented as a highly aggressive territorial animal that actively targets humanity. |
| 95 | * ContrastingSequelMainCharacter: |
| 96 | ** Koichi Shikishima is this to Rando Yaguchi of ''Film/ShinGodzilla''. Whereas Yaguchi was a [[BadassBureaucrat high-ranking government official]], Shikishima is a low/middle-class ex-pilot turned minesweeper operator. [[spoiler: While both characters play a pivotal role in seemingly killing Godzilla, the former achieves this indirectly by coordinating Operation Yashiori, while the latter plays a more direct role by blowing his plane up inside Godzilla to shatter the monster from the inside as part of Operation Wada Tsumi]]. |
| 97 | ** Shikishima also stands opposite of Haruo Sakaki of the ''Anime/GodzillaPlanetOfTheMonsters'' animated trilogy. While Sakaki is a sergeant for the last vestiges of humankind, driven by the need for {{revenge}} and [[HumansAreSpecial the belief in the human spirit]] over Godzilla, Shikishima is a guilt-ridden pilot for a defeated Japanese military. Both outcomes stem from how Godzilla traumatized each character. [[spoiler:How their stories end also contrast: whereas Sakaki realizes that his desire for vengeance will inevitably doom humanity, and thus willingly destroys himself and the last weapons of destruction to Godzilla's Atomic Breath; Shikishima pulls a suicide bomb maneuver to destroy Godzilla before it can fire his heat ray, but ejects just before impact because he chose to forgive himself.]] |
| 98 | ** Shikishima also contrasts Mark Russell from ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019''. Like Mark, Koichi personally hates Godzilla and wants him dead. Their personal experience with Godzilla turn them into bitter people after losing someone they love. The difference is that Mark is a scientist who eventually realizes that the world needs Godzilla to save the world, while Koichi is a pilot who wants to save the people from Godzilla before more of his loved ones are in danger. |
| 99 | ** Also to Dr. Daisuke Serizawa of ''Film/Godzilla1954''. Both are WWII veterans, but Serizawa is a scientist while Shikishima is a fighter pilot. Both designed weapons to kill Godzilla, but Serizawa's Oxygen Destroyer was an accidental discovery in his attempts to advance human knowledge; Shikishima deliberately [[spoiler:requested his fighter be rigged for a kamikaze run]]. Serizawa chose to sacrifice himself in killing Godzilla so that knowledge of the Oxygen Destroyer would die with him, leaving behind a woman he loved but who loved another man; Shikishima chose [[spoiler: ''not'' to sacrifice himself in killing Godzilla, and was reunited with the woman he loves and who loves him]]. |
| 100 | * ContrivedCoincidence: Shikishima's minesweeper boat is assigned the secret task of stalling Godzilla so an actual warship can arrive to fight him. It appears utterly unintentional that the government gave the job of facing Godzilla to one of the only people to ever previously see Godzilla and live. |
| 101 | * CoolPlane: [[spoiler:Shikishima asks for a plane to use in the plan to kill Godzilla, which Noda notes will be difficult because all of Japan's planes have been decommissioned or confiscated by the Allies following the war. He does eventually find a plane, albeit a highly unusual one: a Kyushu [=J7W=] ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyushu_J7W_Shinden Shinden]]'', which was built and fielded, but never as World War II ended immediately after the production of the planes began.]] |
| 102 | * CrowdPanic: A crowd panic breaks out in Ginza when Godzilla makes landfall and starts destroying the area. Noriko gets caught up in it and [[DamselInDistress has to be saved]] by Shikishima. |
| 103 | * CurbStompCushion: While Godzilla is NighInvulnerable as ever, and his rampages are even more horrible because the people of Japan barely have anything to shoot back with, there is a back-to-back moment of this. When the ''Shinsei Maru'' is tasked with acting as a distraction [[HoldTheLine to buy time for the cruiser]] ''Takao'' to arrive, they manage to get a sea mine into his throat and detonate it with a well-placed shot. It doesn't slow him down, but it does injure him... [[HealingFactor for a moment.]] Soon after, as Godzilla is about to take out the ''Shinseimaru'','' ''Takao'' [[TheCavalry finally arrives]] and bowls him over with a salvo. As Godzilla is destroying ''Takao,'' its gun crews manage to get one last point-blank shot in, which stuns him enough to fall into the water. They're destroyed effortlessly immediately after, but it's a surprise to see realistic military equipment being effective to ''any'' degree against Godzilla. It also gives the crew of the ''Shinseimaru'' the knowledge that, from the inside, Godzilla ''[[NotSoInvincibleAfterAll can be injured]]'', and with a good enough shot maybe even killed. |
| 104 | * CutHimselfShaving: When asked by Noda, Shikishima explains the head wound he got from Tachibana as being from a falling accident. |
| 105 | * DareToBeBadass: After Godzilla attacks Tokyo and devastates Ginza, a civilian army (headed by former members of the Imperial Japanese Navy) is assembled when it seems neither the Japanese or US governments are going to anything about it any time soon. The leaders of the operation declare they're all that stands between Godzilla and the future of Japan, but cannot promise the plan will actually succeed and that none of them are being ''forced'' to join. A number of the volunteers do decide to leave, but most stay to fight Godzilla and [[spoiler:actually succeed in bringing him down with no casualties]]. |
| 106 | * DarkerAndEdgier: The ''darkest'' film of the franchise since [[Film/Godzilla1954 the original film]], and even darker than the previous films before it. The tone is far heavier than the last two [[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019 Legendary]] [[Film/GodzillaVsKong films]], [[Anime/GodzillaPlanetOfTheMonsters the]] [[Anime/GodzillaCityOnTheEdgeOfBattle anime]] [[Anime/GodzillaThePlanetEater trilogy]], and has more focus on desolation and government atrocities than ''Film/ShinGodzilla''. The film does ''not'' pull its punches over Godzilla's rampage in Ginza, with the entire populace dreading Godzilla since he was discovered, and just like the original film, there's a direct death toll with the deaths of over ''30,000'' people. And just like the original, there's a direct allegory of nuclear weapons attached to it, culminating in [[spoiler:the Atomic Beam straight-up being a nuclear bomb in detonation and effect]]. But its main themes also deal with PTSD and SurvivorGuilt, both of which the protagonist (a veteran and surviving kamikaze pilot) has in spades and for which [[AllegoricalCharacter Godzilla]] acts as a physical manifestation. |
| 107 | * DeadlineNews: Just as in the first film, a radio news crew is reporting live on Godzilla's rampage through Tokyo, on-location. And also just like in the first film, they're all killed when Godzilla destroys the building they're reporting on. |
| 108 | * DeathOfAChild: During Godzilla's rampage on Ginza, a little girl who looks the same age as Akiko is among the crowd as Godzilla prepares his atomic breath... And Koichi is the only one seen to survive on-screen. |
| 109 | * DeerInTheHeadlights: Shikishima is too frightened to shoot at Godzilla in the opening scene while having the opportunity to. |
| 110 | * DefiantToTheEnd: The ''Takao'' fires a full salvo into Godzilla at point-blank range, even as he starts tearing into it with his hands. |
| 111 | * DespairEventHorizon: |
| 112 | ** When the tanks in Ginza fail to noticeably harm Godzilla, most of the people nearby simply give up, hugging each other and crying as they wait for their end. |
| 113 | ** After barely surviving her first encounter with Godzilla, Noriko just gives up and stands there while everyone else flees from the advancing monster. Fortunately Shikishima finds her at that point and hauls her away. |
| 114 | * DisneyDeath: [[spoiler: Noriko is apparently killed during Godzilla's attack on Ginza when she pushes Shikishima out of the way of the shockwave of Godzilla's atomic breath, but at the end it turns out she actually survived, albeit badly injured and requiring hospitalization.]] |
| 115 | * DisneyDeath: [[spoiler:Both Shikishima and Noriko appear to have died at some point during the story. The former survives via a secret parachute and the latter survives because they NeverFoundTheBody]]. |
| 116 | * DivingSave: [[spoiler:When Godzilla unleashes his atomic breath in Ginza, it creates a massive shockwave that obliterates most of the region. Noriko sees the blast wave coming before Shikishima is able to react and pushes him into an alleyway, while she's blown away by the air blast. This only adds to Shikishima's survivor guilt and drive to redeem himself through giving his life to kill Godzilla, but at the end of the film he discovers that Noriko managed to survive.]] |
| 117 | * DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Like in the original film, when Godzilla attacks Ginza, he destroys it in a much more ''literal'' use of the traditional nuclear metaphor Godzilla is normally portrayed as. Not only does he destroy Ginza, he did it in the manner of ''an actual nuke'', with a mushroom cloud, and the devastating explosion with a flashbang that ends with black rain[[note]]Black rain is a result of a nuclear weapon going off on land, sending dust, debris, and radiation so high in the atmosphere, it returns back down as fallout, becoming a black radioactive rain[[/note]]. |
| 118 | * DownerBeginning: The movie starts with Shikishima deserting his duty as a kamikaze pilot by feigning a faulty airplane and diverting to the Odo Island repair station. The workers quickly realize what he's done, but they don't hold it against him for backing out and one even commends him for not doing a [[SenselessSacrifice pointless death]]… and then an unmutated Godzilla attacks and kills everyone except Shikishima and Tachibana, who blames Shikishima for his colleagues' deaths because he froze up when he had a clear shot at Godzilla's face. Then Shikishima arrives back home in Tokyo, only to discover the entire place is in ruin and his parents are dead. |
| 119 | * DrawAggro: [[spoiler:Shikishima flies the finished ''Shinden'' fighter and uses it to aggravate Godzilla into chasing him at sea as part of the plan to defeat him. He then proves crucial in keeping Godzilla's attention on him and away from the ships wrapping the freon gas canisters around him.]] |
| 120 | * DyingDream: Shikishima sometimes believes himself to be experiencing this, dreaming his life while dying on Odo Island, as part of his [[ShellShockedVeteran shell shock]]. Noriko twice has to convince him that he's really alive and deserves to be so. |
| 121 | * {{Eagleland}}: A Boorish America sits pretty far in the background, but its presence can be felt throughout the film. The destruction of Tokyo by endless air raids destroyed most of the characters' existing lives, the surrender they made the Japanese agree to left the country almost totally disarmed, the Bikini Atoll atomic bomb tests mutated and enraged Godzilla to the point he was willing to go roughshod over the barely rebuilt ruins of Tokyo. AmericaSavesTheDay is also consciously averted here, where the US government (who ''should'' be coming to protect the Japanese as part of their treaty, but can't for fears of possible Soviet retaliation) tell the Japanese government that they're on their own when dealing with Godzilla. The only positive thing they do in the film is allow Japan to bend the terms of their disarmament to have ''something'' to shoot back at Godzilla with. |
| 122 | * EarnYourHappyEnding: Shikishima starts the film as a broken down, PTSD-riddled mess with a heavy case of survivor's guilt who believes that he deserves to die both for chickening out from going through with his kamikaze attack and for freezing up during Godzilla's rampage on Odo Island leading to the deaths of the mechanics. Even after meeting Noriko and Akiko he still holds himself at arm's distance from them, refusing to acknowledge his romantic feelings for the former and repeatedly denying any paternity to the latter. [[spoiler: This all becomes much worse after Noriko is seemingly killed in Godzilla's attack in Ginza - which leaves Shikishima believing his only purpose is to perform a kamikaze attack on Godzilla. But, after receiving forgiveness (and being told of an escape parachute) from Tachibana, defeating Godzilla and discovering Noriko alive in the hospital, Shikishima finally manages to forgive himself and embraces Noriko and Akiko as a family.]] |
| 123 | * EmpathyDollShot: After Godzilla [[spoiler:level Ginza with his atomic breath]], the rubble is being checked for radiation and survivors. A pair of inspectors are seen running a rapidly-clicking Geiger counter over an abandoned tricycle and the two solemnly shake their heads. |
| 124 | * TheEndOrIsIt: |
| 125 | ** [[spoiler:While Noriko survived the destruction of Ginza, she's seen in the hospital with a strange swirling dark patch on her neck that's ominously moving under her skin.]] |
| 126 | ** [[spoiler:So Koichi blew up Godzilla's head, Noriko actually survived the attack on Ginza, and the day is saved... until [[HereWeGoAgain Godzilla starts reforming underneath the ocean's surface...]]]] |
| 127 | * EverybodyLives: While not true for the movie as a whole as Godzilla's earlier attacks have an incredibly high body count, Mr. Noda insists that they're done wasting lives and promises that his operation, be it failure or success, will be one where they all come back alive. [[spoiler: Turns out he kept his word, and not only does every sailor survive, but Noriko's earlier death was only a DisneyDeath, and even Godzilla seemingly survived]]. |
| 128 | * ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: Minus One features the most literal version of Godzilla's Atomic Breath ever seen, as it finishes with an actual nuclear explosion complete with a giant mushroom cloud and "black rain". |
| 129 | * ExactWords: One of the more [[BlackComedy darkly humorous]] parts of the film is when Shikishima accepts a job in collecting and disposing of undersea mines. Noriko is worried, but Shikishima reassures her that he'll be okay, citing that the job will have him on a specially-made seacraft. We then immediately cut to a stunned Shikishima muttering "This is specially-made?" as he gets his first look at the ''Shinseimaru'', a creaky old steamboat made of ''wood''.[[note]]A countermeasure for dealing with magnetic mines, which would certainly be triggered by a boat with a metal hull. So technically, it could be argued they were correct on them saying the boat was ''[[ExactWords specially-made]]'' for the task.[[/note]] |
| 130 | * ExplosiveDecompression: Downplayed. [[spoiler:The final plan to kill Godzilla involves tying giant canisters of freon gas and inflatable cushions to his body, using the gas to produce streams of bubbles that rapidly sink him to the bottom of an ocean trench, and then, just as quickly, inflating the cushions to ascend him to the surface, hoping that the extreme and sudden pressure changes will destroy him. It isn't quite enough to kill him, but it does weaken him enough to be taken out by a final blow.]] |
| 131 | [[/folder]] |
| 132 | |
| 133 | [[folder:F-N]] |
| 134 | * FaceDeathWithDignity: [[spoiler:When Plan B fails to kill Godzilla and he becomes so enraged that he is ready to charge up his atomic breath to take out the boats, Noda and the rest of the crew look on ready to accept their incoming death... until Shikishima pilots the Shinden into Godzilla's mouth blowing up his head, killing the monster.]] |
| 135 | * FailureToSaveMurder: Tachibana blames Shikishima for letting his fellow engineers get slaughtered by Godzilla when he had the chance to shoot. It's left ambiguous as to whether Shikishima's gunfire would have harmed Godzilla at all since the latter proved to be ImmuneToBullets, but only after [[NuclearNasty being exposed to atomic radiation by the Americans]]. |
| 136 | * FamilyOfChoice: After returning from the war to Tokyo, Shikishima crosses paths with a thief, Noriko Ōishi, who's holding an orphaned infant named Akiko. Much to the chagrin of a grouchy neighbour, Shikishima reluctantly lets them stay in what's left of his house, although even the neighbour quickly relents and assists the pair in raising the child. Over the years, they raise the baby together as the community rebuilds, even though they have no blood relationship to each other, and Shikishima even takes on a dangerous job to financially support the three of them. The baby, Akiko, even begins referring to Ōishi and Shikishima as her mommy and daddy once she starts talking. Despite their lack of blood ties, the new Shikishima "family" is still close enough that when the ''Shinsei Maru'' crew visits, they assume they are a family and are surprised that they are just a trio of strangers who wound up living together. After [[spoiler:Noriko is seemingly killed in Ginza, Shikishima admits he did eventually developed romantic feelings for her]]. Notably, Shikishima, Noriko, and Akiko, all explicitly lost their parents during the war. |
| 137 | * FatalFamilyPhoto: {{Subverted}}. [[spoiler:In the final battle, Shikishima flies with a photo of Noriko. But against all odds, [[DisneyDeath he survives]] by ejecting from his plane after performing a kamikaze attack on Godzilla.]] |
| 138 | * FeedbackRule: When Noda presents his plan on how to kill Godzilla to the public, he has to shout into the mic to silence the crowd which leads to a loud feedback sound that grabs everyone's attention. |
| 139 | * FeedItABomb: |
| 140 | ** The ''Shinsei Maru'' attempts to damage Godzilla by detonating a sea mine on his back, [[NoSell which does nothing]]. They try again with a sea mine lodged in his mouth, which actually does injure and stun Godzilla this time, but he heals from the wound before their eyes. |
| 141 | ** [[spoiler:Remembering that Godzilla's mouth is more vulnerable than the outside of his body, Shikishima finally kills Godzilla by flying a bomb-laden fighter plane into his open mouth as the monster is charging up his atomic breath, blowing up everything above the lower jaw.]] |
| 142 | * FiveSecondForeshadowing: [[spoiler: Even for the majority who can't recognize an ejector seat handle, Shikishima pulling on his goggles seconds before impact tells you he's prepared for something other than a suicide mission.]] |
| 143 | * ForebodingCarcass: What heralds Godzilla's appearance are several decompressed and bloated schools of deep-sea fish. Koichi experiences this first-hand when Godzilla arrives on Odo Island, and later, he sees several decompressed fishes on the surface that indicated that Godzilla is nearby. |
| 144 | * {{Foreshadowing}}: |
| 145 | ** Shikishima takes up a job as a minesweeper to clear away the thousands of sea mines from the war along Japan's coasts. The method used is that two boats driven parallel have a big cable running between them that's dragged through the water to snag the underwater mines, buoying them up, and then the mines are blown up from a distance with a turret gun manned by Shikishima. [[spoiler:The final plan to kill Godzilla is basically an enlarged version of the minesweeping technique, with two giant destroyers entangling Godzilla with a cable lined with giant gas canisters, which quickly sink him to the bottom of an ocean trench and then back up to the surface, where he's finished off by Shikishima blowing him up by piloting an explosive-laden plane at his face.]] |
| 146 | ** Whenever the corpses of deep-sea fish rise to the ocean surface before Godzilla appears, one can observe their guts popping out of their mouths as a result of decompression. [[spoiler: The final plan is essentially exploiting the same biological weakness by quickly sinking and pulling Godzilla up from the depths and, like any other deep-sea creature, it works.]] |
| 147 | ** Around 1947, Noriko tells Koichi that she has gotten a job in Ginza ward, which has made considerable progress in rebuilding efforts following the firebombings. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, the day she actually goes to Ginza for work, Koichi hears over the radio that [[FromBadToWorse Godzilla is attacking the ward]].]] |
| 148 | ** During Kenji's rousing speech on the eve of the night before enacting the plan to kill Godzilla, he states how the Japanese government treated human lives too cheaply during the war, such as [[spoiler:fighter planes with no ejector seats, and vows that no one will have to die in the battle against the monster. Sure enough, all the characters make it through the finale, with Shikishima able to ram his plane into Godzilla's face to deliver the finishing blow without having to die in the process due to Sōsaku discovering that the prototype ''Shinden'' does in fact have an ejector seat. That itself was foreshadowed when, after Tachibana explains the ''Shinden'''s loadout, he says that there's one more thing about the plane that he needs to know and then the scene cuts away.]] |
| 149 | * ForgivenessRequiresDeath: In the opening act, Godzilla kills a team of mechanics on Odo Island while Shikishima freezes up in fear, unable to fire. The last surviving mechanic, Sōsaku Tachibana, blames Shikishima for his colleagues' deaths. [[spoiler:Shikishima gets into contact with Tachibana and begs for his help repairing a plane to help kill Godzilla. He tells Tachibana that he will make up for the deaths on Odo Island by piloting the plane into Godzilla to kill the monster and himself in the process. Tachibana at first agrees to the terms... [[SubvertedTrope but then changes his mind]] after discovering an ejector seat in the plane and informing Shikishima about it after it's become clear he's not just attempting a kamikaze attack on Godzilla to atone for the Odo Island massacre but to give his adoptive daughter a future, demanding that he survive for her.]] |
| 150 | * FourTemperamentEnsemble: The crew of the Shinsimaru seems to be this on the surface: |
| 151 | ** Shikishima: Melancholic. Pessimistic, anxious, but loyal. |
| 152 | ** Akitsu: Choleric. A blunt, passionate LargeHam of a man who takes charge. |
| 153 | ** Noda: Phlegmatic. Sweet-natured, empathetic, and patient. |
| 154 | ** Mizushima: Sanguine. Lighthearted, peppy, and optimistic. |
| 155 | ** However, Noda and Shikishima aren't as clear-cut. When Godzilla attacks their ship, Akitsu and Noda are the ones to take charge, while Shikishima and Mizushima follow, and Noda again plays a leading role in Operation Wadatsumi. He's also obviously the most analytical, being the scientist of the group. Meanwhile, Shikishima's indecisiveness is something that plagues him. |
| 156 | * FromBadToWorse: |
| 157 | ** The film is set in the direct aftermath of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, specifically during its [[WorldWarII/TheAftermath post-war economic recovery]] period. Even during the TimeSkip, Japan is still in the process of recovering from the war and thus still in its "zero" state. Then comes Godzilla, a giant walking behemoth of mass destruction that tears through Tokyo, plunging Japan's already precarious financial and political situation further down the drain and into the "minus" state the film's title implied. |
| 158 | ** Also, how do you make a killer dinosaur that's already hostile towards humans even MORE deadly? Just set off a nuke near where it's living. |
| 159 | * GenreShift: {{Kaiju}} films in general, and Godzilla films in particular (''Film/Godzilla1954'' being a prime exception), are not noted for deep, multidimensional characters or compelling human drama, to the point it's commonly said the human parts are what you fast-forward through to get to the monster action you ''really'' came to see. '''This''' film is a complex, intense, character-driven drama that also has Godzilla in it. Shikishima is established from the very first shot, his arc is explored in almost every scene, and with him is a cast of rich supporting characters more complex than the average main character of a Godzilla flick. Godzilla is a metaphor for Japan's post-war state, but on the ''personal'' level, instead of the national one, keeping the focus on our relatively small group of major characters as they all deal with moving on in the aftermath of WWII in their own way. |
| 160 | * GiantFootOfStomping: As is tradition, Godzilla causes a lot of destruction by just walking around. Here however, he marches down a street full of people running for their lives, shattering the pavement and sending fleeing civilians airborne, as well as crushing them underfoot. |
| 161 | * GovernmentConspiracy: After several American ships are destroyed or disabled, General UsefulNotes/DouglasMacArthur warns the Japanese Prime Minister of a "massive aquatic organism headed at high-speed towards the Japanese archipelago from the South." However, the Japanese government refuses to warn the general populace of Godzilla's existence until it was too late because nobody wants to be responsible for the resulting panic. |
| 162 | * GrayRainOfDepression: PlayedForHorror. After [[spoiler:Noriko is apparently killed in the destruction of Ginza by Godzilla, Shikishima falls to his knees and screams in despair]]. Then rain begins to fall, but not just any rain: ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_fallout black rain]]'' starts falling upon Ginza, and Koichi is caught in the downpour. |
| 163 | * GuiltInducedNightmare: Shikishima has a nightmare that Godzilla will attack Tokyo, including soldiers like the ones on Odo Island fleeing from Godzilla. |
| 164 | * HeadInTheSandManagement: Japan's post-war government behaves ineffectively in the face of Godzilla. Even after Godzilla sinks a heavy cruiser, the Japanese government continues to cover up its existence as no-one wants to take responsibility for the chaos a CitywideEvacuation of Tokyo would cause. An announcement is only made when Godzilla is already attacking the city, so naturally chaos happens anyway. It's not surprising a group of civilians and former naval veterans decide to organise their own private response, having lost faith in the new government's ability to handle the situation. |
| 165 | * HeroicBSOD: Shikishima undergoes one after Noriko and the rest of the people of Ginza get wiped away by the shockwave from Godzilla's nuke attack. He then lets out a SkywardScream. |
| 166 | * HeroOfAnotherStory: The crew of the ''Kaishinmaru'', the sister ship of the minesweeper Koichi is assigned too. We only briefly hear their captain over the radio, but it's implied they have a friendly rivalry with the ''Shinseimaru'' and they likely have just as much experience and history between them. |
| 167 | * HistoricalInJoke: Not even Godzilla can sink the ''Yukikaze''. For context, this Kagero-class destroyer went through the entirety of World War II with few casualties and nary a scratch despite participating in virtually every major naval engagement post-Pearl Harbor including Midway (where Japan lost all its fleet carriers), Leyte Gulf (where the battleship Musashi was sunk) and Okinawa (where she escorted the Yamato on its suicide run).[[labelnote:note]]This record however also gave the ''Yukikaze'' the unfortunate reputation among other crews as being a [[TheJinx bad omen]], as every ship she escorted was eventually sunk and every other escort suffered more damage than her.[[/labelnote]] |
| 168 | * HollywoodDarkness: [[spoiler:When Godzilla is sunk to the bottom of a 1,500 metre-deep ocean trench, it's still well-lit enough that we can see him crashing to the seabed, when in reality it would be absolutely pitch dark at that depth.]] |
| 169 | * {{Homage}}: The second encounter with Godzilla takes some very clear inspirations from the final act of ''Film/{{Jaws}}''. Notably both films feature a ragtag crew sent out on a small fishing boat to stop a monster that turns out to be far too big for their rickety boat to handle. The crews also both include a scientist and a [=WW2=] veteran whose war experiences left them with a traumatic connection to the creature they now hunt. Finally, attempts to kill the monster involve shooting an explosive lodged in their mouth, [[spoiler: the difference being that Godzilla regenerates from the would-be fatal damage almost immediately.]] Both scenes slowly ratchet up the tension and suspense of hunting for a large, hostile creature on the vast ocean, where it could suddenly attack from almost any angle with little or no warning. The first reveal of both creatures is a JumpScare punctuated by a comedy beat (Brody's "[[GonnaNeedMoreX You're gonna need a bigger boat]];" Akitsu's "[[ScrewThisImOuttaHere Okay, never mind!]]"). |
| 170 | * HonorBeforeReason: {{Deconstructed}}: even in the first few scenes, Tachibana deflates the idea of Japan's 'fight to an honorable death' mentality by pointing out that there's no point given the war is already lost, and actually sympathizes with Shikishima for faking engine trouble to avoid it, wishing more were like him. For the most part, Imperial Japan's appeal to honor is thoroughly torn apart throughout the film, with multiple characters being extremely critical and supporting Shikishima's decision. [[spoiler:Several veterans mention how they always drew the short end of the stick during the war and refuse to throw their lives away against Godzilla, and even the ones who ''do'' agree to go along with the plan have to be assured it isn't a SuicideMission. At the climax, Dr. Noda flat out states Japan had treated human life too cheaply and he has no intent to repeat that mistake.]] |
| 171 | * HopeSpot: Numerous, where things seem to go alright only to fall out and crash. Just when the ''Shinsei Maru'' has just blown off some of Godzilla's face [[HealingFactor to no avail]], the ''Takao'' arrives, blasting at the creature with their cannons. Godzilla damages the ship, but six massive barrels shoot him in the stomach at point blank, seemingly at least making him retreat. Then blue light glows from underneath the ''Takao'', which is obliterated by Godzilla's BreathWeapon. |
| 172 | * IAmNotYourFather: When Akiko calls Shikishima "daddy", he corrects her by saying he's not her real father. His coworkers think that's needlessly cruel, considering Shikishima raised her from infancy and is the only male figure in her life, yet he still doesn't consider Akiko his child. |
| 173 | * KnowWhenToFoldEm: Shikishima's desertion is treated as the sensible decision to refuse to throw his life away on a war that's already been lost. |
| 174 | * LineInTheSand: The plan to kill Godzilla is led by former military naval commanders because Japan has no formal military force at this time, the American military refuses to help, and the Japanese government is in disarray after Godzilla's attack, and the volunteers are made up of retired soldiers. The leaders of the operation admit there's no guarantee the plan will work, none of them are being forced to join, especially after just returning from a horrible war, and all of them are free to go home if they so choose, but at the same time telling them they're the only thing that stands between Japan and Godzilla. While some of the men present do leave, most decide to stay and fight, especially after being told this isn't a SuicideMission. |
| 175 | * ManlyTears: Shikishima [[CryIntoChest cries into Noriko's lap]] when he find her alive at the hospital. |
| 176 | * {{Masquerade}}: Godzilla's attack on Odo Island during [=WWII=] is apparently covered up as an attack by the Americans, and his path of destruction towards Tokyo is similarly suppressed by both the Japanese and American governments to avoid causing a panic. Unfortunately, their numerous attempts to destroy Godzilla discretely completely fail, so all it accomplishes is a much higher death toll when Godzilla inevitably makes landfall in the city, as the evacuation order is only given once he's already gotten here. |
| 177 | * MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: While he was clearly mutated by the atomic bomb, there's some ambiguity as to ''what'' Godzilla actually is. Notably, [[https://twitter.com/14_kaiju/status/1733971536531649000 Director Yamazaki has stated]] [[https://hitocinema.mainichi.jp/article/interview-godzilla-yamazakitakashi he considers Godzilla post-mutation]] as a [[Anime/PrincessMononoke Tatari-gami, or "curse god"]] implying this Godzilla might ''literally'' be a god. [[spoiler:The fact his entire body being destroyed isn't enough to put him down lends towards this.]] It's notable that the novelization implies that the Godzillasaurus wasn't a 'normal' creature to begin with and ''already'' had an absurd HealingFactor that allowed it to survive the atomic bomb and mutate at all. |
| 178 | * MilitariesAreUseless: The first to encounter Godzilla after he's mutated by the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_testing_at_Bikini_Atoll Bikini Atoll testings]] are the US Navy. They have a few run-ins with him, but as is usual for the genre conventional weapons are useless and ship after ship is easily destroyed. Eventually he starts heading towards Japan, and the American military basically tell the Japanese government "we're too busy with the Soviets, good luck with the giant, unkillable monster". This is a big problem for Japan, as it's 1947, so they're in the middle of gutting their own military following [=WWII=]. As a result, the task of taking down Godzilla ends up falling to civilians; specifically, a group mostly consisting of former Imperial soldiers and sailors who band together on their own accord and gather up every piece of soon-to-be decommissioned military hardware they can get their hands on. |
| 179 | * MisplacedRetribution: While Godzilla being mutated was the doing of mankind, he doesn't realize the distinction between the Americans who actually did it and the Japanese who were not involved, and they are the ones who end up facing his wrath. |
| 180 | * MonumentalDamage: As noted by the reporter filming it live, the Nippon Gekijo cinema managed to survive the war but not Godzilla (in real life it was demolished in TheEighties). |
| 181 | * MoodWhiplash: In the first ten minutes of the film, Shikishima lands on Odo Island feigning a faulty plane as an excuse to not fulfill his duty as a kamikaze pilot. The mechanics quickly find nothing wrong with the plane and correctly conclude he's deserting, but tell him it was probably the right choice since Japan's defeat is certain and imminent. They start warming up to each other over dinner that night, and then suddenly Godzilla attacks and kills everyone except Shikishima and the lead mechanic. |
| 182 | * MythologyGag: [[MythologyGag/GodzillaMinusOne Has its own page.]] |
| 183 | * NeverMyFault: [[spoiler:Invoked by Shikishima. He knows that he's not blameless for what happened on Odo Island, but with Tachibana proving difficult to find Shikishima hits upon the idea to spam the area around a previous post of his with hatemail to this effect [[IShallTauntYou to provoke him]]. It works as Tachibana becomes so enraged that he seeks Shikishima out to kick his ass.]] |
| 184 | * NeverTrustATrailer: In the first official trailer for the movie, the last line has Shikishima saying "That monster... will never forgive us." as he lies on a floor. In the actual movie however, [[spoiler:the line is never said in the movie, as it was actually two different lines from different scenes in the movie put together for the trailer. Not only that, the actual dialogue in that scene was Shikishima pleading to Tachibana to help repair a broken-down prototype fighter plane for use to defeat Godzilla.]] |
| 185 | [[/folder]] |
| 186 | |
| 187 | [[folder:O-Z]] |
| 188 | * OhCrap: The ''Shinsei Maru'' crew manage to seemingly kill Godzilla by detonating a sea mine inside his mouth, only to watch in horror as the wound regenerates in seconds and the now very angry dinosaur rises to his full height to retaliate. Fortunately, the ''Takao'' arrives just in time to draw his ire. |
| 189 | * OnceMoreWithClarity: When Sōsaku shows all the customizations and repairs he's added to the fighter plane as per Shikishima's instructions, including [[spoiler:replacing one of the fuel tanks with a bomb so he can use the aircraft to kamikaze Godzilla]], he adds that there's one more extra thing he needs to show him, but the scene cuts off before he finishes. Only after [[spoiler:the plane explodes in Godzilla's face in the final battle do we see the rest of the scene, with Sōsaku explaining that he discovered an ejector seat in the plane, and telling Shikishima he better come back alive, which he does thanks to the seat.]] |
| 190 | * OnSecondThought: When the minesweeper crew is assigned to stall Godzilla until an actual warship can arrive, Yoji Akitsu dramatically declares that he's up to the task of taking down the monster. Seconds later, the other minesweeper boat is instantly capsized by Godzilla, at which point he says "never mind" and immediately maneuvers the boat out of there at as fast as possible. |
| 191 | * OutlivingOnesOffspring: Sumiko outlived her children who died in the firebombings, and so her lashing out on Koichi, who was supposed to be a Kamikaze pilot, is understandable. However, once Koichi allows Noriko and Akiko to live with him, she decides to help them raise Akiko and even has her spend time with her while Koichi and Noriko are at work. |
| 192 | * ProhibitedHeroSavesTheDay: Mizushima is told to stay behind for the FinalBattle but eventually comes to save the day by gathering a huge fleet of tugboats, which help the two destroyers finally drag Godzilla back up. |
| 193 | * RasputinianDeath: [[spoiler:The final plan to kill Godzilla goes off in three parts. First, giant canisters of pressured freon gas are strapped to his body, which release bubbles that take away his buoyancy, sinking him like a rock to the bottom of an oceanic trench, which causes rapid and extreme pressure change too fast for Godzilla's body to adapt to. This isn't enough, so the backup plan is used, inflating giant balloons from the canisters to jettison Godzilla back to the surface, exposing him to explosive decompression. This severely injures Godzilla, but still isn't enough to kill him. Fortunately, Shikishima enacts a third plan that the others didn't authorize, crashing his bomb-laden plane into Godzilla's mouth to kill him from inside, which finally puts the monster down ([[TheEndOrIsIt for now, at least]]).]] |
| 194 | * TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: [[spoiler:At the climax, Dr. Noda gives a speech about Imperial Japan's utter lack of concern for human life and his disgust with the country for treating life too cheaply. It's implied it is one reason that Shikishima ultimately decides to use the ejection seat.]] |
| 195 | * {{Remake}}: ''Minus One'' is more or less a remake of [[Film/Godzilla1954 the original film]], detailing Godzilla's first emergence and ensuing rampage in a post-[=WW2=] Japan, and hits some of the same storybeats. |
| 196 | * {{Retraux}}: In a similar vein to the ''[=ORTHOchromatic=]'' release of ''Film/ShinGodzilla'', ''Minus One'' has a DeliberatelyMonochrome version, suffixed with ''[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Minus Color]]''. |
| 197 | * ReusedCharacterDesign: The Godzilla design for the movie is very similar to the one used in Yamazaki's ''Godzilla: The Ride'', tweaked for this film. |
| 198 | * RevisitingTheRoots: The summary outright declares that this is a revisit of the original 1954 film's concept, with Godzilla attacking Tokyo as Japan recovers from UsefulNotes/WorldWarII and, similar to ''Film/ShinGodzilla'', is another solo venture, with no other monsters present besides Godzilla, who again plays a clear villain role against humanity. Indeed, the overall plot is functionally a loose remake of the original film, with [[spoiler:Godzilla first appearing on Odo Island, ''then'' being mutated and enraged by nuclear testing; attacking ships at sea as he makes his way up the Japanese coast; devastating Tokyo; and then being destroyed by an unconventional plan of attack involving a fancy chemical weapon at sea]]. The AlternateMonochromeVersion is also the first official black-and-white Godzilla movie since ''Film/GodzillaRaidsAgain'' in 1955. |
| 199 | * RiddleForTheAges: In the opening act, Shikishima and the aircraft repairmen on Odo Island are attacked by Godzilla who is much smaller (only 15 meters tall, instead of 50 meters) and not yet mutated. The lead repairman Tachibana tells Shikishima to sneak to his plane and use the 20mm sentry gun to shoot Godzilla in the face, believing that nothing could possibly survive a direct barrage from a weapon like that. Shikishima isn't so sure, and his uncertainty gets the better of him when he doesn't shoot when he has a perfect shot. It's never made clear if the gun would've been effective on Godzilla at that point, as he later mutates and becomes far more powerful. For what it's worth, [[AllThereInTheManual the film's novelization, only available in Japan, suggests that it wouldn't have worked]], and Godzilla stomping on the planes and fuel tanks without any injury imply much the same. |
| 200 | * RoaringRampageOfRevenge: While always an aspect of his character, this time it's made very clear that Godzilla is out for revenge on humanity and actively trying to kill as many people as possible. In an early trailer, Shikishima flat-out says that "this monster will never forgive us." |
| 201 | * RockBeatsLaser: The minesweeping job Shikishima takes involves a wooden tugboat which is ideal for dealing with American-made sea mines that are magnetic and drawn to metal hulls. |
| 202 | * SceneryGorn: |
| 203 | ** When Koichi returns from the war, his hometown is leveled to the ground by American B29 firebombings, and finds out his parents perished in the attack. It took two years until the surviving population managed to rebuild their homes from scratch, and Koichi has a new home built for himself, Noriko, and Akiko. |
| 204 | ** When Godzilla arrives to Ginza, he levels several buildings, displaces pavement, and began attacking trains. And just when [[HopeSpot the military arrives with tanks to deal with him]], he begins to charge his atomic breath from the tail-up, and shoots the beam with great force, it literally sets off ''like an actual nuclear bomb'', once again reducing Ginza into rubble, complete with black rain to set the whole ordeal. |
| 205 | * ScrewThisImOuttaHere: |
| 206 | ** When Godzilla lunges up out of the water and eats the ''Shinsei Maru's'' sister ship in one chomp, Captain Akitsu decides that his heroic posturing about being the only ones who can hold the line against the monster was delusional and hurriedly decides they have to run for it. |
| 207 | ** After Godzilla blows up much of Ginza with his heat ray, the military backs off from fighting him, leaving the task to a group of World War 2 veterans. |
| 208 | ** Several of the veterans back out of taking part in the plan because they're not convinced it will work, are tired of being called on to sacrifice their lives, and have families that need them. Nobody holds it against them. |
| 209 | * SeaMine: Shikishima takes up a job as a minesweeper, helping to clean up the thousands of sea mines lining the coast of Japan placed by both the Japanese and the Americans during the war (it's a high-risk, high-pay occupation, as one might expect). At one point, the minesweeping boats are reassigned to take on Godzilla, and use some of the mines as weapons. One detonated on Godzilla's back does nothing, but one detonated in his mouth actually injures him... until his HealingFactor kicks in. |
| 210 | * SelfDamagingAttackBackfire: [[spoiler:The plan to kill Godzilla by ExplosiveDecompression doesn't quite work, it definitely hurt him a lot, but it isn't enough. Godzilla, enraged beyond measure, prepares to wipe out all the ships with his atomic breath, only for Shikishima to dive his plane into Godzilla's mouth in the nick of time, blowing up the monster's head. With no way for the pressurized nuclear energy to be released anymore, Godzilla's body literally falls to pieces as he's destroyed from the inside out by his own attack.]] |
| 211 | * SenselessSacrifice: Discussed: Shikishima deserted his duties in part because he believed being a kamikaze fighter would amount to this trope [[StupidSacrifice at best]], but this decision burdens him with dishonor in the eyes of his countrymen and heavy survivor's guilt. When Godzilla arrives, Shikishima perceives him as a result of his failures, and comes to the conclusion that sacrificing himself to destroy him is the only way to atone for his mistakes and end his torment, even as the people around him are encouraging him that it is better to live. In the end, Shikishima chooses to [[spoiler: eject from his plane before it explodes, affirming that there is nothing honorable about sacrifice that can be avoided, and it's always better to stay alive than to die.]] |
| 212 | * SerkisFolk: Similarly to the eponymous character in ''Film/ShinGodzilla'' and the Kaiju of ''Film/ShinUltraman'', ''Godzilla Minus One'' uses CGI to bring its monster to life, maintaining the properties of the Godzilla suits and simultaneously giving life to the in-film model. On top of his sweeping bodily movements, Godzilla is now capable of subtle facial expressions that a suit would have difficulty portraying, such as glaring at a ship trying to shoot him with contempt. |
| 213 | * ShipperOnDeck: Akitsu, Noda, and Mizushima are this for Shikishima and Noriko; as they celebrate Shikishima's new house, they lightheartedly rib Shikishima about his relationship with her, which he is very irritated with. This later comes back to less lighthearted effect when Akitsu asks Shikishima why he didn't marry Noriko [[spoiler:before she died]]. |
| 214 | * ShooTheDog: Noda and Akitsu refuse to take Mizushima along with them in the final campaign to kill Godzilla, because they know full well there's a good chance they're going to their doom and think it's better that a young man like him, who has never seen the horrors of warfare, should keep it that way and help carry on Japan's future. [[spoiler:Mizushima disobeys and pulls a ProhibitedHeroSavesTheDay moment just when hope seems to be lost.]] |
| 215 | * ShoutOut: There are some clear nods to Creator/StevenSpielberg's own monster movies, with the Odo Island attack making references to ''Film/JurassicPark1993'' and the boat chase scene clearly being inspired by the third act of ''Film/{{Jaws}}''. |
| 216 | * ShownTheirWork: When Godzilla unleashes his atomic breath, it causes a powerful explosion with a flashbang strong enough to level surrounding buildings and ends in black rain. That's ''exactly'' how nuclear weapons work in real life, and since this is a Japanese work based on the aftermath of World War II, they ''know'' how terrifying nukes are. |
| 217 | ** The destroyers featured in the film were also modelled appropriately after their real-life counterparts, rather than being duplicated. They were also marked correctly with their romanized names painted amidships, which did occur during the Allied Occupation of Japan. |
| 218 | * ShrineToTheFallen: Shikishima keeps a shrine for his dead parents at his home. |
| 219 | * SignificantNameShift: There is a heartwarming moment when Akiko calls Shikishima "Daddy" for the first time. |
| 220 | * SkywardScream: [[spoiler:Shikishima lets out a cry of utter anguish after Godzilla's first beam attack ''nukes'' Ginza, apparently killing Noriko in a wave of destruction.]] |
| 221 | * SleepingSingle: While living as platonic partners, Shikishima and Noriko have their sleeping areas divided by a blanket. |
| 222 | * SmokeShield: Happens several times with Godzilla. |
| 223 | ** When the minesweeper crew gets chased by Godzilla, they manage to FeedItABomb. However, to their surprise, Godzilla emerges unscathed from the spray of the explosion and is still hot on their tails. |
| 224 | ** Same happens when Godzilla passes the mine belt in the bay area. |
| 225 | ** When Godzilla [[HopeSpot gets attacked by the tanks]] after his landfall in Ginza, there is a huge cloud of smoke and a prolonged moment of silence. Then Godzilla emerges alive and undergoes a dramatic HealingFactor sequence. |
| 226 | * SoupOfPoverty: In the ruins of post-war Tokyo, rice gruel is the only food Shikishima and Noriko can get for themselves and their child. After a timeskip of a few years, during which Shikishima gets a job clearing mines, they can afford to eat more and better. |
| 227 | * TheStinger: After the end credits have rolled, we hear bursting sounds and a MightyRoar on the soundtrack, confirming that [[TheEndOrIsIt Godzilla is still alive.]] |
| 228 | * SuicideAttack: [[spoiler:{{Subverted}}. Shikishima thinks he can redeem himself as a kamikaze deserter who got the Odo Island repairmen killed by diving an explosives-laden plane into Godzilla's mouth to kill him. However, the last surviving repairman Tachibana discovers an ejector seat in the plane and tells him to come back alive. As a result, Shikishima is able to fly the plane into Godzilla's mouth ''and'' eject before impact, surviving]]. |
| 229 | * SupermanStaysOutOfGotham: The US refuses to help Japan in destroying Godzilla due to the presence of Soviet submarines nearby, despite the fact that, at this point, Japan has almost ''nothing'' to defend itself with, due to the military having been disbanded (and the Japan Self-Defense Forces still several years away from being founded). |
| 230 | * SurprisinglyHappyEnding: [[spoiler:In spite of the DownerBeginning and rather grim middle act, the ending of the film is surprisingly uplifting despite the odds. The plan to kill Godzilla works (at least, for now) without any of the characters dying, Shikishima is able to put his guilt to rest without giving his life, Sōsaku forgives him for what happened on Odo Island, and Noriko turns out to have survived the destruction of Ginza, with possibly a healing factor caused by mutation.]] |
| 231 | * {{Tagline}}: |
| 232 | ** "Post-war, Japan. From zero to minus." (戦後、日本。 無から負へ。) Notably, this text is not translated for posters localized for other languages. |
| 233 | ** "Survive and fight." (生きて、抗え。, lit. "Live, [and] resist.") |
| 234 | * TaintedVeins: At the very end of the movie, [[spoiler:when Noriko is hugging Shikishima she's shown to have black vein-like markings in the shape of Godzilla's dorsal spines creeping up her neck from beneath her bandages]]. |
| 235 | * TanksForNothing: Four Type 4 Chi-To tanks engage Godzilla when he makes landfall, which only delay him for a few seconds before getting destroyed. In our reality, the Type 4 was produced so late in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII that only two were ever completed. |
| 236 | * TechnicolorDeath: [[spoiler:When Shikishima manages to blow up Godzilla's head with the plane, the atomic energy inside of the monster has no way to exit, thus causing beams of it to radiate out of multiple spots on his body as he crumbles to pieces.]] |
| 237 | * ThemeMusicPowerUp: The classic ''Godzilla'' theme plays in the final battle. |
| 238 | * ThemeMusicWithholding: The ''Godzilla'' theme music is not played during the Kaiju's rampage on Odo Island, its pursuit of the ''Shinsei Maru'', or its appearance in Shikishima's nightmare. Instead, oppressive drones take their place to emphasize the horror of an unstoppable Kaiju crushing humans. It's not until the Ginza attack that Godzilla's original theme kicks in. |
| 239 | * TimeCompressionMontage: There's a brief one of these after Shikishima gets his job disposing of mines. The work is going well, he gets along with his fellow crewmembers, he's able to rebuild his old home, and his adoptive family is happy and healthy. |
| 240 | * TimeForPlanB: [[spoiler:Plan A to kill Godzilla is to force him to extreme depth and have the pressure crush him. Plan B is then to rapidly raise him to the surface and kill him with decompression. Shikishima then comes up with a Plan C: FeedItABomb SuicideAttack. Plan A doesn't work, B greatly weakens him but doesn't finish the job, but Plan C does work]]. |
| 241 | * TimeSkip: The film makes specific jumps forward in its years-spanning story, only covering the significant details of Shikishima's life following the end of the war, as well as events revolving around Godzilla being spotted by American forces (e.g. the Bikini Atoll detonation and Godzilla being caught in its blast, followed by the ''Shinsei Maru'' coming across a destroyed American warship). |
| 242 | * TheTokyoFireball: It's a Godzilla movie, so this shouldn't be unexpected. In this case, the movie starts with a real life Tokyo Fireball already having occurred, the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Tokyo Bombing of Tokyo]] by US forces during World War II, which basically levelled the city. Shikishima comes back from the war to find his entire neighbourhood has been reduced to rubble and his parents are dead. And then, only two years later, Godzilla attacks Japan and obliterates the Ginza district of Tokyo with his atomic breath. |
| 243 | * TooDumbToLive: As Godzilla tears through Ginza, a [[DeadlineNews group of reporters]] stand on the roof of a roughly 40 meter tall building taking photos of him and reporting for the radio as he moves closer and closer to them. The kaiju comes within a few meters of them and they only think to move after Godzilla strikes the building they're on, much too late as the part they're standing on falls over, taking them with it. |
| 244 | * TragicKeepsake: After the Odo Island massacre, a resentful Tachibana forcibly gives Shikishima a small bundle before parting ways. Looking through them, Shikishima realizes that they are all family photos of the Odo Island engineers who died because of his failure. He holds onto the photos for years. Near the end of the film, [[spoiler:Shikishima, prepared to die in order to kill Godzilla, pulls out the bundle of photos, as well as Akiko's drawing of him, herself and Noriko. Seeing that Shikishima kept the reminders of the past and the possibility of a future, convinces Tachibana to let go of his anger and inform the pilot of the ''Shinden''[='=]s ejector seat, all but ordering him to live]]. |
| 245 | * TragicKeepsake: Shikishima keeps the photographs of the engineers killed on Odo Island as a reminder [[MyGreatestFailure of his greatest failure]]. |
| 246 | * TravelMontage: One of these is used to show Godzilla gradually making his way to Japan from the Bikini Atoll, [[TheJuggernaut which also shows him sinking every single ship that ends up in his path]]. |
| 247 | * UnfinishedUntestedUsedAnyway: |
| 248 | ** The fighter plane Shikishima flies into the final battle is a Kyushu [=J7W=] ''Shinden'', noted to be very unusual because it only existed as two unfinished prototypes, due to the war ending before it could ever be brought into service (in real life, only one of these prototypes still partially exists, so Toho had to commission a full-sized replica for use in the film). Since Japan had decommissioned all of its planes at this point, they don't have much choice on the type of aircraft. |
| 249 | ** While the narrative never draws attention to it, the tanks that fire on Godzilla in Ginza are Type 4 ''Chi-To'' medium tanks, which, similar to the ''Shinden'', were only constructed as two completed prototypes (and a few unfinished ones) at the very tail end of the war and never saw service. This is another hint at the AlternateHistory setting of ''Minus One'', as it means that the type saw at least some degree of limited production before the war ended, or additional, functional prototypes were built during the war's closing months and avoided being found long for enough to not be confiscated by the allies. |
| 250 | * UnspokenPlanGuarantee: [[spoiler: {{Averted}}. The audience is given a complete play-by-play for each of the three plans to defeat Godzilla. Overall, each plan plays out as intended: Godzilla is explosively compressed, explosively ''de''compressed, and explosively [[YourHeadAsplode decapitated]]. That said, Plan B is when things start to go very wrong, when Godzilla starts breaking the balloons that are meant to drag him up; if not for [[TheCavalry the fleet of tugboats that Mizushima had rallied]], the monster would have gotten free.]] |
| 251 | * UnstoppableRage: While not outright stated, this Godzilla's ''pissed'' that puny humans are on his territory and takes it out on whatever's nearby - Odo Island villagers (who learned when to avoid it), which graduates to Imperial Japanese personnel, American warships and ''then'' Tokyo. |
| 252 | -->"That monster... will never forgive us." |
| 253 | * VisualInnuendo: When Shikishima and the others on the ''Shinsei Maru'' are told to distract Godzilla to buy time for the ''Takao'' to arrive, they look at the two mines they've salvaged--which are enormous balls, mind you--and say it'll take more than "a pair of these" to deal with Godzilla. |
| 254 | * WarIsHell: The film is set from the closing days of World War II to slightly after the war is over, so this should be obvious. Shikishima being a deserter is treated sympathetically and it's ultimately depicted as having been the right choice, as he was put into a suicide mission by a government that has no chance of winning the war and everyone knows it. Shikishima returns home to Tokyo only to find the entire region has been levelled and his parents were killed in the air raids. When he encounters a trainee who never got a chance to see combat and wishes the war went on a little longer so he could've seen some action, Shikishima [[BerserkButton angrily grabs him by the collar and says he better be joking]]. |
| 255 | -->'''Akitsu:''' To have never seen war is something to be proud of. |
| 256 | * WaterWakeup: When they meet again, Tachibana clubs Shikishima unconscious from behind and uses water to wake him up afterwards. |
| 257 | * WeHaveReserves: At several points in the film, Imperial Japan is called out for ultimately using its facade of honor as an excuse for treating its people as expendable and throwing lives away for nothing. |
| 258 | * WeirdHistoricalWar: The opening is set near the end of World War II, by the point Japan's defeat is certain and immediately imminent. The main character, Shikishima, abandons his duty as a kamikaze pilot and diverts to a remote airplane repair station on Odo Island under the guise of vehicle malfunction, which the repairmen easily see through. That night, Shikishima and the workers are attacked by a giant reptilian beast from the sea the island locals call "Godzilla", which destroys the repair station and kills most of the mechanics. An offhand remark from another character later in the film suggests the incident was covered up as an attack by the Americans, despite the fact Odo Island was never targeted by them. |
| 259 | * WhatAPieceOfJunk: |
| 260 | ** Shikishima takes up a job as a minesweeper, cleaning up the thousands of sea mines along the coast deployed by both Japan and the US during the war, to support Noriko and Akiko, since it's a high-paying job (due to being high-risk). Noriko thinks it isn't worth the danger, but Shikishima assures her the boat used for the task is specially designed for evading mines. He's much less impressed when he sees the "specially designed" boat, as it's a tiny and rickety wooden tugboat. He's quickly assured that it's necessary for the task at hand, since many of the sea mines are magnetic, so a ship with a metal hull would trigger the bombs. It also proves fast and maneuverable enough to evade Godzilla later on. |
| 261 | ** In the film's climax, [[spoiler:a whole bunch of similarly rinky dink tugboats show up to do what tugboats do best and pull the destroyers so they can force Godzilla to surface.]] |
| 262 | * WhatTheHellHero: |
| 263 | ** Mild example, during the dinner scene at Koichi's house with the crew of the ''Shinsei Maru''. When Akiko calls Koichi "daddy" and Koichi corrects her, his crewmates are quick to admonish him. |
| 264 | ** Later when the crew are drinking while discussing the plan to kill Godzilla, a drunken Akitsu [[spoiler:angrily calls out Shikishima for not marrying Noriko (believed to be dead at this point) when he had the chance, despite knowing how she felt]]. |
| 265 | * WorthyOpponent: [[spoiler:After Godzilla is finally killed, everyone involved in the operation who put him to rest salute the monster as his body sinks to a watery grave.]] |
| 266 | * YourHeadAsplode: [[spoiler:Shikishima flies the ''Shinden'', with one of its gas tanks secretly replaced with a bomb, right into Godzilla's mouth as he's about to fire his atomic breath. The plane explodes, blowing off everything above Godzilla's lower jaw (and now with no mouth to release his atomic breath, the concentrated nuclear energy destroys Godzilla's body from the inside).]] |
| 267 | * YouWillBeSpared: Ambiguous, when the pre-irradiated Godzilla shows up on Odo island he noticeably spares Shikishima as the latter did not provoke him by not firing on him when he had the opportunity, while the former massacres almost everyone else for shooting at him. |
| 268 | [[/folder]] |
| 269 | ---- |
| 270 | ->''"Is your war finally over?"'' |
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