How Godzilla Was Last Defeated in the Ending of Godzilla Minus One
According to the scheme developed in Godzilla Minus One by fellow minesweeper Shikishima's former scientist and weapons expert Kenji Noda, Godzilla is lured into the bay close to Tokyo and surrounded with Freon tanks, which are then ruptured. With hopes that the pressure at that depth would crush Godzilla, this aerates the water around him and causes him to fall quite rapidly to the trench 1500 meters below sea level. Should that fail, highly pressurized balloons would be blown under Godzilla, rapidly ascending him back to the surface and killing him via catastrophic decompression.
With Shikishima attracting and diverting Godzilla with a specialized plane so the destroyers have time to envelop Godzilla with the Freon tanks, the scheme nearly goes off exactly. But Godzilla smashes through the balloons as they transport him back to the surface, hurrying to keep ascending using the destroyers and a bevy of citizen-operated tugboats. Godzilla suffers but not dies when he at last surfaces and starts to charge his heat ray. Using this chance, Shikishima flies his plane—loaded with extra explosives—into Godzilla's throat.
Godzilla Minus One Teases the Monster Will Live Through
Though it does, the last frames of the Godzilla Minus One ending show a fragment of Godzilla's broken flesh sinking into the sea starting to bubble. Godzilla has incredible regenerative powers throughout the film, and it follows that a new Godzilla might develop from the chunk of flesh. Though technically dead since its whole body broke down, Godzilla Minus One's version that targets Tokyo leaves Godzilla's destiny purposefully vague.
Could Godzilla entirely reconstruct itself if its flesh kept regenerating? If so, would the creature have memories or would it be a brand-new creation totally? Though all of these questions remain unresolved, the enigmatic ending speaks to them. Godzilla Minus One ends on a gratifying but rather sad tone, although the regenerating flesh suggests that Godzilla survived in some form and that the fight against him is not done.
How did Noriko weather Godzilla's first attack?
Most of Godzilla MInus One's second half is based on Noriko's death along with many others when Godzilla fired his heat ray against the city, producing an atomic bomb-like blast that destroyed everything. The film's ending, however, shows her surviving—though with significant injuries. Given the mechanism of the blast she is caught in—mostly kinetic, flinging masses of rubble and debris back and forth but not really burning it—this is quite reasonable.
The odds of survival would be something like those of surviving the fall of a building: improbable but not impossible. With the attack having a significant impact on Noriko and her other injuries, the black notes on them clearly demonstrate that she most definitely did not make it out unscathed. Noriko, nonetheless, managed to overcome the odds and escape the attack, therefore averting a sad death.
The Black Notes on Noriko's Neck Expanded
Noriko sadly might not live very long. Her skin's last zoom-in shows black dots suggesting she has some degree of radiation illness. This shows even more exactly how closely Godzilla Minus One's heat beam is meant to resemble a real atomic explosion. Like many survivors of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II, Noriko has marks of radiation illness.
These radiation markings are supposed to be G-cells, which might set Noriko down some fascinating directions in a possible Godzilla Minus One sequel. Previous Godzilla films are known to have G-cells creating Kaiju, but it might also provide her a link to the regrown monster in next iterations.
Godzilla Minus One: An Original Interpretive View of a Classic Monster
Fans, critics, even the 2014 reboot director have appreciated Godzilla Minus One; its near-universal praise stems mostly from its climactic ending. Godzilla is back to his terrible roots in the most recent Toho production, functioning as a catastrophic adversary of mainland Japan. Following former kamikaze pilot Kōichi Shikishima, who chooses to renounce his self-sacrificial obligation at the close of World War II, the film Along with a young woman, Noriko, and an orphaned child, Akiko, Shikishima chooses to adopt upon his return home from a new life he finds in the ashes of Tokyo.
Godzilla strikes Tokyo, fresh off a size and power increase at the hands of the notorious Bikini Atoll nuclear testing, just as Shikishima and the rest of Tokyo seem to be finally making progress in rebuilding. Shikishima's friend Noriko seems dead during Godzilla's first strike on the mainland from the Kaiju's new abilities, which replicate an actual atomic bomb detonation and cause fresh degrees of destruction. Desperate hatred consuming him, Shikishima puts himself into a citizen-driven strategy developed by one of his colleagues to handle Godzilla once and for once.
The Final Meaning of Godzilla Minus One
Although Godzilla Minus One tackles many of the prevalent issues from Godzilla's source and the movie's historical frame, director Takashi Yamazaka said in an interview with Aera that he was inspired by the most recent COVID-19 epidemic. During the epidemic, he aimed to portray the general unreliability of the governments around the world as well as the global worry. The dimensions of Japan's suffering following World War II and the despair and anxiety many people experienced during the epidemic have many direct analogues, and it is difficult to see Godzilla as the COVID-19 virus itself, an apparently unbeatable foe accountable for many deaths.
Apart from the modern comparisons and Godzilla's symbolism, Godzilla Minus One investigates two main and opposing themes: the scars of tragedy and hope for the future. Over the course of the film, trauma shows itself in numerous forms; the most clear-cut one being survivor's guilt for Shikishima. Shikishima is able to escape death on three significant occasions (his kamikaze mission, Godzilla's attack on Odo Island, and Godzilla's first attack on the mainland) while those around him die. Shikishima's trauma is so intense that he suffers from an aggressive form of impostor syndrome, where he questions whether he's even really alive.
What We Know About A Godzilla Minus One Sequel
Godzilla Minus One was a hit for Toho Studios, the Japanese production company behind the 2023 movie and the original run of Japanese Godzilla films dating back to the kaiju's first appearance in 1954. The latest Toho Godzilla movie was lauded by critics and audiences alike, and grossed over $115 million on a budget of between $10-12 million (via Box Office Mojo). It also won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects at the 96th Academy Awards, beating several major blockbusters, including Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One.
With the high levels of success that Godzilla Minus One saw, many have wondered if and when a sequel will arrive. While there are no concrete plans for a Godzilla Minus Two/Godzilla Zero yet, there have been some hints at what the next movie in the series could look like. In an interview with Empire, Takashi Yamazaki confirmed that a sequel to Godzilla Minus One hasn't been greenlit yet. However, he did tease what a sequel could be about:
Why Did Tachibana Help Shikishima Survive His Mission?
Tachibana is the only other member of the repair team on Odo Island that survived the original, smaller Godzilla's 1945 attack that Shikishima experienced early on in Godzilla Minus One. He knows that Shikishima lied about his plane's condition to avoid his duty as a kamikaze pilot, and knows that he failed to fire on Godzilla on Odo Island. Given that knowledge, it would be understandable if he left Shikishima to his original plan for his specialized plane, which was to complete his kamikaze mission and sacrifice himself by flying his plane into Godzilla's mouth.
However, in a pleasant and inspiring twist, it's revealed that Tachibana included an ejector seat in the plane as he worked to repair it. Tachibana is even shown celebrating when learning that Shikishima survived his assault on Godzilla. His act of kindness is one of the most powerful symbols of hope in the movie; Tachibana finds a way for Shikishima to survive and carry on at the end of Godzilla Minus One, choosing to believe in giving him a second chance as opposed to coldly allowing Shikishima to finish his original kamikaze mission. It emphasizes how important it is to change the old ways in Japan if the country is to rebuild successfully.
Why The Humans Salute In Godzilla Minus One's Ending
At the end of Godzilla Minus One, the humans salute Godzilla as he is dying, which may seem like an odd choice considering the death and destruction that the monster caused. However, these salutes serve a thematic purpose, one that is spelled out by the Godzilla Minus One novelization. The humans at the end of the film consider Godzilla and his fate to be a product of humans, with them feeling some sort of guilt for the destruction that the monster caused and his subsequent death.
In addition to the contemporary analogies and Godzilla's symbolism, there are two overarching and conflicting themes explored in Godzilla Minus One: hope for the future and the lasting scars of trauma. Trauma manifests itself in several forms throughout the course of the movie, the most obvious of which is Shikishima's survivor's guilt. Shikishima is able to escape death on three significant occasions (his kamikaze mission, Godzilla's attack on Odo Island, and Godzilla's first attack on the mainland) while those around him die. Shikishima's trauma is so intense that he suffers from an aggressive form of impostor syndrome, where he questions whether he's even really alive.
