godzilla musing

[stepnix]

Shin Godzilla and the (Japanese) Godzilla media immediately following it feel sci-fi in a way that other Godzillas don't. This is a silly distinction, Godzilla has been sci-fi the whole time, but I'm framing the difference that way anyway. Shin Godzilla spends a lot of the movie investigating the biology of Godzilla, eventually leading to the final plan to seal him away. The Monster Planet trilogy is set in the far future, with humanity returning from interstellar travels to recolonize a thoroughly Godzilla-ized planet. Singular Point is heavy on unraveling the mysteries of theoretical physics over the course of the series. Each of these is also eager to reimagine the kaiju: Godzilla is a metamorphosing heterotroph, or the ruler of a planetary ecosystem in his image, or the herald of a cognitive event horizon. Singular Point in particular plays around with reinterpretations (precognitive Anguirus my beloved), although the more classic designs show up in the credits every episode.

With the success of Minus One, and the upcoming Minus Zero, it looks like this phase of Godzilla history has come to a close. But I'm very fond of this unofficial trilogy, it demonstrates a lot of potential still untapped in the biggest kaiju franchise in the world