Godzilla (Godzilla Minus One)

Godzilla
Godzilla character
Godzilla's irradiated form in Godzilla Minus One (2023)
First appearance	Godzilla Minus One (2023)
Based on	Godzilla by Toho Co., Ltd.
Adapted by	Takashi Yamazaki
Designed by	Takashi Yamazaki Kosuke Taguchi
In-universe information
Alias	Gojira MaiGoji MinusGoji
Species	Dinosaurian creature (irradiated)
Home	Odo Island
Status	Alive (currently regenerating)
In-universe statistics
Height	15 meters (initial) 50.1 meters (irradiated)
Weight	20,000 tons (irradiated; estimated)

Godzilla (/ɡɒdˈzɪlə/ ɡod-ZIL-ə) is a fictional monster, or kaiju, that appears as the titular antagonist of the 2023 film Godzilla Minus One, the 37th entry in the Godzilla film series. Based on Toho's character of the same name, it was adapted and co-designed by Takashi Yamazaki.

In Godzilla Minus One, it is depicted as a huge, dinosaurian creature, known only by the people of Odo Island, who was irradiated by nuclear bomb testings during Operation Crossroads in 1946, causing it to enact terrible vengeance on humanity by wreaking havoc across post-war Japan. The ensuing calamity and advent of Godzilla brings put Japan to a state of "below zero" following the aftermath of World War II.

Overview

Design

We wanted to make Godzilla very, very cool for this film. The head is on the smaller side, the legs are very thick. When the feet are stomping on the ground, you can almost see the toes being raised, like a wild animal’s. And we wanted impact for the audience, so there’s an intense level of getting up close, personal and detailed, that you can’t really do with a man in a suit.

In terms of polygon counts, we’re talking millions that went into creating Godzilla this time. In terms of the skin texture, there was a dinosaur origin, but when it’s wounded, a regeneration happens and there’s a different texture, like you would see on any wound. We wanted a mix, brought in new layers that would make the look very unique.

We wanted to go back to the original reason for Godzilla’s existence. The creature is a metaphor for nuclear weapons, so we mimicked the way a weapon would work inside of his body. Each element would come together and create an implosion, and that’s when the blue rays would come out.

— Takashi Yamazaki, Screen Rant (February 2024)

Godzilla's design used for Godzilla the Ride: Giant Monsters Ultimate Battle (2021).

It's almost impossible to talk about this iteration without bringing Godzilla the Ride: Giant Monsters Ultimate Battle (2021), a 5-minute flying theater ride that debuted at the Seibuen amusement park in 2021, also directed by Yamazaki. Yamazaki designed the RideGoji himself through sketches and digital sculpting in ZBrush, with modeling head Kosuke Taguchi creating the final, 380-million-polygon model. Yamazaki combined elements from the Heisei and Monsterverse iterations for this heroic incarnation. Aware that the theater ride would contain aerial shots of the kaiju, Yamazaki gave a small head and large thighs. Yamazaki described him: "It was both cool and frightening, while still embodying the common elements of the Godzilla tradition. We wanted a vertical stance, with very thick and robust legs, giving the overall shape a mountain-like appearance. We focused on making the lower body very massive and the face frightening, yet unmistakably Godzilla."

As usual, Yamazaki worked with the VFX company that gave him his start of film industry, Shirogumi, and came to view Godzilla the Ride as a test function for Godzilla Minus One. Shirogumi came to learn just how frightening Godzilla could be in close-ups, which informed the approach they would take to the upcoming feature. After some initial design explorations, with iterations including "one with a strong, animalistic quality, one with cells that regenerate but create errors, and one with a wicked expression that reminded [him] of Scarface", Yamazaki opted to use the RideGoji design as a starting point for the MinusGoji design.

Godzilla's design used for Godzilla Minus One (2023).

Once again, Yamazaki made a rough model in ZBrush and Taguchi expanded it into something detailed enough for IMAX theaters. In the process, Godzilla became "sharper and more pointy", especially its dorsal plates. Its eyes were "golden, almond-shaped", almost human, and relatively small in imitation of Hollywood Godzillas. Like Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991), Godzilla first appears in a pre-irradiated form during World War II. The initial form was given a stance and proportions closer to that of a theropod dinosaur; behind the scenes, a muscle simulation was conducted to make him move more convincingly. Such measures were deliberately avoided with the irradiated Godzilla, who Yamazaki viewed as "both a monster and a deity", to keep him from moving too animalistically. Shirogumi also forewent performance capture, in contrast with Shin Godzilla (2016). A physical model of Godzilla was 3D-printed as a reference, though Yamazaki admitted "it was also kind of a setup because I just wanted a 3D-printed Godzilla from Minus One."

Yamazaki's wife, Shimako Sato, also observed that Godzilla's behavior reminded her of the two cats they got prior to starting production. Yamazaki believed he was subconsciously nudging his animators towards giving the kaiju more feline tendencies, explaining: "Right before we went into production, [my wife and I] actually got a couple of cats. And I love my cats so much, so perhaps there was a subconscious tendency for me to sign off on [visual effects] shots that looked like them or just looked more cat-like."

Roar

For this Godzilla's roar, sound designer Natsuko Inoue used the roars played over the opening credits of the 1954 film as a starting point, then "gradually add[ed] width and deep bass tones." Inoue initially tried creating original roars through experiments with a contrabass, much as Ichiro Minawa and Akira Ifukube did in 1954, but Yamazaki deemed the results too modern and animalistic.

Character's biography

Godzilla Minus One (2023)

Godzilla's pre-irradated form on Odo Island

In 1945, Godzilla first appeared on Odo Island, resembling a fifteen-meter-tall theropod-like reptile and slaughtered the inhabitants of the military base, leaving Koichi Shikishima and Sosaku Tachibana the only survivors from the attack. He first demolished the watchtower and killed the officer stationed there before searching for his comrades who hid in a nearby trench. Though he was ordered to bombard the creature with his plane's guns, Koichi was too paralyzed by fear to do so, leading his comrades to snap and open fire on Godzilla themselves. Predictably, their guns only enraged the creature, who then proceeded to massacre the soldiers as soon as they scrambled out of cover. The one-sided battle culminated with Godzilla destroying Koichi's plane and knocking its pilot out before leaving.

A year later, Godzilla was caught up in Operation Crossroads and mutated into a fifty-meter-tall behemoth and proceeded to destroy the American fleet before making its way into Japanese waters. Due to the rising tensions between the USA and USSR, the U.S. could not deploy their forces to intercept.

In 1947, Godzilla destroyed a ship out at the sea which was then found by Koichi and his colleagues on board of the minesweeper Shinsei Maru. The sight of surrounding dead deep-sea fishes there alarmed Koichi who finally revealed to his colleagues the culprit of the attack to be the same creature who laid waste upon the outpost at Odo Island back in 1945 as opposed of American forces. Godzilla revealed himself by sinking Kaishin Maru, the sister ship of Shinsei Maru which accompanied them before chasing the group. During the chase, they detonated sea mines to stop the creature where one of them burst inside Godzilla's mouth and severely wounded him, but the damage was quickly undone due to Godzilla's enhanced regenerative abilities. It was then intercepted by the Takao and proceeded to battle the vessel before it managed to get the drop on it and destroy it with its heat ray, much to Koichi and his colleague's horror and utter disbelief.

Later, Godzilla would make landfall in Tokyo and proceed to destroy it. After being fired upon by the remnants of the Japanese army, Godzilla fired its heat ray and annihilated a good chunk of the Ginza before returning to sea.

Godzilla's irradiated form

With the Japanese government wanting no part in Godzilla's eradication, the civilians and veterans of WWII had to take matters into their own hands. For that, they formulated Operation Wada Tsumi, a plan to kill Godzilla by using explosive decompression by using canisters of Freon gas and balloons tied around him. Koichi led Godzilla out into the attack point using a Shinden fighter plane that Tachibana had modified prior. While the plan to sink Godzilla failed, they opted to kill Godzilla by bringing him up to the surface at a fast rate. While the effort managed to injure him, it wasn't enough as Godzilla surfaced once more. Now absolutely furious, he prepared to fire its heat ray at the nearby warships. However, at the last second, Koichi flew his Shinden into Godzilla's mouth, blowing up the monster's head and causing his built-up atomic energies to explode from the inside out.

At the end of the film, a small piece of Godzilla drifted to the bottom of the ocean and proceeded to regenerate.

Appearances

Films

• Godzilla Minus One (2023)

Books

• Novel Version: Godzilla Minus One (2023)

Games

• Godzilla Battle Line (2021; mod to the game in 2023) - on Android, iOS, and PC
• Fleet of Blue Flames (2017; mod to the game 2023) - on Android, iOS, and PC

Public displays

On July 14, 2023, Prior to the premiering of the film, a statue of MinusGoji was installed at the Toho Cinemas in Hibiya.

In June 2024, a 2.45 m (245 cm; 96 in; 2,450 mm) tall monument of MinusGoji's head and neck was built at Hisaya-Odori Park in central Nagoya, Chūbu to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Godzilla franchise.