Shin Godzilla (2016)

Director: Hideaki Anno, Shinji Higuchi

Written By: Hideaki Anno

The first film in what would become known as the ‘Reiwa’ Era is easily one of the best films in the entire franchise. A gripping and horrific tale of man’s disregard for the environment and the general incompetence of government.

When a giant creature unleashes havoc in Tokyo Bay, politicians are quick to disregard the claims as simple volcanic activity. They are quickly proven wrong as a massive, hideous creature forces its way ashore and leaves a trail of destruction in its wake.

At every turn, the politicians fail to contain and deal with this threat as the fear of public disapproval and potential repercussions holds them back. When they eventually decide to attack the creature it retaliates by further evolving and unleashes a devastating counter-attack which leaves the city in ruins.

Ultimately it falls to a group of free-thinking renegades to come up with a solution before the US launches a nuclear warhead to destroy the creature.

This film features easily the most terrifying and disturbing incarnation of Godzilla, evolving from a fish-like biped into the creature we recognize as the King of the Monsters. Boasting wicked fanged teeth and a grotesque scar-laden body that drips with bloody mucus it is a unique and frightening thing to behold.

Also, the film gives us the best depiction of Godzilla’s atomic breath, which is horrifying and awe-inspiring in equal measure.

For Toho's first Godzilla film since 2004, the studio decided to return to the dark tone of the original 1954 Godzilla film. Godzilla was given a more grotesque and frightening appearance to align with this direction. Unlike previous designs, the ShinGoji design includes four distinct forms. The first form is mostly unseen, except for its tail.

Godzilla's second form stands horizontally, with its body parallel to the ground. This form features small stubs for arms, large eyes with small black pupils, beige skin, and large pulsating gills on the sides of its neck that leak a red, blood-like fluid. It also has small tan dorsal plates and a tail with a fluke at the end.

The third form resembles the second but stands upright, with reddish skin and a tail ending in a fleshy ball. This form retains small stubby arms, and its gills are closed and less prominent.

Godzilla's fourth and primary form is much taller and draws heavily on the ShodaiGoji design, with a rounded head, small beady eyes, and dark, bumpy skin. It has larger black maple leaf-shaped dorsal plates running up to the top of its neck, with the middle row being the largest. These jagged plates feature a porous, bony surface reminiscent of cancellous bone. This form introduces several unique features. Inspired by the concept of Godzilla as a 'victim' of the hydrogen bomb, this design includes red scales resembling keloid scars and jagged, shark-like teeth inside a mouth that extends into the cheeks.

Godzilla's skull unhinges upwards when firing its atomic breath, and the lower jaw splits apart. His eyes are sunken and shaded by brow ridges, sometimes covered by a translucent yellow nictitating membrane. This form also has a long neck, very short arms, and feet with five digits, including a vestigial claw. The feet are similar to theropod dinosaurs, meaning Godzilla stands on his toes. The fourth form displays reddish exposed muscles, scars, and open wounds, some emitting a reddish glow that intensifies to purple when Godzilla charges or fires his atomic breath.

Godzilla's rib cage protrudes dramatically, and his body appears emaciated, with a visible bone structure. The tail is much longer, often suspended in the air, ending in a red, bloody tip covered in twisted bones, with a small skeletal face at the end.

The humanoid protrusions on Godzilla’s tail at the climax of the film hint at a potential, fifth form of evolution that if unleashed would mean the end of humanity as the dominant species on Earth.

The various forms of ShinGoji were created using computer-generated imagery, with the fourth form also portrayed through motion capture by actor Mansai Nomura. A giant puppet of Godzilla's upper body was made for close-up shots of the fourth form but was not used in the final film. This version of Godzilla stood at 118.5 meters tall, making it the tallest to appear in a film at the time, surpassing the MonsterVerse Godzilla's debut height by 10.3 meters.

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