Shin Godzilla

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'Godzilla' Incarnations
MonsterVerse Godzilla
Shin Godzilla
Anime Godzilla
Godzilla® (2016) trademark icon
Godzilla® (2016)
Godzilla's 4th form in Godzilla Resurgence
Godzilla's 1st form in Godzilla Resurgence
Godzilla's 2nd form in Godzilla Resurgence
Godzilla's 3rd form in Godzilla Resurgence
Godzilla's 5th form in Godzilla Resurgence
Alternate names Gojira, King of the Monsters, G, Goji, Shin Godzilla, Shin Gojira, ShinGoji, Godzilla 2016, Incarnation of God, Giant Unidentified Life Form, Kamata-kun, Shinagawa-kun, Kamakura-san
Species Mutated Prehistoric Marine Animal
Height 28 meters (2nd form)[1]
57 meters (3rd form)[1]
118.5 meters (4th form)[1][2],
112.7m (4th form, hunched over)[3]
Length 122 meters (2nd form)[1]
168.25 meters (3rd form)[1]
333 meters (4th form, total)[1]
222 meters (4th form, standing)[3]
Weight 92,000 metric tons (4th form)[1]
Other Stats 4th Form:
Head Width: 13.5m,[3] Head Length: 18.3m,[3] Head Height: 12m,[3] Shoulder-to-Shoulder Width: 33.8m,[3] Torso Width: 37.2m,[3]
Foot Width: 22m,[3] Height to Torso: 60m[3]
Forms First Form, Second Form, Third Form, Fourth Form, Fifth Form
Allies None
Enemies JSDF, U.S. Military
Created by Ishiro Honda, Tomoyuki Tanaka, Eiji Tsuburaya, Hideaki Anno, Shinji Higuchi
Played by Mansai Nomura[4]
First appearance Latest appearance
Shin Godzilla Shin Godzilla
Design(s) ShinGoji
Roar(s)
3rd Form
4th Form
More roars
For the 2016 film, see Shin Godzilla.
Godzilla... Truly a god incarnate.
„ 

— Kayoco Anne Patterson (Shin Godzilla)

Shin Godzilla (ゴジラ,   Gojira) is an incarnation of Godzilla which appeared in the 2016 Godzilla film, Shin Godzilla.

It was the tallest incarnation of Godzilla in film as of the release of Shin Godzilla, but will be surpassed by the Godzilla from the upcoming GODZILLA anime trilogy.

Name

In Shin Godzilla, Godzilla is mostly referred to as Gojira (呉爾羅,   Gojira), a name given to him by zoologist Goro Maki, which in his native Odo Island dialect of Japanese means "Incarnation of God." Maki also gave the monster the English name of "Godzilla," which was adopted by the American Department of Energy to refer to him. Once the Japanese government learns of the creature's name, they change the kanji spelling of its name to katakana (ゴジラ), though it is still pronounced Gojira. Prior to learning of the name "Gojira," the Japanese government gives Godzilla the designation of "Giant Unidentified Life Form" (巨大不明生物,   Kyodai Fumei Seibutsu). Toho officially classifies this incarnation of Godzilla as Shin Godzilla (シン・ゴジラ,   Shin Gojira), which is the Japanese title of the film in which it appeared.

Godzilla's forms are all officially named through simple numbered designations for each form: Godzilla First Form (ゴジラ第一形態,   Gojira dai ichi keitai), Godzilla Second Form (ゴジラ第二形態,   Gojira dai ni keitai), Godzilla Third Form (ゴジラ第三形態,   Gojira dai san keitai), and Godzilla Fourth Form (ゴジラ第四形態,   Gojira dai shi keitai). In the book The Art of Shin Godzilla, the humanoid creatures seen on Godzilla's tail at the end of the film are referred to as Godzilla Fifth Form (ゴジラ第五形態,   Gojira dai go keitai).

Godzilla's second, third and fourth forms in the film have fan-made nicknames, all named after where they first appeared. The second form is referred to as Kamata-kun (蒲田くん,   Kamata kun) after Kamata, the third form is nicknamed Shinagawa-kun (品川くん,   Shinagawa kun) after Shinagawa, and the fourth form's most common fan alias is Kamakura-san (鎌倉さん,   Kamakura san) after the city of Kamakura. All terms were originally popularized by a Japanese Twitter user.[5] Before the -kun and -san nicknames were popularized, Godzilla's second form specifically was known commonly as "That guy from Kamata" (蒲田のあいつ,   Kamata no aitsu).[6]

Appearance

Main article: ShinGoji.

Godzilla's first form is unseen in the film, aside from its tail and part of its back. The tail is reddish in color, while its back is covered in tan Template:Scutes.

Godzilla's second form, which is a dim yellow-green or light brown, and officially described as having the head of an eel shark, is unlike any other version of Godzilla in that he leans almost completely forward, and his shoulder height is less than one fourth of his length. This form in addition has undeveloped stumps for arms (his forearms being extremely small and completely attached to his upper arms), huge googly-eyes, very visible red gills that hang from his neck, a gaping open mouth, tan dorsal plates, a long tail, and comparatively large hind legs which manage to support him. As time goes on, the second form grows visibly redder in a segue to the third form.

The third form stands upright, is a dull dark red or brown color, and is almost twice as tall as the previous form. It has almost-white dorsal plates, and blood-red coloration running down its back under the plates from the heat it generates. Additionally, it now possesses small forearms and its legs are more stretched out as a result of standing upright.

The fourth form bears much more resemblance to past Godzilla designs than the previous forms, though it does bear some differences. The fourth form is reminiscent of the original 1954 Godzilla design, with a rounded head with small beady eyes and black, scarred and bumpy skin. This form's dorsal plates are black in color and much larger than the previous form, and also possess red scales on them reminiscent of keloid scars. Godzilla's mouth is full of crooked and incredibly large teeth, some of which are growing from the flesh outside of his mouth. When Godzilla fires his atomic breath, his upper jaw unhinges from his lower jaw, which splits open. The eyes are much smaller in comparison to the rest of Godzilla's body in this form, and appear sunken into their sockets, with no eyelids surrounding them. In place of eyelids, this form has silvery nictitating membranes that cover its eyes and protect them from harm.[7] The arms are more developed than in previous forms, but are still very small and do not extend far beyond Godzilla's chest, which bears a prominent, axe-shaped pointed sternum. The legs are larger and more muscular in this form, while Godzilla's feet bear numerous small vestigial toe claws growing from their tops and sides in addition to five main digits. Godzilla's flesh is covered in reddish scars and lesions that sometimes emit a reddish glow, which changes to purple when Godzilla charges his atomic breath. Godzilla's tail is very long, and has small spike-like dorsal plates running along its length. The tip of Godzilla's tail is red and bloody and covered in twisted mangled bones, some of which appear to form a malformed skeletal face.[8]

Personality

This version of Godzilla is somewhat passive and unaware of humanity at first, only causing destruction due to the cumbersome and clumsy nature of his earlier forms, then later as a result of his final form's size as he walks through Tokyo. Godzilla does not retaliate against the JSDF when they attack him, and seems to barely notice their assault. However, when American B-2 Stealth Bombers drop Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bombs onto his back and actually injure him, Godzilla becomes enraged and immediately retaliates with his atomic breath, not only destroying the attacking forces but obliterating a huge part of Tokyo at the same time. When Godzilla is assaulted at the film's climax, he retaliates against the humans using his atomic breath and various beam attacks.

Origins

Empty barrels of nuclear waste on the sea floor, upon which Godzilla fed

In Shin Godzilla, it is proposed that Godzilla is some kind of prehistoric sea creature that found itself surrounded by nuclear waste on the sea floor in the 1950's and rapidly adapted to withstand it. As the creature evolved and began feeding on radioactive material, it gradually grew over a period of 60 years before taking on a form able to come onto land. After coming ashore, the creature continued evolving and growing until it sprouted arms and began standing upright.

An essay written by Goro Maki that is included in The Art of Shin Godzilla further discusses Godzilla's possible origin. The essay states that Godzilla's base form must have possessed large claws and fangs to be able to feed on the canisters of radioactive waste. It goes on to suggest that the creature must have spent its entire life underwater, and is "in all likelihood, closely related to prehistoric marine reptiles, which first emerged in the Paleozoic Era."[9]

History

Shin Godzilla

Godzilla's first form

When the Japanese coast guard investigated a small yacht floating in Tokyo Bay, it discovered that the craft was completely abandoned with no sign of a struggle or the owner's whereabouts. Suddenly, the water began to erupt and steam, causing the Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line to collapse and become flooded by a strange red liquid. The Japanese government concluded that the disaster was due to an underwater volcanic eruption, but assistant cabinet secretary Rando Yaguchi proposed the incident was caused by a gigantic living creature. Yaguchi's claims were dismissed until a huge tail was seen breaking the ocean surface.

Godzilla's second form

The government assured the citizens that the creature would not surface, only for a giant monster to crawl out of the bay and into Tokyo. Stumbling around on its hind legs and pushing itself forward with its tail, the monster destroyed buildings and shoved cars and boats out of the way as it began to head inland. All the while, the creature secreted the red liquid from its gills and poured it onto the streets. The Prime Minister deployed a squadron of helicopters to attack the beast, but when they approached the monster suddenly stood up on two legs and sprouted arms. The attack was called off when the Prime Minister learned civilians were still evacuating the area, while the monster simply returned to the ocean.

Godzilla's third form

The Japanese government immediately began formulating strategies to deal with the monster should it return, while a representative of the American ambassador collaborated with a team of officials researching the monster. The representative, Kayoco Anne Patterson, revealed that the abandoned yacht actually belonged to a zoologist named Goro Maki, who was researching a huge living creature moving on the sea floor. The zoologist named the creature "Gojira" (呉爾羅), meaning "incarnation of God" in his hometown on Odo Island. The American Department of Energy learned of the man's research and dubbed the monster "Godzilla." Based on this information, the researchers concluded that Godzilla was feeding on nuclear waste on the sea floor, and sustained himself through nuclear fission in his body. The fission caused Godzilla to leave a trail of radiation in his wake, but also made him overheat and forced him to return to the ocean to cool off.

Godzilla's fourth form

Shortly afterward, Godzilla surfaced in Kamakura, now evolved into a new form twice as large as before. The JSDF scrambled its forces to engage Godzilla, with the Prime Minister finally giving the order to fire. Unfortunately, the JSDF's weaponry had absolutely no effect on Godzilla, who continued heading north toward Tokyo. The United States military offered to attack Godzilla instead, and after receiving the Prime Minister's approval deployed several B-2 Spirit Stealth Bombers to Tokyo. The government concluded that their current meeting location was right in Godzilla's path of destruction, and as such the Prime Minister and his top-ranking ministers fled in a helicopter, with Yaguchi and the other lower-ranking officials escaping in cars. While the government officials fled Tokyo, the bombers unleashed their payload onto Godzilla, visibly injuring and enraging him. In response, Godzilla's body began glowing purple, and he unleashed a powerful atomic beam from his mouth, obliterating three districts of Tokyo and downing the helicopter holding the Prime Minister and the high-ranking government officials. After expending such a huge amount of energy, Godzilla stopped moving and entered a state of hibernation.


Godzilla's fifth form

With Godzilla incapacitated, American and Japanese forces began approaching and studying him. However, Godzilla's natural defense mechanisms interfered with their equipment if they got too close. At the same time, Yaguchi and the other members of his research team decoded the rest of Maki's research on Godzilla. The combined research led to the conclusion that Godzilla expelled so much radiation that he would be unable to move again for approximately fifteen days. It was also determined that Godzilla's cells were capable of converting air and water into a radioactive isotope that provided him with energy. Analysis of parts of Godzilla's flesh blasted off by the military's attack revealed that Godzilla's healing factor allowed pieces of him to continue evolving and take on lives of their own. In this scenario, Earth could be overrun by rapidly-evolving mutated creatures if Godzilla was not stopped. With this revelation, the American government decided that Godzilla had to be destroyed. The Americans gave the Japanese government a period of two weeks to evacuate Tokyo, after which it would drop a hydrogen bomb onto Godzilla and hopefully destroy him. The interim Prime Minister agreed with the plan and evacuation began. Yaguchi and the American representative, Patterson, disapproved of the plan to use nuclear force on Japanese soil and began developing an alternate strategy. Because it was discovered that Godzilla's blood and Template:Scutes acted as a natural cooling system for his body, Yaguchi believed that a blood coagulant would interrupt Godzilla's blood cooling system, causing him to perform a reactor scram to stay alive and freeze solid. The Prime Minister agreed with the plan and convinced the French government to make the U.S., China and Russia to postpone the nuclear strike until the day Godzilla was to awaken.

On the day Godzilla was to awaken, Yaguchi officially began Operation Yashiori, the name given to his plan to use blood coagulant against Godzilla. Trains laden with explosives were sent to strike Godzilla, causing him to awaken, after which waves of drones fired rockets at him and forced him to expend his atomic energy. Buildings around Godzilla were then detonated, pinning him to the ground. Using concrete pump trucks, the operatives force-fed Godzilla the blood coagulant, eventually causing his entire body to freeze over completely, leaving him in a state of suspended animation. The operation was declared a success, and the American nuclear strike was called off. Scientists concluded that the half-life of Godzilla's radiation was only 20 days, allowing Tokyo to recover quickly from the nuclear fallout. The Americans warned that if Godzilla were to reawaken, they would not hesitate to use the H-bomb against him. Yaguchi, meanwhile, expressed his desire to rebuild the Japanese government to be better prepared to combat Godzilla should he reawaken.

As Godzilla stood frozen in the streets of Tokyo, several humanoid skeleton-like creatures with Godzilla's dorsal plates on their backs were seen sprouting from the end of his tail, reaching out to the sky.


Abilities

Like previous versions of Godzilla, Shin Godzilla has numerous physical abilities that make him a formidable threat to humanity.

Atomic Breath

Godzilla fires his atomic breath

Shin Godzilla retains the character's trademark atomic breath. When firing his atomic breath, Godzilla's body emits a purple glow, which is concentrated around his Template:Scutes. Godzilla's upper jaw then unhinges from his lower jaw, which splits apart to make room for the beam to be fired. Black smoke then pours out of Godzilla's mouth, which then ignites into a stream of flame as nictitating membranes cover Godzilla's eyes, presumably to protect them from the intense light given off by the fire. The fire condenses into a thin purple laser, which is capable of slicing through buildings and aircraft and destroying them instantly. Once focused, the beam has incredible range, though the fire produced when it is unfocused can quickly fill up hundreds of city blocks as well.

Dorsal Plate Beams

Godzilla fires beams from between his Template:Scutes

Shin Godzilla can also redirect his atomic energy to fire numerous purple beams from in between his Template:Scutes. These beams are capable of destroying objects hundreds of feet above Godzilla, and are comparable to his atomic breath in power.

Tail Beam

Godzilla fires an atomic beam from his tail in tandem with his atomic breath

Shin Godzilla's atomic energy can also be redirected and fired from the tip of his tail. This beam is apparently fired from a mouth on the vestigial "face" at the end of Godzilla's tail. Unlike the dorsal plate beams, the tail beam can be fired at the same time as Godzilla's atomic breath, allowing him to strike multiple targets at once.

Self-Mutation

Godzilla's second form evolves into his third form

One of Godzilla's most unique abilities is his capacity to self-mutate. While all other organisms mutate and evolve gradually over countless generations, Godzilla has the ability to mutate his DNA at will to adapt to any situation. According to characters in the film, Godzilla is the most evolved creature on the planet, possessing eight times the genetic information of human beings. Godzilla started out as a type of prehistoric sea creature that adapted to feed on nuclear waste in its habitat, then continued growing and evolving over a period of 60 years. After destroying the Tokyo Bay Aqua Line, Godzilla evolved into his second form, developing legs capable of bringing him on land. After wandering through Tokyo, Godzilla evolved further into his third form, developing longer arms and standing upright on two legs. When he surfaced once more at Kamakura, Godzilla had reached his fourth form, which was almost twice as large as his third form and possessed heavily armored skin which made him immune to conventional human weaponry. After being injured by B-2 Bombers, Godzilla adapted to use the atomic energy he generated as a weapon, firing it from his mouth and Template:Scutes in the form of purple lasers that could slice through any object. While hibernating in Tokyo, the mouth on the end of Godzilla's tail split open, giving him the ability to now fire his atomic beam from the tip of his tail. After Godzilla was frozen by blood coagulant, small humanoid creatures with Godzilla's teeth and dorsal plates, Godzilla's fifth form, could be seen fissioning from Godzilla's tail, suggesting that he was in the process of evolving into an army of human-like forms capable of combating humanity.

Durability

Godzilla withstands several rounds of machine gun fire from an AH-64 Apache helicopter

Like all versions of Godzilla, Shin Godzilla is extremely durable and resistant to most conventional weaponry. When assaulted by the JSDF's AH-64 Apache helicopters and Type 10 tanks, Godzilla did not seem at all aware of their attacks and was completely unharmed. Even bombs dropped directly onto Godzilla by fighter jets were unable to harm him, though he did respond to their attacks by deploying protective membranes over his eyes. The only military weapon capable of harming Godzilla was the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bomb used against him by American B-2 bombers. Though this bomb did draw blood from Godzilla and sever one of his Template:Scutes, he appeared to almost immediately heal from the damage. In addition, the dorsal plate that was severed was later found by a reconnaissance team in the process of regenerating on its own. The characters speculated that it was possible for individual pieces of Godzilla to regenerate into functioning creatures, allowing Godzilla to rapidly spread all over the world.

Phased-Array Radar

According to an American scientist, Godzilla possesses a "phased-array radar" which allows him to detect threats without even needing to see them. Godzilla utilized this to shoot down drones trying to observe him while he was hibernating.

Weaknesses

Trucks pump blood coagulant into Godzilla's mouth during Operation Yashiori

While incredibly powerful, Shin Godzilla possesses some weaknesses and limitations. In his third form, the nuclear fission inside Godzilla's body generated such a large amount of heat that he needed to return to the ocean to cool down. The durability of Godzilla's fourth form is not limitless either, as he was visibly injured when struck by a Massive Ordnance Penetrator bomb dropped by an American B-2 bomber. Godzilla also depletes his atomic energy when he uses his atomic breath. If his energy is entirely depleted, Godzilla must enter a state of suspended animation which lasts for 15 days in order to restore his energy. When struck by multiple unmanned E231 and E233 Series trains laden with explosives, as well as when buildings were toppled onto him, Godzilla was knocked to the ground. While on the ground, Godzilla appears to have difficulty getting back up, which was critical during Operation Yashiori in allowing trucks to pump blood coagulant directly into Godzilla's mouth. The blood coagulant used during Operation Yashiori was effective against Godzilla, shutting down his internal cooling system and interfering with his internal energy production, forcing him to perform a reactor scram to stay alive and effectively freeze him solid.


Filmography

In popular culture

This incarnation of Godzilla has become very popular thanks to the huge success of Shin Godzilla in Japan.

Godzilla's second form, nicknamed Kamata-kun, has become a popular meme among Godzilla fans worldwide for its strange and "cute" appearance.[10]

Gallery

Main article: ShinGoji#Gallery.

Roar

Godzilla's first and second forms never roar in Shin Godzilla, but the third and fourth forms do. The third form utilizes Godzilla's roars from the original 1954 film, while his fourth form primarily uses Godzilla's roars from King Kong vs. Godzilla through Terror of Mechagodzilla in the Showa series. Just before being frozen at the film's climax, Godzilla's fourth form emits a roar from The Return of Godzilla.

Trivia

  • Shin Godzilla's fourth form is the tallest incarnation of Godzilla to appear in a film, but not the tallest Godzilla ever. The Hanna-Barbera Godzilla is a few meters taller, being exactly 400 feet tall. However, Shin Godzilla's fourth form is both the heaviest Godzilla, weighing 92,000 metric tons, and the longest, with a total body (head-to-tail) length of 333 meters.

Videos

Wikizilla: YouTube Kaiju Profile: Shin Godzilla

References

This is a list of references for Godzilla (Shin Godzilla). These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Masked tweet by Khara, Inc., revealing the heights and lengths of Godzilla forms 2-4.
  2. New Godzilla exceeds size of Hollywood version at 118.5 meters tall - Yahoo! Japan
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 The Art of Shin Godzilla. Ground Works. 29 December 2016. p. 220. ISBN 978-4-905033-08-0. Check date values in: |date= (help)
    THE ART OF SHIN GODZILLA ShinGoji miscellaneous stats.jpg
  4. Identity of Godzilla's Motion-Capture Actor Revealed as Mansai Nomura - Nikkan Sports
  5. First known use of "Kamata-kun", "Shinagawa-kun", and "Kamakura-san" by pasin on Twitter
  6. That guy from Kamata - Niconico Encyclopedia (Japanese)
  7. Shin Godzilla's nictitating eye membranes
  8. A model of the vestigial face at the end of Shin Godzilla's tail
  9. Mutation of Shin Godzilla.jpg
  10. Kamata-kun - Know Your Meme

External Links

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