Goro Maki

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Goro Maki
Goro Maki in The Return of Godzilla
Species Human
Nationality Japanese
Occupation ReporterSoG, G84,
ZoologistG:R
Related to Saeko Matsumiya (Love interest)SoG,
Naoko Okumura (Love interest)G84,
Unnamed deceased wifeG:R
First appearance Son of Godzilla
Played by Akira KuboSoG, Ken TanakaG84,
Kihachi Okamoto (Photo double)G:R
I did as I pleased. Now, you do the same.
„ 

— Goro Maki, Godzilla: Resurgence

Goro Maki (牧 吾郎,   Maki Gorō) is the main human protagonist in the 1967 and 1984 Godzilla films, Son of Godzilla and The Return of Godzilla, as well as an unseen supporting character in the 2016 film Godzilla: Resurgence.

History

Showa Series

Son of Godzilla

While flying over Sollgel island, Goro feels a pain in his stomach, a sign that there is a scoop in the area. At first, the team of scientists on the island do not take kindly to him, but later warm up when the group leader reasons that they are short handed, there is no quick way off the island, and that need someone to cook and clean. At first Maki does not want to do this, but is met with the choice of that, or swimming home. On Goro's first night, a Kamacuras nears the camp. Goro is at first quite surprised at them, and gives them their name. Shortly after Goro's arrival, the weather conditions mellow to a point where the team's weather experiments are able to begin. after the experiment, Goro expresses concern for the "native girl" he saw in the forest earlier that day. his concerns are scoffed at, under the proclamation that the island is uninhabited. Later on, when items dissapear from the camp, Maki is proven to be right, as the thief was in fact the "native girl". Shortly after the discovery of the girl, Riko Matsumiya, the Kamacuras make a pilgrimage to a place where there is radio interference. It is then revealed that the Kamacuras have gone to terminate the source of the interference, Minilla. Godzilla appears, and the fighting drives the scientists and Goro out of the base, and into Riko's cave. Goro, Riko, and the team are then rescued by a United Nations submarine.

Heisei Series

The Return of Godzilla

Goro is sailing on a small boat in the waters off Japan earlier one morning when he notices a badly damaged fishing boat floating not far from him. Goro calls out to the ship hoping for someone to answer him, but no one responds. Goro climbs aboard the vessel, and finds it mostly abandoned. As Goro moves further into the ship he finds several dead bodies, drained of all blood. Goro then discovers Hiroshi Okamura, one of the crew members, unconscious but alive, hiding in a locker. Goro is then attacked by Shockirus, the creature responsible for killing most of the crew. Okamura regains consciousness and stabs the Shockirus with a hatchet before it can kill Goro. Goro takes Okamura to his boat and asks him what happened. Okamura responds that a monster did this. When Goro asks if he means the giant sea louse, Okamura responds that there was something much bigger that attacked the boat first, but he could only see part of it. Goro returns to the headquarters of the newspaper he works for in Tokyo to report his story, only to be told it is being censored by the government. When Goro asks his editor why, he responds that the government believes Godzilla destroyed the ship. Goro is instructed to speak to Professor Hayashida, a local scientist who is an expert on Godzilla. Goro visits Hayashida's lab, where Hayashida explains that Godzilla is a monster created by man, and is beyond the human construction of good or evil. At the lab, Goro meets Naoko Okamura, Hayshida's assistant, and learns that she is Okamura's sister. Goro decides to take Naoko to the hospital where her brother is being held, only to take photographs of their reunion, angering them both.

After the government reveals that Godzilla has in fact return, Goro works with Hayashida, Naoko, and Okamura to find a way to stop him. When Godzilla comes ashore near a nuclear plant, Goro, Hayshida, and Okamura arrive at the scene and watch Godzilla feed on a reactor before suddenly leaving. At Hayashida's laboratory, they develop a plan to use magnetic waves to lure Godzilla into Mt. Mihara and imprison him under tons of molten lava. Okamura leaves to work with Hayashida's friend Dr. Minami in setting up the charges on Mt. Mihara. Hayashida, Naoko, and Goro prepare the magnetic transmitter to lure Godzilla, just as Godzilla arrives in Tokyo. Godzilla nears the building and damages it, closing off the elevators and trapping the three. Fortunately, Okamura arrives in a J.S.D.F. helicopter and picks up Hayashida to take him to Oshima Island. The chopper is forced to leave Goro and Naoko behind, as the turbulence is too great. Goro and Naoko leave the building through the bottom, helped by a homeless vagabond who holds a rope allowing them to rappel down. Goro and Naoko reach the streets just as Godzilla destroys the Super X and begins approaching them. Thankfully, Hayshida activates the transmitter in time and Godzilla leaves for Oshima Island. Goro and Naoko, now attracted to each other after their ordeal, take a helicopter to Oshima Island and arrive just in time to witness Godzilla being imprisoned in Mt. Mihara.

Post-Millennium Series

Godzilla: Resurgence

Spoiler.png SPOILER WARNING: This section may contain major plot and/or ending details.
Proceed at your own discretion.

A Japanese zoology professor, Goro Maki was expelled from Japan sometime after his wife died due to radiation sickness. Maki was subsequently employed by an American energy firm and began studying mutations caused by nuclear waste dumped into the Pacific Ocean by the U.S. in the 1950's. During his research, Maki discovered a strange new lifeform, a prehistoric sea creature that had adapted to the nuclear waste on the sea floor and began consuming it. Maki gave the creature the name "Gojira" (呉爾羅), which meant "incarnation of God" in Maki's home on Odo Island. The American Department of Energy learned of Maki's research and prevented it from being published, while giving the creature the English name of "Godzilla."

In 2016, Maki's yacht the Glory-Maru was found abandoned in Tokyo Bay, along with numerous files and a small origami crane, shortly before Godzilla attacked the Tokyo Bay Aqua Line and made landfall for the first time. American envoy Kayoco Anne Patterson asked Japanese Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Rando Yaguchi to find information about Maki's whereabouts in exchange for information about Godzilla. Yaguchi presented Kayoco with the files recovered from Maki's yacht, but reported that Maki was nowhere to be found, having seemingly committed suicide. Maki had left behind a note simply saying "I did as I pleased. Now, you do the same." Kayoco allowed Yaguchi to bring the files to his team of bureaucrats searching for a way to stop the creature. The files revealed how Godzilla was spawned by radiation dumped onto the sea floor 60 years ago, and also included what appeared to be a molecular schematic of Godzilla's cellular processes, which the team was unable to interpret. After Godzilla had come ashore a second time and leveled Tokyo, Yaguchi and his team had a breakthrough when they folded the schematics like origami, revealing that Godzilla's cells actually converted air and water into a radioactive isotope that provided him with energy. Based on this breakthrough, Yaguchi and his team created a blood coagulant capable of freezing Godzilla. The coagulant was used as part of Yaguchi's complex plan called "Operation Yashiori," which succeeded in freezing Godzilla. Yaguchi considered the possibility that Maki intentionally unleashed Godzilla as a sort of test of the Japanese people, and determined that he would work to rebuild Japan in the age of Godzilla.

Gallery

Son of Godzilla

Godzilla: Resurgence

Trivia

  • Goro Maki is the only human character, not counting the Shobijin, to appear in three Godzilla films each set in separate continuities.
  • In Godzilla: Resurgence, late Japanese film director Kihachi Okamoto is used as a photo double for Goro Maki.
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