Daisuke Serizawa

Daisuke Serizawa Species Human Nationality Japanese Occupation Chemist Related to Emiko Yamane (Betrothed wife), Destoroyah (Unintentional creation) First appearance Godzilla (1954) Played by Akihiko Hirata

Doctor Daisuke Serizawa (芹沢大助,   Serizawa Daisuke) was a scientist character created by Toho that first appeared in the 1954 Godzilla film, Godzilla.

History

Showa Series

Godzilla

In Godzilla, Dr. Daisuke Serizawa was a young colleague of paleontologist Kyohei Yamane, betrothed to his daughter Emiko Yamane, and friend to Hideo Ogata. He saw active combat during WWII, and lost his right eye in battle - his iconic eyepatch is worn to cover the empty socket.

After the war, Dr. Serizawa became a scientist who studied elements and their effects on other objects and organisms. He eventually discovered a new element - "micro-oxygen" - that could create a destructive chemical reaction that liquefied molecules by separating their oxygen atoms. He was initially horrified by the destructive potential of his "Oxygen Destroyer" but chose to continue researching it, confident that he could take it beyond its raw form and develop it to benefit society. Meanwhile he kept its existence secret from everyone, even Emiko and Ogata.

Shortly after the first sightings of Godzilla, Dr. Serizawa decided to reveal his secret experiments to Emiko when she visited his home. After shocking his fiance with the horrific effects of the Oxygen Destroyer, he swore her to secrecy, explaining that he knew that the world was not ready to know of such a terrible weapon. He remained in his lab during much of Godzilla's subsequent attacks on Tokyo, continuing his research.

Emiko soon returned to Serizawa's lab with Ogata in tow, hoping to convince her fiance to use the Oxygen Destroyer against Godzilla. Serizawa adamantly refused, maintaining that his weapon would only begin a new age of terror once the world saw what it could do. He briefly scuffled with Ogata in defense of his decision, but paused when he saw a report about the devastation Godzilla had brought upon Tokyo. Shaken by the utter destruction, Serizawa finally agreed to use his device, but warned Ogata that he would only use it once.

Unbeknownst to his friend and fiancé, Serizawa had every intention to make certain that the secret of his ultimate weapon would remain secret. He burned all of his micro-oxygen research and insisted that he accompany Ogata on the dive to find Godzilla and deploy the Oxygen Destroyer. When they found the monster on the seabed, Serizawa activated the device and watched Ogata return to the surface before cutting his own line and dying with Godzilla. With the only copy of the Oxygen Destroyer used up, his notes destroyed, and his own life at an end, Dr. Serizawa hoped to ensure that no one would ever discover the same terrible power he had just unleashed.

Filmography

• Godzilla (1954)
• Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995) [stock footage]
• Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001) [mentioned]
• Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (2002) [stock footage]

Comics

Godzilla: The Half-Century War

At the end of the first issue, a powerful chemical weapon was deployed against Godzilla in Tokyo Bay. Serizawa destroyed his blueprints before committing suicide as the weapon activated. Godzilla's fate was left ambiguous; either he survived or another monster of the same species appeared several months later.

Video Games

• Godzilla 2: War of the Monsters (1992) - Nintendo NES
• Godzilla Generations (1998) - Sega Dreamcast
• Godzilla (2014) - PlayStation 3 and 4

Godzilla 2: War of the Monsters

Dr. Serizawa is one of three scientists the player can consult. This version of the character lacks his signature eyepatch.

Godzilla Generations

Giant Serizawa in Godzilla Generations

Dr. Serizawa-Giant (ジャイアント芹沢博士,   Jaianto Serizawa Hakase, lit. Giant Dr. Serizawa) is the most difficult character to unlock, as the player must first complete the game with Godzilla, Godzilla 1st, Godzilla-USA, and Minilla. He has two attacks: a laser cannon that extends from his eyepatch and the Oxygen Destroyer, which unleashes lightning in every direction when he holds it above his head. He can recover health by kneeling, causing a ray of light to appear above him.

Godzilla (PlayStation 3 / PlayStation 4)

In the tutorial level, the G-Force Operator states that Godzilla was only driven away from Japan back in 1954 because of "Dr. Serizawa's sacrifice."

Gallery

• 

  A figure of Daisuke Serizawa and the Oxygen Destroyer produced by Toygraph

• 

  Remnants of Daisuke Serizawa's diving suit on display in 2004

Trivia

• In the American release of the film, Godzilla, King of the Monsters!, Dr. Serizawa is rewritten as being an old college friend of the main protagonist, Steve Martin (portrayed by Raymond Burr). Although no scenes were shot with them in the same room, they share a telephone conversation at one point.
• Doctor Serizawa holds the distinction of being the only human to have truly killed Godzilla, and one of very few characters to have defeated him and left him no chance to return or counter-attack.
• As testament to how memorable the character has become (a rare feat for any normal human in a Godzilla film), Serizawa is often referenced in spoofs of the kaiju genre. Most notably the anime mecha comedy series Mobile Police Patlabor, the PokéStar Studios in the fifth generation of Pokémon, and the Tokyo Grows episode of the US cartoon Pinky and the Brain. Even in Pacific Rim, Serizawa's name is used to measure the danger level of kaiju. In the 2014 American Godzilla film, one of the main characters, Ishiro Serizawa, is named after him.
• In the Godzillaencounter.com viral images, if one reads the letters in bold red and places them in order of the date when each viral image was posted, it reads SERIZAWA.