Kentaro Yoshihara

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Kentaro Yoshihara
Ken Yoshihara in 2002: The End of the World
Species Human
Nationality Japanese
Affiliation Anti-Megalosaurus Force
Occupation Soldier
Related to None
First appearance Latest appearance
Godzilla: The Half-Century War #1 Godzilla: The Half-Century War #5

Lieutenant Kentaro Yoshihara is a protagonist in IDW Publishing's 2012-2013 comic series, Godzilla: The Half-Century War.

History

Godzilla: The Half-Century War

Japan, 1954

Lieutenant Yoshihara was stationed in Shinigawa, Japan alongside Ota Murakami. After being deployed in response to some "bad weather" in the city, the men soon found the city under attack by a giant monster - Godzilla. Only 23 months into his enlistment, and being totally unprepared for such a threat, Ota ordered his division to fire on the monster, which turned its attention to them, but resulted in most of the unit being wiped out by the Atomic Ray. With only Ken and Ota left, they attempted to contact their superiors, but could not transmit due to the antenna being damaged, however they were able to receive transmissions. After hearing that the division that was assigned to protect civilians had been wiped out, Ota had Ken used their tank to distract Godzilla and draw his attention away from the crowd. After they barely escaped with their lives, Godzilla was lured into the bay and purportedly killed by a scientist shortly thereafter. Months after the attack, Ota and Kentaro were approached by the American Colonel Schooler, who invited the duo to join the Anti-Megalosaurus Force, having discovered what was either a new Godzilla, or the same Godzilla they thought they had killed. Ken declined, saying that he wasn't sure if military life was his forte, but after Ota agreed, Ken reluctantly signed on.

Vietnam, 1967

Thirteen years later in war-torn Vietnam, Ken was tasked with helping Doc Randall set up his Maser Cannons, which were awaiting their trial run against Godzilla. Shortly after Godzilla appeared in the valley where he and Randall were waiting, a spiderhole burst open and Vietcong soldiers flooded out. While Ken and Randall were surprised, they were more concerned with what they were running from, which was soon revealed to be Anguirus, who emerged beneath them. Most of the Masers were broken in the incident, though Ken and Randall survived while Godzilla fought the new monster. The United States military then shelled the monsters, preventing Ken and Randall from using the Masers further, though both monsters eventually retreated.

Ghana, 1975

After Vietnam, more monsters including, Rodan, Battra, Megalon, Kumonga, Mothra, Hedorah, Ebirah, and countless others began appearing around the world. The AMF then expanded to accommodate two-person teams dedicated to each monster. Ken and Ota were assigned to Godzilla, but in Accra, Ghana, the mentioned monsters converged and leveled the city with their quarrel. The AMF hid in an abandoned hotel, while Ota watched the carnage. Ken tried to get his friend to stop, but to no avail. The stolen technology from Vietnam that had lured Godzilla there was revealed to be the work of Dr. Deverich, an AMF scientist who went missing after his Psionic Transmitters were labeled a failure. He then reverse engineered it to create a beacon, and used it to bring most if not all of the Earth's monsters into action. After spotting a TV station with lights on, Ken and surviving AMF soldiers drove to it through the fighting, and discovered from some armed guards that Deverich was inside. When they attacked him, he boosted his machine's signal strength and all monsters converged on the TV station, allowing Deverich to escape in the confusion.

Bombay, 1987

By Ken's 30th year of Monster hunting, the AMF had been reduced to tracking and predicting where monsters would appear and minimizing damage when they appeared. Ken and Ota were still together, and during an attack on Bombay, they witnessed the deployment of the AMF's new weapon, Mechagodzilla. While smoking a cigarette outside of he and Ken's monitor van, Ota noticed Deverich carrying two suitcases in the crowd. He reported this and pursued him on foot. Ken caught up to Ota with some AMF troops, and witnessed Deverich's perfected Psionic Transmitter. Before they could shut it down, a large crystal formation appeared in the sky, and Another Godzilla emerged from it. It quickly took out Mechagodzilla, but Ota was able to get the mech running long enough to weaken SpaceGodzilla and allow Godzilla to destroy him. Unbeknownst to anyone at the time, Dr. Deverich's device has summoned more kaiju to Earth.

2002: The End of the World

In 2002, Ken and Ota were stationed at the AMF base in Antarctica, where they formulated a plan to have Ota hijack the New Mechagodzilla and use it and the Dimension Tide miniaturized black hole weapon to stop Godzilla alongside two monsters from space that Deverich had summoned, King Ghidorah and Gigan. They knocked out the pilot intended to take Mechagodzilla into the final battle, while Ota sneaked aboard with help from Ken. At the boarding platform, they were called out by guards, but Ken and Ota were able to incapacitate them. Ken then bid Ota goodbye as he took Mechagodzilla into battle, knowing that Ota would not be coming back from his mission. In the aftermath of the battle, in which Ota and the monsters engulfed into a black hole, Ken remained silent while everyone else celebrated, quietly mourning his friend while staring at the book Ota had written on Godzilla.

Gallery

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