Miki Saegusa

	Miki Saegusa
	Miki Saegusa
Species	Human
Nationality	Japanese
Occupation	Military Psychic
Related to	Koji Shinjo (love interest)
First appearance	Latest appearance
Godzilla vs. Biollante	Godzilla vs. Destoroyah
Played by	Megumi Odaka

Miki Saegusa (三枝未希, Saegusa Miki) is a psychic character from the Heisei Godzilla series. Employed by the Japanese government and later G-Force, she uses her powers to communicate with and, in some instances, attempt to control Godzilla. She is the most frequently recurring human character in the Godzilla franchise, having appeared in six consecutive films.

History

Heisei Series

Godzilla vs. Biollante

At age 17, Miki Saegusa was already the most talented member of the Japan Psionics Center. As a favor to the reclusive Dr. Genshiro Shiragami, she visited his laboratory and attempted to communicate with the roses there, accompanied by her mentor Asuka Okouchi. She was unsuccessful, but as they prepared to leave, suddenly picked up a girl's voice calling out to Asuka. Unbeknownst to Miki, Shiragami had combined the DNA of one of his roses with genetic material taken from his late daughter Erika.

Soon after, Miki and the younger children at the Center began to have dreams about Godzilla's return. She detected that Godzilla was awake from a helicopter above his tomb in Mt. Mihara. As Shiragami worked with the Japanese government on Anti-Nuclear Energy Bacteria in the event of Godzilla's return, he secretly combined the monster's cells with the Erika-rose hybrid. The resulting creature, Biollante, broke out of his lab and headed for Lake Ashi. Miki, who foresaw Biollante's creation, convinced Asuka to drive her to the lake. There, she confirmed that the docile monster was driven by Erika's spirit. After Godzilla emerged from Mt. Mihara, however, Biollante called out to him and became feral.

Godzilla defeated Biollante and returned to the sea. With the JSDF unable to track him, Major Sho Kuroki asked Miki to again locate Godzilla by helicopter. She did so, but the helicopter ran low on fuel and was forced to head towards Osaka. The military incorrectly predicted Godzilla would attack the nuclear power plant near Nagoya; instead, he swam towards Osaka. Miki confronted him at the under-construction Kansai International Airport and they engaged in a psychic battle. She fell unconscious from the strain, but successfully bought time for the citizens of Osaka to evacuate.

After reviving, Miki drew a picture of a rose in space on an electronic sketch pad. She was present for Biollante's second, successful battle against Godzilla. After Dr. Shiragami vowed never to work on Anti-Nuclear Energy Bacteria or another Biollante again, Biollante returned to space, with Miki reporting that Erika thanked him.

Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah

By 1992, Miki was a part of the Godzilla team at the Paranormal Research Center. When the Futurians arrived in Japan and offered a way to erase Godzilla from history before he could return and destroy Japan, Miki was one of three people they selected to join the operation. She was joined by author Kenichiro Terasawa and Professor Mazaki, a dinosaur expert. Upon arriving on Lagos Island in 1944, they witnessed a Godzillasaurus attack American landing forces, inadvertently saving a Japanese garrison. Using her telepathy, Miki was able to confirm that this dinosaur was Godzilla before he was mutated by radiation. The android M11 teleported the Godzillasaurus to the Bering Sea, while Emmy Kano secretly released three Dorats onto the island to be transformed into King Ghidorah in his place. Miki noticed the Dorats' absence, but Emmy brushed her off. Upon their return to 1992, the Futurians informed Miki and the others that they had successfully prevented Godzilla's creation, allowing King Ghidorah to lead their conquest of Japan unopposed.

Miki's powers let her realize that the Futurians were mistaken. Godzilla still lived; he was mutated all along by a nuclear submarine accident near the area he was transported to in the 1970's. After absorbing energy from another nuclear submarine and growing to 100 meters in height, he surfaced in Japan to challenge King Ghidorah, which Miki witnessed from a helicopter. Emmy and M11 defected to Japan and helped sabotage the other Futurians, allowing Godzilla to destroy their mother ship and leave King Ghidorah for dead. Unfortunately, Godzilla then turned his attention to Japan's cities. Emmy traveled back to the year 2204 to rebuild King Ghidorah as a cyborg. From the National Institute of Superscience, Miki watched as Emmy piloted Mecha-King Ghidorah into battle against Godzilla, ultimately depositing him back into the sea.

Godzilla vs. Mothra

After Takuya Fujita abducted the Cosmos, their song brought Mothra to Tokyo. As she rampaged through the city, Miki used her abilities to help Takuya's ex-wife Masako Tezuka and their daughter Midori locate him. The Cosmos were able to convince Mothra to break off her attack, and she crawled towards the Diet Building to construct a cocoon. As she emerged in her imago form, Miki sensed Godzilla's emergence from Mt. Fuji. From a government control room, she watched his battle against Mothra and Battra, expressing concern as the tide turned against him. After he was defeated, she was part of the group that saw the Cosmos and Mothra off at an airport.

Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II

Now a member of the Mental Development Center, Miki joined up with G-Force, an international organization dedicated to destroying Godzilla. While eating in the cafeteria one day, she noticed a plant sample held by Kazama Aoki, who stole it from a laboratory where a mysterious egg was being studied. Upon hearing of its origin, she convinced Aoki to bring it to the Center; the children there are able to extract a song from it and transfer it to tape. When the music is played for the egg, it hatched into BabyGodzilla. The young monster psychically called Godzilla to the laboratory. At Miki's suggestion, BabyGodzilla was brought to the basement, blocking his signal, and Godzilla departed.

G-Force moved BabyGodzilla to a zoo-like enclosure. Miki brought a group of children to the center to sing the plant's song to him, but they ended up agitating him - and inadvertently transformed Rodan into Fire Rodan as well. Studying BabyGodzilla, G-Force determined that he had a second brain controlling his lower motor functions; it stood to reason that Godzilla did as well. Their giant robot, Mechagodzilla, would target this second brain using electrified harpoons called the G-Crusher. To reduce property damage, they would lure Godzilla to the Ogasawara Islands using BabyGodzilla as bait. Miki protested the exploitation of the innocent monster, only to learn that she had been assigned to operate the G-Crusher onboard Mechagodzilla.

The helicopter transporting BabyGodzilla to Ogasawara was intercepted by Fire Rodan, who carried his container to Chiba. Mechagodzilla and Garuda, another war machine, engaged the giant pterosaur and mortally wounded him. Before anyone could catch their breath, Godzilla emerged from Tokyo Bay to take on Mechagodzilla again. By combining into Super Mechagodzilla, G-Force's two weapons overwhelmed the King of the Monsters, giving Miki an opening to use the G-Crusher. She hesitated, but Commander Aso and Minister Segawa urged her to strike. G-Crusher scored a direct hit, destroying Godzilla's second brain.

Meanwhile, G-Force soldiers freed BabyGodzilla from his container, and the juvenile called upon Rodan to help. Landing on top of Godzilla, Rodan gave his life force to his former rival, repairing his second brain, generating a corrosive powder that melted Mechagodzilla's armor, and powering up Godzilla's atomic ray. Godzilla easily destroyed Mechagodzilla, although Miki and her fellow pilots escaped unharmed. As Godzilla prepared to return to the sea, Azusa Gojo asked Miki to use her telepathy to convince BabyGodzilla to join him. She was successful, and wished the two monsters well as she watched them go.

Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla

In Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla, Miki receives a larger role than in previous films. By then she has come to develop a strong sense of empathy and compassion towards Godzilla. Throughout the film she defends him from those who wish to kill him, saying "Don't you see, he also has feelings, feelings the same as we do!" while also wrestling with her feelings for a G-Force soldier she held an attraction to

The U.N.G.C.C. now has its own department of psychic studies which Miki is director of, and she is met by people who wish to telepathically control Godzilla; the plan is called Project-T. Though she personally believes that it cannot be done and is immoral, her mind is changed after the Cosmos tell her that SpaceGodzilla is coming and that Godzilla must be there to stop him. That, combined with how she sees U.N.G.C.C.'s plan for controlling Godzilla as the lesser of two evils compared with killing him, makes her agrees to Project-T. While on Godzilla's island she meets a cheerful Little Godzilla, a grown up Baby, who recognizes her. When the adult Godzilla does arrive she and her team succeed on placing a mind control device on Godzilla and she does manage to control him. That is interrupted when SpaceGodzilla arrives. Miki is later kidnapped by the Japanese Mafia who had secretly bankrolled Project-T in the hopes of using Godzilla as a mercenary monster. She is later freed by her G-Force friends (which includes a scene of her using telekinesis to levitate the table she is strapped to and help one of her friends), the mobsters are killed by SpaceGodzilla, and she witnesses the last battle. After Godzilla's victory, she telekinetically removes the mind control device that had been placed on his neck at which he turns around to look at her, nodding. The Cosmos appeared and thanked Miki before saying goodbye.

Godzilla vs. Destoroyah

She last appeared in 1995's Godzilla vs. Destoroyah. Depicted as a fully integrated member of G-Force with a variety of acquired technical skills, she reveals her psychic abilities are starting to weaken. At the films ending she says farewell to Godzilla and Godzilla Junior. Miki meets and befriends her replacement Meru Ozawa, who is the new head of the G-Force psychics. Although their methods are different, she comes to like Meru and even helps her in controlling Godzilla Junior telepathically. By this time, Miki had also become a pilot for G-Force, piloting a Hughes 500C to track Junior.

Comics

Godzilla 1990 (1989)
Godzilla vs. Biollante (1990)
The Godzilla Comic Raids Again (1992) ["Miss Kano's Disgrace"]
Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995) [Giant Encyclopedia manga]
Godzilla: Legends #3 (2012)

Godzilla: Legends

Secrets

Miki Saegusa appears in issue #3 of the miniseries Godzilla: Legends. In the comic, Miki was once able to communicate with Godzilla telepathically, and helped the United Nations form a school for psychic children. After collecting a student named Tristan, Miki began to train him and the other psychic children alongside Headmaster Mugal to get them to communicate to other monsters like she could communicate with Godzilla. Tristan was a particularly strong student, who unwittingly destroyed the school with Titanosaurus. After the incident, Mugal revealed that the U.N. had declared the school a failure, and that the children would be sent home. Miki then accused Mugal of being a monster for giving up on the idea, which she claimed had only failed because he had pushed Tristan too far.