Ota Murakami
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Captain Ota Murakami is the primary protagonist of IDW Publishing's 2012-2013 comic series Godzilla: The Half-Century War.
History
- Godzilla: The Half-Century War #1-5 (2012-2013)
- Godzilla: 70th Anniversary (2024) ["The Half-Century Bore"]
Godzilla: The Half-Century War
"Japan, 1954"
Lieutenant Ota Murakami was stationed in Shinagawa, Japan, alongside Kentaro Yoshihara. After being deployed in response to some "bad weather" in the city, Ota quickly discovered that the city was actually 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 its Atomic Ray. With only Ota and Yoshihara left, they attempted to contact their superiors, but could not transmit. After learning that the division that was assigned to protect civilians had been wiped out, Ota and 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 some time afterwards. 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. Ota agreed, and Ken reluctantly followed, thus starting Ota's fifty-year obsession with Godzilla.
"Vietnam, 1967"
Thirteen years later in war-torn Vietnam, Ota was tasked with luring Godzilla into a line of Maser Cannons, which were awaiting their trial run. He had expressed to Schooler that Southeast Asia was outside of Godzilla's normal area of activity, and that the directness of the route he had taken made it seem like he was chasing something, but before they could find the reason, Godzilla arrived. Right beneath the line of Masers, a new monster, later named Anguirus, emerged. Ota decided to allow them to weaken one another before finishing them off with the Masers, but the American military disrupted their plans by shelling the kaiju instead, causing Anguirus to retreat. Soon after, Godzilla also halted his advance and retreated to the ocean. When the smoke cleared, Colonel Schooler revealed to Ota what had lured Godzilla to Vietnam - a Psionic Transmitter, stolen AMF tech.
"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. Ota and Ken 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. The stolen technology from Vietnam was revealed to be the work of Dr. Deverich, an AMF scientist who went missing after his Psionic Transmitters were deemed a failure and weaponized them into beacons to attract monsters. After spotting a TV station with lights on, Ota and surviving AMF soldiers drove to it through the fighting, and discovered from some armed guards that Deverich was inside. When they attacked him, Deverich boosted his machine's signal strength and summoned all monsters to the TV station, allowing Deverich to escape in the confusion. Ota could only watch as Colonal Schooler was killed in the attack.
"Bombay, 1987"
By Ota's 30th year of monster hunting, the AMF had been reduced to tracking and predicting where monsters would appear and minimizing damage when they attacked. Ota and Ken were still together, and during an attack on Bombay, they witnessed the deployment of the AMF's newest weapon, Mechagodzilla. While smoking a cigarette outside of their monitor van, Ota noticed Deverich carrying two suitcases in the crowd. He reported this and pursued him on foot. After witnessing him hand the suitcases to two other men, Ota held him at gunpoint before seeing that Deverich had perfected the Psionic Transmitter and improved its range. Before the AMF could shut the device 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 make his way to the mech and use it to take out the crystals that gave SpaceGodzilla his power. This allowed Godzilla to destroy SpaceGodzilla, which made Ota question if Godzilla could be an ally against other threats from space that Deverich had unknowingly unleashed.
"2002: The End of the World"
In 2002, Ota and Ken were stationed at the AMF base in Antarctica where they formulated a plan to hijack a new Mechagodzilla and use it and the Dimension Tide's miniaturized Black Hole weapon to stop Godzilla alongside the two monsters from space that Deverich had summoned, King Ghidorah and Gigan. He knocked out the pilot intended to take Mechagodzilla into the final battle, and sneaked aboard with help from Ken. During the fight, Ota was attacked by Gigan, but was saved by Godzilla by aiming one of Ghidorah's heads at the monster. Ota returned the favor by blasting Ghidorah away from him. They then worked together to place the alien kaiju in the line of the Dimension Tide, which successfully engulfed them. Vowing that he would not allow Godzilla to escape again, Ota tackled Godzilla into range of the black hole. In the struggle, Mechagodzilla's cockpit was ripped apart, allowing Godzilla to see Ota inside. As Godzilla roared, Ota merely thanked him for the journey as they were both engulfed in the black hole.
"The Half-Century Bore"
To be added.
Gallery
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