Kenji Noda
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Kenji Noda is a supporting character and former naval technical officer that played a major role in the defeat of Godzilla in the 2023 film, Godzilla Minus One.
Name
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History
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This article or section needs to be cleaned up to meet the standards of Wikizilla. Reason: Needs to be heavily edited from the text taken from the Minus One page. |
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- Godzilla Minus One (2023)
Godzilla Minus One
At the dock, Shikishima is startled to find he'll be serving on the Shinseimaru a small wooden boat. Former navy technical officer Kenji Noda, explains that its composition is to ward off American magnetic mines. He then meets Captain Seiji Akitsu and Shiro Mizushima, who was too young to have served in the war. They head out on the water and Akitsu explains their work. A cable suspended between their boat and the Kaishinmaru allows them to clip mine wires and bring them to the surface, where they can be exploded from a distance with machine gun fire. Shikishima quickly proves himself a skilled marksman, taking over from Akitsu. At Shikishima's recollection of flying fighter planes, Mizushima muses that he wishes the war had lasted longer so he would have been able to enlist, prompting a sharp rebuke. That night, Shikishima has a nightmare about his encounter with Godzilla on Odo Island. As Oishi comforts him, he questions whether he died on Odo Island and everything since has been the real dream, so aggressively that she's forced to throw him off her.
The Shinseimaru continues its minesweeping work, and when his crewmates visit for dinner one night, Noda snaps a picture of Oishi. The men assume her to be Shikishima's wife and are startled to learn of their living arrangement. When Akiko calls Shikishima her father, he tells her not to call him that, to their alarm. They encourage him to accept that he's found a family, but he angrily refuses.
By May 1947, the Shinseimaru and Kaishinmaru are dispatched to find Godzilla, searching near the Ogasawara Islands. They first come upon a massive American ship he has ravaged. After he crewmates debate what could have caused such damage, Shikishima spots deep sea fish on the surface. He shares with them what happened on Odo Island, which was covered up after the war ended; in the process, they learn that he was a kamikaze pilot. Mizushima is horrified that the Japanese government expects them to fight Godzilla in their tiny boats. Noda explains that their job is simply to delay his advance until the cruiser Takao can arrive from Singapore, having been returned to Japan to respond to the crisis. Their orders suggest they use the mines they recover as weapons - and, to Akitsu's disgust, forbid them from telling anyone else about the mission. After they collect two mines, Noda commiserates with Shikishima about the war, saying he also has trouble sleeping. The pilot is struggling with his fear of Godzilla, though he hopes to avenge his comrades on Odo Island. As larger deep sea fish surface all around them, they urge Akitsu to flee, but he's determined to face the monster, not wanting to see Tokyo destroyed again. Then Godzilla suddenly surges out of the water, sinking the Kaishinmaru in an instant, and he takes their advice. Godzilla chases after them, unfazed by the first mine they detonate against his dorsal fins and their machine gun. Noda gets the idea to set off the next mine in Godzilla's mouth. When the detonator switch fails to work, Shikishima explodes it with the machine gun. The blast destroys Godzilla's left eye and a large part of his cheek, while the ensuing wave rocks the Shinseimaru so severely that both Shikishima and Mizushima are injured. Godzilla appears dead in the water, only for the wound to regenerate before the crew's eyes. He rises out of the water and roars at them, but is cut off by the guns of the Takao. Godzilla turns his rage to the cruiser and pulls himself onto it, tearing it apart viciously with his claws. The ship's guns unload on Godzilla again, causing him to fall backward into the sea. However, the creature swims underneath the Takao and obliterates it in an instant with an explosive heat ray. Godzilla surfaces amid the ashes and smoke, wounded but triumphant, and continues to swim towards Tokyo.
Shikishima wakes up in a hospital after the battle and is greeted by his crewmates. He wants to alert the populace, but Noda tells him the government is still covering up the creature's existence, as no one is willing to be responsible for the panic that would ensue.
Following a memorial service for Oishi, Ota struggles to comfort Akiko and Shikishima sinks further into despair. Staring at the pictures of the slain Odo Island mechanics, he believes that they have yet to forgive him. Noda informs him that a group of private citizens is formulating a long-shot plan to destroy Godzilla. He attends a meeting, along with Mizushima, Akitsu, and many former navy personnel. Tatsuo Hotta, an ex-destroyer captain, explains that Japan has negotiated the return of four destroyers, albeit stripped of their weapons. To the surprise of his crewmates, Noda himself explains Operation Wada Tsumi, which he devised. He proposes luring Godzilla above the deepest part of Sagami Bay and tying canisters of Freon gas to him, which when ruptured would lower the water's buoyancy and forcibly sink Godzilla to a depth of 1,500 meters, crushing him with the sudden pressure change. He is unable to guarantee this will kill Godzilla, to the dismay of many attendees, including Shikishima, who nearly leaves. Noda elaborates that the operation requires two destroyers to circle Godzilla and wrap him in cables which the canisters will be attached to. He reassures them he has built in a back-up plan: giant balloons provided by Toyo Balloon would be inflated under him to rapidly bring him to the surface and destroy him via explosive decompression. Representatives of the company dramatically exhibit one of the balloons in action. Hotta apologizes for again asking to men to go into battle - but neither the U.S. nor the Japanese government is willing or capable of defeating the monster threatening their country. Some of the attendees leave, but most stay; one heartens the others by saying that a plan that has a chance of succeeding is better than the odds they faced in the war.
The crew of the Shinseimaru goes out for drinks, where Noda voices the belief that Godzilla will return to Japan in as soon as 10 days, since he now considers Tokyo part of his territory. To lure the monster to the trap point, he plans to use acoustic minesweepers to play recordings of his roar. Mizushima suggests using the destroyers to pull Godzilla to the surface instead of balloons, but Noda dismisses him, saying the monster is too heavy. He admits that his plan could fail in many different ways, but challenges them to come up with a better one. Shikishima finally speaks up, offering to help with the luring operation if Noda can procure a fighter plane.
Noda soon invites Shikishima to a hanger where the nimble Local Fighter Shinden sits. Developed at the end of the war as an anti-bomber fighter, only a few prototypes saw use, as Japan surrendered before the Allies could invade the mainland. Years in storage have left the plane inoperable; Shikishima recommends Tachibana to repair it. Unable to find the mechanic's current address, he resorts to sending inflammatory letters to comrades from Tachibana's postings before Odo Island. Tachibana soon turns up at his house and beats him, furious that he would blame him for the Odo Island massacre. When Shikishima explains the true purpose of the letters, Tachibana initially refuses. He relents when Shikishima reveals his own plan: based on the damage Godzilla sustained from the mine detonated in his mouth, he should be able to kill him if he flies the Shinden, loaded with explosives, into his mouth. He gathers a team to begin work on the fighter the next day. Watching the destroyers loaded up with supplies, Noda is pessimistic about his plan, but Akitsu reassures him that the volunteers are in high spirits despite the risk, glad at the chance to finally make a difference.
Radiation-detecting buoys herald Godzilla's return in less than a day. Unsure if their balloons will be ready in time, the employees of Toyo Balloon offer to ride on the destroyers, so as to make use of the final hours. Noda orders the volunteers to spend the night with their families. He reflects that Japan treated life cheaply during the war, including the use of kamikaze planes, but hopes to execute Operation Wada Tsumi with zero casualties. After the meeting, Noda and Akitsu tell Mizushima, still injured, that he'll be staying home tomorrow. When he protests, Akitsu tells him that having never seen combat should be a badge of pride.
The acoustic minesweepers deploy in Sagami Bay after a buoy there detects Godzilla. Aboard one of the destroyers, Noda voices his concerns about Shikishima to Akitsu. The captain reassures him that he'll stay alive for Akiko. Just then, Godzilla throws one of the minesweeper ships ashore, having reached the shore faster than anticipated. After placing Noda's photo of Oishi in the cockpit, Shikishima exchanges salutes with Tachibana and takes off. Noda orders the destroyers to set sail, with the task of bringing Godzilla into position now entirely up to Shikishima. After declining to reply to Akitsu's order to survive the operation, he comes upon Godzilla terrorizing the countryside. At the same time, Ota receives a telegram which she reads with astonishment. Shikishima flies his fighter perilously close to Godzilla, evading his jaws and then his tail while peppering him with machine gun fire. Godzilla turns around to chase him, with the Shinden luring him all the way to the trap point in Sagami Bay.
Two of the destroyers speed towards Godzilla; unbeknownst to him, both are unmanned. He expends his atomic breath on the harmless ships, leaving him unable to use it again while he regenerates from his self-inflicted wounds. The other two destroyers encircle Godzilla and tie a cable attached to Freon canisters around him while Shikishima continues to buzz him. The ships scrape against each other as they complete the circle. As Godzilla prepares to fire his heat ray again, the canisters are ruptured, forcibly pulling him underwater. Upon surpassing the target depth, Godzilla freezes in place and stops charging his ray, but remains alive. Noda then has the balloons inflated under him, rapidly drawing the monster to the surface. When Godzilla tears through the balloons, the destroyers try pulling him the rest of the way themselves, but as Noda predicted, the monster's weight is too great and one of the cranes collapses. His plan seems hopeless until a fleet of tugboats, led by Mizushima, arrive to help the destroyers. Upon surfacing, Godzilla is heavily mutilated, having suffered critical damage to his body from decompression, but is not dead. Noda and the others accept their deaths as an enraged Godzilla courses with power and prepares to unleash his atomic breath. Shikishima intercedes, flying his plane towards Godzilla as Oda and Akitsu shout for him to stop. He thinks of Oishi just before his plane lodges in Godzilla's mouth and explodes - and all involved in the operation are overjoyed to see that he ejected, having followed Tachibana's order to live.
The smoke clears moments later, revealing that the top of Godzilla's head has been destroyed, after which the accumulated atomic energy overloads, causing the rest of his body to crumble. Spontaneously, the crews of all the ships salute. They return to port to find a jubilant crowd waiting, including Mizushima, who reunites with his crewmates.
Books
- Main article: Novel Version: Godzilla Minus One.
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