Anime / Godzilla: Singular Point

Face Down a Hopeless Future!

Godzilla: Singular Point is a 2021 anime series based on the Godzilla series produced by Toho and animated by in-house by Toho Animation with assistance from Studio Bones and Orange, produced by Naoki Amano, Jiro Ando, and Takashi Yoshizawa. It is both the third Godzilla series to get a full televised release (after The Godzilla Power Hour and Godzilla: The Series) and the third anime adaptation of the title character after Godzilland and the anime film trilogy by Gen Urobuchi, but it is the first full anime series for the character as prior entries were mini-series or theatrical films. Creature design was handled by Eiji Yamamori of Howl's Moving Castle fame with human characters designed by Blue Exorcist creator Kazue Katou and music by Kan Sawada of Doraemon fame. The series aired on Tokyo MX in Japan and Netflix internationally.

In the year 2030, kaiju began appearing across the world accompanied by a mysterious red mist, with Godzilla being the greatest of these threats. During this emergent threat, two characters end up coming together as part of the government response: Yun Arikawa, an engineer for the Otaki Factory's Jet Jaguar project that discovers the lost research of a disgraced biologist; and Mei Kamino, a graduate student studying mythical creatures finding parallels between them and the attacking monsters as well as their connection to Archetype, a mysterious physics defying element. Together, they must unravel the mysteries of the kaiju and find a way to stop the King of the Monsters.

The official site is here. View the teaser, the first trailer, second trailer, and third trailer here.

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Includes examples of:

• 20 Minutes into the Future: The show is set in 2030, nine years after it first aired. From the first episode, we see that small mechs (such as drones in the style of flying lanterns) and self-learning AI are commonplace enough not to raise any eyebrows in public.
• 2D Visuals, 3D Effects: The human characters and Pelops-2's physical body are animated in 2-D, while the kaiju and vehicles are computer-generated. It's rather obvious, but the 3-D models still retain the outlining of the 2-D characters so it doesn't look too off.
• 6 Is 9: One of Professor Ashihara's many cryptic notes has "6=9" written on it. Mei figures from this hint that Archetype material works with space-time, as in a curved area (like with a Mobius Strip) a direction can turn 180 degrees.
• Alas, Poor Villain: Anguirus is this. Even though he's an antagonistic, yet not villainous monster, he is portrayed more sympathetically compared to Rodan or Godzilla, thanks to his playful and shy, but unpredictable behavior. Who hadn't cried, or feel sympathy for him after witnessing his death?
• All There in the Manual: The novelization and Fan Book contain details and scenes that were left out of the show and clarify some of the questions left unanswered by the series, such as how the 1954 Godzilla — whose skeleton rests in the basement of the Misakioku building — died and its role in the 2030 Godzilla's emergence.
• Alien Invasion: according to some fan theories, since kaiju, as being described in the series, seem to be unlikely to be native of Planet Earth, or even it's dimension.
• Ambiguous Situation: The true nature of the Godzilla skeleton held in Misakioku's vault: does it represent a different specimen of the same species as the individual that later shows up alive and well in Tokyo, or due to Godzilla's status as a Singular Point, are the two one and the same despite logic dictating that it's impossible?
• An Arm and a Leg:
  • In episode 2, Jet Jaguar loses the right arm fighting the Rodan.
  • The end credits shows the classic Showa era Jet Jaguar with a missing right arm.
• Apathetic Citizens: When people along the coast are told that a massive swarm of Rodan are rapidly approaching (already seen to be highly aggressive), most don't bother to take shelter until the Rodan are literally overhead and diving down on them.
• Animation Bump: On some brief occasions, when they need to move more fluidly, the kaiju (which are normally portrayed with rather stiff CGI) switch to 2-D animation. This occurs with the Rodan that attacks Li, when Salunga smashes the Super Dimension Calculator, and after Jet Jaguar's face is blasted by Godzilla's atomic breath.
• Art Shift:
  • In episode 12, the "multiversal" copies of Pelops-2 are mainly a gathering of cute to cartoonish Pelops-2's, with a scary wolf-like version at the bottom of the screen.
  • In episode 9, a Rodan is briefly shown in traditional animation. In the finale, Jet Jaguar, Rodan, and especially Salunga constantly shift between 3D and 2D animation.
• Artificial Intelligence:
  • The NARATAKE communication assistance AI which was made by Yun Arikawa. Mei Kamino's version is named Pelops-2 after a dog she had and it customized itself to be visualized as a dog. It later gains a small robot body when the two go travelling.
  • Yun has his own called Yung which retains its default appearance. It becomes Jet Jaguar's AI and is renamed as such.
• Beast of the Apocalypse: The appearance of Godzilla, the Rodans, and the red mist is tied to an old Japanese legend of a beast known as "Gojira" that will rise to bring about the End Times when the sea turns red, and is depicted in a mural alongside a flock of tengu-like creatures later revealed to be Rodans. Li Guiying points out that the biblical Book of Revelation contains a very similar passage about the sea turning into blood and a huge beast rising from it, suggesting that these apocalyptic myths may have a common origin.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies:
  • Kumongas and their bretheren appear in the eighth and ninth episodes. The ninth episode includes a singular individual with giant scythes replacing the drill-like front legs.
  • In episode 13, Meganulon-like parasites attack Yun when he and Jet Jaguar land on to Godzilla's back,
• Bittersweet Ending: The crisis with Godzilla and the red dust has been dealt with. But at the cost of Jet Jaguar and Pelops-2.
• Blob Monster: Inside the shell of the Kumongas is a blob that can reform their bodies, one forming into a Hedorah-like form while doing this.
• Car Fu: In episode 2, Goro Otaki uses his own company's flatbed truck to ram the Rodan chasing Yun.
• Cliffhanger: Each episode ends with some new kaiju predicament dealt with in the following episode.
  • Episode 1 ends with a Rodan suddenly appearing at the festival Jet Jaguar is being exhibited at, as well as the unexplained reveal of a Godzilla skeleton under Misakiouku's building.
  • Episode 2 ends with a massive swarm of Rodan suddenly emerging en masse from the red ocean.
  • Episode 3 ends with a submarine being pursued by a huge deep-sea entity, which the audience sees is Godzilla Aquatilis.
  • Episode 4 ends with another new type of monster appearing in the Rodans' wake: Anguirus (along with numerous gigantic sea creatures headed for Japan at the beginning).
  • Episode 5 ends with the newly repaired and modified Jet Jaguar about to do battle with Anguirus (who has grown much larger since his last sighting).
  • Episode 6 ends with Yun injured and knocked out after the battle between Anguirus and Jet Jaguar, while the JSDF failed to prevent the Mandas and Godzilla Aquatilis from reaching Tokyo Bay.
  • Episode 7 ends with Jet Jaguar having been upgraded, and the Otaki Factory crew setting out to fight Godzilla.
  • Episode 8 ends with Jet Jaguar and the Otaki Factory workers surrounded by a growing swarm of huge insect-like creatures that are seemingly unkillable, with Hedorah-like blobs emerging from their bodies to repair them.
  • Episode 9 ends with Yun and the others seeing the massive cloud of red dust created by Godzilla’s third form and realize that the Catastrophe has already begun.
  • Episode 10 ends with Godzilla Terrestris evolving into Godzilla Ultima and rampaging through Tokyo, eliminating the army that opposes him.
• Composite Character: Several of the kaiju combine elements of other kaiju.
  • Manda resemble their original appearance mixed with the shrimp features of Ebirah.
  • Godzilla goes through multiple forms like Shin Godzilla, with each of these forms resembling other saurian kaiju like Titanosaur, Varan, and Gorosaurus.
  • Kumonga is depicted as a spider version of Megalon, with a blob monster that can form a Hedorah-like shape inside the shell. Their relative Kamanga takes traits from Gigan, such as his scythes and sails which are now on the arms.
• Continuity Cavalcade: The credits sequence features numerous cameos by past incarnations of Godzilla scenes and characters, including a pencil eraser shaped like the Super-X, the Monsterverse incarnation of Rodan, the Godzilla Prediction Network (GPN) van, Kiryu pilot Akane Yashiro and the Yuharas, the Millennium Era version of the Shobijin, Ichiro Miki from All Monsters Attack, the Zone Fighters, the Xilien agent Namikawa, and a Freeze-Frame Bonus shot of kaiju names, including Zilla, spelled out on a computer, among many other appearances.
• Conveniently Empty Building: Despite kaiju practically swarming the world, the only reported casualties are limited to kaiju. Despite attacking buildings, transport and electronics chaotically, kaiju are regardless as just major inconvenience by the public, with the only on-screen victim (until episode 9) is Goro being hospitalized for a brief time.
• Create Your Own Hero: Godzilla (or a previous incarnation) attacked a small fishing village and was killed sometime before WWII, where he was promptly forgotten about by everyone involved as all attention turned to the war effort. Except for a young Ashihara, who lived in that village and witnessed Godzilla's manifestation and attack. This would lead to him researching the corpse, discovering the Singular Point in India, and ultimately setting the groundwork for Godzilla's defeat when he manifested again in 2030.
• Expy:
  • There are three yellow industrial robots in Otaki Factory which seem to be based on N.I.G.E.L. from Godzilla: The Series. Similar to N.I.G.E.L., they have a tricycle-like design with one primary grabbing arm and are rapidly and rather comically destroyed by kaiju.
  • Godzilla Aquilitus is heavily based on Titanosaurus before becoming the Varan-inspired Godzilla Amphibia while Salunga is a more monkey-like take on Gabara.
• Expy Coexistence: In the first episode, a movie poster featuring the Rhedosaurus can be seen briefly. The original Godzilla was heavily inspired in both design and backstory by the Rhedosaurus.
• Evil Evolves:
  • Well more hostile than evil, but the Rodan that appeared in episode 1 and 2 were bright red with only one horn, the swarm that appeared in episode 3 were more traditionally colored with Rodan's usual two horns on the back of their heads.
  • Similar to Shin Godzilla, Godzilla evolves through multiple forms resembling other kaiju before becoming something more traditional looking, usually after eating his enemies. His initial Aqualitus form resembling Titanosaurus takes on a Varan-esque Amphibia form after eating one of the Mandas, and then emerging as a Gorosaurus-like Terrestris form after cocooning himself in a hardened shell.
  • In-Universe it’s theorized that the various kaiju that are appearing might have some degree of control over their own evolution.
• Failed a Spot Check: Apparently before Otaki Factory arrived, nobody noticed the giant silken nest of Kumongas in the shipyard, despite it being in clear sight from the road/beach and them already having kidnapped at least a dozen people.
• From Bad to Worse: The series slowly builds up as more and more kaiju appear to menace mankind. In the first episode, there's just one Rodan, but gradually more and more appear until a massive horde arrives at once and attacks Japan in the third episode. Then, gigantic sea serpents (dubbed Manda) start appearing off the coast, a land-based monster named Anguirus is sighted, and more swarms of Rodan appear in cities across the Pacific Rim by the fifth episode, and somehow arriving on the Eastern Seaboard by the sixth episode, and both Rodan and Manda having spread to Europe two episodes later.
• Fling a Light into the Future: Relativity^note pun intended played with, the Indian lullaby was sent from an alternate future timeline with coding embedded in it in hopes to Set Right What Once Went Wrong with the disaster. According to Jet Jaguar PP, he was both encoded in the lullaby itself and the one who transmitted it, being reborn over and over again, implying a "Groundhog Day" Loop is at play.
• Giant Scrap Robot: Jet Jaguar very much looks like the product of a small engineering team working out of a garage.
• Giant Spider: A swarm of Kumonga and appear in episodes 8 with close relatives Kamanga, Hanenga, and Zebunga appearing in the nest an episode later.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Jet Jaguar PP fights Godzilla with the intention of dying and releasing a code that stops the catastrophe.
• Leitmotif: Some of the kaiju have arrangements of their classic music theme accompany them when they appear on screen to help identify them.
  • "Rodan's Theme" plays when the red pteranodon-like creature appears at the end of episode 1, associating it with Rodan.
  • Usually whenever Godzilla appears onscreen, "Godzilla's Theme" will play. An original rendition of the theme plays when Godzilla Terrestris evolves into Godzilla Ultima.
  • Jet Jaguar has his own theme that plays when he fights both the Rodan in episode 2 and Anguirus in episode 6.
• Lovecraft Lite: Almost bordering on Cosmic Horror Story with how the Kaiju have Bizarre Alien Biology, and Godzilla serves as a reality-warping Eldritch Abomination and his arrival heralds a Catastrophe that will destroy the world. It is only classified as Lovecraft Lite due to the human characters trying their damndest to stop the Catastrophe from occuring and pulling it off in the end and no one (except maybe Dr. Ashihara) having gone completely insane. A book on non-Euclidean geometry is mentioned early in the first episode, and near the end of series, as the Meat Moss grows, it's noted that the corners of a triangle no longer add up to 180 degrees in Godzilla's vicinity.
• Master of Your Domain: The kaiju of this series are theorized to be able to control their own evolution. Once Godzilla transforms into its third form, it turns its outer layer of flesh into reactive armor to survive two large missiles, then straight up grows blood tentacles from its wounds to catch and envelope a third missile.
• Mech vs. Beast:
  • The second episode features a newly built Jet Jaguar fighting against a pterosaur (later dubbed "Rodan") that suddenly appears at the festival Jet Jaguar was being shown off at. It ends rather abruptly when Rodan flies up into the sky and mysteriously drops dead mid-flight.
  • Episode 3 has Pelops-2 take control of one of the yellow industrial robots in the Otaku Factory garage and help Yun and Haberu escape by buying time fighting a Rodan but gets overwhelmed by a large group of them.
  • Episode 5 ends with Jet Jaguar preparing to fight Anguirus. The conflict occurs during episode 6 ending in the victory of Jet Jaguar.
  • Episodes 8 and 9 have Jet Jaguar fight a horde of Kumonga.
  • Episode 13 has the Orthagonal Diagonalizer use the archetype dust to turn Jet Jaguar huge, allowing him to go toe-to-toe with Godzilla.
• Meat Moss: In Episode 12, high concentrations of the Red Dust result in the gestation of a blood-red fleshy moss-like super-organism that covers building and distorts reality.
• Militaries Are Useless: An old standby of Godzilla stories, and still valid in this one. When all is said and done, the three-man engineering firm Otaki Factory does more to stop the various Kaiju than the entire JSDF, both over the course of the entire series and in most individual episodes. Kind of Downplayed, though, in that the Rodans and even the Mandas are shown to be perfectly vulnerable to conventional weapons like machine guns and naval artillery respectively, although they still come in numbers too great for the military to effectively stop.
• Mini-Mecha: The mech Jet Jaguar is prominently featured in the series, with one of the main characters being an engineer employed by Otaki Factory to work on it.
• Minovsky Physics: Kaiju are justified by a substance naturally occurring in their biology that warps physics to make their existence possible. SHIVA manages to refine this into what gets called Archetype and learn how to "program" it into specific configurations known as "Codes" to use against kaiju.
• Monster Organ Trafficking: SHIVA's Archetype turns out to be derived from the red dust produced by the Godzilla skeleton in the basement of the Misakioku and Salunga.
• More Teeth than the Osmond Family: Many of the kaiju shown have many rows of teeth. Anguirus seems to have an entire tongue covered in teeth, while Godzilla has four rows of teeth on both top and bottom and the addition of tusk-like fangs. The first Rodan has the entirety of its mouth's surface covered in teeth.
• More than Three Dimensions: Archetype is this, as it interacts with the fourth dimension, allowing it to seemingly violate the laws of physics.
• Mysterious Mist: Rodan, Salunga, Manda, and Godzilla appear surrounded by red mists and carry it wherever they go, with Salunga and Godzilla being capable of controlling it.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Aside from the Continuity Cavalcade in the credits, the episodes each contain minor references to other Toho properties and characters, such as a person wearing an Utsuno Ikusagami helmet or Mei's Baragon-themed cellphone case.
  • The error message in episode 3 feature a cartoon version of Showa Moguera.
  • The two moth scenes in the finale are clearly meant to reference Mothra.
  • Anguirus' name was coined in-universe by the grandson of the mayor of the area saw footage of him on television and mistook him for an Ankylosaurus (whose name he couldn't pronounce). In reality, this was indeed the primary basis for Anguirus' name and design.
  • During their second battle, when Anguirus smashes off Jet Jaguar's head, it can still function, because there's a smaller head underneath (which even has a red visor with large bolts on the sides).
  • The series composer stated that Alapu Upala was heavily inspired by the classic Mothra’s Song.
  • At the beginning of episode 6, plushies resembling Godzooky, the Giant Turtle, Komodithrax, and Godzilla Jr. can be seen briefly.
  • The final 13th phase of the Archetype material is known as the Orthagonal Diagonalizer. Aside from its initials, it's shown contained with a rather familiar bomb capsule and destructive capabilities...
  • While examining a Manda carcass in episode 8, Haberu offhandedly speculates if its huge bite wound may have been created by "giant sea roaches".
  • When Mandas begin appearing elsewhere on the planet like the Rodans in Episode 8, the first city they visit is London, which Manda attacked off-screen in Destroy All Monsters.
  • When Godzilla evolves into Godzilla Terrestris, it pukes red liquid from its mouth and bleeds copiously when struck by mortars from its back, in more explicit references to scenes from Shin Godzilla (which this incarnation already draws very heavily from), with the puking scene similar to a deleted scene in particular.
  • The camera-eye of the robot body Pellops 2 takes control of is extremely similar in shape to Moguera's head and the silver antennae on top of Zone Fighter's helmet.
  • Godzilla Ultima's Atomic Breath is proceeded his mouth glowing with vapor forming around it akin to GMK Godzilla's.
  • Godzilla Ultima briefly reenacts the "atomic breath straight up" shot from Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019).
  • Mechagodzilla is being constructed overtop the original Godzilla's skeleton again (but resembles the Showa version), and the workers shown building him are wearing suits that look like the Mysterians.
• Never Smile at a Crocodile: The new Godzilla design has a wider, larger mandible than most older looks; which combined with the scutes gives him a more crocodile-like appearance.
• No Range Like Point-Blank Range: Anguirus is able to block incoming projectiles using his precognitive energy shield, so Goro takes a harpoon gun and rams it right up against the skin before firing it, preventing Anguirus from being able to deflect it.
• Obscured Special Effects:
  • Every time Godzilla metamorphoses into another phase, the red dust thickens and completely hides the transformation so they don't actually have to animate the model changing.
  • When Godzilla blasts a hole through half of Jet Jaguar's face, the shot afterwards only depicts Jet Jaguar from the side to hide the fact his CG model still looks the same, they didn't bother to model an actual hole. The only time it shows the other side is when Jet Jaguar briefly shifts to 2D animation for one shot.
• Ominous Latin Chanting: Godzilla appears in many forms, but his iconic orchestral Leitmotif always accompanies these new forms, but grows more ominous with each form. When he becomes Godzilla Ultima, a choir joins the orchestra.
• One Degree of Separation: Mei Kamino went to the same high school as Haberu Kato, an employee of Otaki Factory.
• One Myth to Explain Them All: The red mist and the kaiju that arise from it are speculated to have inspired various accounts of monsters and apocalyptic events from Japanese, Hindu, and Judeo-Christian mythology.
• Our Dragons Are Different:
  • Godzilla, even he looks like an outdated theropod reconstruction, he can be seen as one of the most dragon-like versions of the character due to his looks, his "folkloric status" or his behavior being similar to those of dragons.
  • Mandas even though they have more fish, or shrimp-like looks compared to more reptile-like traditional dragons
• Posthumous Character: The skeleton of the original Godzilla is found under the Misakiouku's building. In the final episode's stinger, it becomes the basis for Mechagodzilla's construction.
• Prehistoric Monster: Godzilla (a theropod-like kaiju), Anguirus (an ankylosaur-like kaiju), Godzilla Aquatilis (a mosasaur-like kaiju), and Rodan (pterosaur-like kaiju).
• Proportionately Ponderous Parasites: When Yun lands on Godzilla in the 13th episode, numerous insectoid parasites (resembling Showa Meganulon) emerge from underneath the armour plates to snarl at him.
• Sdrawkcab Name: The End Credits briefly show the name "Godzilla" written in all caps on a window backwards so that it reads "All Iz Dog". The climax of the story involves Pelops-2, the AI that appears in the form of a dog, using complicated time travel to merge with infinite copies of itself to formulate the equation that allows Jet Jaguar to neutralize the Catastrophe
• Sea Monster: One of Godzilla's forms is the mosasaur-like kaiju Godzilla Aquatilis, alongside a shark-faced take on Manda.
• Sequel Hook: The finale's post credits scene reveals Mark Steven's faction of SHIVA is building Mechagodzilla using the skeleton of the original and Ashihara is still alive and overseeing the project
• Set Right What Once Went Wrong: The lullaby was sent back in time from an alternate future to do this. Jet Jaguar PP implies that he was the one who did so, and in a way was time travelling with it due to being encoded in it.
• Sherlock Scan: Yun Arikawa performs one in the first episode when he and Haberu Kato explored an abandoned mansion, complete with an "elementary, dear Watson" line.
• Shout-Out:
  • The ancient mural of Godzilla and the Rodans is a near one-to-one recreation of Utagawa Kuniyoshi's Tametomo Rescued by Tengu sent by Sanuki-in ukiyo-e painting, with Godzilla in place of the wani and the Rodan in place of the tengu.
  • In episode 1, a couple kids seeing Rodan remark, "It's a bird?" "It's a plane!"
  • A Ray Harryhausen poster can be seen in the second episode featuring the Rhedosaurus from The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms and Raquel Welch in her Fur Bikini from One Million Years B.C..
  • In Episode 2, Pelops-2 indignantly asks how Mei would like it if she woke up as an insect, which Mei immediately recognizes as a reference to Gregor Samsa from The Metamorphosis.
  • In Episode 2, a fishing boat crew member tells his partner that "we're going to need a bigger boat" as they witness a massive swarm of Rodan emerge from the red tide.
  • The Rodans, which start to appear in giant swarms, overwhelming major population centers, evoke the role the Gyaos played in the Heisei Gamera series.
  • In episode 12, some of the multiversal copies of Pelops-2 sport facial expressions similar to Doraemon and Domo-kun.
  • The recurring "Wandaba" choral leitmotif from the Ultra Series receives an homage in episode 3.
• The Spiny: Anguirus is significantly spikier than typical portrayals prior.
• The Stinger: The last episode is the only one that ends with a post-credits scene depicting Mechagodzilla being constructed overtop the Godzilla skeleton, and showing that Ashihara never died.
• Stupid Sacrifice: While fleeing from a swarm of Rodans, a little girl trips when her cat panics and breaks out of her arms to run for it, and Professor Li's assistant bravely scoops her up to carry her to safety. Then Professor Li chases after and grabs the stupid cat, and is struggling to keep hold of it when a Rodan swoops down and eats her, and the cat, alive. A truly dumb way to die, made worse by the fact that it's literally the only human character death in the entire series.
• The Symbiote: After several Kumonga are cut to pieces by Jet Jaguar, Hedorah emerges from their remains and starts literally pulling them back together.
• Terror-dactyl: Rodan, as usual, is a terrifying Giant Flyer, though this time there's many of them and they are relatively small by kaiju standards. They look much more like a proper pterosaur compared to earlier portrayals, being quadrupedal with a large head and a wing membrane suspended by a single finger.
• There Is Another:
  • A prophecy foretells Godzilla's emergence when the Sea of Japan turns red and a flock of Rodans fly out of the ocean. However, the skeleton of the first Godzilla is found in an abandoned Japanese Imperial Army bunker right under the Misakiouku building, so the prophecy may foretell the second Godzilla.
  • After the abrupt death of the Rodan after fighting Jet Jaguar, people wonder whether it was the last of the pterodactyls. These questions are put to rest soon after as body after body of more dead Rodans begin popping up across Japan.
• Three Laws-Compliant: In episode 7, Yun places his AI, Jung, into the upgraded Jet Jaguar. When he asks Jung to attack Haberu, it refuses. Goro cites the trope by name in response.
• Trick Arrow: In episode 3, whistling arrows were made by combining arrows with PET bottles in order to distract the Rodans.
• Two Lines, No Waiting: There are several different interwoven subplots occurring at once which the show cuts back and forth between each episode, mostly between Mei, Yun, Shunya, and Bela, although they intersect at points.
• Unobtainium: Mei's story revolves around researching theoretical materials. The SHIVA Consortium has managed to produce their own, called Archetype, which apparently can refract photons from the future. It later transpires that Archetype is produced by Singular Points like Godzilla, and has reality-warping properties.
• Zerg Rush: The third episode has a massive swarm of thousands of Rodan emerging from the ocean and attacking the cities around Tokyo, attracted by the electrical signals of machinery and other electronic devices (as well as any people that get in their way).

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