Hideaki Anno has always been known for giving uniquely bizarre endings to his movies or shows. We all saw the frustrating ending of Neon Genesis Evangelion, and the audience did not like it when the story retreated to its main character for the final two episodes.
The audience was in a rage with the concluding portion of Evangelion. That rage gave us the Rebuild of Evangelion, which had a runtime of 87 minutes and gave the audience the final ending, but it took them fourteen years to wrap it all up.
Between the first and the fourth movies, Anno was seen in the Ghibli movie and also made the very first Godzilla movie.
The ending of Shin Godzilla is straightforward, but it’s relative. Many critics compared the movie’s ending to the 2011 nuclear disaster and Fukushima tsunami.
What happens in the end of Shin Godzilla?
The movie concludes with uncertainty. Through the brave efforts of the Japanese people, Godzilla has been frozen, but it can thaw anytime.
After the predecessors’ death, a new generation of politicians lined up to take control of politics. The only certainty is that Japanese people have to live with the corpse of the dead mammoth for a short future, as it cannot be moved or destroyed.
The point that the country managed to tackle Godzilla with collected efforts is commendable, and it raises further questions about what else they can accomplish together.
What does the movie say about politics?
The aged politicians that we see in the movie are initially concerned about saving their skin, which couldn’t happen because Godzilla is just too strong.
Random Yaguchi, young politicians like him, know their responsibility of keeping the lookout for Japanese people. Incompetent political practice is a problem that is present all across the world, Shin Godzilla only shows what’s wrong with Japanese politics.
What’s up with the final scene?
None of the above-mentioned things comes close to the final portions of the movie. As the camera shows the monster’s tail, we see many humanoid figures on his tail, clawing but stuck on their way out.
It was a strange thing to see what was going on. If the Japanese management did not freeze the monster, it is very possible that these new mini Godzilla-like humanoids would swarm the streets of Japan.
These humanoids could be the next step in its evolution. The animal’s best hope was to multiply easily with the help of these humanoids.
Keep in mind that it is just a movie, and let’s not take the moments of the movie too literally. The important question is what the frozen bodies mean and not what Godzilla is trying to do next.
Maybe it was a reference to the Fukushima victims who were alive and dead, which were ignored by the officials, but they appeared in a form that they cannot be overlooked.
It could also mean that Godzilla was not always a deadly monster. Godzilla may have had a friend or enemy, but he has always been a stand-in for some time.
Japan’s Future
Today, people across the globe face challenges like global warming, war, and economic inequality. Each of these leaves a mark, just like Godzilla.
Shin Godzilla showed that people have more responsibility to build a system that can withhold any future threats like Godzilla. If the government is unable to hold off any threat, it is the people who can handle and save themselves.
The world in the movie continues to move forward. Shinzo was assassinated. The involvement of his family in the Unification Church, reverting to Nobusuke Kishi, his grandfather, has again shaken the belief system of Japanese politics.
The yen is the weakest as of now, and it is tough to predict the future of the company, but Higuchi and Anno predicted that no matter what happens, Japan will continue to evolve, and this is the truth.
