I'm shocked Japan has made very little animation of its most iconic monster. Coming straight to Netflix is "Godzilla Singular Point", a 13-episode anime that takes Big G and his monstrous costars to a brand new direction. There was some hype from fans like myself surrounding its release, but did it live up to expectations?
Plot: Engineer Yun Arikawa and graduate Mei Kamino are individually drawn to an Indian song tied to a scientist who disappeared years ago. Shortly after, a red dust with strange properties is discovered and it spawns monsters that evolve and multiply rapidly, the worst being Godzilla. Working with their allies, the two must unlock clues to stop the upcoming catastrophe from engulfing the universe.
The art style is beautifully drawn with a stunning array of colors ranging from scenic to apocalyptic and the animation is pretty solid. The main characters are basic but fine and have good designs that make it easy to tell them apart. The standouts include Mei who's cute in a dorky way, elderly but energetic Goro Otaki who is so entertaining to watch, and brilliant but prideful Bearach "BB" Byrne. I'm a little iffy with Yun; while functional, he's mostly straight-faced and not charming. By contrast, the kaiju are done with CGI with wicked designs heavily drawn from nature. Each has time to shine with some having a little personality like Anguirus. Godzilla only becomes active in the second half. When he shows up, he does what he does best: blowing stuff up and showing others who's boss. Most surprising is the robot Jet Jaguar, once infamously known from the silly "Godzilla vs Megalon" now a badass, endearing character that develops over time with a fairly heartfelt conclusion. There's substantial destruction (some of it reminiscent of "Shin Godzilla"), plentiful monster mayhem, fun fight scenes, and a real sense of escalation. Outside the classic Godzilla theme, the music is pretty memorable from the catchy opening theme by BiSH to the several iterations of the main song "Alapu Upala". Longtime fans will also spot the numerous nods to the franchise.
For all the good here, the anime is bogged down by certain elements. The story heavily centers on theoretical physics. While a unique concept for the franchise, there are extensive lectures of how this dimensional mumbo jumbo works and what the mystery scientist did prior to the events of this series in every episode. Even when they try to explain in simplified/comparative terms, it's still very hard to follow. Some of it is delivered via rapid fire text message conversations that go on longer than needed. It messes up the pacing and leaves little room for the protagonists' development beyond their base traits, not helped by the large cast. Mei and Yun spend most of the time apart on separate quests, which almost feels like I'm watching two different anime; a sci-fi disaster with borderline Lovecraftian horror and a monster-of-the-week action show. Despite enough screen time, Godzilla isn't the center of the story, more an accessory to a larger threat and a simple final boss, which is a real bummer. What's more, his few scuffles with other kaiju are very brief. Certain questions are left unanswered by the end, magnified by an after-credit scene that appears to tease a second season.
"Godzilla Singular Point" leaves me with conflicted feelings. The monsters and action are fun, Jet Jaguar is cool, and the humans are decent enough to carry the overall good story, not to mention nice music and animation. On the other hand, the show would benefit greatly from being longer, cutting down/out the overly complicated science, developing the protagonists more, and Big G being the main focus rather than a symptom to a bigger problem. All an all, an anime with ups and downs.
