Godzilla Minus Zero is out now, and like its predecessor, it’s pretty much going for the humans. The Shikishima family unfortunately finds itself at the forefront of the government’s efforts to fend off the newly emerged Ghidorah and ultimately Godzilla, and not just because Kōichi (Ryunosuke Kamiki) has already defeated the latter once.
Halfway through the movie we learn that Noriko (Hamabe) has G cells in her blood. Of those who survived the destruction of Ginza Godzilla Minus One, she is the only one who did not die from the radioactive cells, which also affected her body and one of her eyes. Speaking to Inverse, director/writer Takashi Yamazaki revealed two things about this plot point: it came about by accident, and it’s not something he came up with on his own.
On the first point, he said that the black mark on Noriko’s neck when Kōichi reunited with her was “not planned” while Minus One Production. “In that movie, she effectively dies, but when they bring her back, it felt like we needed some kind of reason why or how she survived,” he explained. “We had no idea it was going to play such a pivotal role in the sequel.”
As for the second part, Yamazaki wrote the 1989s Godzilla vs Biollante to introduce G cells to the franchise. That movie saw companies fighting for Godzilla’s cells to use for their own purposes, something Godzilla Minus Zero Gesture with Ghidorah absorbing G-cells to get his own heat ray, and Murakami wants to control Godzilla to destroy New York.
This fear of scrutiny leads Kōichi and Noriko to keep their condition a secret so that it will not be studied by the government. The pair planned to go into hiding after helping the Large-Scale Disaster Response Bureau deal with Godzilla and Ghidorah. But when it’s time to leave their adopted daughter Akiko at the local orphanage, they can’t, and bring her with them.
Kamiki told Inverse that there were “two paths” to take, and that he was happy that the film “took the path I was hoping for.” For him, leaving Akiko or taking her with them are all legitimate means “to protect the family, whether they are all together or not.” Still, he acknowledged that what’s right for him might not be right for viewers.
Hamabe also noted her characters’ “very stern expressions” when the family travels into the night. It may not be a happy ending in the traditional sense, but for her it makes for a “very good ending, because what the future holds for each of them is still a little unknown.”
That feeling of unknown is literal, as Yamazaki is currently focused on his next film, grand gear. He’d certainly like to get back to Godzilla, and maybe even make an original Kaiju, but it’s not his focus right now. If that happens, Hamabe offered an interesting possibility to play a sequel: “I think that connections like [Godzilla and Noriko’s] could not be a one-way street,” she said. “I think there’s a kind of symbiotic relationship happening on one level. So maybe the next time Godzilla appears or is near the coast, I’m sure a change will happen in her.
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