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Godzilla 7 Planning Document “Godzilla vs. Barubaroi” – Hideki Oka Proposal
12/23/1994

※ “Godzilla vs. Barubaroi” as it appears here is a revised version that has been updated by Mr. Oka in order to be published in this book.

 

Planning Aims

The conclusion of the Heisei Godzilla series, the birth of the Newborn Godzilla, and the rebirth of the Undersea Warship Gotengo. Then, the appearance of the reborn Oxygen Destroyer and that which shall become the key to unlocking it, the new kaiju Barubaroi.  The madness and agony of the humans, who have revived a demonic weapon which should never have been unsealed. The form of young lovers, tossed about in this storm. Through this, we can summarize in a single work the history of the battles Godzilla has experienced, and that road Japan and the Japanese have walked down these 50 years since the war.

(If allowed, I’d like to line this up with “Himeyuri no Tô,” producing this feature while hiding within the shadow of calling this “a work commemorating the 50^th anniversary of the end of World War II.”)

A Proposal Regarding the “Rebirth” of the Oxygen Destroyer and the “Death” of Godzilla

In “Godzilla 7,” if we are to make Godzilla die, or if we bring back the Oxygen Destroyer… I’d like to put forward my own personal plan for a concept regarding the setting of this subject, which will itself likely present various problems.

Hideki Oka 12/13/1994

1. Regarding the use of the Oxygen Destroyer

The Oxygen Destroyer is the sole ultimate weapon capable of dispelling the invincible Godzilla from this world. Undoubtedly, this weapon is the TOP OF THE TOP. As it were, it is the veritable emperor of the “cinematic Godzilla world,” something for which “we must not trespass upon its holiness.” It’s been 40 years since its birth. Godzilla films have changed with the times as more elements have been added to them, and yet we’ve avoided placing our hands on the production world of that single source point for all of this, the very first “Godzilla” from the year 1954. However, at this moment, in order to eradicate the Heisei Godzilla who has become even more super-powered, we are dragging that first Godzilla, the source of everything, back into the ring of modern battle. This is a dangerous thing.  It is a monumental risk. At one point in Godzilla, Dr. Serizawa proclaims that “the Oxygen Destroyer can only be used a single time by my hands.” To overrule that statement would be to reject the very creators of the world of the original Godzilla themselves, trampling over their work. Although the Oxygen Destroyer is a prohibited, demonic weapon, one that should never be used, is it not also true that, for us producers, it’s also a Pandora’s Box which must not be opened a second time?

However, what other methods do we have at our disposal in order to bury the super-powerful life force of the Heisei Godzilla? Is it not true that only the Oxygen Destroyer remains to us, our only extant option? Is it the only property capable of annihilating that thing called “Godzilla?” This inevitable feeling also stems from the truth. (That truth being that Godzilla has become too strong.)

If we are to produce Godzilla 7 with the prerequisite of “killing Godzilla,” we may not be able to avoid the reappearance and reuse of the Oxygen Destroyer. Exactly because of this fact, what character could possibly rank with the impact of the re-introduction and revival of the ultimate weapon in the Godzilla cinematic world? Surely, there is no such thing…

However, just because we’ve put this idea forward, does it really mean we should use it so carelessly? Is the Oxygen Destroyer such a straightforward prop? We’re discussing an object that represents the major theme that will always be present in the background of Godzilla films: “Humanity’s original sin.” Whether or not it’s all a work of fiction, to be fine with stomping all over Dr. Serizawa’s bloody death knell, and to mercilessly scatter the nuclear “theme” of this great work now engraved in history… I just cannot accept it. I firmly believe that this is a feeling shared with the majority of those who love Godzilla.

Having said all that, what should we do?

I’ve written something lengthy and which I imagine is fairly obvious, but should Oka not make use of the following method…? So I think.

In other words…

The Oxygen Destroyer is reborn in our modern day

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It’s used as a battle strategy, as the ultimate weapon in the fight against Godzilla, but…

↓

With that use, a terrible drama unfolds on the human side

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Just before that all occurs, the usage stops

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Then, Godzilla, not at the hands of an enemy kaiju, nor at the hands of the humans, is suddenly killed by an enemy from a third party

2. Who could this third party enemy, who brings down Godzilla, be?

※What sort of thing could take down Godzilla outside of the Oxygen Destroyer?
※Can this create a situation in which the majority of people can accept the eradication of Godzilla?

A situation in which the majority of people
can accept the eradication of Godzilla

⬤Even if we think about this in approximation, these are points we need to clear.

①The abandonment of strategies used up to now

For example,

・Direct attacks using nuclear energy
・Biological weapons (ANEB, poisonous gas, etc.)
・Light-beam weaponry
・Intentionally leading Godzilla into conflict with opposing kaiju
・Relying on the power of nature (making use of such)

※The current Godzilla is a creature who consumes radiation, a super-powered monster capable of shrugging off the sort of beam weapons used by Mechagodzilla and MOGUERA. A veritable super-power in of himself, capable of freely swimming in the deep sea and dashing through magma. When even the very laws of the natural world, of “natural enemies,” apply so little to Godzilla, surely these means and strategies will lack in their convincing power.

②I believe that… we must avoid an exceptionally “science-fiction-y” death

For instance, an unknown sort of energy
Eradication as the result of time travel
Being pushed into another dimension
Being thrown out into space, etc.

③To show a firm “death” rather than a vanishing or a disappearance

I believe that it would be wrong to leave the audience with any impression of “a disappearance that leaves behind the scent of a return.” For an invincible being to die, we have to create a dramatic climax…

④So we need a physical, realistic “death”…?

If you cut off his head, or destroy his heart, surely he can still die… or if you completely destroy his brain… and yet, I believe that to kill Godzilla in any of these ways would be unfitting for the deified and lionized Heisei Godzilla. If we were to examine this even more closely―

⑤Shouldn’t Godzilla’s “death” be something dripping with dignity and meaning!?

What is this “third-party enemy” which fulfills all these needs?

↓

Shockingly! It’s the very limits of Godzilla’s own life force, in other words, a “natural death!!”

Maybe we should rephrase that, saying “lifespan” instead. Does Godzilla have a lifespan? Can he die of old age? That’s just stupid!! …So you may respond with a derisive laugh.

“Godzilla, who possesses the immortal G-Cells… the very King of the Monsters, invincible, who has overcome so many battles – it would be strange for him to pass away so suddenly. This is a situation so bone-headed that it seems to insult the very basis on which the characters of Godzilla have been created.” It might be obvious to arrive at such thoughts.

Even so, I must say this.

The Oxygen Destroyer.
If we are to have Godzilla die in another way, there is already no other way to do so but via a “natural death…”

Why a “natural death?”
What are the merits of such within our scriptwriting?

⬤The background in which Godzilla has his natural death

What exactly is Godzilla?

It goes without saying that “Godzilla” is just another name for “a dinosaur irradiated by an A-Bomb.”  Isn’t it true that we’ve overlooked this point, forgotten it, and been negligent towards it?

After all, if we look back on the roots of the invincible Godzilla, he’s nothing more than a super-powered mutant. His bones, flesh, skin, and blood – all the things that make up the support for the body of the King of the Monsters is nothing more than something that was forcibly changed by the “negative power” of an atomic weapon.

There’s nothing “natural” about him.

We don’t even need to look to the example of Chernobyl, although mutations as a result of radiation can easily result in a variety of changes like gigantism, but the adverse of these appearances is, without exception, a frail vitality brought on by mutations.

Why not use this fact of life, something which everyone knows, as a hint to the way in which we’ll write out Godzilla’s death?

⬤A plan for the mechanism which will bring about Godzilla’s natural death

How would this be, for example?

During “vs. Biollante,” the words “the immortal revival-bearing life force of the G-Cells” appear. Because of these words, no matter how horribly wounded Godzilla might become, time and time again, his cells can revive (without limit) at an abnormal speed, and his wounds can be stopped up, his body reforming again and again… or so I feel we’ve come to think.

However, since no matter how tough a living being might be, it cannot simply keep on living indefinitely as time goes on – by all accounts, all creatures must “grow old.” Even for Godzilla, this should be unavoidable. But what does it mean to “grow old?”

That means that, here and there, the DNA information that gives each and every cell its form begins to deteriorate, ending up in a state which can no longer create the original shape and nature of the cell. And the fact is that the revival count (absolute number of new states of morphisms) of the DNA information of any and all creatures does not differ in any major extremes… this is simply the way things are.

From here, allow me to guide you through one tentative theory. In other words,

In reality, the G-Cells most certainly cannot continue to reproduce without limit, and rather, could likely be repeating and repeating that originally dictated number of reproductions at a great speed – beyond the common sense of nature – all the way to the point of consumption?! ― This is one way of looking at it.

Godzilla, by fiercely repeating his battles and subsequent regenerations, has been stacking copy on top of copy. Just like how the copy of words or images becoming increasingly blurry with each copy, Godzilla has now brought his cells to a point of such weakness that they can no longer hold their original form―

Seemingly, Godzilla can be viewed as the most superior type of being on Earth. However, in truth, he is a sorrowful being whose interior hides devastatingly weak genes.

It is not a decided fact that Godzilla is mighty. Rather, he has simply found victory in battle up to this point by combusting his very life force at rapid speeds.

…We will try to make this the prerequisite for our current story.

⬤Scriptwriting Merits ~ What can we portray via Godzilla’s “Natural Death?”

The greatest of our goals will be to return Godzilla to nature.

The all-purpose hero is someone who, gaining the admiration of the powerless masses for a time, is later abandoned by them. It’s unfortunate for our current Godzilla, who simply continues aimlessly fighting powerful enemies ad nauseam, lacking in individuality, that we have begun to perceive this sad omen for him.

In order to break down this blockage-inducing situation, Godzilla must reach the end of his natural life in a respectable way.

⬤Just like a giant elephant heading for his species’ graveyard, or an aged lion quietly departing…

―Godzilla himself walks forward under his own will. By accepting his own death in just this way, wouldn’t this represent Godzilla’s first true return to nature?  Not only that, but I believe that this can be connected to the creation of a new appeal for Godzilla.

Having become simply overpowered, the Godzilla of the Heisei era has had to find proof of his own existence only in the heat of battle, and here we can finally allow him to rest.

I cannot help thinking this way. This is not a defeat for Godzilla. By heading towards a solemn death, we can come to see, for the first time, a completion to the legend of Godzilla’s heroism.

Below, I will explain the five strands that make up the form of this story

1. The revival of the Oxygen Destroyer
2. New Kaiju Barubaroi
3. Godzilla Jr., Godzilla, and New Godzilla
4. G-Force’s ultimate weapon, Super-X3 Gotengo
5. An introduction of the characters appearing in the film

1. The revival of the Oxygen Destroyer

※Saying that “in actuality, there was one more”… or that, “back then, those materials Dr. Serizawa had burnt were actually all fakes”… Those all just sound like too much to take seriously, so I came up with this idea instead.

⬤In 1954, six months on from the Godzilla Incident, as a result of the Oxygen Destroyer (hereafter referred to as “O.D.”), Tokyo Bay has been turned into an ocean of death, where not a single fish nor even a lone bacteria now lives. Yet in this lifeless bay, one “creature,” randomly swimming around, just so happens to get captured.

Something that even the O.D. couldn’t kill.

Stored away for 40 years, the research conducted on this mysterious lifeform gradually pulls back the veil placed over the demonic ultimate weapon left behind by Dr. Serizawa.

⬤If we were to name the course of that complicated research with a single sentence?

They discover a pathogenic bacteria created by antibodies!

For example, say there’s a disease brought about by Virus Ⓐ. The results of this Virus Ⓐ is that when it’s already been added to a weakened human body, if “antibodies” are created, that body can fight off the virus. This is the basis of vaccination.

These researchers operate on the true inverse of this logic.

In other words―

①This creature has survived the fury of the O.D.
②Which is to say, it possessed the “antibodies” for the O.D.
③What is the true form of these “antibodies?” If we ascertain this and extrapolate even further backwards, we will in due course naturally discover the true form of the base elements of the O.D.!!

⬤The people planning for the development of the O.D… The conspiracy of the Military Industrial Complex

Their complex plan is to mass-produce and commercialize the O.D. as a weapon for the new age that can overcome the atom, and which can be deployed around the world. Excited by the possibilities of the “plan to burn out the O.D. from within the mysterious creature” as brought about by one young scientist (himself burning with ambition), this shadowy group decides to back him up. Their organization is simply too huge, able to influence the national policy and politics of any nation. Even the UN is no exception. No, rather, it would not be an overstatement to say that the “United Nations” is an organization that’s allowed to continue existing by this cabal in order to push forward its enormous plans while maintaining a sense of balance. And perhaps, after the founding of G-Force and its having morphed in a short time period into “the world’s most powerful military force,” even going toe-to-toe with Godzilla, taking on the burden of effectively playing the role of experimental proving ground for advanced weaponry, this is something which may be intimately linked to the information we’ve just be made aware of. Either way, as G-Force is operated under the aegis of the UN, it wouldn’t be strange at all to see the Military Industrial Complex’s will making itself known to G-Force via “the pressure of the UN.”

⬤With their great duty to the people of the world to destroy Godzilla, G-Force irrevocably dives into their development of the O.D.

One day… It was announced that there would be a sudden halting of the planning of the construction for the All-Purpose Warship Gotengo, which should be called the Super-X3, as an anti-Godzilla weapon. Its budget and personnel were to be immediately shifted towards the chemical weaponry development department. The person in charge of this department was to be the aforementioned young scientist, Fuyuhiko Tsubaki, as well as UN special envoy Hades (in reality, a lower-level leader from the Military Industrial Complex), recently dispatched from Europe to G-Force. These two cajole Director Segawa (Kenji Sahara) of the G Countermeasures Center to increase the amount of research being done in regards to the “mysterious creature” (the base form of Barubaroi), which had survived these 40 years. Then, at last, the O.D. was completed.

⬤Experiments using the Godzilla family

The O.D., developed and used by G-Force, is obviously brought to bear against Godzilla. The first instance was used against Godzilla on Birth Island. The second time was against Junior Godzilla on Lake Biwa… (However, as happens during the flow of any drama, they are unable to use it) But for their part, the Military Industrial Complex doesn’t actually care about killing Godzilla; rather, they simply want to develop and deploy the O.D. For one, as a demonstration of the new weaponry, possibly as “an Anthropocene fait accompli…” (For example, the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the American military.) …In any case, there was an intention to craft the weapon, use it at least once, and achieve that sense of “this is something our side possesses.” “Humans use every single weapon they devise. There is no exception to this rule. And a weapon, once used, will hover over humanity for all time. This is itself the basis on which our organization comes into being.” So they thought. For that reason, they devised a plot: as the climax unfolds during a battle at Kansai International Airport, they would unleash the O.D. into Osaka Bay, the very battleground at the feet of Godzilla and Barubaroi. The troops led by G-Force Commander Aso (Akira Nakao), who had been consistently opposed to the development of the O.D., attempt to prevent its deployment using hand-to-hand combat, and yet…

2. Super-Evolved Beast Barubaroi

(Based on the memorandum by the distinguished Dr. Kyohei Yamane)

The Oxygen Destroyer is a technology held by the devil or God. Possession by humans is forbidden… Like atomic or hydrogen bombs, it represents a “Pandora’s box” that must not be opened no matter what. However… just what should we call this sole creature who survived the world of death created by Serizawa…?

That single life left behind in the world of death. When Pandora’s box was opened, sickness, disasters, death… every sort of evil flew out into the world. And yet… there was something left behind in that box. Its name… was hope. At this moment, I simply cannot get that ancient Greek myth out of my head. I gave the name of “Barubaroi” to that single, mysterious creature who managed to survive in that world of death created by Serizawa. Barubaroi…in the language of Ancient Greece, it means “the final remaining hope.”

①The birth

A black mass, about the size of a small ball that can fit on the palm of one’s hand. It of course has no arms nor legs, nor fins or gills, and yet at this point it seems able to move around.

It seems to be a creature that has been born into a world without oxygen. Would that essentially mean it was born in “space?” It crashed onto Earth, and unable to move about in this completely new environment, continued to sleep in its juvenile state on that ocean floor on which it had landed (spending untold thousands or tens of thousands of years in that space now called “Tokyo Bay”).

As a result of the effects of the Oxygen Destroyer, it was able to gain the same sort of environment as that of its own origins via the “World of Death,” resulting in its first revival. (Restart of activity.)

Its goal is “evolution.”

②Invading human society

The juvenile creature caught in Tokyo Bay was brought inside the “Yamane Institute for Paleontology” before its true nature had been properly ascertained.

Yamane placed this strange creature in a water tank full of the same devastated, dead water as that in Tokyo bay, and started off by trying to feed the strange creature a small fish as it swam around. When he did so, this “black ball” preyed upon the fish, absorbing it. Within a few hours, the sphere was showing signs of changing, and was already beginning to change into a form that resembled that single fish it has just eaten.

Next, Yamane gave the creature a small shrimp, and this too was absorbed. The creature accomplished its transfiguration into a form combining traits of both fish and shellfish. Yamane, at a loss for words, reported the creature as “dead,” gave it the name “Barubaroi,” and decided to keep it for himself.

More than a decade later, Dr. Yamane had a grandchild. A girl by the name of Mayuko, around when she was 5 or 6, she had turned her grandfather’s laboratory into a secret playground. Inside of the water tank, seemingly hidden away, she would daily throw in a bug or something and enjoy watching Barubaroi within absorb it and shift form. But when her grandfather found her at the scene of the crime, he scolded her harshly, and that was the end of that.

③Barubaroi in the current day

The current day, 40 years after the discovery of the creature.

After Yamane’s death, the Ogata family came to manage the closed-off “Former Yamane Paleontology Laboratory,” wherein a basement laboratory, the creature lived on, filling up a water tank hidden quietly away towards the back of the room.

That form was… a Japanese giant salamander, octopus, an insect, and a Japanese spider crab, its overlong legs bent into unnatural shapes, all combined together, never making a single sound.

This was essentially the world of mystery novel author Ranpo Edogawa.

An image akin to that of a ghost imprisoned in a tatami room.

In this place, the story begins as the young scientist Fuyuhiko, who held in his heart the desire to revive the Oxygen Destroyer, is shown around by Mayuko, who herself has grown into a beauty.

④Barubaroi responds to the Oxygen Destroyer

Physical bodies are composed of atoms. Every single individual is made up of the oscillation of atomic nuclei, each with its own unique oscillation pattern. Barubaroi could sniff out these subtle differences with its supernatural senses.

Inferring the location of Godzilla, himself born from the power of the atom, Barubaroi, revived by the Oxygen Destroyer and now able to operate via the destruction of oxygen and the creation of the world of death, has come to perceive were Godzilla was.

For this reason, this story will portray the continued appearance of Barubaroi, now grown to a giant size, in the place where the Oxygen Destroyer has been deployed.

Tsubaki says “there have always been cases of lifeforms who live in tandem with poisons, like a sea anemone feeding off of an abandoned nuclear waste drum on the sea floor. Just like Barubaroi, or us humans…”

⑤The final moments

After however many stages of small variations, on Birth Island, Barubaroi absorbs a piece of Godzilla’s skin that was sent flying by the G-Force assault. Barubaroi, having reached its final evolution and reaching giant size by the absorption of the G-Cells, assaults Junior Godzilla at Lake Biwa, and then moves towards Kansai International Airport to take the fight to Godzilla.　Cornering Godzilla, Barubaroi nearly ends the King of the Monster’s life. And yet, the G-Cells gained from Godzilla’s near-dead body, their DNA patterns already decayed, develop into a sort of cancer, and at a certain time began to conversely eat away at Barubaroi’s body from the inside out at rapid speeds.

3. Junior Godzilla and Godzilla

⬤At Birth Island, Godzilla furiously mobbed Junior Godzilla, whom he had been raising, and was reported by G-Force observers stationed in the area as being seen expelling the young kaiju from the island while shooting out powerful beams. At first it was thought that his weaning time had come. However, the real reason for this was separate: Godzilla, feeling his death drawing near, had pushed Junior away. (From the middle section onwards, this becomes clear to the human side)

⬤Junior, chased out of Birth Island, aimlessly wanders the Pacific without any place to go to.

⬤G-Force and Tsubaki embark onto Birth Island, and attempt to use Godzilla in an experiment to prove the feasibility of the reborn Oxygen Destroyer. However, the operation ends in failure because of certain conditions (explained further down). Tsubaki decides to shift the target of the experiment to Junior Godzilla, and as Junior, drawn by homing instincts, heads in the direction of Kyoto, Tsubaki leads the kaiju towards Lake Biwa, succeeding in confining Junior near the lake shore.

⬤At the exact moment that the experiment at Lake Biwa began, Barubaroi, having absorbed the G-Cells, descends in from the heavens seeking the Oxygen Destroyer. Junior, forced to battle Barubaroi, becomes gravely injured in the clash. Attempted to flee towards Ise, he finally loses all power, collapsing into Ise Bay, unmoving.

⬤The time for Junior’s ecdysis, the time for him to shed his skin, had come! Making landfall from the Kumano Sea, from the time that he pushed through Nara’s metropolitan area and entering Kyoto from the North, Junior’s motions seemed to become subtly sluggish. At the stage in which he had been corned by Lake Biwa, the G-Force scanning had reported back a lowering of his body heat and an abnormality in his metabolism, but what exactly that signified left the humans completely at a loss.

⬤Junior Godzilla, having collapsed into Ise Bay as though dead, remained half immersed in the seawater. At Kansai International Airport, as the final fierce battle between Godzilla and Barubaroi unfolded while the people of Ise watched on, Junior began to shed the scales that covered his body, and he stood up, his body and spirit born anew, powerful and wondrous. This was doubtless nothing less than an “ecdysis.” Akin to a lizard or a snake, it had been established that the Godzilla family grew at a rapid rate through the process of shedding their skin!!

⬤Junior – the Newborn Godzilla, disappearing into Ise Bay, made himself known offshore from Senshu in Osaka Bay, where the battle had come to a close. On the ocean surface directly off of Kansai International Airport, Junior observed the body of his father, Godzilla, laid out as though in peaceful death, right in front of his eyes. As the humans watched events carry out their course from afar, Junior, grieving over his father’s tragic death, after letting forth a howl of agonized grief, bathed his father Godzilla in a ferocious blast of atomic breath the likes of which would be unforgettable for a lifetime. Seeing Godzilla’s body burn and crumple away, this Newborn Godzilla left, heading out into the Pacific.

4. G-Force’s Ultimate Weapon
Super-X3 Gotengo

The “Undersea Warship” is reborn. If this had not occurred, the attraction of the Heisei Kawakita Godzilla would be halved. It’s a component I absolutely would like to enact. (The captain of the warship will be Aso, played by Akira Nakao. I’d like to incorporate the drama he brings to the table.)

⬤G-Force, their Mechagodzilla and MOGUERA defeated in quick succession… put all their wisdom and prestige towards the building of an all-purpose combat ship. Its name: the Goten.

⬤However, the pressure of the Military Industrial Complex reaches out via the UN towards G-Force. During a meeting, suddenly a construction suspension order comes in. During that day, all data and materials are frozen, with the development team being disbanded, and the entirety of the budget being diverted to the Oxygen Destroyer Project, spearheaded by the young scientist Fuyuhiko Tsubaki, himself dispatched from the UN.

⬤Commander Aso (Akira Nakao) had been pushing forward with the development of the Goten, and overwhelmed with suspicion at how things had been dealt with in this incident, ordered Deputy Commander Hyodo (Koichi Ueda) to investigate the past of Tsubaki and UN special envoy Hades.

⬤Aso had consistently and strongly opposed the development of the Oxygen Destroyer. However, Segawa (Kenji Sahara), secretary of the G Countermeasures Center, whether because of fear of pressure or whether seduced, refused to listen to Aso’s advice. Just what made Aso stand so firmly in opposition to the Oxygen Destroyer?

⬤In actuality, 50 years earlier, Aso’s parents had come to know the power of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima. When he thought of his parents, who had suffered for so long after the war before finally dying, Aso simply could not bare the existence of atomic weaponry. Aso himself could be called a second-generation hibakusha – a victim of the atomic bombs.

⬤After WWII ended, there was an era in which every country became imperiled by the diffusion of nuclear weapons and the awesome power of war. Japan was no exception. Aso did not wish to allow more people to experience the same suffering his father and mother had been put through. He wanted to protect his birthplace, his country.

⬤Aso enlisted with the Self Defense Force, burning with idealism. However, having dashed through the past 25 years, Aso spent his days obeying G-Forces orders, forced to play at war with Godzilla as his opponent time and again. The situation in both Japan and the world had not changed even the smallest bit. No, rather, just like he himself had become in this day and age, most people could now no longer grasp the feeling of “there’s danger over there now.” It might be better to say that this is actually getting worse. Actually, with the reality of the revived creation of the demon weapon, the Oxygen Destroyer, a weapon to go beyond atomic or hydrogen bombs, was anybody even conceiving of the true “danger,” so clear and present? Aso was in anguish.

⬤G-Force, carrying in its hands the Oxygen Destroyer, developed anew from the base research on Barubaroi taken from the Former Yamane Lab, headed for Birth Island. Their goal: massacre Godzilla. However, their true mission hidden behind this front was to monopolize the Oxygen Destroyer for the Military Industrial Complex, from whence they could deploy it to military forces throughout the world.

⬤Aso long languished in anxiety over this issue. Vaguely sensing this, in the midst of carrying out anti-Godzilla actions, Aso purposefully commits a mistake in judgment, allowing Godzilla to flee into the Pacific. (During this battle, Godzilla’s body seemed to be deteriorating, almost as if the flame of his life force was about to go out…? Or so Miki Saegusa and Aso began to grasp.) “I just can’t consent to the use of that weapon, no matter what… If it’s used offensively, even a single time, we’ll never be able to put the genie back in the bottle.” So Aso thought.

⬤The official that Director Segawa ordered to reverse Aso’s failures on Birth Island was none other than the person in charge of the development of the Oxygyn Destroyer, Fuyuhiko Tsubaki. Tsubaki spoke about how it would be preferable to use Junior Godzilla, recently ejected from Birth Island, as a test subject for their experiments. “I know where it’ll be heading to. It’ll aim for the place it was born… Kyoto.”

⬤“There should be a large lake known as Biwa nearby Kyoto. We should conduct our experiment there.” So said Special Envoy Hades. Deputy Commander Hyodo replied critically, saying “don’t be ridiculous! Lake Biwa is the water source for the people of Osaka and Kyoto Prefectures, you know!!” “Ok, understood. In that case, let’s think up another method.” So said Hades.

⬤However, as they waited for everyone to return to Japan, the news came in of a nuclear waste transport aircraft having crashed into Lake Biwa.

⬤There was the chance that Junior Godzilla would intrude into the direction of Kyoto. Anticipating this possible emergency, a transport airplane flew out of the nuclear generating region of Wakasa carrying a huge amount of nuclear waste materials, but encountered engine trouble and crashed into Lake Biwa. The entire watershed around the Lake Biwa region was completely polluted. Hades proposed to Segawa that it now seemed like Lake Biwa was no longer the clean water source it once had been. Director Segawa induced Junior Godzilla from Kyoto to Lake Biawa, deciding to use the “Lake Biwa Strategy” as a veritable laboratory for the Oxygen Destroyer. (We might even decide to say that Lake Biwa was not in fact polluted, but that this was in fact planted misinformation.)

⬤The hoped-for developments that Tsubaki and Hades had aimed for had worked all too well! In the case of the pollution incident, Aso was convinced of the true intent and form of Tsubaki and Hades. However, although he raised this truth to Director Segawa, all that was in fact waiting for him was degradation, demotion, and house arrest as punishment for his failure during the “Birth Island Strategy.”

⬤“Whatever happens, we must preempt the use of the Oxygen Destroyer at Lake Biwa. What methods do we have at our disposal?” …So thought Aso. He could only come up with a single step he could take.

⬤Before the Oxygen Destroyer can be used, he would have to search out Godzilla, and kill him. There was no other option. Without Godzilla, “they” would lose their “great cause and reputable reason for action” for the use the Oxygen Destroyer. There was no longer any other choice! At last, Aso was resolved to act.

⬤Aso dispatched orders to his right-hand-man, Kurata, summoning the Gotengo Development members and crewmen in the upmost secrecy and with emergency speed. It proved fortunate that these former Goten planning personnel had been forced away from the Lake Biwa Strategy as a result of the Birth Island Incident having occurred. The crew members assembled, one by one, on a floating G-Force dock built in the open sea off of Kagoshima. Just around that time, Junior Godzilla had pressed on into Kyoto, and had begun to be led towards the direction of Lake Biwa. Which would occur first? The launch of the Goten, or Junior’s arrival at Lake Biwa?

⬤Aso visited Miki and asked a question of her. “Isn’t Godzilla reaching the end of his life?” Miki leaned her head to the side, and responded to the doubts which Aso had been holding on to since Birth Island. “I see…” Aso closed his eyes. “…Godzilla will perish even if we just leave him alone, but as to that death occurring today or even tomorrow… that seems unlikely. However, the Oxygen Destroyer will be revived in only a few hours time… Ms. Saegusa… Please, lend me your strength.”

⬤The Goten launched in secrecy. Its destination: The Japan Trench, where Godzilla lay slumbering. Godzilla, wounded and aware of his fast-approaching end, would face the Gotengo, unfinished and thus only expected to be able to put forth 60% of its power. Would this duel take place just as expected?! At long last, the Oxygen Destroyer was moved towards deployment, finally heading towards Junior Godzilla, whose movements had been cut off!! Only a scant 60 minutes remained until the time limit!! A battle pregnant with suspense will swiftly rush onwards to a climax!… Or so it should be.

5. Appearing characters

⬤Fuyuhiko Tsubaki (34 years old) (imagined as Shiro Sano)

A youthful genius scientist burning with ambition. Using Professor Kyohei Yamane’s notes, which he had gotten his hands on by coincidence while still an assistant professor, he came to learn of the existence of the lifeform “Barubaroi,” who held the antibodies to the Oxygen Destroyer. In order to confirm the existence of “Barubaroi,” Tsubaki gets close to Yamane’s granddaughter Mayuko Ogata, and then becomes drawn in by her true feelings. Tsubaki, having confirmed the existence of “Barubaroi,” promises Mayuko that he will marry her, heading off to Europe all alone. Mayuko doesn‘t hear from him over the course of one entire year, when he suddenly returns to Japan as the person in charge of the G-Force Oxygen Destroyer development. With the information about “Barubaroi” and his plan to redevelop the Oxygen Destroyer, Tsubaki began individually reaching out to and working with groups in the Military Industrial Complex. In the event of developmental success, he had the precondition that a large laboratory would be constructed for him in Australia, and for this reason upon return to Japan he asks Mayuko, “would you come to Australia and marry me there?” He is an extreme realist who hold a cynical view towards the world.

“Like a sea anemone parasitically living off a drum canister of nuclear waste sitting at the bottom of the sea, originally, there have been such creatures that live off of poison. Like Barubaroi, and like ourselves, humanity…” Although he found himself loving Mayuko, who had been raised in such a very ordinary household, he was greatly inclined towards a life promised to grant him glory. Tsubaki, torn asunder by love, climbs up upon the body of Godzilla, himself lying prone upon the seas near Kansai International Airport, breathing his last. Tsubaki bets his entire life upon the Oxygen Destroyer, whose switch he attempts to flip…!!

⬤Mayuko Ogata (25)

The granddaughter of Dr. Kyohei Yamane. The sole daughter born to Hideto and Emiko Ogata. The fastidious, beloved daughter of a good family. Engaged to Tsubaki. She can understand the dark parts of Tsubaki’s heart. However, seeing Tsubaki leading the “Lake Biwa Strategy” on television, she resolves to meet Tsubaki once again. Pushing aside her father’s objections, she flies to Kansai. Descending to Kansai International airport, she runs into Hades’ group just as she was trying to search out Tsubaki. She’s taken captive as a hostage against Tsubaki. Following the failure of the Lake Biwa Strategy, Hades and his men had come to the airport with the intention of shipping the Oxygen Destroyer off overseas, but Barubaroi followed them (being attracted to the Oxygen Destroyer), appearing at KIX. Godzilla, even more badly injured following battle with the Gotengo, also makes landfall, and amidst this great chaos, Mayuko desperately tries to confirm her love for Tsubaki.

⬤Hideto Ogata (62) (Akira Takarada)

Mayuko’s father. Very severe. At current, he’s become well-off as the president of a import company. He knows about Tsubaki’s involvement with the Oxygen Destroyer, and tries to annul the engagement.

⬤Emiko Ogata (58) (Momoko Kochi)

Ogata’s wife. A woman who now feels deep regret in her heart over what she said to Serizawa when unaware of his love for her. She spirits Mayuko out of the house without telling her husband, urging her to head to Tsubaki. When Ogata demands, “why did you let her go,” she responds, smiling through her tears, “I feel like Tsubaki is like him… Serizawa. We can no longer speak to Mr. Seriazawa, but our child still has a chance to confirm her true feelings.”

⬤Hideaki Aso (47) (Akira Nakao)

The G-Force Commander. Completely against the development of the O.D. Suddenly, this man, who had spent decades fighting to protect his country, is overcome by doubts regarding the path he’s walking down. That is the drama in which he will be involved this time around. After his demotion, he decides unilaterally to commandeer the Super-X3 Gotengo. As captain, he directs the ship to attack Godzilla. Directly after his battle with Godzilla, in order to knock down Barubaroi, who has now appeared in Lake Biwa having grown to gigantic size, Aso sets the Goten, now missing its main drill, to ramming speed, destroying Barubaroi’s weak point and sending the Goten to the bottom of Lake Biwa. And yet Aso stubbornly survives.

⬤Iwao Hyodo (44) (Koichi Ueda)

The deputy commander of G-Force. Assumes command following Aso’s ouster.

⬤Takayuki Segawa (Kenji Sahara)

Director of the G Countermeasures Center. Approves of the O.D. Plan. However, he is unaware of the conspiracy intertwined in the background with all this.

⬤Kurata (29) (Imagined to look like Testu Kurata)

Aso’s secretary and valued subordinate. No matter where they go, they operate in tandem.

⬤Miki Saegusa (Megumi Odaka)

In truth, Miki was a close friend of Mayuko Ogata during middle school and high school. This time, not only does she embark on the Goten, she plays the role of the person who watches over her close friend as she bets her life on love.

⬤Special Envoy Hades (55) (imagined as Masumi Okada)

A diplomatic officer dispatched to G-Force by the UN. As a part of the junior management of the Military Industrial Complex, his mission is to watch over Tsubaki. A guy who’s a bit like Mister X from Tiger Mask. He flaunts the taste of the European nobility; he’s brutal and cold.

STAFF
Hideki Oka, Kaoru Kamigiku (Monster & Mechanic Design)
In cooperation with
Shin Ueki, Hiroshi Yamamoto, Kenji Niiya

 

 

STAFF MESSAGE
“Godzilla vs. Barubaroi” Proposal/Writing
Hideki Oka

Writing this proposal exorcised some demons.

In the final stage of the filming of “vs. SpaceGodzilla,” I was told by Director Kawakita to “come up with a new idea for the next film.” My orders from the director were two points: to “kill Godzilla,” and “bring back the Oxygen Destroyer.” I thought about a number of things based on those two concepts, but nothing stuck. I felt overwhelmed by the pressure of the subject of “the last moments of Godzilla.”

On the one hand, I received a number of proposals regarding these “final moments” along those lines set down by the director, but about half of those were stories about how “the Oxygen Destroyer is brought back and used to kill Godzilla.” “Is the use of the Oxygen Destroyer to be established policy? Isn’t that a mistake?” – I felt completely against making use of it in such a way that would overturn the themes of the first film, and wanted to be sure to prevent the film from moving in such a direction.  The result was my arrival at the idea of “the final days of Godzilla’s life have arrived, and he dies as he reaches the end of his natural life,” and I wrote it all down in the heat of the moment. When I think about it now, at the time I was truly a “Godzilla fundamentalist,” which is pretty crazy. (Ha.)

I sent off the proposal at the end of the year, and when I received the message saying “accepted” from the Kawakita group, I was in the state of mind of “my thoughts doth reach towards the heavens.” I submitted a synopsis which was itself about the length of a script, and from there, my plan began receiving revisions from within the Kawakita group.

I think it was around the end of January, 1995. During a drinking party, I finally vented all I’d been thinking to Director Kawakita. “I want you to put my name up as this movie’s original planner.” After a moment of silence, what came out of the director’s mouth was “…that’s not happening. It’s out of the question. Godzilla is the property of Toho. If you want to carve your name out somewhere, leave here and do it under your own power.” At that moment, I felt I would regurgitate blood. From Director Kawakita’s perspective, these were obvious words. But for myself at that moment, I would need some time to understand his true intentions.

That year, I ended up having a debut as a director for a direct-to-video feature, so in the end I didn’t participate in the location shooting of “vs. Destoroyah.” I also felt like I’d played my role and now was simply finished. It’s a bit strange, but from this time onward my views on Godzilla softened, and I became able to accept any sort of Godzilla production. By really getting out my feelings just once, I felt like I had exorcised an evil demon. Now, although I am a bit embarrassed to have my former proposal published, in the end I can’t think of it as anything but a true honor.

Hideki Oka …… Born in Hiroshima in 1966. Participated in the production of “Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla” (‘94) and the Heisei Ultraman series as assistant director. His directorial works include “Ultra Galaxy Legend Side Story: Ultraman Zero vs. Darklops Zero” (2010), “Ultraman Saga” (2012), “BIMA Satria Garuda,” (2013), and more. Handled the script for “Star Blazers: Space Battleship Yamato 2202” (2017).

 

 

Name: Destoroyah

At this stage of the proposal, the name of the new kaiju had not yet been set in stone. Hideki Oka’s name, “Barubaroi,” is the plural form of the Greek word for “something which cannot be understood,” “Barubaros.” Although this was originally a word to refer to the Thracian people who lived on the Balkan Peninsula, because these people were often taken as slaves by the people around them, it transitioned into a word that meant “barbarian” (indeed, it’s the root for the English word “barbarian”). Minoru Yoshida’s research revealed this fact, which led him to search out a new naming scheme.

Speaking of which, within Oka’s proposal, “Barubaroi” is notated as “…in the language of Ancient Greece, it means ‘the final remaining hope.’” This is in fact pure fiction. As to the source of this name, Oka quietly made use of a name from a script he wrote in high school called “Gamera vs. Barubaroi.”

As the period where the poster would be ordered drew near, it became necessary to make a final decision on the name of the new kaiju, which would also be appearing in the title. Based on a memo at the time from Tomiyama, it appears the name came from an association with Godzilla’s “Death” [pronounced in Japanese as “desu”], leading to the investigation into various names which included “Desu” in them. In the end, Tomiyama had a flash of inspiration, hitting on the name of “Destoroyah.” He struck on the idea from the “Oxygen Destroyer,” the secret behind the birth of this new kaiju. As every year, Yosuke Nakano took the lead point in the poster art for Noriyoshi Ohrai, with the name “Destoroyah” already present in his rough sketches.

At the Kawakita group, at the same time as Omori’s scriptwriting was being done, the design of the new kaiju was moving ahead. By February 2^nd, during the meetings being made in regards to the ordering of poster art taking place at Miyazaki’s hometown, the final form design for Destoroyah had already by completed by Hideo Okamoto. This wasn’t greatly different from the final design, and an arrangement of the same appeared on the poster. Destoroyah’s final form was hidden for a time as a part of the advertising strategy, with publicity moving ahead, but this was all a bit for naught since his form was already drawn right there on the poster.

On March 11^th, this poster was first put up at theaters on the day that “Gamera: Guardian of the Universe” was first released, resulting in a good deal of surprise. From that same day onward, the special first trailer for “Godzilla vs. Destoroyah,” made up of a collage of previous Godzilla footage, began screening.