Godzilla SP is Lacking in the “Godzilla” Department

Netflix’s Godzilla Singular Point is an odd beast. It is somehow steeped in Godzilla lore while lacking some of the most basic building blocks for what makes a Godzilla story.

Image source: ゴジラS.P＜シンギュラポイント＞公式 #ゴジラSP on Twitter

Godzilla Singular Point is clearly a love letter to fans of the franchise. In addition to mainstays like Rodan, it puts heavy focus on monsters like Anguirus, Manda, and Kumonga. It’s chalk-full of callbacks—hell, one-half of our protagonist pair is the programmer and sometimes pilot of Jet Jaguar. On top of this, there is a ton of classic sci-fi pseudo-science and a team of human characters trying to figure out what is going on and how to stop it.

Unfortunately, this focus on the humans, sci-fi ideas, and sprawling cast of monsters, takes focus away from what should be the focus of any Godzilla work: the big green monster himself.

Image source: ゴジラS.P＜シンギュラポイント＞公式 #ゴジラSP on Twitter

Godzilla in Singular Point is nothing more than another one of the many monsters invading the planet. While he teasingly appears at the end of the third episode, he doesn’t get any meaningful screentime until halfway through the series. From then on, while he does battle the military twice, he spends most of his time either in a cocoon or standing at the center of a red storm. Much more time in the series spent focusing on the Rodans and Salunga than on Godzilla.

The other big aspect lacking from the anime is monster fights. For the most part, the monsters avoid each other. The only times where this is not true revolve around Godzilla one-shot-killing any other monster he comes across with literally no effort. Instead, it’s the humans that fight monsters—mainly the Jet Jaguar crew. Even the action climax of the show isn’t a battle between monsters, it’s just our heroes trying to get the MacGuffin to the right place at the right time (“that place” being Godzilla).

Image source: ゴジラS.P＜シンギュラポイント＞公式 #ゴジラSP on Twitter

All this makes for a show that, with its copious amounts of fanservice, appeals to the most hardcore of fans who have seen every film in the series but fails to excite anyone who just wants to see either A) mankind versus Godzilla or B) giant monsters beating the ever-loving shit out of each other. When it comes down to it, it doesn’t feel like a Godzilla story but rather a story with Godzilla in it.

Godzilla Singular Point can be seen on Netflix.