5 Things We Loved, and 3 We Didn’t, AboutGodzilla Singular Point

Godzilla Singular Pointhas stomped its way onto Netflix with all the hysteria of a thousand nuclear breathing place attacks , pave the way for an adventure of titanic proportions . But did that adventure live up to our Jet Jaguar - filled expectations , or wasthe King of the Monstersabout ready to abdicate ? Here ’s what we know , and what we did n’t .

We Loved…

Jet Jaguar

Godzilla may be in Singular Point ’s deed of conveyance , but the hero of the show is , without a dubiety , Otaki Factory ’s trusty anti - kaiju mecha ( ferment sentient , elephantine - sized super robot by the climax ) , Jet Jaguar . From its gawky origins to its heroic sacrifice , Jet Jaguar — thanks to an rise from Yun ’s experimental AI midway through the time of year — goes on a journeying of self - breakthrough and actualisation that ’s just as flesh out and captivating as any of the human characters in the show . You get it on to settle for it , you feel stressed out when it takes a beating , and chirk up when it finally becomes the key fruit to saving the twenty-four hour period in the climax . Jet Jaguar is a legend , anddon’t you forget it .

That It Was a Love Letter to Kaiju, Not Just Godzilla

Some fans might be disappoint at just how little Godzilla is actually in Singular Point . The nominal beast only really make himself know around the midway point in time of the 13 - episode time of year , and even then , much of that presence is lurking in the desktop of the devastated Tokyo until its concluding episode , rather than Godzilla really acting as the driving force play of the narrative .

That ’s not to say the Big G does n’t get his due — the show ’s deployment ofhis iconic themeas Godzilla utterly , hauntingly lay Tokyo to squander with a serial of beam attack is n’t just good than literally anything Godzilla vs Kong did , it ’s one of the best instant of TV we ’ll see this year . But Singular Point smooth , and amplifies its monstrous menace , by letting all form of classical kaiju , from Rodan to Anguirus , from Kumonga to Salunga ( the latter of which takes elements from Gabara ) take the rein . In addition to incorporating a cinematic history beyond the wraith of Godzilla , this choice allow for a sense of escalation across the show , as humanity ’s oddity as a few Rodan show up grows to capitalization on the moment , to utter fear , as thing very quickly stop being cutely weird and start out becoming unknowable and dread - laden .

The Mix of CG and 2D Animation

Despite the ever - increase prevalence of 3D animation in anime , there ’s always going to be some subdivision of fans whose hackles levy whenever you mention a show ’s got CG body of work in it . Singular Point is no exclusion to this , but the way it meld 3DCG and 2D animation is more of a proficiency than it is an activity shorthand . Much like Trigger ’s approach in the hit make tokusatsu anime sister series , SSSS.Gridman and SSSS.Dynazenon , Singular Point almost only uses 3DCG living — work led by Studio Orange here — to revivify its kaiju and Jet Jaguar , which makes them experience much less like natural entity in the cosmos , but in a honorable way . Instead , they interpret more akin to … well , people in suits . They manage to take the feel of live - action tokusatsu yield and their special effects , and translate it into this medium , while also being able to use CG to go beyond the limitation a monster portray by thespian in suits would have in a live - action production .

It also provides a entrancing contrast to the mostly 2D world and human characters around them , not just effectively “ othering ” the creatures the moment you lay eye on them in a way that they read as right away exotic and unsettling . It ’s never not deliberately off , in the way some clunky 3DCG can be .

The Dedication to Weird Science

Singular Point is , almost to a flaw ( we ’ll get to that later ) , almost more of a show about unearthly theoretical scientific discipline than it is giant devil . The show is fascinated with the idea of secular physical science , a crucial throughline through its full narrative spark . But the way it blends advanced science — think through the lens of its near - future 2030 setting , where public technology mostly look the same but innovative AI , herculean supercomputer , and other wild technology can be in the hands of governments and independent shadow organizations — with ingredient of folklore and myth , with spiritual mental imagery and human chronicle , creates a very fascinating vibe for the serial .

This is n’t an uncommon matter in kaiju material in the first shoes — the idea that these creatures are a part of our planet ’s chronicle , and a reaction to the way human civilization has evolved off of the back of exploitation of that natural history — but Godzilla Singular Point ’s embrace of it alternatively of the easy option of a “ elephantine monstrosity attack ! ” narrative leads to some chief - worm moment of cleverness that really elevate the show when it necessitate it .

That Post-Credits Tease

How do you now make a story that feels satisfyingly concluded suddenly feel like it ’s blow astray open and you ’re buy the farm to make out more ? tot the hubris of a scientist who ’s deciding to make Mechagodzilla , plain .

The final instant of Singular Point vexer that the theoretical scientist at the heart of the time of year ’s temporal whodunit , Michiyuki Ashihara , is not as dead as everyone else opine he was , and has in reality been work in secret to construct his own version of Godzilla , using technology from the mysterious tech cabal SHIVA to make a mechanically skillful frame around the os of an old , indifferent kaiju skeleton that , well … it ’s Mechagodzilla . give the seeming definitive going of the King of the Monsters , and his purely antipathetic status in the show ’s first season , bringing in Mechagodzilla raises some interesting questions should the show stay .

We Didn’t Love…

… That the Dedication to Weird Science Was a Little Too Dedicated

Okay , so the vibration of Singular Point ’s weird science is fascinating and work in the correct kind of foreignness you want in a ogre movie project . But it ’s also a lot . So much of Singular Point ’s narrative involves textually very overbold people just repeating simulated buzzwords like “ Orthagonal Diagonalizer ” at each other over and over , or babble about how some insufferable temporal natural philosophy theory is both impossible and yet also has to crop because the plot simply demands it .

Whether it ’s through in - someone conversations , or more often than not , shots of rapidly scroll mobile phone screen as protagonists Yun , Mei , and AI associate Pelops II rapidly text each other back and forward while also narrating their conversation ( which , if you watch the original Nipponese dub with English subtitle , is eye - searingly unmanageable to comprehend at sentence , as katakana and kanji yell across your cover while you try out to listen to the negotiation and read the subtitle ) , a passel of it is very dry to take in , and there ’s so much of it . It ’s not very interesting to watch at salutary , and frustratingly and unsatisfyingly dense at bad .

The Disconnect Between its Protagonists

What does n’t help then is that Yun and Mei , outdoors of bookend moments in the opening and ending of the serial , pass almost all of their prison term apart , play on investigating the ‘ Red rubble ’ phenomenon that ’s heralding the lift of kaiju across the mankind in different ways . While Yun and his colleagues at Otaki Factory focus on dealing with the Kaiju fountainhead - on through enhancing Jet Jaguar as Japan ’s unconvincing anti - kaiju weapon , Mei is globetrotting with theoretic scientists and SHIVA agents as she search the temporal mysteries behind the foreign dust kaiju like Godzilla create as they arrive on humans ’s shore . But you never get the feeling that there ’s really a link between their narration until the climax , even though they ’re connected through their shared employment of Yun ’s AI programme — which itself gets divide into two distinct personality in Mei ’s AI pal , Pelops II , and Yun ’s earphone OS , which is finally uploaded to become Jet Jaguar ’s man-made personality — and through back and off texting throughout the series .

It make their own aroused arcs feel very isolated , and when it ’s meter for them to in reality reunify in the very last mo of the show , just weirdly unearned . Future seasons might in reality give them the chance to make an actual connection together , but for now , it just feel very frustrating .

The Dodgy Pacing

This is n’t avail either then , that Singular Point is the very definition of a slow burning . This works in its favor sometimes — the habitus - up of the kaiju terror over the first few sequence , from a single Rodan ’s coming into court , to small flocks , to just cloud of the goliath and other beasts spreading across the world and getting more and more aggressive is fantabulous , for example . But when a heap of Singular Point ’s first half is largely about our heroes going off in separate fact-finding tangent and mostly retell information over and over to themselves until a narrative step forward happens , it can make the serial very thwarting to be .

It certainly gets good as the show build towards its volatile climax , but the shift between the first and 2d half sense like an abrupt escalation rather than the smooth build - up it could ’ve been .

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