It’s been a bit but First Impression Fridays is back. For those new to this, FIF is something I came up with after going to Katsucon one year and scoping out the first couple of episodes of Your Lie in April. These aren’t full blown beginning of the series reviews, these are shorter ones focusing on the first episode or two and whether or not ill continue on with them. Just a little something extra for the Gundam Anime Corner. And there’s a lot of titles to discuss like this thanks to time in lockdown so…let’s get to the return of the King of the Monsters, shall we?
I cant believe it’s taken this long to get Godzilla in Anime form. Ok, YES this isn’t his first Anime outing. Sadly that honor went to a trilogy of increasingly terrible feature films with a wasted premise, terrible protagonist and a visually impressive but ultimately useless Godzilla. Well now Studio Bones has come to save the King of the Monsters from being lost to the worst realms of Anime. So, how is the very beginning of Godzilla: Singular Point.
If I were gonna sum up my first thoughts of the first couple of episodes, Singular Point if fascinating though a little disjointed because of the multiple storylines going on at once. You have Yun, who works for a group that is building Jet Jaguar and has the closest connection to the plot at hand; Mei, a very cute and smart Grad student studying other worldly energies; and a political investigator working for a group who might seem kind on the outside but might have greater ties to the disasters unfolding around the world. Each has their own distinct flavor and a lot of mystery. But as much as I want to enjoy Mei and her storyline involving a disembodied Tachikoma, Yun’s story is right at the forefront of the action I want to see and he has the most interaction with the monsters we see initially (mostly a bunch of Rodan). I have no doubt everything will come together in the end but sometimes it feels like im watching multiple Anime at once.
The artstyle of Singular Point feels very old school with a lot of handdrawn Animation. But the real stand out is all the CG monsters. I’m not usually a fan of this approach to Anime and Netflix can kind of be blamed for showing me a lot of those bad examples like Drifting Dragons and that aforementioned Godzilla Trilogy. What makes what I see stand out is A. the CG isn’t as distracting and B. the creature designs. We get a tease of an underwater monster that could be Manda but the main star is Rodan, who gets more of a modern day make over. He looks like a traditional Pterodatcyl than ever before while possessing his classic roar. And while I don’t see why anyone would dig into the Godzilla character chest and bring him out for this project, the Jet Jaguar visuals aren’t bad either…cant say the same for the annoying old man who is probably the sole Jet Jaguar fan in existence (Hey old guy, this show isn’t named after your failed Ultraman knockoff and I cant wait to see Godzilla tear him a new one…Rodan already did and it was fun).
The story’s got plenty of mystery even if it knows how to be cryptic as hell. But if you’ve come to Godzilla: Singular Point for old school Kaiju action in Anime form, I think it’s going to work in that regard. If the other character storylines can be sprused up and brought together in a satisfying fashion, this show could be a real winner. After all it’s Anime, the King of the Monsters deserves a good adaptation.
Singular Point is what could have been a good idea, spoiled by trying to be too clever/technobabbling. Even if every single bit of quantum physics/theory/science they talk about was true (which I doubt); ALL there is in this series is that. People talking about technobabble. There's no real character development, and while the monster designs are nice and a clever way of blending Godzilla with a few of his famed foes...overall, just was another disappointment for me.
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