Goro Maki (SG)

"Do as you like."

- Maki Gorō

Goro Maki 牧 吾郎 (Maki Gorō) is a character that is referenced and spoken of repeatedly during the events of Shin Godzilla.

Shin Godzilla
Goro Maki was a former "rebellious" Japanese college professor, however, he was expelled from Japan after his wife perished from radiation related illnesses. Maki was subsequently employed by an American energy firm and began studying mutations caused by nuclear waste dumped into the Pacific Ocean by the United States in the 1950s.

During his time at the energy firm, Maki had theorized about the presence of a prehistoric sea creature that had adapted to nuclear waste that was dumped on the sea floor and began consuming it as a means of sustenance. Maki gave the then-hypothetical creature the name "Gojira" (呉爾羅?), which meant "incarnation of God", or "God incarnate" in Maki's home on Odo Island. The American Department of Energy learned of Maki's research and prevented it from being published, while giving the creature the English name of "Godzilla."

In 2016, the Glory-Maru, Maki's yacht, was found abandoned in Tokyo Bay, containing maps, files, and a small origami crane on top of it all. Maki's yacht's interior being very organized and clean, right down to his slippers being placed nicely by a stair step heavily imply he committed suicide shortly before Tokyo Bay's officials got there to investigate.

After Godzilla's initial landfall, American envoy Kayoco Anne Patterson asked Japanese Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Rando Yaguchi to find information about Maki's whereabouts in exchange for information about Godzilla. Yaguchi presented Kayoco with the files recovered from Maki's yacht, but reported that Maki had gone missing, also implying suicidal intentions. Maki had left behind a note simply saying "I did as I pleased. Now, you do the same." Kayoco, despite warning that the information couldn't be copied due to special ink, allowed Yaguchi and his team to photograph what they'd been given.

The files revealed Maki's research on how Godzilla was spawned by, and fed on radiation dumped onto the sea floor 60 years prior to the film's events, and also included what appeared to be a molecular schematic of Godzilla's cellular processes, which the team was unable to interpret due to its complexity. Yaguchi and his team, despite having issues deciphering the information, later had a breakthrough when they folded the schematics in the form of origami, revealing that Godzilla's cells actually converted oxygen and water into a radioactive isotope that provided him with energy. This meant that Godzilla could survive and thrive anywhere that water and oxygen were present. The information also shown that Godzilla could reproduce asexually.

This breakthrough ended up being the kickstarter of Yaguchi's plan, named Operation Yashiori which involved the creation of a coagulant that would freeze Godzilla's body internally, effectively halting his destructive gait through Japan. Shortly before Operation Yashiori's commencement, Yaguchi spoke up about Maki's hypothetical plot to unleash Godzilla on the Japanese people, as a sort of test.

Trivia

 * Goro Maki is portrayed by the late Kihachi Okamoto, who was a Japanese film director up until his death in 2005.

List of appearances

 * Shin Godzilla