All posts by Narutomaki81890812

"Hey, Makoto, what's taking so long down there" a voice echoed down a cave

Nothing

"Makoto"

Nothing, again

"Makoto! This isn't time to be playing around"

'Goddamn it man answer me!"

"Stop being such a pussy, Ryuji" Makoto answered

"What the hell man, we're in a dark cave, of course I'm scared!"

Makoto laughed

"Pussy" He said

"Shut up" Ryuji said, also laughing

Makoto was a young fair-skinned man. He's known to be a bit of a practical joker, but he commands a great deal of respect among him and his team of archaeologists but has a strong moral compass and will protect anyone from harm

Ryuji was Makoto's childhood best friend, he had a darker complexion and is a bit of a wimp, making him the butt of Makoto's jokes most of the time, but he knows it's all in good fun. He was bigger than most of his peers, contrasting with his personality, and was frequently the strongman of the group

"Man, it's awfully quiet" Ryuji said

"Yeah, it's just us two down here" Makoto responded

Makoto heard the flapping of wings

"Hey look, some bats" Makoto said

Ryuji didn't respond, and continued to rope himself down the cave

"Holy shi-" Makoto screamed

"Makoto! What happened" Ryuji said

Silence

Ryuji heard the echo of an impact

"Makoto! Wait, I'm coming down"

Ryuji hurried down the cave

"I'm still alive, don't worry" The faint voice of Makoto echoed through the cave

"Damn, I think I fractured something" Makoto said

Makoto got up, pulling himself up against the rock wall he could feel

"Wait, this feels like writing" He said to himself

He sat down and took out his flashlight

There was a big mural on the wall, it depicted some type of planet, red and black, with a scorched appearance. Above it, there was writing, in some type of language that Makoto conveniently was studying about this moment

"Wait wait, I can read this" Makoto said

"I'm almost here Makoto" Ryuji said

"You couldn't hear a single thing I said, Ryuji" Makoto said

"You were saying something?" Ryuji said

"Whatever" Makoto said

He took out his journal, filled with notes about that ancient language the mural was written in

"Beware of the storm that approaches" Makoto said

"He Is the one who crawled from the void, The first evil, The devil in the flesh"

"The Great Destroyer

Godzilla"

Sorry I made this on the spot so its really badly written, might rewrite it later

@Godzillabutnotgod

Chapter 2: Prisoner

I awoke in the cold, dark void of space. I looked around me, and all I saw was a few faint stars and the sun far away in the distance. As I tried to comprehend where I was, three giant holes ripped through the abyss of space. Out of those holes came a silhouette of a dragon, a dragon so terrifying and godlike, adorned with spikes running down its body and tiny red eyes spread messely across the dragon's face, that all I felt was the cold embrace of death. The dragons inched closer and closer to the sun in the distance, until it fully eclipsed it. In an instant, the world turned dark, and all I could see was the multiple red, overseeing eyes peering straight into my heart…

I jumped out of the platform that I called my bed, my body covered in sweat. I stood up and looked at the window, still hovering above that dreaded planet…

Control Room, 3 Days after the Tau-ceti-e incident

The control room was dimly lit, reflecting the moods of the people that inhabited it. The faint hiss of the projector and the occasional tapping of one's feet was the only sound that vibrated across the room. The door opened and closed. A weathered man with white hair and a distinct scar on his left eye entered the room. Everybody in the room stood up and bowed their heads to him.

“Greetings Captain Mori” everybody in the room shouted.

“You’re late, Unibeto” said a tall, dark skinned man in the corner of the room

“Better late the never, Galu-gu” said Mori

Alongside the Exif, another alien race called the Bilusaludo came to Earth after their home planet was swallowed by a black hole. In exchange for refuge on Earth, they would help the humans and the Exif destroy Godzilla.

Captain Mori sat on the edge of the oval-shaped table, Galu-gu to his right and the Exif high priest Endurph to his left.

“We all know why we are here,

Tau-ceti-e has been proven to be inhospitable for human life to survive. We barely have any more resources to survive. We either die here in space, or we go back” Mori said

“Captain Mori, we can’t go back! There has to be some other way!” an elderly captain shouted

“If we go back, will Earth even be hospitable?” said another captain

Endurph stood up

“According to the calculations of the Supercomputer, Gematron, approximately 20,000 have passed since we left Earth”

An eerie silence filled the room

“20,000 years! How!” Exclaimed Galu-gu

“Well, if 20,000 years have really passed, Godzilla must be long dead by now” Mori said

“We can’t jump to conclusions Mori!” Galu-gu exclaimed

“Despite the dangers, we have nothing else, we either starve to death here or take our chance on Earth” Mori said

The door opened with a hiss, Metphies walked through the door

‘Perhaps, there is a way to kill Godzilla” He said, as he inserted a disk into the back of the projector

The screen illuminated with a diagram of Godzilla, noting his powers, abilities, and a way to kill him

The people stared at the screen in awe

“Who made this, Metphies?” said Endurph

“Haruo Sakaki” Metphies replied

“Captain Sakaki!” Galu-gu shouted

“There is no way in hell I’m trusting that bastard!” Galu-gu continued, “He threatened to blow up this entire ship and jeopardize everybody's lives!”

“Galu-gu, calm down” Said Mori

“Yes, Haruo may not be mentally stable, but there is no doubt, this plan is the most plausible way to kill Godzilla” Metphies said.

Another period of silence followed

“Metphies is correct” said Endurph, finally

“Shut up! Of course you trust your little golden boy, but that man was willing to destroy the human race just so some few elderly and sickly people could survive!” Galu-gu barked

“Galu-gu!” Said Mori in a stern voice

“Look, Captain Sakaki made a rash decision that did jeopardize the human race, it is clear that he can’t be trusted, but, If we are going to return to Earth, we can’t rule out the possibility that Godzilla is still alive.” said Mori

“Are you saying that you trust Sakaki!” Galu-gu shouted

“I don’t trust him, but we need him to put this plan in motion” Mori said

Under Endurph’s cupped hands, Galu-gu saw a faint smile forming on his face

Galu-gu slammed his fist on the table

“What are you planning, Endurph! Don’t think that I don’t know that you have some ulterior motive!” Galu-gu screamed

“Galu-gu! Get back in your seat or I’ll drag you out of this room myself!” Mori shouted

Galu-gu sat back down in anger, still seething.

“Well then, I guess we have no choice but to return to Earth” Endurph said, seemingly not affected by what Galu-gu said

“If we have a way to kill Godzilla…” a captain said

“Then let's take back Earth from that bastard!” Mori said.

The crowd agreed in unison

¨You all may go now” Endurph said

The captains all left, and the chiefs were left alone

Galu-gu approached Endurph, and Mori went up to them, fearing a possible fight

“I uh… I apologize for my harsh words, Endurph. As you can tell, we are all in a desperate condition, and the stress of that came out in my outburst” Galu-gu said sincerely

“There is no need for apologies, Galu-gu.” Endurph said calmly

Galu-gu walked up to the giant windows at the front of the room, looking at the bleak void outside…

Haruo’s Prison Cell

I heard the door open behind me, assuming it was my daily rations, I told them to put it at the little table where I ate.

“Haruo Sakaki”

I looked back, and saw the imposing figure of Captain Mori.

“What are you doing here, Captain” I said

“Come with me” Mori said softly

“I’ll do anything to get out of this god-awful cell” I said dryly

Mori put me in handcuffs and escorted me to the Control Room

“Sit down wherever you would like” Mori said

I sat right across from Mori and the other chiefs.

“Metphies showed us your plan to kill Godzilla, it’s truly fascinating” said Endurph

“Save the compliments” I said

“We are going back to Earth, we have no other choice” Mori said

“Figured as much” I said

“We all have decided that you are the only person fit to put this Anti-Godzilla plan in motion” Mori said

I scoffed

“This your way of trying to silence me?”

“Personally, I don’t even think you should be alive, but this plan is the only shot we have of retaking Earth” Galu-gu said

“Thanks, really warms my heart, y’know” I said snarky

“Now’s not the time for jokes, Haruo” Endurph said

I ignored him

“So, you want me to kill Godzilla, correct” I said

“In essence, yes” Endurph responded

“So now I’m useful to you?” I said in response

“Do you think of me the same way you thought of the elders as, sickly and expendable?”

“Enough! I will not take this disrespect, one more word and I’ll-” Galu-gu was interrupted by an imposing stare from Mori

“Is this really what I should do” I said to myself

“I finally have a chance to kill that bastard, why can’t I take it!”

I looked at Galu-gu silently and then looked back at the ground..

“Haruo, Godzilla didn’t just take something from you, he took something from all of us.”

I remembered what Metphies said to me

“Godzilla is not just a monster, he is a god, a physical manifestation of divine wrath”...

I looked back up at them, I slammed my handcuffs onto the table

“That bastard took everything from me…I’ll make him pay”

“But I won’t be your pawn…” I said, quietly

“No one said anything about being a pawn, Haruo” Endurph said softly

“Don’t think you can manipulate me. You can’t just use me to have someone to blame if the mission fails”

“You’re all cowards, sad, weak cowards who can’t take accountability for anything”

Galu-gu was clearly seething, but he did his best to control his anger

“Very well then” Mori said

Mori called the guards and I stood up.

I let myself out, the guards followed quickly behind me…

I looked down at the ground

The thing Metphies said to me kept on running in a loop in my mind

“Godzilla is not just a monster, he is a god, a physical manifestation of divine wrath”

“What if Metphies is correct? Maybe he is truly some sort of god. Should he be warred with?”

The question reverberated in my mind continuously

My train of thought was broken when I heard something slipping on the metal floor. It landed right in front of me. I picked it up and inspected it

It was a toy robot, missing a hand and a leg. It looked identical to a toy I had as a kid…

Christmas Morning

I remember running frantically down the stairs, my parents, hungover from a Christmas party, followed slowly behind me

I ran over to the Christmas Tree and looked under it, searching for my name. I found my name and ripped vicariously into the package. The same toy I was holding in my hand I held with my two hands. It was a robot from my favorite cartoon, it was red and blue and could turn into a truck

“I love it, thank you so much!”

I ran to my parents and gave them a hug

“No problem, kiddo” my father said

I was broken out of my stupor from the slight tugging of my hand

“Excuse me sir, but that’s my toy, can I have it back”

I turned my head down and saw a kid, he was about 8 or 9 years old and had battered cholthes with a messy hairstyle, and those eyes, they were big, but lifeless, as if all of his innocence was sucked out of him

“Yeah, sure kid”

I bent down to give him the toy

“Where did you get this toy?” I asked

“My grandparents, mister” the kid said, his big but lifeless eyes looking straight at me

“And where are your grandparents” I said

“Dead… Godzilla killed them, I saw it with my own eyes” the kid said, clearly on the verge of tears

I was immediately struck with a sense of guilt and fear

I looked at the kid in silence

“Godzilla killed my parents too… I still remember that day, repeating over and over again in my head”

“Really?” The kid wiped a small tear from his face

I looked down at the ground

Metphies words looped in my head once again,

“Did I really make the right choice?” I said to myself

I looked back at the kid

“Kid, I want you to have a good life, I know everything might feel hopeless right now, but trust me, there will be a light at the end of the tunnel, you just have to keep pressing forward… and remember, I’m doing this for you, and the others”

I saw a faint smile emerge from the kids face

“Wait, Mister” the kid said

“What are you going to do?” He said

“You’ll see” I told him

“Take me back to Mori” I told the guards…

I entered the Control room once again, Endurph and Galu-gu had already left, While Mori was sitting by his lonesome, looking at the anti-Godzilla plan

I spoke up

“I’ll do it, I’ll take down that bastard”

Mori looked at me

“But this isn’t for you, nor is it for my personal gain…

This is for the people who never got a chance to fight back”

@Godzillabutnotgod

@Jega 'Rdomnai117

Sooo, I’m beating a dead horse with this post but I don’t care. In general the anime trilogy was obviously a huge disappointment, and one of the main complaints was the human characters, especially the main character, Haruo Sakaki. I believe that his failure as a main character was because of three mistakes

1. Motivation

2. Personality

3. Character Arc

I’ll be diving into each of these three topics and analyze what went wrong with it, compare him with better protagonists, and at the end explain what could have been done differently to make him better

Mistake 1. Motivation

In the trilogy, Haruo’s main motivation is that he hates Godzilla and wants to kill him, and honestly, it’s a good motivation, is it relatable? No, of course not, not a lot of people have beef with a giant electromagnetic lizard, but it has potential, just look at Eren Yeager. If his motivation is good, then why does everybody complain about it? Well, like I said, they failed to stick the landing on an otherwise strong motivation. Let’s go back a little, why does Haruo hate Godzilla? Well, Godzilla killed his parents, yeah, thats reasonable, but guess what, we don’t even get to see his parents face until the goddamn third movie! And even then it’s literally a still frame followed by a voiceover! How are we supposed to sympathize with Haruo and the loss of his parents if we don’t even get to even see them in the flesh! Let’s bring back Eren Yeager now, it’s clear that Haruo was inspired by Eren, their biggest similarity is their motivations, both want to kill the creature(s) that killed their parents, but why is one considered one of the best anime protagonists of all time while the other is universally panned? Well, there’s a lot of reasons, but for now, let’s look at motivations. The entire first episode of AoT is based on Eren on how his life was before the titans, we see his relationship with Mikasa and Armin, but possibly the most important was his relationship with his mom. She’s portrayed as kind and loving, like many mothers out there. Since we know Eren’s mom, her personality, and her relationship with Eren, of course it hits hard when she is killed, and this causes Eren to want to kill all of the titans, reasonably. Now, let’s look at how Haruo’s motivation is born, of course, since this is a trilogy that is around 5 hours, and AOT is a 30+ hour show, I will give it some leeway, but I’ll still try to compare it fairly. Basically, Haruo sees Godzilla blow up a ship and the debris falls onto the bus Haruo’s parents were on. Yeah that's it, no build up, no emotions no nothing, they just die so Haruo has something to seethe about. But there’s more. Going back to Eren, Eren’s motivation isn't just “I hate the titans cuz they killed my mom!”, he also wants to see the world outside the walls he’s basically imprisoned in, this automatically makes his character more complex, and Haruo lacks this. All he wants to do is kill Godzilla, that's it. Ok that's enough ranting, now let’s look at how to make him better. What I would do is just build up to the death of Haruo's parents, or something at least, even a small conversation with young Haruo and his mom would make us feel something when they die, and instantly make him more likable and relatable, it doesn’t even have to be in the beginning honestly, something with Haruo’s parents somewhere in POTM would still make him better. Then, add some other motivation on top of that, this makes him more likeable too. For example (sorry for shameless plug) in my rewrite for POTM, I made Haruo a child soldier, and the beginning of the prologue is his first face to face meetup with Godzilla, Instead of just pure rage now, Haruo also fears Godzilla, this adds more depth to his character, additionally, something else you could add is wanting to kill Godzilla not only to avenge his parents, but to avenge the people Godzilla killed too. Alright, i think I’ve gotten my point across, let's look at #2

Mistake 2. (Lack of) Personality

Alright, so we know that Haruo's one and only motivation is he wants Godzilla dead, Well, instead of giving him a distinct personality, he's just angry. You know how in the first Avengers movie Bruce Banner tells Captain America "That's my secret, I'm always angry" and turns into the Hulk, yeah that's Haruo, he's just always angry for literally no reason other than to be edgy. He always has this scowl on his face and he goes after anybody who doesn't believe that Godzilla should be dead. Again, look at Eren. Eren had a similar personality to Haruo in the beginning, both are hot-headed and strong-willed, unlike Haruo, He has actual relationships with people and that grounds him to reality. For example, Yuka-tan (I forgot her actual name so I’ll be referring to her as Yuka-tan for now on) is clearly Haruo’s version of Mikasa (minus the badassery), someone that clearly loves him and would do anything to protect them. Eren and Mikasa have tender moments that make you care about those two and their relationship, while Haruo and Yuka-tan have like one or two moments of care in which Haruo responds like a goddamn brick. Oh, and also, Yuka-tan is such a enabler too. If you slept in the middle 30 minutes of City of the Edge of Battle, which most of us did, Haruo actually has sparks of personality, He actually has moral conflict inside, he is distraught over if he should sacrifice more of his comrades to save Godzilla, which is really great! Is it handled well, no, it’s random and its more telling rather than showing, but I guess it works, but then Yuka-tan shows up and is like “It’s ok to feel mad, Godzilla needs to die” or something along those lines and he instantly goes back to being his angry self, I swear, It was such a missed opportunity to cash in on that self-doubt and make a more interesting, relatable character, but she had to show up and ruin it all. Of course, in the end of COTEOB he does have another moral conflict, but that's just an excuse to drive the plot forward and is literally never mentioned again by Haruo at all after it happens. Ok, how do we fix it, then? Well, it’s really obvious and I’ve been hinting at it this whole time. Give him (actual) internal conflict, don’t have it just be Haruo sitting there depressed and saying “Is this really what I should do?” Instead, actually dive into his mind and show his conflicting emotions. For example, that one scene in Evangelion 3.0 where Shinji is walking around and trying to process everything that happened the past 14 years? Something like that would be amazing. Along with that, give him actual relationships that ground him to reality. Remove the whole enabler thing from Yuka-tan and make Haruo respond more to her feelings, and then create a character and turn him into his Armin, a childhood friend he laughs with, cares for, and protects (platonically) and there you have it, a actual complex character who can still be mad, but at the same time be more realistic and likeable.

Mistake 3: Nonexistent Character Arc

Haruo’s Character Arc is practically nonexistent, actually, it's not even a character arc, is more of a character degradation, and not the well written one like Walter White, Haruo literally ends up worse than how he started, and in the end, it serves no real payoff for the viewers. Haruo’s “arc” throughout the trilogy is basically “I lost everything to Godzilla, I’ll kill him!” until the end where he randomly has a change of heart and sacrifices himself for the greater good. The only change he really goes through in the trilogy is the end, and even that doesn’t feel rewarding or is satisfying, he randomly gets a vision and becomes suicidal, he never grows, never evolves, and only wavers once in his quest to kill Godzilla. A trilogy is a perfect way to show a character and their journey, The first part is the protagonist’s origins and why he does what he does, The second part is him at his darkest moment, and the third part is him rising up from his darkest hour and evolving into something better than he was before, of course, there are other ways you could take it (like I said, Walter White with character degradation) but that's the most common one. A perfect example of this is the Dark Knight Trilogy. Batman Begins: We are introduced to Bruce Wayne and why and how he becomes Batman, The Dark Knight: Bruce Wayne continues his crusade as a Dark Knight and in the end falls into his darkest hour, The Dark Knight Rises: Bruce Wayne rises from the dark and ultimately becomes something more than how he started out as. Haruo’s arc could have been something like this, but instead, he remains a static character throughout the entire trilogy. So how do you fix this, well, this one is really easy to fix, just follow the character arc template I mentioned. Instead of rage->rage->rage->stupid sacrifice, it should have been rage->doubt->acceptance or sacrifice. Haruo starts out as an angry man with nothing to lose, but is held back by his friends who ground him to reality in Movie 1 and in the end Godzilla kills his squadron. Movie 2 starts where the first one left off, him starting to doubt himself after seeing so many people die, then in the end someone really close to him dies. Movie 3 is Haruo eventually coming to his senses and he either lets go of his hate of Godzilla or keep the original ending, but since Haruo actually has an arc now, it is a satisfying end, but personally the first one is still the route that should be taken as its more powerful.

In conclusion, Haruo’s failure as a main character stems from multiple critical issues, his motivation that the viewers can’t sympathize with, a personality of an angsty teen who responds to anything like a brick wall, and the lack of a character arc. All of these are key to creating a memorable and great protagonist, and as Haruo lacks all of these, he just seems like a cardboard cutout screaming “You Bastard!” to a mountain that doesn’t even care about him and his existence, much like the viewers. His mistakes as a main character is one of the biggest mistakes the anime trilogy made and sticks out the most because we spend 3⁄4 's of the trilogy with him. If Haruo had been written with a more fleshed-out and relatable motivation, a more nuanced and realistic personality, and an actual character arc going from rage to doubt to acceptance, he would have been one of the best protagonists the Godzilla series, and maybe even the Kaiju genre in general, has seen and made the anime trilogy more enjoyable to watch. So yeah, thats it, uhh if you’re down here then read my Anime Trilogy rewrite please, I would appreciate it, and asked if you want to be pinged!

@Godzillabutnotgod

@Footyzilla1321 (analysis stuff)