I finally made it up to episode 6 of Godzilla: Singular Point and would like to write a preliminary review. I'll do another when the series has ended to see if my opinion has changed.
So, what is my opinion? This wasn’t a very good anime, nor was it a spectacularly good Godzilla show. Granted, the rest of the episodes could blow my mind, and if there are more seasons, then maybe the show will develop its own rhythm and come into itself. However, the first six episodes have left me feeling tired of the whole thing.
As another disclaimer, there will be spoilers! If you don’t like spoilers, don’t read this. Also, I haven’t seen the English dub; I’m referencing only the Japanese language version.
So, What’s It All About?
Monsters are appearing all over Japan, as seems normal for that country by this point. In-universe, however, this has never happened before. This show is almost a reboot of the Godzilla franchise as opposed to a continuation of any of its various eras.
Our two primary main characters have to figure out what’s going on to cause the monsters to appear and then stop them before they destroy the country, probably the world.
What’s Good About It?
I have a policy when it comes to negative reviews to start off by talking about what’s good about it first, and there are a few things good about this anime.
The Music: The opening is fun, and there are some good tracks on this soundtrack. It may not be The Vision of Escaflowne, but it’s got some great stuff in there.
Some of the Updated Monster Designs: I’m not a fan of all of them, but Anguilas needed to be updated badly, and this anime delivers on that. The way he moves and walks is absolutely what I’ve been waiting for. Jet Jaguar, which I suppose is technically not a kaiju, is also somewhat improved from his movie counterpart.
Quantum Physics Done Right: For a science fiction show, there’s a surprising amount of real science and theories presented here. This isn’t always to the show’s advantage, but it’s nice to see some real science as opposed to some of the weirder stuff presented as science instead of fantasy. Looking at you, Doctor Who!
What’s Bad About It?
Where to start? There’s a lot of bad here, which is a shame. A good Godzilla anime is something that could definitely be done – it just hasn’t yet.
Most of my complaints are wrapped around the characters, as fixing the characters would help distract you from the all-over-the-place plot. However, the characters are broken in too many ways, so I’ll be breaking it down a lot here.
Too Much Shin Gojira Inspiration: I liked Shin Gojira and its commentary on the inefficiency of the Japanese government, especially in the face of a disaster. Whereas most Godzilla films portray the government and military as operating efficiently, even if the kaiju are impervious to their attacks, Shin Gojira firmly pointed out that the Japanese government doesn’t have a good track record and certainly can’t be counted on to stop a, literally, developing threat.
The problem is that Singular Point takes the developing part of Shin’s kaiju without the commentary behind it. As such, we get the idea that monsters are in total control of their evolution; they’re just super bad at it. Rodan especially seems to think that doing the same thing over and over, sacrificing large groups of its species, is the key to surviving outside the sea.
It provides some interesting food for thought, but so far it hasn’t gone anywhere. The scaffolding for some interesting lore is in place, but it’s not doing anything except making the characters look smart for figuring it out.
Too Much Science: From the start of an episode to the end of an episode, it’s almost non-stop talking, and the vast majority of it is easily pure exposition. There’s little in the way of stopping to catch a breath or have a character moment, such as Luke staring into the distance on Tatooine, allowing us to vicariously feel his longing and his frustration.
I don’t know if it’s partially the run-time that requires the writers to cram as much exposition and explanation into an episode as humanly possible, or if it’s because the writers all have a science background and, therefore, aren’t really story people. The events in the show are treated as an excuse to showcase scientific theory, specifically theoretical physics, as opposed to developing a story first and then trying to find science (or create scientific-sounding enough answer for the audience to buy it) to complement the story and make it feel plausible.
The result is that it’s boring.
The Characters are Flat: And if they aren’t flat, they’re extreme archetypes. Little effort is made to differentiate the characters from one another, the exception being the old inventor who speaks using a mix of extremely archetypal “elder speech” as I call it, and kabuki theater expression.
The fact that I don’t mention the characters by name (I have to think harder than I like to even remember them) speaks volumes to the kind of impression they made on me.
The two lead characters may as well be a single character who was split in two because there’s no difference between them. It’s as though the writers decided that if they make one male and one female, that would be different enough. Neither has any history, there are no character arcs, and there’s no sense of who these characters are or what makes him or her tick outside of a shared love of science.
Some people point out that there’s so much exposition, there simply isn’t time for character arcs, as though anyone who criticizes the lack of a cohesive, character-driven story simply isn’t smart enough to understand the show. However, writing fundamentals, which emphasize characters and growth, seem to dictate that if you’re more interested in writing exposition, then you should probably stay away from fiction. The characters need to come first, the science stuff complimenting the characters and the circumstances they find themselves in, not vice-versa.
The Characters Don’t Have Good Reasons to Come to Their Conclusions: So, Anguilas can see a few seconds into the future and deflect attacks like Helen in the Diadem series? Cool! Unfortunately, there’s little evidence to support this conclusion at the time one of the characters comes to it.
This same, seemingly omniscient character also manages to deduce that there’s a little kaiju skeleton in the basement of some company just by confronting one of the staff and asking, apparently at random, about the skeleton to elicit a confirmation that it’s actually there. He has no reason to even suspect that’s the case, just that there’s something fishy about this company. Unless I missed something, it rings of hack writing to further unravel the loose threads that call themselves a plot in this show.
The other main character has an incredibly smart AI app as her companion which comes to all of these correct leaps to conclusions for her. Not that she doesn’t have her own fair share, but this show needed a fun companion character so viewers don’t get too bored with the leads.
All in all, the characters and the conclusions they come to with the evidence they have reeked of poor storytelling.
The Monsters Aren’t Recognizable: This one is a real nit-pick on my part, but while Anguilas was done well by this series, Rodan certainly wasn’t. So far, I haven’t seen Godzilla properly, but given that his theme played when a giant sea creature breached, I’d say that’s probably him. They seem to be definitely going for a Shin Gojira route.
Personally, I didn’t care for Rodan’s design, making it little more than a pterodactyl that’s prone to sudden heart failure.
In Conclusion
I don’t recommend this anime unless you’re a die-hard Godzilla fan who just has to see every single Godzilla thing. Maybe I’ll change my mind by the time the season ends, but so far it feels like a chore to sit through. Bland characters and poor storytelling bog it down.
