“This country never changes. Perhaps it can’t.”

Story: In the aftermath of the Japanese loss in WWII, Kōichi Shikishima, a failed kamikaze pilot, tries to pick up the pieces of his life amid shame and self-loathing, while trying to figure out what the heck he saw on Odo Island in 1945. (Hint: it had atomic breath.) By 1947, Kōichi has taken in Noriko, an unhoused young woman, and Akiko, an infant Noriko herself rescued from the wreckage of Tokyo. They settle into a routine with friends and neighbors, rebuilding their lives and their city. Their ersatz family slowly morphs into the real thing, until…did you hear that boom? GOJIRAAAAAAA!!!!

Genre I’d put it in: Modern MAN IN SUIT Classics
Release Date: 2023
Remake, Sequel, Based-On, or Original: Part of Toho Studio’s Godzilla-verse

Gotta say: Yes, I realize that on a technological level, One has both feet firmly planted in the 21st Century. There’s no suit, there is only CGI…and awesome technical work at that. But. There’s a vibe in this film that harks back to the original 1954 Toho Studio film, right down to the look of the (now surely digitized) film stock. One takes its place among the pantheon of Japanese Kaiju films, and for me? It’s one of the best. Am I saying that One is an instant classic? Yep. That’s exactly what I said.

While I’m enjoying the heck out of the whole Monarch-verse, my heart has belonged to Toho ever since I was a wee Hapa, watching Kaiju reruns on DC20. Ah, those were the days, y’all. Those days can be revisited anytime I like – these films often stream on multiple platforms nowadays – but how about something new and sparkly? Yeah, I see you drooling. I like sparkle too. Writer/Director Takashi Yamazaki obviously has the same love of the big bois as I do, and put his heart and soul into One. From the heavy (but not oppressive) messages of governmental egotism and how the amping up of the US/USSR Cold War affected Japan, to the way the war affected soldiers and civilians alike, One doesn’t shy away from the heavy stuff. In fact, the back-and-forth between clueless government officials hoping silence equals peace, and exhausted civilians who’ve had it up to here with political BS, is a driving force for this film’s action.

Kōichi and his friends/co-workers are trying to save their country from an attack that is possibly more deadly (er, definitely more deadly) than the war they’ve just barely survived. How the characters here manage to pull together in order to stop our favorite huge reptile is a lovely tribute to the hard work of everyone who managed to help pull Japan together post-WWII. One feels like a mashup of Kaiju films and Best Years of Our Lives, and at a hair over two hours, it packs in a ton of story, and a whole lot of stomping.

Godzilla looks incredible here, from what I like to call the “angsty teen phase” of Odo Island to the “his heart – and everything else – grew ten times that day” massiveness of the Tokyo attacks. Am I saying that One is a holiday film, with that Grinch quote I just massacred? Sure! Why not? The story points of chosen family, everyone pitching in to save the day, broken bonds mended, and “shut up you’re crying” moments of charming wholesomeness definitely fit the December vibe. Plus? Adorable little Akiko is not a pretentious, overly twee child actor; she puts in one heck of a performance for one so very young. So yeah, shout out to our little queen, Sae Nagatani, as Akiko.

The film’s score mixes new beats with our beloved ba-ba-BA score that we all love. Though dammit Brandon Tenold – thanks to your glorious vids, I can’t hear it without thinking about “Simon Says”. So thank you for that. (No seriously, that’s a bop.) As I mentioned earlier, the look of this film definitely had me flashing to Shōwa and Heisei era G-dog films. The performances are top-notch, like Yamazaki stoked his cast with heavy hitting performers (spoiler: he did) rather than a cast of disposables like other films might. *cough-SlasherSequelsLoveYouBut-cough* And the art direction here is incredible, from abandoned aircraft hangars to ruins of bombed-out living areas slowly turning to livable spaces, I was sucked completely in.

Y’all, if this is what Toho gives us for their 70th anniversary? I can’t wait to see what they’ve got in store for their 75th. If it’s half as good as One? I’ll be one happy Hapa. Now say it with me – MAN IN SUIT! MAN IN SUIT! MAN IN SUUUUUUUIT!

#Protip: If you’re interested in what Tokyo was really going through in the late 40s? One comes correct, y’all.