Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle (2018-Film)

## **Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle (2018)**

***Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle*** (GODZILLA 決戦機動増殖都市, *Gojira: Kessen Kidō Zōshoku Toshi*, also known as ***Godzilla Part 2: City on the Edge of Battle***) is a 2018 Japanese computer-animated *kaiju* film directed by Kōbun Shizuno and Hiroyuki Seshita, written by Gen Urobuchi, and produced by Toho Animation and Polygon Pictures, in association with Netflix. It is the 33rd film in the *Godzilla* franchise, the 31st *Godzilla* film produced by Toho, the second entry in the franchise's anime trilogy, and the third film in the franchise's Reiwa period.

A sequel to the 2017 film *Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters*, the film continues the story of humans fighting to reclaim the Earth from Godzilla, this time with the help of a weapon known as Mechagodzilla. *Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle* was released theatrically in Japan on May 18, 2018, and was released worldwide on Netflix on July 18, 2018. A sequel, *Godzilla: The Planet Eater*, was released in Japan on November 9, 2018.

## **Plot.**

Following the events of *Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters*, the *Aratrum* is unable to contact Haruo and the rest after their encounter with the original Godzilla. The Captain orders the *Aratrum*'s withdrawal if drones fail to find survivors within 48 hours. Haruo Sakaki is revealed to have been rescued by a native girl named Miana, who treated his wound with a strange powder. Haruo reunites with some of his teammates while they were confronted by who they later learned to be Miana's twin sister Maina before being captured by the latter's hunting party. The group are reunited with Martin Lazzari whose platoon have been healed by twins' people who are known as the "Houtua", surviving descendants of humans who remained on Earth and safeguard the egg of their fallen deity.

The group are telepathically questioned by the twins and the Houtua leaders over why they burned their lands, letting them go once Haruo explains they were only attacking Godzilla. Accompanied by Miana and Maina as their protective guides and observers, the twins revealing they can also speak verbally, Haruo's group reunites with Metphies and the other survivors during an encounter with the Servum. During the fight, Galu-Gu realizes that the twins' arrowheads are laced with "nanometal", the nanotechnology used to create Mechagodzilla. Galu-Gu explains that the nanometal somehow survived and expanded itself over the past 20 millennia. Haruo is convinced by Galu-Gu to remain on Earth and resume the plan to kill Godzilla, sending a few crew members back to the *Aratrum*. The group trace the energy signature to the rebuilt facility that held Mechagodzilla, which Galu-Gu christens "Mechagodzilla City". The twins part ways with the group while warning Haruo that the nanometal is poisonous; the Bilusaludo assuring the group that the technology is only harmful to Godzilla.

The team soon finds that surviving half of Mechagodzilla's head is the source of the nanometal as Galu-Gu accesses Mechagodzilla's brain to construct all necessary materials to trap Godzilla within the city and cover it with nanometal to finish it off with EMP harpoons. While overseeing the construction, her mech suit modified into one of three Vulture exo-armors, Yuko confesses her feelings for Haruo and kisses him. Feeling slightly ill since entering the city like some of the others, Haruo finds Metphies working in a cave to repair an item with some of Galu-Gu's technology. Metphies cryptically hints the Bilusaludo's motives of becoming monsters themselves due to their obsession with logic, confiding to Haruo the name of a greater terror than Godzilla that destroyed his homeworld: "Ghidorah".

As Godzilla awakens, most of the human members are horrified to learn that most of the Bilusaludo had willingly allowed themselves to be assimilated into Mechagodzilla City to further fortify it. Godzilla's quick advance on the city forces Galu-Gu to sacrifice the city's defenses in order to divert power to finish the harpoon while Haruo, Yuko and Belu-be use the Vultures to slow Godzilla down. Though the trio managed to hold Godzilla for the plan to go underway, Godzilla survives the trap and proceeds to overheat the facility. This forces a defiant Galu-Gu to fuse with the nanometal as the humans escape the city. Galu-Gu then has the Vultures absorb their pilots to use as sacrificial spears to kill Godzilla.

Haruo is unaffected while Yuko is being slowly converted against her will. Metphies warns a conflicted Haruo that Mechagodzilla City will consume Earth if not stopped and that its destruction could save Yuko, Galu-Gu arguing that transcending their humanity is the only way to kill Godzilla. Haruo ultimately decides to fight Godzilla with his humanity intact, the destruction of Galu-Gu and the command center rendering the nanometal inert as Godzilla frees itself and destroys the city. Haruo tends to Yuko, who is unable to wake from her comatose state, while the surviving humans hide in a cave with Metphies as everything burns around them.