A Godzilla story with humanity at its core

Having only previously watched the recent Hollywood films about Godzilla, this was a refreshing take which returns to the original Japanese conception of Godzilla. A metaphor for nuclear weapons, Godzilla is Japan's monster; an indiscriminate destroyer and a punishment for their actions in WW2. This metaphor is conveyed through the story of the main character, Koichi Shikishima, a kamikaze pilot who abandoned his duty. He is haunted by survivors guilt and views Godzilla as his punishment for what he failed to do.

For a film about Godzilla, he features very little. The human characters make up the core of the narrative and tell a story of learning to move on and build a life in the aftermath of a war. As a Japanese film, obviously the Japanese soldiers are painted in a more sympathetic light than other countries would perhaps do so, but at its heart is a criticism of the disregard for life that was central to Japanese wartime policy. There is an anger in the men who have to face Godzilla, arguing why do they have to continuously risk their lives over and over again. However, they recognise that by fighting Godzilla they are fighting for a chance to live and for a future, whereas with the war they didn't know what they were fighting for.

The importance of life is emphasis in the final fight scene where Shikishima once again fails his duty as a kamikaze pilot, but this time it is not out of cowardice but out of a desire to live and the acknowledgement that he has the right to do so. Though his survival is a bit 'luck of the main character' and other characters' survivals within the film seem a tad unlikely, the happy ending feels rewarding and is a final push of the message that life is something to be treasured.

In terms of production, this film was fantastically done. In spite of its shockingly low budget in contrast to the American films, the visual effects were pretty much flawless. The budget is probably why Godzilla doesn't appear too often, but his design is brilliant and his general absence from the film makes the moments in which he stars all the more affective. The film's setting in post-war Japan also likely reduced the need for a major budget but this made the film all the better as they had to come up with more innovative ways (even though they did fail) to defeat Godzilla which made the story more interesting and memorable. The use of music and silences was also done really well in this film that emphasised the emotions of the scenes perfectly.

Though this film doesn't need a sequel, the ending did suggest there might be one. If so, I would be really intrigued to see where this Godzilla story goes next.

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simply mediocre

There was nothing special about this story. It was entertaining enough to finish it, but there was nothing memorable about it nor anything that would make me want to watch it again.

There were some good things about the film, the music was good and the characters, bar the creepy nerd guy, were likeable. One part of the film that I thought was done especially well was the sudden switch from Win's innocent love confession to the student dying. It was an excellent use of the shock factor but it was disappointing that this was the only shocking thing when the film had so much more potential to strike a chord with the audience.

The plot of the drug trial itself was weak. There were no real consequences as the only person to die was an unnamed student. If they wanted to leave an impact on the audience, one of the main four should have died, particularly Win or Jane. I also believe they should have kept the whole thing as something organised by a large company and the twist should have been that the teacher worked for that company and was grooming kids into taking part in the trial.

In general, the entire thing was rushed. It would have worked better if they had paced it better, perhaps using the story for a mini-series rather than a film. As it revolves around a lack of sleep, by slowing down the pace they could have enhanced the agony of sleep-deprivation very well. However, it would still fall short on delivering a message. Perhaps I missed it, but I don't think the story actually had something to say. The only thing I really got was that sleep is good and I don't think anyone needs to watch this film to understand that.

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Asks interesting questions

This had been something I'd been meaning to watch since it was released but I have only gotten around to watching now. I watched it over two days and can say that whilst it is both entertaining and intriguing, it does leave much to be desired.

[THE GOOD] This show is visually captivating. From the bright colours and attractive cast, it is very pleasing to the eye. The set design of the dating game, which makes up the bulk of the show, is brilliant and heavily inspired by 'Squid Game', and you can see a lot of effort and care was put into the production. The dating game in of itself was amazingly done and though the explicit concept of the Gentlemen being essentially sold of as cattle left an uncomfortable feeling, the games of the show being used to win dates was both refreshingly different and similar enough to current dating reality TV shows for it to be plausible for such a show to happen today or in the near-future.

I didn't have a problem with the acting in this show, it was neither brilliant nor awful. Simply acceptable. For some the acting may be considered too exaggerated, but it's done in a way which matches Thai humour and you adjust fairly easily to it. The characters, bar a few, are likeable with interesting stories. The female lead (FL) is one of your typical headstrong and true-to-herself leads but it's not overly forced and given the ridiculous world she is placed into, her awkwardness is understandable. The male lead (ML) starts off as a typical cold character but you quickly come to realise it is a facade he puts on as one of the Gentlemen and the person he is with the FL is much more real and likeable.

A character I didn't expect to love so much was Chanel but she ended up becoming my favourite. Although she is one of the elites of this society, she is still a victim who suffers under the expectations of her mother. Her character development is great as she moves from being somewhat emotionless only acting on her mother's instructions, to being emotionally vulnerable with Max (her eventual love interest) and then having the confidence to go after what she wants. I really wanted her to win the dating game and I was so happy when she did. Chanel's story also reveals certain things about their society which beg questions of what would happen if we lived under a matriarchy. Though their society is completely matriarchal, it is still not enough to be a girl. Chanel reveals to Max that her mother's tough expectations of her stem from the fact that she wasn't born a boy in a way that reflects many societies today. In this matriarchy, the male sex has remained a symbol of status and power.

I also enjoyed the stories of many other side characters. The queer representation on this show was done very well as although heterosexual relationships are viewed as almost sacred given the scarcity of men, this worshipping is questioned briefly in the first episode and there does seem to be a general accepted lesbianism of that society. It is nice to see an actual lesbian couple go through pregnancy and the difficult decisions they are forced to make upon learning they have a son. The gay storyline of Paper was also done really well as that was one of the first questions I had early on in this film; what if some of the men are gay? Whilst Paper was able to have that gay relationship by the end, it would be interesting to perhaps explore a man who had had to deny that and be part of a heterosexual relationship, maybe in a second season.

What I would also like to be explored more in a second season, if they do one, is the familial relationship between Valentine, Almond and their mother. Though you could see the plot twist of Almond being the missing brother from a mile away (most plot twists were very predictable in this show), I think it sets up a very interesting story to explore as though Valentine misses her brother and wants him back, Almond is in a completely different situation. He has never grown up with that family, he never expected it to be something he could have and how can you miss something you don't know?

[THE BAD] This show tried to do too much with too little space. It was obvious from the start that this was going to be an issue but the mixing storylines began to feel much clumsier towards the end than they had appeared at the beginning.

The story building is weak. Yes most dystopian stories have massive plot holes (almost all of them forget that other countries exist and that no country acts in isolation), but the actual premise for this show doesn't make sense at all. The disease that has caused the decrease in the male population is terribly explained and not expanded on at all. It isn't clear whether or not this disease only affected birthing rates or if it killed the male population because if it only affected births then there should be a lot more men in the show from the ages of around 50 upwards as it is only set in 2024. The lack of this older generation of men suggests that they were killed off by the disease, but then it doesn't explain why the few remaining men and those being born aren't affected by the disease. The cause of the disease is implied to be rooted in women, but as the female sex have no control over the sex of the child (only the male sex carry the Y chromosome) it just doesn't seem plausible that women are the issue. Not that it really matters as there seems to be no talk of finding or creating a cure at all in the show.

The lack of talk surrounded a cure suggests that this society doesn't want to find one. Given how they treat men in this show and our current patriarchal societies, it is entirely plausible that they dislike the male sex in spite of their worshipping of the Gentlemen. It was noticeable in the show that society was functioning totally fine without the male sex and actually seemed more peaceful. Outside of The Farm, there were no police officers and there was no mention of crime whatsoever. In fact, as I was watching, I caught myself wishing that I lived in such a place where I could be free to go out without worry and simply have fun as a woman. They don't explore this at all, but I wish they would have because there are many reasons why women would prefer to live in a male-free society.

The reproduction in this show also doesn't work at all. Though there are many ways they can make children, whether it be through sperm banks, artificial sperm (through stem cells) or even asexual reproduction (which could potentially happen due to the lack of male sex), the gene pool is significantly reduced. You'd either end up with most of the population related to one another or as clones, an inbreeding that would make them extremely vulnerable to disease. The female population would eventually end up naturally decreasing to match the male population or it would be the end of the human race entirely.

[SUMMARISE] This show was entertaining with a good love story, good characters and intriguing plot. However, the dystopian world was poorly constructed and was avoided for most of the show. It had a good beginning but weak end, I especially disliked the time skip, but I will be watching a season 2 if they create one. Most importantly, this show introduced interesting questions such as:

(1) Would patriarchal ideals still be present in a matriarchy?
(2) Would the rights of gay people be restricted in response to a population crisis? - particularly relevant when looking at current CCP policy in response to China's population issues
(3) If given the option, would women choose to live in a world without men and at what cost?

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