Shin Godzilla

Shin Godzilla (シン・ゴジラ Shin Gojira)[a] is a 2016 Japanese tokusatsu kaiju film written, directed, and co-edited by Hideaki Anno and co-directed by Shinji Higuchi, with visual effects by Higuchi and practical effects by Katsuro Onoue. Funded by Toho and produced by Toho Pictures and Cine Bazar, it is the 29th mainline installment in the Godzilla series, the 31st Godzilla film overall, the first film in the franchise's Reiwa era, and the first film in Anno's Shin anthology series. It stars Hiroki Hasegawa, Yutaka Takenouchi, Satomi Ishihara, Ren Osugi, Akira Emoto, Kengo Kora, Mikako Ichikawa, Jun Kunimura, and Pierre Taki. The film was released to Japanese theaters by Toho on July 29, 2016. Funimation gave it a limited, English-subtitled release in American theaters beginning on October 11, 2016. A black-and-white version of the film titled SHIN GODZILLA:ORTHOchromatic (シン・ゴジラ：オルソ Shin Gojira: Oruso, lit. "Shin Godzilla: Ortho") premiered at Ikebukuro HUMAX Cinemas in Tokyo on October 27, 2023, with screenings at select Japanese theaters following on October 28 and 29.[6] The first Toho-produced Godzilla film after a period of 12 years, Shin Godzilla is a complete reboot to the franchise in which Godzilla attacks Japan for the first time in the modern day. After a disaster in the Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Rando Yaguchi proposes that the culprit is a giant creature, only for his suggestion to be laughed off. However, Yaguchi is proven right when a huge gilled creature swims up the Tama River and comes ashore in the Ota Ward of Tokyo. The JSDF is unable to mobilize in time and the creature escapes after leaving a trail of destruction. Now, Yaguchi and a ragtag team of bureaucratic rebels band together to find a method of defeating the creature, dubbed Godzilla, as he continues to evolve and returns to menace Tokyo again. Shin Godzilla was a huge critical and financial success in its native Japan, recording the highest attendance for the series since 1966 and an unprecedented number of awards for a kaiju film. It led to the development of a media franchise dubbed the Shin series, consisting of various films primarily helmed by Hideaki Anno. Toho followed Shin Godzilla with Shin Ultraman in 2022 (co-financed by Tsuburaya Productions and khara) while also continuing the Reiwa era of the Godzilla series with a trilogy of animated spinoff films, beginning with GODZILLA: Planet of the Monsters in 2017. The next mainline live action installment in the series, Godzilla Minus One, was released on November 3, 2023.