GODZILLA: SINGULAR POINT

[Benjamin Haines]

Here it is, the long-overdue thread for Godzilla: Singular Point here on MZ! Toho's very first Godzilla anime television series debuted in 2021 with new episodes premiering weekly on Netflix in Japan before airing a week later on Japanese television. All 13 episodes became available to stream on Netflix worldwide on the same day that the last episode aired in Japan. Both English-subtitled and English-dubbed versions are available to stream, although there's still no sign of a physical media release in the West.

I watched the whole series subtitled last Summer but I haven't rewatched it since then, so I'm going to start it again soon and post my reviews of each episode here in this thread. Whether you've seen the series multiple times already or you haven't checked it out yet, please share your thoughts on these episodes too. There's been plenty of discussion about Legendary's MonsterVerse films, Shin Godzilla and the anime film trilogy in past years and now I want to start talking about this anime series. In short, even though it's not a movie, I think Singular Point is the best Godzilla media of the current era and one of the most ambitious and boldly creative works in the franchise's history.

[lhb412]

Ugh, I feel like such a fake fan. I watched the first half of the series around the time it came out, really dug it (love the way it looks), but then I got distracted and time passed - I felt like I should go back and watch from the beginning, all in one go, you know? And I haven't gotten around to it. I'll get to it soon! Love the monster designs! From what I've seen it really aligns with what I feel a modern Godzilla anime should be.

[Benjamin Haines]

^ FAKER! Nah, life happens and time passes. I thought I would start rewatching Singular Point tonight but I have a full-time job and I took an unplanned nap this evening. This whole slow-motion aging thing sure is something. Maybe I'll start rewatching it tomorrow, but this week for sure.

You haven't seen the second half of the series? Oh man, you are in for a treat.

[Benjamin Haines]

Episode 1

T E R Z E T T O


Over images of scientific notes and sketches, two different, childlike voices reminisce about the story that's about to unfold, talking over each other rapidly: "This is a story before we got smarter…" "And became confused." "Mysteries solved." "More puzzles." "The incident ended." "A huge aftermath." "A story…" "About becoming more human…" "And learning about humankind." "Detours." "Stops on the way." "Foolishness." "We now know they were all necessary." "The answer was always there." "The answer was the world itself." "The answers were in the questions." "The story had already begun." "With a fixed conclusion." "If the past can be changed…" "The present is a changed future." "I knew everything." "But I didn't know what it meant." "It took a long time…" "To get where we are." "But everything was necessary." "To understand…" "What had happened until now." "And this is how…" "The story starts."

Yun Arikawa and Haberu Kato are engineers working for Otaki Factory, a small company specializing in home repair and supernatural investigation which boasts a handbuilt robot called Jet Jaguar. One evening, Yun and Haberu are sent to investigate reports of strange lights and noises at an old, abandoned mansion on a cape. The owner disappeared 50 years ago, with the mansion now maintained by a management firm which found no signs of intruders. Yun deduces that the owner of the mansion, who studied a wide range of fields and liked to travel, was impulsive and disorganized, got bored easily, and died with a secret. While investigating the mansion, they find a hidden stairwell behind a bookcase, leading down to a secret room with an old radio that operates by converting radio waves into energy. As they listen to the strangely beautiful and haunting song coming from the radio, the mansion's lights flicker and the loud cry of a creature emanates in the distance outside.

Meanwhile, waiting at a bus stop is Mei Kamino, a graduate student of science. Mei photographs a large mural depicting a modified rendition of Kuniyoshi Utagawa's classic painting of the samurai warrior Minamoto no Tametomo's fantastical rescue from an ocean storm. She observes the differences in this red-ocean version of the painting, with the tengu rescuing Tametomo from the ship replaced with red pterosaur kaiju attacking a lone samurai who stands on the ship against them and the giant shark kaiju behind them, which is adorned with jagged dorsal fins. As the bus arrives, Mei notes the name labeled above the sharklike monster, "Gojira."

Yun and Haberu use their equipment to track the source of the radio waves. Yun concludes that they're tracking an animal that's flying toward the sea. A traffic jam forces them to take another route, unknowingly stopping directly behind the bus that Mei is riding before they turn around.

Mei arrives at the Misakioku Administration Bureau on behalf of her professor, the bureau's scientific adviser who is away at an international conference. She meets Mr. Yamamoto from the district office, who points out that the renovated building they're in was built before WWII. He shows her the reason why they summoned her professor: an old alarm light which has just started blinking for the first time. Staff member Sato shares from the bureau's manual that the alarm indicates reception of an unidentified signal that needs to be confirmed. That signal turns out to be the very same song that Yun and Haberu heard from the radio at the abandoned mansion, playing on a continuous loop for 28 hours now. They don't know where the song is being transmitted from, only that the alarm is connected to cables that aren't part of the room's wiring diagram. They decide to call the contractor that installed the room's equipment years earlier, which was Otaki Factory.

Yun and Haberu wander a seaside cliff after losing the radio wave signal. With their equipment, Yun realizes that the same song they heard at the mansion is being transmitted from the nearby building, the Misakioku Radio Observatory. Haberu recalls that they did some work there a few years ago as Yun climbs up the fence to investigate. He's at the top of the fence when he receives a phone call from that very facility that he's trespassing into, which makes him and Haberu think they're being watched remotely by the staff inside. Yun answers his phone to the voice of Mei, calling from inside the building. She tries to explain why she's calling but he's defensive and suspicious. He asks what her demand is, which perturbs her, and she replies that she's calling to ask about a machine. As she begins spelling out the model number beginning with "JJ," Yun thinks she's calling about Jet Jaguar and he gets confrontational until Haberu points out that she's talking about the cable they installed. Yun then relaxes as he realizes the phone call is just a coincidence, but by this point his customer service overtures only add to Mei's frustration. The police arrive, causing Yun to fall off the fence and ending the phone call.

Mei rides a taxi home, with the dashboard stereo revealing the date as July 6, 2030. She looks up Otaki Factory's website on her laptop and learns that they produce work robots, supplements, accounting software and AI. She locates Yun's profile on the staff page and downloads his Assistant AI Naratake software, a free program that he created.

While he and Haberu are being questioned at the police station, Yun places his phone on the table and allows his AI Naratake to do the talking for him. They're interrupted by their eccentric boss, Goro Otaki, who has already convinced the police captain to let them go. As the three of them eat a late dinner at a restaurant, Goro insists that the unexplained radio waves are from UFOs and that the Misakioku facility is searching for alien life. He says that they want Otaki Factory to perform maintenance work, so he tells Haberu to go there the next day and look for anything suspicious. Yun looks up the mysterious song on his phone and learns that it's an old Indian folk song called ALAPU UPALA.

Mei wakes up in her apartment and finds that the AI Naratake has finished downloading to her laptop, so she begins installation. When the rectangular face on the screen speaks in English and asks for access to the computer's microphone, Mei says aloud that she wishes it would speak Japanese, which prompts the AI Naratake to immediately switch to asking for speaker and microphone access in Japanese. Mei, suspicious of how it heard her without microphone access, concludes that the program is a virus. The AI Naratake insists that it isn't a virus but an advanced AI with personality and it frantically resists Mei's attempts to uninstall it. Mei eventually comes around and names it Pelops II after a dog that she used to have. Pelops II enthusiastically revamps itself into a little cartoon dog at Mei's service.

Sato visits Otaki Factory and sees the still-in-development Jet Jaguar, which stands about 15 feet tall. With Haberu following their car by moped back to Misakioku, the chauffeur tells Sato that Goro Otaki has caused uproars about aliens and underground civilizations and that he spent all of his personal assets building Jet Jaguar to protect Earth. At Misakioku, Haberu learns from the records that when Otaki Factory was hired to install the cables five years ago, they connected them to an underground transmitter, which they never touched.

As Haberu is leaving Misakioku, he spots Mei waiting at a bus stop across the street. It turns out that they went to high school together and she remembers him by his old nickname, Barbell. He gives her a ride and realizes that she was the one who called Yun from Misakioku the night before. Mei expresses disdain for Yun when recalling their conversation. She goes on to talk about how she's studying imaginary creatures, which she says is about understanding this world by studying things that don't exist in this world.

Back at Misakioku, wondering about the song being transmitted from underground, Sato asks Yamamoto if the building even has a basement. Yamamoto reveals that it does, then he decides to show Sato something interesting. “That rascal might be the one that's misbehaving,” Yamamoto tells him cryptically.

At a large outdoor festival, Goro and Yun are minding Otaki Factory's ‘Play With Jet Jaguar' attraction, although the children aren't impressed by the stationary robot. One of the kids points out something big flying in the sky off in the distance. Everyone watches as it flies closer into view, a large pterosaur kaiju with bright red skin. It lands on the rooftop structure of a building and lets out the same monstrous cry from the night before at the mansion. The kaiju topples to the ground with the structure, creating a huge dust cloud and sending people running. Yun rushes to help a little boy who fell but they're soon standing face to face with the kaiju, which roars down directly at them.

At Misakioku, Yamamoto takes Sato down to the building's basement by elevator. They're both wearing hazmat suits. Yamamoto explains that the underground location they're entering is a former black military facility that's been abandoned and forgotten, a place that officially doesn't exist. At the bottom, Yamamoto slides open a large steel door, revealing a large hangar housing the gigantic skeleton of a certain saurian kaiju with three rows of dorsal plates. With Akira Ifukube's iconic Godzilla theme toning in the background, the skeleton rests on the floor in a pile of red matter.


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This first episode covers a lot of ground, presenting the core cast of characters and plunging us into their world. It's immediately clear that this is a fast-paced, dialogue-heavy show steeped in scientific and technological concepts.

Yun Arikawa and Mei Kamino are introduced as the show's two protagonists and their first interaction with each other is an impromptu phone call, which goes terribly. He jumps to conclusions and leaves a bad impression on her. They've never met or spoken to each other before, they're both confused by the bizarre happenings they're currently investigating, and neither of them realizes that they're both investigating the same mysterious song transmission. It's a total failure to communicate and it's a very human encounter. These people are interesting and relatable.

I am personally very amused by the circumstances of Mei's arrival at Misakioku because of how similar it is to the second episode of The Venture Bros., in which Dr. Venture is summoned to his late father's Gargantua-1 space station when a red "Problem Light" on the wall starts blinking for the first time ever. I doubt that it's a knowing homage but it's funny to me.

We get just a taste of action at the very end of this episode, and though the flying pterosaur monster isn't named in the show yet, it is unmistakably Rodan, complete with the signature roar. He's a lot smaller than in the movies but he's still a large, menacing kaiju and his descent on the festival immediately brings chaos. It's great to see Jet Jaguar get a long-overdue revamp that's true to his roots as a handbuilt creation of an independent inventor. He isn't activated yet in this episode but his new design is very cool and very faithful.

The mysteries established here are intriguing. The dual cliffhanger ending to this first episode portends a whole lot more intrigue to come.

[Benjamin Haines]

Episode 2

G A M E S O M E


Still riding with Haberu on the Otaki Factory moped, Mei explains that her field of study isn't about just concocting any imaginary creature, that dreams follow the rules of dreams, and that other universes have their own laws too.

At the outdoor festival, the large pterosaur kaiju is ready to devour Yun and the little boy when Goro Otaki's voice pierces through the air behind them. Jet Jaguar stands up, diverting the monster's attention, with Goro operating the robot from inside the torso and projecting his voice through a speaker. He introduces himself as Jet Jaguar with great bombast but the monster doesn't wait for him to finish before it attacks. Yun carries the boy to safety as Jet Jaguar battles the pterosaur kaiju, which quickly rips off the robot's right arm with its mighty beak. Goro's resolve unbroken, Jet Jaguar charges at the monster once again but it hurls the robot across the festival ground and into a building as people scatter. The kaiju pounces on top of the robot and, seeing Goro inside the cockpit, pecks at the chest grate and tears it off, exposing Goro within. Goro stands Jet Jaguar up again while grabbing the pterosaur monster's beak but the robot loses balance and Goro falls out of the cockpit onto the pavement. He runs away on foot, begging for Great Buddha's protection as the kaiju scuttles forward trying to eat him, when suddenly the creature is stopped and dragged backward.

Goro turns around to see Jet Jaguar on its feet and battling the kaiju, with no pilot! Goro looks across the street and sees Yun standing on the Otaki Factory truck bed, frantically operating a tablet. Goro rushes over, grabs the tablet and sees that Yun is using their 'Play With Jet Jaguar' application. "What did you expect?" Yun asks.

The pterosaur kaiju knocks Jet Jaguar to the ground. Yun takes the tablet back to change the settings. The monster tries to pull the robot's head off, much to Goro's chagrin, as Yun hands him back the tablet and says that it will be 70 seconds until Jet Jaguar restarts.

The monster stops trying to remove Jet Jaguar's head as the robot appears dead. The monster instead turns its attention to the people in the streets. With 40 seconds remaining, Yun rushes out with a large wrench to stall the creature, which knocks over cars trying to catch people until it hears Yun clanging the wrench and roars at him.

Yun flees from the kaiju with 20 seconds to go. It's just about to chomp him when Goro rams the Otaki Factory truck into the creature's head, glaring directly into the creature's eye as he does so.

Before the pterosaur monster can charge at Yun again, Jet Jaguar charges it and knocks it away. Now rebooted and operating without manual control, Jet Jaguar stands ready to fight even with its visible damages. Yun orders Jet Jaguar to get the monster but the winged creature takes off straight up into the sky.

Riding into town on the moped, Mei spots the creature flapping its wings in the sky and wonders if it's a huge bird. Haberu looks over and sees it too, then Mei realizes it's a pterosaur.

The kaiju roars several times as it flies higher into the sky. Yun recognizes its cry. The kaiju suddenly stops moving and falls down to the ground, landing in the grass with a loud thud. Yun goes over and sees that the monster is dead. As people gather around it, one man touches the monster's body and exclaims that it's hot.

At dusk, Haberu and Mei arrive on the moped at the festival ground, which has been cordoned off by the Chiba Prefectural Police with large crowds of people gathered around. Haberu leaves Mei on the moped to go check out what happened. From the police tape threshold, he sees paramedics loading Goro into the back of an ambulance, with Goro sitting up on the gurney and insisting that he's not hurt. Haberu spots Yun sitting next to Jet Jaguar on the back of their truck and walks under the police tape to go and speak with him. Yun states that Goro has a few broken ribs but he'll be fine. On the opposite side of the truck, Mei pushes through the crowd to the front of the police tape and sees the dead pterosaur kaiju. She uses her phone to zoom in and take a photo of it.

The incident becomes the hot topic in Japan, as we see through a montage of television news and talk shows. One commentator notes the creature's resemblance to the extinct Quetzalcoatlus. Several people lament that the creature wasn't captured alive. Alongside footage of Jet Jaguar battling the kaiju, Goro is identified as the robot's operator and designer, with some people commending his heroism and others calling Jet Jaguar a weapon and saying Goro should have waited for the police. One news program shows reporters gathered outside Otaki Factory, which has its shutters closed.

At Otaki Factory, Yun and Haberu examine Jet Jaguar, noting that the robot is badly damaged but surprisingly resilient. They realize that Jet Jaguar's repairs will have to wait until they finish repairing three rover-like work robots topped with mechanical arms, which will take them 10 days on their own with Goro in the hospital, but their co-worker Satomi arrives and shares Goro's instructions to forget those robots and prepare Jet Jaguar for the next battle. She shows them a print of the modified classic painting of the giant shark monster battling the lone samurai warrior in a red ocean, the same painting that Mei observed at the bus stop. Satomi says that the pterosaur they encountered was one of the flying creatures depicted in that painting, and she relates Goro's prediction that the creatures will return in a flock just like in the painting. Haberu points out that the same painting was displayed at the festival. Labeled 'Painting of Godzilla,' Satomi says the local legend is that Godzilla is an apocalyptic monster that appears from the sea when it turns red. With Jet Jaguar's new parts not scheduled to arrive until the next week, Yun shows Haberu and Satomi a recording of radio waves emitted by the pterosaur kaiju's cry, which match the radio waves of the distant monster cry from the other night at the mansion. They realize that the pterosaur monster's species communicates through radio waves, so Yun decides to produce a radio wave signal that can attract them.

At the Misakioku facility, Yamamoto and Sato watch a TV talk show covering the pterosaur kaiju. Yamamoto explains that he was shown the giant skeleton in the basement by the facility's former director, two before him, who was himself shown the skeleton by the director before him. Yamamoto shows no interest in investigating the skeleton's origin, indicating that he's more concerned with preventing information about the skeleton from leaking out. Seeing Sato's concern about the skeleton, Yamamoto gives him the key to investigate the compact archives, a storage facility packed with old books and files.

As Mei researches dinosaurs on her computer at home, Pelops II appears on her screen after performing her requested data search. Pelops II says that it works hard because it doesn't want to be uninstalled, explaining that its character is linked to Mei's computer. "What would you think if you woke up one morning as a big insect?" Pelops II asks her. "Your data may be the same, but the vessel is different." Pelops II offers to organize Mei's notes on transdimensional flying creatures and get them published.

As Sato looks through archived documents at Misakioku, Yamamoto tells him that a museum wants to buy the dead pterosaur's body for three billion yen. Sato wonders aloud how much the giant skeleton in their basement is worth. Yamamoto notices some old microfiche sheets among the archived documents. Sato, after mistakenly fetching an overhead projector and then a pair of floppy disk drives, manages to find a microfiche reader, at which point Yamamoto notes there are now two of them worth three billion yen.

A news report shows another dead pterosaur kaiju on a beach. The next report indicates that four sets of remains have been found in total, and then eight in total. One report shows a crowd of people gathered hoping to catch the flying creatures. A scientist shows reporters that the creature's tissue layers are similar to an electric eel's electric organs. Responding to a question about whether the creatures were found to have starved to death, the scientist replies that they haven't found an organ in the creatures that works as a stomach. Another scientist reveals that the creatures' DNA was found to lack homeobox genes, unlike normal multicellular organisms on Earth. Several reports discuss the pterosaur monsters' corpses containing high levels of the radioactive element radon. Another report notes that the word kaiju is an old Japanese term meaning strange beast. Merchandise abounds as the public starts calling this new flying species radio-wave monster Rodan (denpa kaiju Radon).

As Mei cooks her dinner, Pelops II tells her that someone named Professor Li responded to her paper on the internet. Mei is confused. Pelops II reveals that it finished organizing Mei's notes into a paper and published it online: "Introduction to Biologia Phantastica by Mei Kamino and Pelops II," "The laws of physics distorted by imaginary creatures' time regression…" Pelops II reveals that 32 people have already reacted to the paper and five people have downloaded it, with the one person who sent a reaction email being Professor Li. She wants to meet Mei in Tokyo.

Back at Misakioku, Yamamoto and Sato review the microfiche sheets. One of them contains a document called "Verification of Specimen Electromagnetic Wave Radiation" with a photo of the facility's founder, Michiyuki Ashihara, a disheveled and haunted-looking man standing in front of a large tank filled with jellyfish.

Standing next to his car on the side of the highway, Sato speaks to a woman on his phone, telling her about the Misakioku facility's mysterious alarm system that's connected to a machine in the basement where there's a skeleton of a huge dinosaur. The woman tells Sato to give her a written report and then hangs up. She is shown to be waiting to depart at an airport, and her documents reveal that she's on her way to an event called the Conference on Archetype taking place in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, which is being held by a group called SHIVA.consortium.

While riding on a train, Mei researches Professor Li Guiying and learns that she's a computational chemistry expert conducting research on new molecules through computer simulation, and that she's a member of SHIVA.consortium.

At Otaki Factory, Haberu has equipped the moped with a pair of Rodan-luring antennae called Gyro Canopy Tandem 2 (Gyro Z for short). Goro returns from the hospital already with a crutch and one arm in a sling.

Out in the ocean, the water has turned red. Two fishermen on a boat lament how they had a huge catch of deep-sea fish yesterday but haven't caught a single fish today. One of them suggests that they might have better luck selling Rodan buns. Suddenly, a Rodan bursts out of the water in front of them and flies up into the sky, leaving a trail of red dust in the air behind it. Dozens of additional Rodans fill the sky as the fishermen stand awestruck on their boat in the middle of the red ocean.


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This second episode is the first one to open with the show's theme song and it's a total banger. The song is called In Case and it's by a group called Bish. Toho Animation even posted a music video of the song set to Singular Point footage and graphics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXd4ZwDivsc

The first battle of this Godzilla anime series is Jet Jaguar vs. Rodan! How cool is that? The action here is staged very well, putting us viewers right in the thick of the combat with palpable stakes throughout. The art design and animation on this show is visually appealing, a colorful mix of traditional hand-drawn animation and 3-D computer animation. This show's take on Rodan is certainly unique and potentially controversial, making him huge but not giant and having a whole flock of them appear at the end, but it's not like the notion of multiple Rodans is anything new. This take on Rodan absolutely works in this episode and that battle with Jet Jaguar is awesome! I also love the hilariously meta moment during the fight when Jet Jaguar initially seems to have started acting under it's own self-programming, a la Godzilla vs. Megalon, only for Yun to be operating the robot remotely with an app on his tablet, to which he asks "What did you expect?"

When Mei is researching dinosaurs on her computer, the image she's looking at is a mash-up of the Rhedosaurus from the main poster for The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms and Raquel Welch from the main poster for One Million Years, B.C. The English subtitles translate Mei's comment on that picture as a comment on dinosaurs, "I can't believe how agile they are when they're so big," but the English dubbing has her commenting on the Raquel Welch lookalike by saying "Look at her, she must have to work out a lot in order to get a body like that." The dub also changes Goro Otaki's pleas to Great Buddha for protection as Rodan chases him to instead have him apologize to Rodan extensively for calling him a stupid beast. The voice acting in this show's English dub is fine but I find arbitrary changes to the dialogue like that to be disappointing.

This series does a really good job of building intrigue and keeping things interesting. It's so fast-paced that it demands the viewer's full attention, which it rewards with delightfully fascinating world-building set against a slow-burn atmosphere of mounting dread. It's clear that these characters are dealing with something ominous that's happening beyond any of their control.

This second episode is also the first one to end with the show's end credits song (Aoi by Polkadot Stingray), which is set to a montage of scenes featuring classic-designed Toho kaiju and lots of easter eggs, but this end credits sequence is just a non-sequitur, not something that represents what's to come in the series.

[Benjamin Haines]

Episode 3

T I G E R I S H


The JSDF detects an unidentified flying object coming from the ocean toward the mainland. A pair of fighter jets take off to intercept it as the same childlike voices from the beginning of the first episode once again reminisce about the story that's unfolding. The jets reach high above the water when the pilots spot a Rodan flying through the clouds above them. Then they look down and see the entire swarm of Rodans flying through the clouds below them, each Rodan leaving a trail of red dust in its wake.

The Nigashio city police arrive at the beach to warn everybody to run away immediately from the incoming Rodan flock, which is already visible as an ominous red cloud over the water in the distance.

Mei, still riding on the train on her way out of Nigashio toward Tokyo, continues to read about Professor Li's research on molecules beyond imagination. Mei wonders if such a molecule can exist and Pelops II says that it's a stable molecule in Professor Li's simulations. Elsewhere on the train, other passengers appear concerned.

Yamamoto looks out at the sea on the cliffside outside the Misakioku facility as Sato runs out and urges him to get inside. The incoming Rodan swarm has turned the entire sky red across the horizon.

In the city, the owner of a Rodan-themed donburi shop called Ra-Don (ラ丼) pulls his shutters down. News reports indicate that there are more than 10,000 Rodans in the flock and they're smaller than the previous Rodans with a slightly different form. People grow anxious and talk about what they've heard, only to look up and see the Rodans flying directly above them, turning the sky red. People on their apartment balconies rush back indoors as the Rodan swarm descends upon the city.

Yun, Haberu and Satomi watch the news at Otaki Factory. Goro pulls up in a convertible and tells Yun and Haberu to help him lead the Rodans out of town using Haberu's Gyro antennae. When they see several Rodans already flying above them, Goro decides that they'll test it immediately. Haberu and Yun take the moped and follow Goro while Satomi stays to mind the factory.

On the train, Mei reads about Archetype, the collective term for the new molecules that Professor Li is studying, which haven't been successfully synthesized yet. Mei notices several panicked people insisting to a conductor that they need to get back home. She wonders what's going on and Pelops II brings up a slew of social media posts with photos of Rodans along with a live news report, and shows her that more than 90% of the real-time posts are coming from Nigashio.

Traveling on a mountainside road with a view of the mayhem in the city, Haberu notices a Rodan perched on a radio tower at the Misakioku station. With five Rodans flying in the sky behind them, Yun activates the Gyro's radio wave output in their direction, successfully drawing their attention. Three more Rodans descend from ahead of them and Goro urges them to speed up to avoid getting trapped. He accelerates his convertible around the road's curve and suddenly sees a stopped bus up ahead with a pair of Rodans atop it. Goro swerves to avoid hitting the bus but the moped falls over going around the curve, sending Yun and Haberu flying. Yun hits his helmeted head on the guardrail and is knocked out.

Mei continues watching the news on the train and briefly sees her apartment building in the background. She realizes that she left her laundry out and she can't go back, so she asks Pelops II if it has any footage of her building. Pelops II reveals that they have access to 206 fixed cameras in the city, with three that have a possible view of the building, none of which offer an angle that's helpful to Mei. Pelops II then finds something else.

Yun slowly regains consciousness on the side of the road, his vision blurry. He hears Goro yelling from across the road and watches him rush onto the stopped bus just in time to avoid getting eaten by a charging Rodan. Haberu pulls Yun over the guardrail and helps him run as a Rodan chases them. A woman waves them over to a storage shed and they rush inside as the Rodan slams against the door behind them. They hide in there with several people from the bus as the Rodan tries to beat its way in a few times. It eventually backs off but remains standing outside the shed. Through the dent in the door, Yun and Haberu see Goro trapped on the bus along with a little schoolgirl and the driver. Several Rodans surround the bus and one climbs on top of it, with more flying to the scene as the Gyro antennae continue to emit radio waves from the overturned moped in the road.

Back at Otaki Factory, one of the three rover-like work robots activates, with the voice of Pelops II. Looking around with the robot's ocular camera, Pelops II tells Mei that they have a clear feed and zooms in on the docked Jet Jaguar. Mei recognizes Jet Jaguar from the festival, then she realizes that she's looking at Haberu's workplace. Pelops II quickly reads the work robot's operation manual in order to remotely drive the robot and its built-in camera to Mei's apartment building. Satomi greets the moving robot, thinking that Haberu or Yun have accessed it remotely with their AI software, and she opens the shutter so they can take the robot out. Pelops II uses the robot's mechanical arm to wave goodbye to Satomi and Mei thanks her for letting her borrow the robot as it speeds away.

The news reports that Rodans have appeared in several other cities in Chiba Prefecture. Several Rodans clamor on the stopped bus, drawn by the electromagnetic waves of the bus radio. One Rodan enters the bus through the windshield and makes its way toward the back, where Goro is hiding with the driver and the girl. Like her classmate on the bus, the girl hiding in the storage shed is also an archery student with a bow. Yun asks to borrow her bow along with a lady's plastic mini-bottle, then he pulls out his phone and activates Yung, his AI assistant. Yung calculates the wavelength and the highest frequency component of Rodan's radio waves, then scans the mini-bottle in Yun's hand and uses wind tunnel simulation software to determine the placement, size and number of holes required for what Yun wants to try.

Pelops II drives the work robot down the road, happily humming and flexing the mechanical arm while looking around. Mei spots smoke coming from near her apartment on the screen. Pelops II determines that her laundry is doomed but Mei says she's more worried about the town, so the work robot speeds onward.

The Rodan inside the bus gets close to the back. In the shed, Yun hands the girl three arrows tipped with plastic mini-bottles, each with four rectangular holes around the neck. On the bus, Goro takes the other girl's bow and prepares to shoot an arrow at the approaching Rodan when a loud whistling sound outside draws the attention of it and the other Rodans. The girl in the shed launches her second arrow high into the air, making an even louder whistle as it hits a tree near the first, and then her third arrow lures away the Rodan that had been standing outside the shed. Yun and Haberu rush outside to lift the moped upright and drive off, using the Gyro to get the Rodans to chase them away from the bus.

Haberu and Yun speed down the road with the Rodans in hot pursuit. Another Rodan swoops down directly ahead of them, ready to take them out, when suddenly the work robot pulls up alongside their moped and grabs the Rodan, slamming it against the pavement as Pelops II exclaims "You're finished!" Haberu swerves to avoid hitting them. Yun looks back and sees the work robot continue to battle the monster until the rest of the flock swoops in and destroys it. The work robot's detached ocular camera falls onto the road, allowing Mei to see the Rodans fly away down the road until the camera goes offline. Pelops II assures her that the people on the moped must have escaped. The train conductor announces that they will make an emergency stop at the next station.

The pursuing flock grows larger as dark rainclouds form high above. The moped is running out of power, when one by one the Rodans start dropping dead out of the sky, just like at the festival. Haberu and Yun pull over and look back at the road covered with Rodan corpses as rain begins to fall.

In the aftermath, 13 people are reported missing and 143 are hospitalized with the devastation visible across Nigashio. In another montage of TV shows and social media posts, these smaller Rodans are described as unable to sweat and as having no identifiable gender. Some people speculate that the Rodans came from outer space searching for a location to die, while others report that they flew out of the sea. The Rodans are found to be covered in a strange red sand, which reportedly isn't radioactive.

Watching the news on TV at the Misakioku facility, Sato points out to Yamamoto that there was red sand around the giant skeleton in the basement.

At a fairground in Tokyo, Mei meets with Takehiro Kai, a self-employed journalist who is there on behalf of Professor Li. He hands her an envelope with a gift from the professor, a tiny glass cube containing a very small flower. Mei describes her major as Biologia Phantastica. Kai asks her if Rodan could exist and she says they can because they were actually here. In the envelope, Mei finds an invitation from Professor Li to collaborate with her on a special project in Dubai as a resident short-term researcher, all expenses paid.

Back at Otaki Factory, Yun and Haberu examine the destroyed work robot. Yun discovers that it was remotely accessed by the AI Naratake software that he designed and distributed, trespassing as a guest. Unable to identify the user, Yun is able to send a text message, "Thanks for your help." To their surprise, he receives a reply immediately, "Sorry I broke your robot." Yun offers to return the favor by helping with anything. Opting not to reveal her identity, Mei sets her avatar image as a longhorn beetle, then sends Yun a short close-up video of her hand holding the tiny glass cube containing the very small flower. "Isn't this weird?" she asks. Yun recognizes it from an online article as a flower rotating in reverse, something called Archetype, which is known to exist but is impossible to find. Mei asks him what that is, and Yun replies with a string of numbers and letters: 14980c8b8a96fd94279796a61cf82c9c "Something like this," Yun says. "Solve it and find out." Mei asks him if that's a quiz. "Something like that," Yun replies, and then he starts to explain but Mei stops him and says she'll figure it out. Yun bids her good luck.

In the deep sea, the crew of a submarine detects the cry of a huge creature approaching them at 50 knots. They prepare for impact as the creature closes in on them. Out in the dark water, a gigantic, red, sharklike monster swims through the frame toward the sub as Akira Ifukube's iconic Godzilla theme heralds his arrival, with a trail of red sand filling the water in his wake.


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The Rodan flock's attack on Nigashio makes up the first 17 minutes of this episode and it is thrilling! These slightly redesigned Rodans resemble the classic design a bit more, with two horns curving down from the back of their heads.

It's funny how Mei and Pelops II end up hijacking a work robot from Otaki Factory while Mei is still riding on the train. The work robot looks similar to NIGEL from the previous Godzilla animated series. Even the way it gets destroyed is befitting of NIGEL's frequent death scenes.

The girl hiding in the storage shed has a Baragon-shaped phone case and the icon on her phone's screen is the original Mogera. There's also another wonderfully meta joke when Yun and Haberu are examining the destroyed work robot. Haberu wonders if it suddenly came alive and saved them and Yun replies, "If it did, wouldn't that be awesome?" with a small Jet Jaguar model displayed on the shelf behind him.

Mei's major of study, Biologia Phantastica, seems like something that any kaiju fan would go to graduate school for. She studies nonexistent life forms! It's like if kaiju fandom were an actual field of academia! The show's end credits sequence likewise seems to depict Mei as a stand-in for real-world fans, browsing old-fashioned Godzilla and kaiju content on the internet.

The text conversation between Yun and Mei in the episode's final moments is the second time they ever communicate after their disastrous phone call in the first episode. Mei knows who she's talking to this time but, like before, Yun doesn't know who he's talking to, although he seems to make a much better impression on her through text than he did over the phone.

[Kailem]

I binged the hell out of this when it came to Western Netflix. I'd been advised to watch it dubbed by a friend who'd been downloading fansubbed versions from Japan after the aired there because of how ridiculously dense and packed with complicated ideas he said this was, and man am I glad I did!

I loved how unapologetic it was in terms of just being all "we're going to be talking about all these crazy theoretical ideas and concepts and you're gonna either have to keep up or get left behind." Not to mention the two main characters just being smart and competent as hell. It made a nice change after being so used to movies, TV shows etc. slowing things down a lot to be sure that everyone's on the same page. It was just a cool change of pace.

And I loved what they did with the monsters. One of my long-time complaints with the Millennium Series is that they had such a great concept - a totally unconnected series of films (mostly) where they could just go nuts and do whatever crazy stuff they wanted, because each movie was a standalone - but they never went far enough with it. Singular Point felt like someone taking the ideas of the franchise and mixing everything up to present something new.

But yes, the monsters! I loved how the show teased you with thinking you were about to get a cool new design of a classic monster, only to take a turn and reveal it was something else entirely. And the new spins on old faves and cameos etc. were great. I loved seeing what they did with some of the lesser-seen Showa classics. Hell, Jet Jaguar plays a major, key role in the whole thing! That was great.

Not to mention just how bright and vibrant it looks. Even just visually I definitely prefer this to the anime movie trilogy.

So yeah, I really enjoyed this, and I'll totally be there for season 2, whenever that eventually ends up coming out over here (or anywhere)!

[lhb412]

Still wowed that this was the big Jet Jaguar comeback. Further solidifies my belief that anything can come back.

(Predicting the Minya-ssance)

[Benjamin Haines]

Yes, I love how Singular Point just plunges into all of these wild scientific and mathematical concepts, all of which tie into its detailed worldbuilding and fast-paced storytelling, which are all delivered in a dialogue-heavy, character-driven package. The whole series is so mentally engaging and that makes all of the terrific monster action, all of the new takes on classic Godzilla lore and all of the easter eggs even more satisfying.

The show doesn't dive into all of these wild concepts without regard for casual viewers, either. It just leans into it more and more with each episode, giving the audience time to buckle up and be ready for more. It's certainly a challenging story to follow and I'm glad that this Godzilla anime series is such a rewarding viewing experience.

The animation and art design are really great too. I had no problem with the anime movie trilogy's animation style but Singular Point's mix of hand-drawn animation for the human characters and computer animation for the monsters looks very cool.

[Benjamin Haines]

Episode 4

G A D A B O U T


Out in the red waters of the sea, the two fishermen who saw the Rodan swarm emerge at the end of the second episode are trying to get their boat back to blue waters. The boat's depth finder suddenly blares its alarm, indicating that the water is only 10 meters deep and rapidly getting shallower, then the depth is 0.0 meters and something huge hits the boat from underneath. Multiple rows of gigantic, reptilian scales pierce through the water around the boat, rocking it violently as the scales move toward the mainland.

A news report shows that the authorities are freezing 100 of the Rodan carcasses for research, with the rest being gathered in several outdoor areas to await disposal. Another report says that several Rodans were found alive that morning. Watching the news with Yun at a restaurant, Haberu posits that the Rodans were lured to Nigashio by that song that was broadcast from the Misakioku facility. Yun points out that the song hasn't been monitored since that day when Haberu went to Misakioku, which was the same day that the first Rodan appeared. They wonder why Misakioku would want them to come to the city. Yun suggests they find out.

At Misakioku, Sato watches a news report that shows Goro Otaki receiving a letter of gratitude from the city for Otaki Factory's role in saving citizens from the Rodans. Sato receives a phone call from Otaki Factory at that moment. Yun says he's calling about the Rodans and Sato compliments them for doing a great job the other day. Yun then plays the song ALAPU UPALA over the phone. He says that the Rodans reacted strongly to the song and he asks Sato why Misakioku lured them to the city. Sato insists that he's got it all wrong, that the song was an accidental signal which they didn't intentionally broadcast. Yun asks him if they accidentally and unintentionally lured the Rodans, and Sato realizes that's one way to put it.

At a press conference, a scientist announces that the red sand discovered on the Rodans, which has been termed Red Dust, contains a collection of active and inactive complex molecules. A reporter stands up to ask a question, and it's Takehiro Kai, the same self-employed journalist who met Mei in Tokyo on behalf of Professor Li. Kai asks if the Red Dust affects people's health and the scientist says it has no metabolic influence on ordinary organisms. Kai asks if the Red Dust reacts with Rodan's tissue and the scientist says they're studying that. Kai asks if there will be other giant creatures, like wingless quadrupedal or bipedal land creatures. The scientist says they have no reason to believe so at this time and then he calls for questions from other reporters. Kai smiles.

While riding on an airplane to Dubai, Mei ponders over Archetype and the strange sequence of numbers and letters that Yun texted to her. Pelops II finds no match from 200 million conversions of that character set. After finding that its data size is 128 bits, Pelops II suggests that it might be an MD5 hash code, a computer function by which anything can be converted into 128 binary digits. Mei asks if that really can be done with everything, and Pelops II demonstrates by converting the word everything into a unique MD5 hash code made up of numbers and letters. Unfortunately, because hash functions are irreversible, MD5 hash codes can't just be converted back into the original data input. The only way for Mei and Pelops II to decipher Yun's MD5 hash code is to try different inputs until they get a match, by converting different words and phrases until they come up with the same code. Mei tries several words but none of them are a match and she realizes this process could go on forever. When she asks if there's a maximum number of characters they can input, Pelops II demonstrates that even all of the data stored on Mei's laptop can be converted into a single MD5 hash code, and Mei realizes that it's limitless. With even images, audio and video data able to be converted into MD5 hash codes, Pelops II explains that trying to convert such codes back into their original data input is like trying to turn hash browns back into whole potatoes. As she arrives at Dubai International Airport, Mei guesses more phrases for Pelops II to convert, getting no match each time. She meets a man named Makita who is waiting to drive her to the conference. She keeps guessing phrases to Pelops II while riding in the back of the car. Mei suggests the phrase "traveling alone in a white car" to which Pelops II replies "No match. I'm here with you."

Back in Japan, the Rodans continue to be the hot topic on television and social media, with people discussing how the Rodans came out of the ocean and how they have organs that function like gills. Yun and Haberu stand on a forest hillside overlooking one of the outdoor areas where the JSDF has gathered Rodan carcasses for disposal, holding their noses due to the unbearable stench. Noting how the Rodans changed in appearance in a matter of weeks, they speculate that the Rodans might be able to change their own bodies at will to adapt to the environment. Haberu wonders why they would self-destruct and Yun posits that they might still be evolving to learn how not to self-destruct. An SUV stops near them and out steps Sato from Misakioku. He explains that the song which drew the Rodans was transmitted from their machine accidentally. After Haberu says it was probably a malfunction, Sato rhetorically asks who would send that signal intentionally and for what purpose, then he says "I doubt that thing still has a will." Picking up on that, Yun replies "That thing? In the basement?" Surprised, Sato asks Yun if he knows of it but Yun doesn't respond or move at all. "It's just a skeleton," Sato retorts. "Ridiculous. Impossible." After Sato drives away, Haberu asks Yun if he knew about a skeleton in Misakioku's basement, to which Yun says "No, I just found out." As Yun wonders about a skeleton having a will, Haberu notices that a Rodan carcass is missing from the edge of the outdoor area, with marks on the ground indicating it was dragged into the forest.

Sato flashes back to that day at Misakioku when Yamamoto showed him the giant dinosaur skeleton in the basement. As Sato looked at it in awe, Yamamoto casually strolled over to an electrical panel on the wall with a blaring red alarm light. "This guy was misbehaving," Yamamoto said as he switched off the alarm, which caused the signal to stop. In the present, as Sato drives out of the forest, he wonders aloud, "The song came from those bones?"

In Dubai, Mei and Makita arrive at the Conference on Archetype held by SHIVA.consortium, which has just begun. The man speaking onstage introduces Professor Li to the packed auditorium. As she speaks, the huge white screen behind her depicts Archetype as a series of three-dimensional cubes. Professor Li explains that Archetype is the ideal material: light, tough, extremely durable, rigid, even capable of regenerating itself. She says the problem with Archetype is that it only exists in simulations, which draws laughter from the audience. "Until now," Professor Li declares, as a cylindrical platform rises from the stage floor next to her. She picks up what appears to be a glass cube from the platform and holds it up for the crowd to see. The platform sinks back into the floor and is replaced by a square platform, which has glass triangular prisms arranged at three of its corners. As Professor Li splits her cube in half diagonally into two triangular prisms, she tells the audience that some intriguing traits of Archetype have been confirmed. She places both of her triangular prisms together to reform a cube at the fourth corner of the platform. Another device rises from the stage next to the platform and emits a red laser beam through the cube, which refracts to the prisms around the platform, forming a laser square between them. Professor Li reveals that Archetype can trap light as she again splits her cube into two prisms, holding one of them up in the air as the four prisms on the platform continue to maintain the laser square between them even after the laser device has sunk back into the stage. The audience is amazed as the laser square continues to hold, and the four prisms on the platform shine with light that grows brighter and more intense by the second. Professor Li explains that Archetype can also increase the energy it traps. Sitting in a middle row in the audience, Mei starts talking to herself out loud as she realizes the intensity of light shouldn't change if the light is trapped. The prisms on the platform shine brighter and brighter until finally all of the glass shatters. Professor Li says they're still unable to explain this mechanism of Archetype that appears to defy the law of energy conservation. Makita is surprised as Mei continues excitedly talking to herself. "If there's more energy," Mei says, "there must be more light. What if it's refracting to non-spatial dimensions?" As Professor Li speaks onstage, Mei stands up from her seat and exclaims, "Time! If light refracts through time, its diffused reflection can cause photons to appear repeatedly in one spot. In other words, the photons there are photons from the future." Mei is suddenly embarrassed as she realizes she interrupted the conference and everyone in the auditorium is just staring at her, but Professor Li smiles and says, "You must be Mei Kamino." Seated just a few rows away from Mei is the same woman whom Sato called at the end of the second episode, and she wonders who Mei is.

In a gigantic underground hangar at an unspecified location, a man in a suit steps off an industrial elevator surrounded by armed guards. He narrates his own entrance into the underground facility as though he's talking over the loudspeaker in a department store. He reaches an electronic panel and waves up to a surveillance camera. Watching him on a monitor back in a control room, his co-workers announce that the survey team has arrived in Partition 2, and that the intermittent vibration continues. Their boss, a grey-haired woman in a white suit, asks if there's a video and one of the staff answers, "Only from that one instant 24 hours ago." The monitor displays a few frames of dark, black-and-white video footage showing the obscured face of a knobby monster with teeth and a horn. The woman smiles at the footage. Down in the underground hangar, the man turns a key in the panel and the steel floor that makes up the center of the cavernous hangar opens up. "The iron maiden opens for the first time in six years," the man declares as he puts on a gas mask and starts descending a deep staircase with the survey team.

In Japan, Yun and Haberu track the missing Rodan carcass in the forest by following huge animal footprints. Yun notices that the front footprints are plantigrade (walking with soles flat on the ground) while the back footprints are digitigrade (walking on toes), as if they're following two creatures, but Haberu suggests that it could be a chimera. They wonder what animal is the size of heavy machinery, and then they find what's left of the missing Rodan carcass, most of its flesh having been eaten off the bones.

Back in Dubai, Professor Li speaks with Mei in the emptied auditorium after the conference. The man who introduced Professor Li onstage during the conference interrupts them and she introduces him to Mei as Michael Steven. He's annoyed to recognize Mei as the girl who interrupted the conference, then he turns to Professor Li and tells her that Tilda sent a survey team without consulting them. Professor Li asks, "To the lake? Who?" and Steven answers "BB. She took advantage of our absence." He then takes a phone call and walks away. Professor Li tries to continue talking to Mei but Steven summons her, so she asks Mei to write a report on her time theory by the next day.

In Japan, Yun and Haberu continue tracking the monster footprints. They notice that its movements are disorderly and they wonder if it's a kid. When they reach a ravine where the monster must have leapt at least ten meters, they meet the journalist Kai, who's also tracking the monster footprints. He introduces himself and he recognizes Yun and Haberu from television as the owners of the robot that fought the Rodan. He encourages them to keep tracking the monster with him as he runs ahead.

In her very fancy Dubai hotel room, Mei rummages through her backpack trying to find the key to her suitcase. Pelops II reminds her that she took the key out of the backpack and put it in the suitcase. Mei lies back on the bed, lamenting that she can't open the suitcase, or finish the report, or solve the quiz. Then she realizes that she couldn't have locked the suitcase without the key. She opens it and Pelops II observes that it wasn't locked in the first place. "Solve it and find out," Mei remarks, and Pelops II exclaims that's correct! That phrase, "Solve it and find out" in Japanese (hodokeba wakaru, 解けばわかる), is an MD5 hash match for the string of characters that Yun texted to her. Pelops II points out that he probably didn't intend it to be a quiz. Mei texts Yun the answer and he immediately replies that she's correct. Mei asks him what he thinks the connection is between MD5 hash code and Archetype. Yun says that Archetype is like no existing molecule and discovering it would require trying every possible molecular grouping, simulating every possible atomic structure, which Mei realizes would be like trying to reverse-engineer an MD5 hash code. Yun says that makes it impossible but Mei reminds him that it's been found. Yun suggests that the first possibility is a super calculator capable of decrypting MD5 hash code, which is nonexistent in the world. The second possibility Yun suggests is that the discovery of Archetype was the work of a genius, the type of incredible genius born once every 10 billion years. Mei remarks that Earth hasn't been around that long, so Yun says such a genius hasn't been born yet. The third possibility Yun suggests is that someone got super lucky, as lucky as writing Shakespeare's Hamlet by randomly tapping a keyboard, or playing Bach's Crab Canon on the piano by chance, or tossing paint that turns out like Pollock's Number 5, and then continuing to be exactly that lucky. Mei says that would transcend the laws of physics. She asks Yun if there's a fourth possibility, and after pondering it, he suggests that someone already knew the answer. However it was discovered, Yun says that Archetype is definitely something that's not of this world because it defies the laws of physics. Mei wonders if Archetype is made in a different world altogether.

In Japan, as a JSDF platoon drives along the forest, the soldiers discuss rumors of dead Rodans returning to life. The vehicle stops and two of the soldiers are ordered to get out and inspect an overturned truck in the road up ahead, which has three huge claw marks on its back door. With no one in the truck, the soldiers call out into the forest down the hill from the road. One of them spots a civilian couple in the bushes motioning to keep silent. When he approaches and asks if they're okay, they nervously gesture over to the trees where a large spiked tail swings by. The soldier thinks it's Rodan until he turns around and sees it. The couple runs away as the soldier finds himself standing face to face with an oversized quadruped creature covered in spikes and armor plating.

The sound of gunshots tearing through the forest sends birds flying. Yun and Haberu are taken aback by the sound. Kai recognizes it as a fully-automatic rifle.


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The first three episodes of Singular Point were a mini-saga featuring Rodan. This fourth episode deals with the aftermath of those events as the characters dig deeper into what's going on. This episode is light on action but it builds toward a lot of action to come.

I'm sure that I'm not the only English-speaking viewer who finds it challenging to understand all of the nuances of Mei and Yun's rapid-fire text conversations. In particular, the specifics regarding Yun's MD5 hash code and how Mei mistook him as quizzing her aren't obvious if we can't read Japanese text. For reference, after Yun says that Archetype is known to exist but impossible to find and Mei asks him what it is, these are Yun's text replies to her:

14980c8b8a96fd94279796a61cf82c9c
みたいなこと ("mitaina koto" "Something like this")
解けばわかる ("hodokeba wakaru" "Solve it and find out")

Mei then texts him back a katakana spelling of the English word quiz with a question mark ("クイズ?"), asking him if what he sent her is a quiz. Yun replies, "みたいなもの。意味は …" ("mitaina mono. imi wa…" "Something like that. It means…") but then Mei cuts him off with a pair of Pelops II emojis that say "Stop. I'll figure it out." in Japanese.

Yun generated that MD5 hash code from the Japanese text for "Solve it and find out" just to illustrate his forthcoming explanation of how something impossible like Archetype could be discovered. He didn't intend to quiz Mei but she has a very analytical mind and she eagerly took it as a brainteaser.

If you go to www.md5hashgenerator.com and enter the text 解けばわかる, the hash that it generates is indeed the very same string of letters and numbers that Yun texts to Mei. The makers of this show really did their homework!

The mysteries that this series explores are so much fun to watch, from the concept of Archetype to learning about MD5 hash codes, from the Godzilla skeleton that somehow transmits that song to characters tracking down a monster in a forest. Although the monster at the end of this episode isn't yet named, it is undoubtedly Anguirus and this redesign looks phenomenal.

[Benjamin Haines]

Episode 5

T H E O R I S T


A helicopter flies over the blue sea until it reaches its target point in the red water: the overturned fishing boat with the two fishermen clinging to the hull. As the rescuer lowers down from the helicopter by cable, he sees a massive form moving underwater. A gigantic, teal-colored, serpentine tail rises out of the sea and extends into the sky. The helicopter swerves to dodge the tail with the rescuer still clinging to the cable. The tail slams down into the water and the rescuer reports to the helicopter that the boat has sunk and the fishermen are lost. As the boat sinks further into the water's depths, several giant sea serpent monsters swim past it.

Yun and Haberu strive to keep up with Kai as they run through the forest. They meet a pair of hunters who tell them it isn't safe there because of the gunshots they heard. A rustling in distance causes all of them to look just in time to see a spiked tail disappear among the trees. Yun breaks away from the group and runs after it, followed by Haberu and Kai, who records with his camera.

The scene then cuts back to the text message conversation between Yun and Mei as he sends her an animated emoji with the message "Let's back up a bit." While he acknowledges that Archetype could exist already, he doubts her assertion that Archetype is capable of refracting light through time, but she insists that's what she saw happen at the conference: the same light returning over and over until there was an explosion. Yun says that violates the laws of physics. Mei suggests that light could transcend time if information isn't transferred but Yun reminds her that an explosion is information. Yun says it's possible that the professor got super lucky in discovering Archetype or that she already knew the answer but he insists that light cannot refract through time, and he says he's willing to bet on it. Mei says the winner gets sushi, and Yun adds a helicopter ride over Tokyo, to which Mei agrees. Pelops II appears on Mei's screen to tell her that Professor Li wants to see her about her report.

Downstairs in the hotel lobby, Mei presents her theory to Professor Li on a large markerboard, drawing a line graph with space on the vertical axis and time on the horizontal axis. She asks Professor Li to picture light refracting back in time within a certain medium. While the medium that Professor Li used at the conference was glass made out of Archetype, Mei illustrates that medium on the board as a rectangle which she draws in the fourth quadrant of the line graph, so that the the horizontal axis (time) is along the top side of the rectangle and the vertical axis (space) is along the left side. Mei draws a line representing a ray of light moving down and to the right at a steep diagonal angle until it hits the top side of the medium, then refracting further to the right as it passes through the medium, and then emerging from the bottom side of the medium and continuing at its original trajectory. That's normal light refraction through a medium, with the light moving forward in time at the speed of regular time as it moves through that space. Mei then illustrates her theory of light refracting back in time through a medium, by drawing the line in the rectangle pointing back in the opposite diagonal direction once it passes through the top side of the medium, so that when it emerges from the bottom side of the medium and continues at its original trajectory, it is emerging from a point that is further back along the horizontal axis (further back in time) than the point in time when the light entered the medium. Mei concludes that if that process can be generated, it's simply a matter of repeating it, sending photons from the past to the medium again and again, increasing them infinitely. Professor Li smiles and says, "We call that process the Ashihara Cascade." Realizing that Professor Li already knows all of this, Mei feels like she wasted her time by thinking through it all, but the professor tells her that the thought process is sometimes more important than the answer. Although Mei figured it out right away, Professor Li explains that it took them years to figure it out, which they finally did after they studied Ashihara's paper.

In that gigantic underground hangar, BB continues descending the deep staircase with the survey team into the dark abyss below, quoting Dante's "Inferno" as they walk. Particles of Red Dust begin to float up through the air around them. They reach the tremendous steel floor at the bottom and stand at the edge of the retracted floor panels, looking out over the massive pit of Red Dust in the center of the opened floor. "The Gates of Hell," BB observes. "Or is this the primordial soup of ancient Earth?" He grabs a particle of floating Red Dust out of the air and crushes it between his thumb and his index finger with a small burst of light. "The new phase of Archetype is here," BB says, still smiling. Back in the control room, one of the techs reports to Tilda that the sensors are reacting to movement, and she wonders aloud if Ashihara's prophecy is coming true. Down at the bottom of the underground chamber, the Red Dust dust suddenly explodes out of the pit in massive plumes which proceed to swirl around through the air. As the survey team retreats up the staircase, they see a huge, knobby monster roaring over the pit on the edge of one of the open floor panels. BB realizes that this creature is what set off the sensors. As the monster leaps onto the side of the staircase beneath them, BB urges a young member of the survey to drop his bags and run. "If I were that old woman, I'd sacrifice us to keep it underground," BB says. They rush up the staircase, followed by the giant monster and a swirling plume of Red Dust. As the team gets close to the top, the final steel panel slowly folds down on a trajectory to crush their staircase. BB stops to look over the edge at the monster, wondering aloud if it's controlling the Red Dust as the young team member presses him to hurry. They reach the top and run out onto the steel floor just as the final panel slams down on the staircase behind them. BB removes his gas mask to catch his breath as the floor rumbles beneath them with every strike by the monster.

Back in the Japanese forest, Haberu and Kai catch up to Yun, who has found blood from the monster on a plant. Yun says it's probably been shot and Haberu says they better be careful with an injured kaiju. Hearing something, Yun scales the nearest hillside and finds the monster drinking from a stream in a shaded clearing with its back to him. Yun tries to be silent as he climbs down into the clearing but the monster hears him and turns to face him. Adorned with spikes all over its body, the monster doesn't attack and instead just stares curiously at Yun, until it hears Haberu shout at Yun to run. As Haberu and Kai appear on the hill above Yun, the monster roars at them, then turns to face the two hunters when they appear too. As soon as the younger hunter points his rifle at the monster, it roars at them while the spikes on its carapace shimmer and wiggle. The hunter fires his rifle but the bullet ricochets off one of the monster's back spikes and zips past Yun's face into the hillside behind him. He looks at the bullet hole in the hillside and then back to the stream, but the monster has already run off. Yun wonders if the monster predicted the projectile and deflected the bullet.

Back in her hotel room in Dubai, Mei chats with Yun again via text message. She sends Yun the report that she prepared for Professor Li, explaining that light can be collected from one to three minutes in the future. Yun asks if that isn't the same as seeing the future. Mei realizes that it is, that information would indeed be transferred in this process. She asks him if that would still defy the laws of physics. "Let's say it's possible for argument's sake," Yun replies. "What do you think the future would look like?" Mei starts typing, then she pauses and ponders the question while looking at the tiny flower rotating in reverse in the cube.

Sitting in his parked car on the side of the highway, Sato reports to his boss by phone as he did at the end of the second episode. She tells him that the Archetype presentation was like watching alchemy. He sends her a photo that he found of Ashihara standing in front of the giant skeleton deep underground. Sato asks her what she thinks the skeleton is but she admonishes him for presuming to quiz her. He realizes that Misakioku has been researching those bones for some time, and he wonders if there's a connection between Archetype and the bones.

Later, that woman meets with Michael Steven of SHIVA. She tells him that her country is interested in funding SHIVA's research on Archetype. She asks him if SHIVA's plant in India is almost complete and he invites her to visit it. He says that SHIVA's researchers have found a similarity between the Red Dust found on Rodan and the raw material of Archetype. He explains that the raw material of Archetype is very rare and can be found only in certain places. She wonders aloud if the Rodans came from the same place as Archetype.

A series of Japanese news reports showcase the damage that the quadruped monster has wreaked on the rural farming community. Kai interviews a lady who says the monster was covered in spikes and roared like a train. She tells him that the city office is planning to hunt down the monster in the mountains.

Another news report claims that the two missing fishermen were actually rescued, showing a photo of the teal-colored, serpentine tail of the giant creature that sank their boat. A panel on another show discusses the prospect of closing the Uraga Channel in response. Another report shows that the giant sea serpent has been named Manda, which they say means giant snake.

More news reports show that Rodan flocks have begun appearing in other countries along the Pacific including New Zealand, Australia, the Cook Islands, Fiji, Niue, Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong.

In the mountains of Japan, people happily prepare for the big monster hunt. A crowd stands solemnly around a Shinto priest performing a traditional Oharai, a purification ritual for warding off evil spirits. The town mayor explains safety protocols to people gathered outside the forest and he refers to the monster as Anguirus. Goro Otaki asks a lady what that is and she explains that the monster was named Anguirus by the mayor's grandchild who might have been trying to say Ankylosaurus. She tells Otaki that they want him to lure Anguirus into a nearby steel cage using radio waves just like he managed to lure Rodan. A man sitting in a large truck waves and yells out "Long time no see!" at Otaki, who recognizes him as Gen. Otaki notices the huge whaling gun set up on the back of the truck and asks if the vehicle can withstand the recoil. Gen assures him that he still knows how to fight but Otaki yells back that he didn't say that, although Gen still doesn't seem to hear Otaki and just says that he can handle the danger with his skills.

Several onlookers admire the stationary Jet Jaguar, whose lower half is now replaced with the tire-driven lower half of one of the rover-like work robots. Yun uses a genetic algorithm to teach Jet Jaguar posture control for moving around on tires instead of through bipedal walking. Seeing the mayor converse with a group of people, Haberu wonders if the kaiju will come out with all of the commotion in the area. Even if it does, Yun thinks it might be too swift to lure into the cage and it might deflect bullets like it did before. They notice that Kai is there too.

Kai is filming a report near the cage when Haberu and Yun approach him. Haberu remarks that covering Manda would attract more views. Yun asks to see Kai's footage of Anguirus from the forest. While reviewing the video on Kai's camera, Yun wonders if Anguirus predicted the bullet's projectile. Kai says that impossible, as the velocity of rifle bullets is over 900 meters per second and the shooter was around 20 meters away from Anguirus, to which Haberu notes that it would have only taken about 0.02 seconds for the bullet to reach the monster. Kai adds that sensory nerve conduction is 50 to 60 meters per second, so Anguirus wouldn't have had time to react even if it read the projectile. Kai asks why Anguirus didn't deflect the JSDF's gunshot when it was initially injured but Yun posits that Anguirus didn't know what firearms could do at that point. Yun points out in the video that the spike that deflected the bullet actually moved just before the rifle was fired. Yun theorizes that Anguirus predicted the future or, rather, actually saw the future before it happened. Kai calls that an interesting theory, then he notices several groups of hunters driving into the forest. He rushes to join a group of hunters and he waves goodbye to Yun and Haberu from the back of their truck. Haberu wonders if Kai is really a journalist.

A squad of JSDF soldiers in a tent discuss being unable to fire on Anguirus unless he comes out of the forest and enters a particular range of open space, to avoid the risk of hitting surrounding houses.

A young man investigates Ashihara on Sato's behalf. The man learns that Ashihara's name is on a list of pharmaceutical patents in London, for a patent pertaining to a rare molecule from jellyfish, which was never put to practical use. Sitting in the driver's seat of his parked car next to a serene mountain highway with Sato in the back seat, the man reports to Sato that Ashihara founded the company that managed the patent: Archetype Co., Ltd., which was subsequently acquired by SHIVA. The man names Sato's boss as Ms. Kanoko when he says that she went to visit SHIVA. He notes that SHIVA was founded 50 years ago, which was also when it acquired the Archetype company, which Ashihara had founded 10 years prior. Sato wonders if that means that SHIVA was a subsidiary of the Archetype company which then took over its parent company, or if perhaps Ashihara founded SHIVA himself. The man tells Sato that SHIVA is currently building a huge facility in Upala, India. Sato then leans forward from the back seat and grabs the man in a chokehold, demanding to know if he had outside help, which he admits he did to reduce his own expenses.

The mountains are quiet as everyone waits for Anguirus to appear. Gen eats his lunch next to his truck. Otaki sits in the cockpit of Jet Jaguar, stationed next to the steel cage. As Yun continues to program Jet Jaguar's new posture control, Haberu says that Manda didn't respond to radio waves. Yun notes that Rodan is a radio wave monster, so Haberu suggests calling Anguirus a bullet-deflecting monster or a future-predicting monster.

A loud explosion in the distance catches everyone's attention. In the tent next to Yun and Haberu, a radio picks up a report from a hunter who says they were shot when Anguirus deflected their bullets. At the far edge of the course, Yun spots a truck of hunters speeding out of the forest, followed swiftly by Anguirus, who has grown even bigger. Haberu realizes that Anguirus won't fit in the cage, and Yun observes that Otaki is dozing off in Jet Jaguar and hasn't noticed what's happening.

Anguirus pursues the hunters and is about to catch them when Gen's truck intervenes. Gen fires the whaling gun from the back of the truck as it swerves around Anguirus but, with a shimmer of its carapace, the monster deflects the harpoon up into the sky as the truck overturns from recoil. Gen falls to the ground and Anguirus spots him, salivating hungrily.

A huge tire pulls up in front of Gen and he looks up to see Jet Jaguar standing over him. Talking over the speaker from inside the cockpit, Otaki chides Gen and then turns his attention to Anguirus: "So you think you can do whatever you want? Jet Jaguar will not allow it!"


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This is a very fast-paced episode with a great mix of riveting mystery and thrilling action.

The first text conversation between Yun and Mei in this episode is a bit confusing at first glance with regard to when it takes place. When they texted each other near the end of the previous episode, Mei had just gotten to her hotel room after SHIVA's conference while Yun and Haberu had just met Kai while tracking Anguirus in the forest. When this episode first cuts to their text conversation, it's just after Yun has spotted Anguirus and started giving chase, and it doesn't seem like he would have stopped to check his phone at that moment. I think their first text conversation in this episode is meant to be a flashback, more or less a direct continuation of their conversation at the end of the previous episode, as the first text image to the fill the screen in this episode is an animated emoji from Yun with the message "Let's back up a bit."

The process of the Ashihara Cascade as described by Mei is a very fascinating concept. Obviously it's a sci-fi concept but it makes sense in this context. If an impossible molecule like Archetype could refract light not just through space but also through time, then it could cause seemingly impossible phenomena like increasing light infinitely in one spot or seeing the future before it happens.

The monster that BB encounters in the underground Archetype mine looks like a combination of Gabara and Baragon. That whole sequence when they reach the bottom and then have to escape back up the stairs is really intense.

This show's reimagined take on Anguirus is fantastic! He looks so cool, he has his classic roars and his precognitive ability makes him a unique challenge of a kaiju. Jet Jaguar also gets an upgrade here by being combined with the lower half of one of the same NIGEL-esque work robots that Mei and Pelops II hijacked in the third episode. Seeing Jet Jaguar on tires is a fresh visual, although we only get a glimpse of him in action here as the ending sets the stage for a Jet Jaguar vs. Anguirus showdown in the next episode. What a show this is!