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Godzilla: Singular Point gives Jet Jaguar a welcome comeback, but it comes at the cost of letting the King of the Kaiju truly shine.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Season 1 of Godzilla Singular Point, now streaming on Netflix.
After a grand star-turn earlier in the year with Godzilla vs. Kong, Godzilla: Singular Point feels like something of the reverse for the King of the Monsters. Whereas the aforementioned live-action movie already had him in a supporting role to his primate rival, the new Netflix anime puts Godzilla even further into the backseat.
Taking Godzilla’s spotlight is the classic but obscure character Jet Jaguar. Jet Jaguar’s focus in the Netflix anime gives the character a much-needed comeback, but it’s also a symptom of the overabundance of humans and the near cameo status of Godzilla himself.
Godzilla Singular Point Is All About Jet Jaguar
Jet Jaguar is the first “kaiju” seen in the anime, with his visage plastering the marketing materials, building and vehicles of the Otaki Factory. The robot is the creation of the eccentric Goro Otaki, who intends for it to act as a defender of the innocent. the towering mechanoid is soon forced into this role to defend the town against the arrival of Rodan, who makes quick work of Jet Jaguar in his first form.
Initially piloted by Goro himself, Jet Jaguar is later given an AI to think and act on its own. This makes it instrumental in defending the humans against foes like the spider-like Kumonga and, later, against Godzilla himself. This renewed focus on the character is the first time he’s had any spotlight in years, as Jet Jaguar’s had basically no major modern appearances since his debut in 1973’s Godzilla vs. Megalon. This reflects the show’s featuring of several other relatively obscure kaiju from the Showa Era. Unfortunately, this comes at the expense of Godzilla himself, who’s barely seen in the series.
Singular Points Sidelines Godzilla In His Own Series
Much more than any of the movies, Godzilla: Singular Point spends an inordinate amount of time focusing on the human characters. This is somewhat understandable, given that it’s the first season and the status quo of this continuity has to be established. It also allows Jet Jaguar to act as a sort of human point-of-view kaiju, fighting on the same level as the monsters while still fighting against them. This essentially makes him the true hero, with the humans otherwise being helpless without him.
Sadly, Godzilla is relegated to “end boss” duty, barely appearing and basically being a non-threat. After all, cities across the world are already covered with radioactivity by the middle of the series, even though Godzilla himself is only seen in cameos by that point. Even the relatively weak Rodan species is more of a terror due simply to how much screentime they have. Likewise, given how pathetic Jet Jaguar starts out, the fact that he later holds his own against Godzilla is a testament to how poorly the show treats its title monster.
To be fair, this is pretty much how the Godzilla vs. Megalon movie played out, with Godzilla as a secondary character that merely helped out Jet Jaguar. That was different, however, and stemmed from that movie initially not being a Godzilla feature at all. In this case, it only serves to undermine Godzilla and any threat he might pose in another season, especially with how unbelievable Jet Jaguar’s rise to prominence is.
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