Anish Vij
Godzilla Minus One took home the Oscar for Best Visual Effects earlier this year and the well-received film has a whopping 98 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
However, Japanese-speaking viewers are seriously not happy with the way English dubbing 'wrongly' translated one of the most important scenes in the movie.
But before we get into it, let's explore a bit of the premise.
The Takashi Yamazaki-led film follows an ex-kamikaze air-pilot in postwar Japan, called Kōichi Shikishima, who is dealing with PTSD from WWII.
But now that the war is over, there's just the small issue of the giant monster known as Godzilla to deal with.
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Viewers have been raving about it since its release in 2023.
"GOATED MOVIE. I F**KING LOVE THIS MOVIE WITH ALL OF MY HEART," one viewer said.
"Yamazaki’s screenplay has subtly framed Shikishima as a stand-in for the nation at large, sloughing off macho Imperial dogma from underneath a suffocating shroud of survivor’s guilt," a second wrote.
Despite clearly being a great film, some have pointed out the inaccuracy in the English dubbing, which almost ruins the 'most impactful line in Godzilla Minus One'.
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The emotional scene in question sees Kōichi Shikishima together with Noriko Ōishi, as the pair became romantically involved at the begging of the film.
But while Godzilla destroys the city, the pilot thinks Noriko was killed.
This is, however, until the final scene, which sees the two reunite in a hospital room.
Amid the heartbreaking scene, viewers are complaining that Noriko's English translation, which should have been: "Is your war finally over?", but instead said: "Can your war finally be over?"
Some called it 'a little too dismissive of Shikishima's pain and conflict'.
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Watch below:
Also criticising the dubbing, a second viewer said: "| just finished Godzilla Minus One on Netflix. It was much more impressive in the theatre but a great movie none the less. Please watch it in Japanese with the English subtitles as God intended."
A third echoed: "For those watching Godzilla Minus One on Netflix with subtitles noticed that they were just the 'dubtitles', I found by choosing regular English subtitles and not the close caption option, you get the original theatrical subtitles. Just in case you didn't know."
"Ummm, a Godzilla movie made me cry?" a fourth added.
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"Godzilla Minus One is genuinely great. Watch it without the English dub and just use the subtitles. Trust me, it’s better that way."
"When I go on Netflix and the standard language of Godzilla Minus One isn't the original audio, but a dub," another person complained.
Godzilla Minus One is available to watch on Netflix now.