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Godzilla Minus One has already taken US theaters and the world by storm, being the number one movie of 2023. It even surpassed blockbusters like Oppenheimer and Barbie regarding audience acclaim and opening weekend sales.
The latest entry in the legendary kaiju franchise celebrated the 70th anniversary of Godzilla in 2023 and has opened the floodgates for many comparisons to other Japanese media and entertainment, including various anime. From Attack on Titan to Barefoot Gen, plenty of anime occupy the same space and tone as Godzilla Minus One.
Disclaimer: The following article will contain major spoilers for Godzilla Minus One and all the anime listed. Content warning for discussions of canon typical violence. All opinions are exclusive to the author.
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10 anime just as hard-hitting as Godzilla Minus One
1) Barefoot Gen
The anime about the aftermath of the atomic bomb hits just as tear-jerkingly hard as Godzilla Minus One does on that subject, if not harder. Godzilla has been a stand-in for the wrath of atomic bombs, and the danger of nuclear war, and Barefoot Gen is more direct about showing the aftermath of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.
There are plenty of reasons why Barefoot Gen complements Godzilla Minus One, including a major critique of the postwar Japanese government and US imperialism. The series does not shy away from the horrifying and agonizing effects of radiation, radiation poisoning, and the devastation caused.
2) Grave of the Fireflies
Grave of the Fireflies is another tearjerker of an anime movie and directly complements Godzilla Minus One with a look at the immediate aftermath of the firebombing of Kobe. In Godzilla Minus One, the bombing of Tokyo devastates Japan and particularly endangers many people in the aftermath, including the main characters Kōichi Shikishima, Noriko Ōishi, and Akiko.
Noriko and Shikishima, in particular, struggle to feed Akiko in the wake of the lack of supplies. If not for Shikishima landing his mine sweeping job, he would've potentially suffered death by malnutrition. This is depicted in detail in Grave of the Fireflies: two children having to survive and stave off malnutrition.
3) Pacific Rim: The Black
As a love letter to Godzilla and other giant monster and giant robot movies and shows, Pacific Rim: The Black has its own identity and spin on the kaiju formula. It also hits on the found family trope Godzilla Minus One focuses on. In Godzilla Minus One, the found family are Shikishima, Noriko, and Akiko, as well as the minesweeper crew Shikishima is with.
In Pacific Rim: The Black, Australia was overwhelmed by kaiju five years before the events of the series. Twin siblings Tyler and Hailey Travis are forced to go on a journey to find their parents inside a training Jaeger named Atlas Destroyer when their home gets destroyed by a kaiju. They pick up many people on the way, including a kid who seems more kaiju-like than human, and eventually consider them family.
4) Neon Genesis Evangelion
One of the most famous portrayals of PTSD and how depression, especially born from repeated combat, can hit a person hard is Neon Genesis Evangelion. Though the anime features teenagers in giant robots fighting giant monsters that want to destroy the world, the focus is mainly on Shinji Ikari, Rei Ayanami, and Asuka Langely Soryu, suffering from all manner of trauma, from PTSD to depression.
Godzilla Minus One focuses on Shikishima and has quite a few instances where PTSD and survivor's guilt are portrayed: a nightmare sequence where he's back on Odo Island and getting killed alongside the mechanics, thinking that he died there. Noriko and Akiko are a fever dream to the point where he breaks down. This is similar to how Shinji repeatedly does in Neon Genesis Evangelion.
5) Attack on Titan
The man vs. monster motif is heavily present in Attack on Titan, as the first episode features Titans eating people. There's the atomic bomb and mushroom cloud symbolism for nuclear warfare that shows up repeatedly in Attack on Titan whenever a Colossal Titan shows up and Godzilla Minus One when Godzilla unleashes his atomic breath in Tokyo's Ginza district.
The government critique is heavy in Godzilla Minus One since the Japanese government is presented as either ineffectual at handling and warning people about Godzilla or as having thrown people's lives away in World War II. The Paradis and Marley governments in Attack on Titan both receive damning criticism, to the point where the military overthrows the former, and the latter is actively genocidal.
6) The Godzilla Earth Trilogy
A trio of Godzilla anime films released from 2017 to 2019, the Godzilla: Earth trilogy is a science fiction take on the King of the Monsters. The first film features Earth being taken over by Godzilla and other monsters and a brigade of soldiers seeking revenge, the second features Godzilla vs. a newer Mechagodzilla, and the third sees Godzilla fighting Ghidorah so that Earth won't be destroyed.
The three films feature one key theme that resonates through Godzilla Minus One: burying oneself in hate and revenge won't solve anyone's problems and is just a way to kill oneself. A lesson that Shikishima learns in one film, with help, takes the film's protagonist, Haruo Sakai, a long time to realize across three.
7) Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War In the Pocket
War is not clean, nor is it glorious. Even in space, with giant robots and humans fighting each other while piloting them, the conflict between any of the warring factions in the Mobile Suit Gundam franchise is never glorified. It's thrown into sharp relief multiple times, with the colony drops, civilians being gassed or obliterated, and the fact that young kids are thrown in makes it worse.
Though the horrors of World War II aren't the focus of Godzilla Minus One, the sheer horror of coming home to find nothing left of the pre-war life is focused on, much like how 0080: War In the Pocket sees this happen to the young child protagonist.
8) Akira
Weapons of Mass Destruction serve almost no purpose except for being loud, big, and explosive enough to devastate an entire city. Both Akira and Godzilla Minus One critique the use of WMDs in similar ways, and the very nature of existence and loss of humanity.
In Akira, the orbital lasers, SOL and FLOYD, are both used when Japan's psychic children project goes haywire. Neither of them halts the threat of Tetsuo, and both end up causing more devastation than they solve. Likewise, neither the tanks nor the heavy cruiser Takao are enough to kill Godzilla.
The overwhelming might of military hardware and weapons is inadequate against smaller solutions. Godzilla is killed thanks to a collective effort, as Tetsuo is helped into a new plane of existence thanks to Akira and the espers.
9) Blue Gender
War strips away humanity from its participants, and so does trying to survive against something inhumanly monstrous. As Godzilla Minus One sees Shikishima slowly but surely going from a numb husk of a human being, especially when Noriko seemingly died, into a loving father who had to be helped along the way.
Blue Gender has the same thing happen to Marlene Angel and Yuji Kaido, though more so with Marlene. Unlike Yuji, Marlene had to survive against The Blue for years, and becoming a cold and seemingly unemotional person was something she had to do to survive. She develops feelings for him and starts discovering her own humanity throughout the series.
10) Violet Evergarden
Finding a reason to live, especially after a war, isn't easy for anyone who lives long enough to come home. This is the focus of Godzilla Minus One with Shikishima, a former kamikaze pilot, and Noriko having to band together, but also with other characters like Sumiko, who lost her family during the Tokyo firebombing, and Tachibana blamed Shikishima for years over the lost mechanics on Odo Island.
Violet Evergarden takes place in the aftermath of a brutal war that consumed the continent of Telsis. The titular Violet Evergarden, a former special operations operative in Leidenschaftlich's Army, joins a crew of typists called Auto Memory Dolls after seeking a new purpose in her life. She will help many do the same before the end.
Godzilla Minus One has many themes, motifs, and plenty of symbolism as a more serious Godzilla film. The ten anime listed here all have something in common with it that echoes or strengthens those themes and motifs. Godzilla being legitimately terrifying in more than one way also helps to reinforce the threat, as seen across some of these anime, of nuclear weapons and war.
In short, Godzilla Minus One deserves all the accolades it has gotten, and these ten anime should help reinforce why. It helps that they're all worth watching on their own for one reason or another. If others like Gamera -Rebirth- deserved to be on the list, readers are encouraged to say in the comments.
