Godzilla (ゴジラ Gojira) is a kaiju who appears in the 2023 Toho Godzilla film Godzilla Minus One. A huge dinosaur-like creature known only by the people of Odo Island, Godzilla emerged from the ocean and attacked an Imperial Japanese airbase on the island during the closing days of World War II, killing all personnel save for Koichi Shikishima and Sosaku Tachibana. In July 1946, Godzilla was caught in the blast of a nuclear weapons test conducted by the U.S. military at Bikini Atoll as part of Operation Crossroads, causing him to grow substantially in size and power. Over the next year, Godzilla attacked American vessels in the Pacific as he made his way toward Japan. Withstanding all attempts to stop him, Godzilla landed in Ginza, Tokyo and leveled the surrounding area, killing countless civilians in the process. Dr. Kenji Noda formulated a plan to use Freon gas to rapidly submerge Godzilla in Sagami Bay and then draw him to the surface again with balloons, hoping for the explosive compression and decompression to destroy him. A civilian fleet carried out the strategy, named Operation Wada Tsumi, but it neared failure until Shikishima crashed an explosive-laden plane modified by Tachibana into Godzilla's mouth. The blast decapitated Godzilla, leaving his body to crumble. Though Japan broke into celebration, unbeknownst to everyone, a fragment of Godzilla survived and began to regenerate.