Show notes
Look who drove all the way to Utah to talk Godzilla? Ladies and gentlement, put your hands together for Jason Poor!
Here's his theory, for your enjoyment:
This is a long and ludicrous theory. It takes a lot of liberties, but I love the idea of all of his characters being the same man, so I decided to put something together. I did some research in Godzilla wikis and rewatched some of the movies to get a storyline together. I also thought about this way too much. Enjoy! I'd be curious to hear anyone else's thoughts. It should be noted that I did not include non-Godzilla movies, as I haven't seen most of them and can't make a definite determination of where they would fit in.
A brilliant young oceanographer with an interest in paleontology, Dr. Sarizawa was in his early twenties when he discovered the existence of a marine dinosaur. He had recently returned from World War 2 with a devastating eye injury, and found himself bitter at humanity for the devastation man could cause. He hoped that the discovery of Titanosaurus would catapult him back into academic circles and bring him some clarity, but when he suggested he could control the creature the other scientists only laughed and ridiculed him. Feeling betrayed, Dr. Sarizawa moved to Tokyo, where he met and befriended fellow paleontologist Dr. Yamane. He even became engaged to Yamane's daughter, Emiko. But his true passion remained learning the secrets to controlling Titanosaurus. When he was approached by the terrorist group Red Bamboo to assist with the building of their base on Lechti Island, he knew he would be able to continue his studies in earnest.
In the meantime, his experiments led him to the accidental creation of a superweapon, the Oxygen Destroyer. At first the device scared him, but after Godzilla appeared and attacked Tokyo he knew he had his chance. He phoned Red Bamboo and told them to be ready. Under the guise of a noble underwater sacrifice, Sarizawa set off the Oxygen Destroyer and in the ensuing chaos boarded a Red Bamboo submarine and made his escape.
Red Bamboo gave him the name Ryuui and brought him to Lechti Island. There he found room to work on both his pet projects and solve problems for his new employers. Immediately upon arriving on the island he set to work a plan to keep Ebirah at bay from incoming Red Bamboo ships. With the organization able to move freely again in the pacific, he was sent many times on intelligence gathering missions to mainland Japan, usually as the scientist Kashiwagi. This put him in position to weigh in when Rodan, Mothra, King Kong, Varan appeared. When the identity became too high-profile, he retired it to take the role of a Police Chief in order to report to Red Bamboo on Japan's security. This post put him right in the path of Ghidorah's destructive debut. In order to play these roles, Sarizawa received plastic surgery at the hands of Red Bamboo scientists and was fitted with a glass eye.
The years of Kaiju attacks took its toll on Sarizawa. Eventually he returned to Lechti Island. Being "home" allowed him to remove the troublesome glass eye, but Red Bamboo had a different vision for the tortured scientist. They pressed him into their security service as a Guard Captain.
Here's where things get weird. Well, weirder. If all of Hirata's characters are the same person then he has to have a daughter during this time. Due to the influx of Infant Islanders on Lechti Island, I submit that Sarizawa met one of these and began a forbidden romance. She became pregnant, whereupon he secured her release, or smuggled her to Japan. There she gave birth to a daughter and named her Katsura. I also think that it's highly convenient that Godzilla appears asleep on Lechti Island waiting for reanimation. This is my second theory: because Godzilla had provided a way out for Sarizawa in the past, he thought he could use the monster as an escape plan from the Red Bamboo. Because the compound of the yellow berries was similar to the red ones from Pharo Island, and because he was familiar with that case, Sarizawa concocted a serum that he somehow managed to administer to Godzilla and render him unconscious. From there, he would be able to use a radio-controlled Titanosaurus to deliver the sleeping Godzilla to a cave on Lechti Island, where Sarizawa could awaken him at will. Unfortunately for him, when the Yahlen sank of the coast of the island, the survivors awakened Godzilla ahead of schedule, leading to the destruction of the Red Bamboo base. Sarizawa made to escape with the leaders of his organization, but the Ebirah-repellant had been replaced with a non-functioning serum and the giant lobster destroyed their ship.
A Red Bamboo submarine operating in the area picked them up and delivered the survivors to the mainland. Though a few survived, the organization had been destroyed and the remnants disbanded. By now Sarizawa was well-practiced in assuming identities and took the name Fujisaki, a scientist.
He settled into his new life and, after his wife passed, began to raise his daughter on his own. However, when the UN created a team of oceanographers and meteorologists to study pacific weather patterns, he jumped at the chance to be close to Titanosaurus again. The group set up their experiment on Sollgel Island. Sarizawa volunteers to operate the radios, secretly searching for any sign of his dinosaur.
In a story now as old as, I imagine, this theory, Godzilla soon intervened in the experiment and the ensuing chaos destroyed the research station. The survivors found themselves on a raft in the ocean with a submarine bearing down on them. Sarizawa recognized the conn tower as his compatriots in Red Bamboo, but when he got on board he found instead a cadre of Black Hole Planet 3 Aliens.
The Aliens killed the others, but recognizing Sarizawa as the most brilliant and with the most experience with Godzilla, they spared him and provided him with a new life in Japan. As Dr. Miyajima. Sarizawa was supposed to be in their employ, but he found the methods of his new masters distasteful and purposely sabotaged their operations. Soon Godzilla destroyed Mechagodzilla, the Black Hole Planet 3 aliens were defeated, and Sarizawa sought to disappear into anonymity.
He took his final identity, Dr. Shinzo Mafune. His full life had made him tired and distrusting. He stopped going into public and his resentment of the scientific community grew. He blamed them for the tumultuous events of his past. Unbeknownst to him, the Black Hole Planet 3 Aliens had returned and were monitoring him. When a tragic accident during one of his Titanosaurus experiments claimed the life of his daughter Katsura, the aliens saw their chance and swept in to save her life with advanced cybernetics. Indebted to them, Sarizawa now saw no alternative but to go along with their plans. Soon he began to warm to the idea of taking revenge on the scientific community. His plans however soon attracted the eye of INTERPOL agents. Saraizawa was fatally wounded in a firefight between the agents and the aliens, and died alongside his beloved daughter.
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