Godzilla Minus Zero

In 1949, two years after Godzilla was defeated and its remains sunk in Sagami Bay, Postwar Japan still struggles to recover from wartime devastation and the monster's prior attacks. Former kamikaze pilot Kōichi Shikishima has married Noriko, who survived the monster's Ginza attack with unusual resilience, and the couple raises their adopted daughter Akiko with support from neighbor Sumiko Ōta, who now runs a local orphanage. Kenji Noda, now director of the government's Large-Scale Disaster Response Bureau, works with returning colleagues—including young crew member Shirō Mizushima, ship captain Seiji Akitsu, and former destroyer captain Tatsuo Hotta—and new personnel to prepare for future threats.

A new kaiju attacks Matsumoto City. The dragon-like creature, initially appearing in a smaller, single-headed form, generates hurricane-force winds and fires gravity beams that lift and smash buildings, trains, and other objects. Scientists including Professor Kanji Murakami, a biologist carrying deep psychological scars from the war as a survivor of the Hiroshima bombing, and his assistant film the destruction and bring the evidence to Noda, who names the monster "Ghidorah". It later develops into its full three-headed form, which is referred to as "King Ghidorah". Meteorologist Makoto Aoyama joins the bureau's efforts, tracking the creature through weather and electromagnetic patterns.

As Ghidorah's rampage continues across Japan and conventional weapons prove largely ineffective, Godzilla regenerates and resurfaces offshore, larger and more aggressive than before. Murakami and others advocate drawing the two monsters into confrontation as the only viable means of stopping Ghidorah, viewing Godzilla's return as a form of "divine providence." The plan relies on luring them together using storm systems and other methods. Kōichi, driven by a sense of duty and lingering survivor's guilt, seeks to return to the pilot's seat despite Noda's reluctance to endanger him and potentially deprive Akiko of a father. Noriko's condition, linked to her earlier exposure to Godzilla, also draws the family back into the crisis.

Godzilla and Ghidorah endure several gruesome, bloody battles, escalating across land and sky.