https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/26/movies/godzilla-oppenheimer-heron-boy.html
The characters in “Godzilla Minus One” are betrayed twice — by the Americans certainly, whose bomb tests on Bikini Atoll give Godzilla renewed power — but also by Japan itself. As a kamikaze pilot, Koichi was told that his life was worth nothing and has carried that with him. In the rousing speech before the effort to defeat Godzilla begins, a former naval weapons developer leading the charge (Hidetaka Yoshioka) explains that their goal is to avoid death rather than seek it for glory.
“This country has treated life far too cheaply,” he says, then enumerates the ways Japan has let its citizens die, via poorly armored tanks and fighter planes without ejection seats, for instance, and of course suicide missions. Then he continues, “That’s why this time I take pride in a citizen-led effort that sacrifices no lives at all. This next battle is not one waged to the death but a battle to live for the future.” It’s an optimistic rallying cry that reverberates through the final act.