Nothing So Strong as Gentleness [Video]

A tribute on the female characters in the Godzilla franchise, focusing on Akane Yashiro

by Alyssa Charpentier

“Nothing is so strong as gentleness, nothing so gentle as real strength,” remarked Francis de Sales. This seemingly contradictory adage finds a home not only in the 16th century but also in female movie characters from the Japanese Godzilla series. The Godzilla saga, which celebrates its 70th birthday this year, features numerous inspiring women. Refer to “Gojira,” the 1954 original, for a glimpse at its first, Emiko Yamane (Momoko Kochi). Emiko’s tender heart shines in her caregiving for the film’s wounded and her convictions that compel scientist Daisuke Serizawa to use his apocalyptic Oxygen Destroyer device against Godzilla. Noriko Oishi (Minami Hamabe) is the franchise’s most recent figure of female endurance in “Godzilla Minus One” (2023): she courageously rears a small child—not even her own—following postwar Japan’s devastation while living with an emotionally tortured, …