[b] Set in postwar Japan, the film stars Ryunosuke Kamiki as a former kamikaze pilot suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder after encountering a giant monster known as "Godzilla".

Meanwhile, Godzilla is mutated and empowered by the United States' nuclear tests at Bikini Atoll; it sinks the USS Redfish and destroys several other ships en route to Japan.

Owing to tensions with the Soviet Union, the U.S. offers no help save for a few decommissioned Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) vessels approved by General Douglas MacArthur.

He devises a plan to destroy Godzilla by luring it out to Sagami Bay before surrounding it with Freon tanks and rupturing them, sinking the monster, and letting the resultant water pressure crush it.

Upon returning home, Sumiko gives Shikishima the telegram, which leads him to a hospital where he reunites with Noriko, who survived the destruction but has a black bruise creeping up her neck.

[17] On February 18, 2022, Robot Communications announced the film under the working title Blockbuster Monster Movie (超大作怪獣映画, Chōtaisaku Kaijū Eiga), via a casting call on its official website.

[21] The worldwide anxiety and perceived government unreliability during the pandemic became one of his major inspirations for the story[27][28][29] and Yamazaki hoped these events would be reflected clearly in the finished film.

[39] Yamazaki sought to cast talented individuals who were able to give convincing performances of people living during the Shōwa period and could make Godzilla's presence in the film seem more realistic.

Yamazaki stated that the team also tried to make Godzilla the "deadliest in history" adding that it is "discerning today, experiencing the freshness and fear felt by audiences at the time".

[48] Scenes featuring the Kyushu J7W Shinden were partly realized through the construction of a 1:1 scale replica of the aircraft,[49] of which only a single example exists and is located outside Japan in the collection of the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia.

[49] All 610 of the film's visual effect shots were handled by a crew of 35 artists[ii] at Shirogumi's Chōfu studio,[55][56] under the supervision of Yamazaki and direction of Kiyoko Shibuya.

[55] Yamazaki also paid homage to previous Godzilla films by not using any "muscle simulation" for the monster[58] and employed miniatures to depict the post-war Tokyo townscape, which is a traditional Japanese special effect (or tokusatsu) technique.

[66] Yamazaki's frequent collaborator Naoki Satō scored the film, drawing inspiration from Studio Ghibli's anime movies for the poignant scenes and the music of Akira Ifukube to accentuate the kaiju sequences.

[71] During post-production, colorist Masahiro Ishiyama was assigned to create a black-and-white version of the film, titled Godzilla Minus One/Minus Color (ゴジラ-1.0／C, Gojira Mainasu Wan/Mainasu Karā).

[82] Esther Zuckerman, writing for The New York Times, noticed that the film is similar to Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer and Hayao Miyazaki's The Boy and the Heron, which were also released in 2023 and set during and after World War II.

She felt that—although the film and The Boy and the Heron never directly address the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki—they provided the Japanese point of view of this historical event which viewers of Oppenheimer would subsequently want to see.

[2] The Austin Chronicle pointed out that the film's theme of having the protagonist decide whether to persist in living despite his intellect challenges or accepting death parallels Akira Kurosawa's Ikiru (1952).

[12] The South China Morning Post's James Marsh asserted that the characters in Minus One unanimously condemn their government for persuading many to take their lives during World War II; regardless, some reviewers accused the movie of "pushing a pro-military agenda".

[89] During a press conference on that same day, the director clarified that its title has multiple meanings, explicitly referring to how Godzilla's destruction changed Japan's position from a "post-war zero situation" to a "minus".

[25][45] In September, Toho stated in a press release that the film would be shown in over 500 theaters nationwide—including in IMAX, Dolby Cinema, 4DX, MX4D, and ScreenX formats—making it one of their largest domestic distributions to date.

The website's consensus reads: "With engaging human stories anchoring the action, Godzilla Minus One is one kaiju movie that remains truly compelling between the scenes of mass destruction.

[4][153][157] The Washington Post compared it favorably to Top Gun: Maverick (2022), commenting that these were reminders of the importance of movies that combine "concise and creative action with emotionally resonant characters".

[51][36] At the film's American premiere, actor Seth Green and Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) director Michael Dougherty voiced their praise to Yamazaki and Kamiki.

[162] Several filmmakers, including John Landis, spoke to Yamazaki and three other members of the visual effects crew while they were at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on January 13, 2024, expressing that they believe the movie is the best of 2023.

[167] Video game designer Hideo Kojima hailed the screenplay, depiction of Godzilla, visual effects, score, and Hamabe's performance, joking that "the result was +120 points, so I would like to change the title".

[2] Boston.com and LaSalle Ishii noted that, despite a relatively meager budget, many viewers felt the film delivered visual effects that were superior in quality compared to many of Marvel Studios' $200 million productions.

On June 12, The Chosun Ilbo reported that some accused the film of "glorifying kamikaze pilots" with the scene where its protagonist, Kōichi Shikishima, rams his plane into Godzilla's mouth to kill the monster.

South Korean viewers reportedly also attacked the depiction of Godzilla, believing its defeat to represent a "mental victory" for Japan because the monster symbolizes a nuclear weapon.

[60] In February 2024, Gavin J Blair of The Hollywood Reporter suggested that Godzilla Minus One is a significant contributor to the recent revival of Japanese popular culture in the West, alongside Miyazaki's The Boy and the Heron, the first season of Netflix's live action adaptation of One Piece, and the FX television series Shōgun (2024).

[10] The positive word-of-mouth Yamazaki's movie generated is also believed to have helped Godzilla x Kong achieve several box office milestones,[179][180] including becoming the fifth-highest-grossing film of 2024.