Ishirō Honda’s Godzilla was released in 1954 and began the series that continues today. For me, an important part of its appeal is how frightening it is—not just the monster, but the whole film. The cries of a girl who has lost her mother are almost unbearable to hear.
Here, I want to consider Dr. Serizawa, one of the film’s central figures. Why can’t we forget him? And why did he die with Godzilla?
*This is a translated version. The original (Japanese) is available here.
- Serizawa’s Eyepatch
His eye injury comes from the war, and the eyepatch symbolizes it. Yet the injury looks less severe on screen than Ogata’s words suggest. That gap matters to the reading developed here. - Love and the Wish to Show His Work
I read Serizawa’s disclosure of his research as a mixture of scientific pride, love for Emiko, and a more aggressive feeling. The end of his romantic hopes becomes part of his decision to use the weapon. - The Secret and the End of a Romance
When Emiko reveals the secret to Ogata, Serizawa may recognize that his love has no future. I see that realization as crucial to his decision to use the Oxygen Destroyer and disappear himself. - A Friend in Godzilla
Perhaps Serizawa recognizes something of himself when he sees Godzilla up close: a creature made ugly by war’s consequences. In this interpretation, he finds a companion who shares his wounds.
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Dr. Serizawa in the Original Godzilla
Serizawa is a scientist who suffered an injury to his right eye during the war and wears an eyepatch. He keeps his research secret, yet reveals it to Emiko Yamane. Why her?
Emiko promises not to tell anyone. Faced with the devastation after Godzilla’s attack, however, she tells her boyfriend Ogata. Serizawa eventually agrees to use the Oxygen Destroyer against the monster, but during the operation he chooses to die with it.
Serizawa’s Eyepatch
I think the eyepatch is important to understanding his death. Ogata says:
“I know I shouldn’t hesitate, but when I think of Serizawa, I lose my nerve. If it weren’t for the war, he never would have suffered such a terrible wound.”
(Original Text in Japanese)
「誰にも遠慮することはないと思いながら、芹沢さんのことを考えると、どうも弱気になる。戦争さえなかったら、あんなひどい傷を受けずに済んだはずなんだ。」
Some context helps: Emiko, who is dating Ogata, has known Serizawa since childhood, and they are generally regarded as a couple who will marry.
Thinking of Serizawa makes Ogata lose his nerve, especially because Serizawa has suffered a serious war injury. Emiko encourages Ogata by saying Serizawa is like a brother to her. But what must Serizawa be feeling?
Ogata’s words suggest a very severe injury. On screen, though, Serizawa looks like a fairly handsome man who “only” wears an eyepatch. Some scarring is visible beneath it, although the black-and-white image makes it harder to see.
Losing his sight is certainly a serious injury. But the visual impression is less terrible than Ogata’s words suggest. We have to decide which to give priority to: Ogata’s testimony or the image.
I choose Ogata’s testimony. For this reading, I assume that Serizawa’s facial injury is much worse than it appears on screen, and the eyepatch is simply its symbol. My reason is straightforward: that makes the story more coherent.
Serizawa’s Despair, Desire for Recognition, and Love
Ogata feels guilty about having “stolen” Emiko from the man she was expected to marry. At the root of that guilt lies Serizawa’s eyepatch.
He is asking a question he need not ask: what if Serizawa had not suffered that injury? It is not about blaming Emiko. It is the silliness of a man who cannot help thinking this way, and then wonders whether he has really competed fairly.
But Serizawa’s suffering makes Ogata’s worries look small. In my reading, he has developed a deep insecurity about his appearance.
A stereotypical genius scientist would think of nothing but research and care little about a facial injury. Serizawa is a genius, but not such an easily defined character.
What lies beneath that insecurity? Emiko. He has loved her for a long time. If he could have lived proudly as Daisuke Serizawa without worrying about the injury, his world might have shifted a little toward what he wanted. But who could deny his pain?
I think he tells Emiko about research he ought to keep secret because he loves her. But more complicated feelings may also be at work. I cannot fully put them into words; roughly, I see three feelings overlapping.
First, a scientist’s desire to reveal his work, however terrible it may be. Second, a wish to impress the woman he loves. And third, an aggressive wish to show the ugliness of the world to a woman he expects will abandon him.
The third is entirely my speculation, but I find it hard to imagine that feeling was absent. Perhaps he needed to show the woman setting out toward a happy life in a beautiful world something as ugly as he felt himself to be. Put another way: “Emiko, what do you think of me, now that I have made something so ugly?”
The Secret Revealed and the End of a Romance
With feelings he cannot put into words, Serizawa tells Emiko about his research and asks her to keep it secret. She does.
But after Godzilla devastates Tokyo, she tells Ogata. The two visit Serizawa, and Ogata asks about the Oxygen Destroyer. What follows is painful to watch:
- Asked about the Oxygen Destroyer, Serizawa pretends not to know what Ogata means.
- When he realizes Emiko has revealed it, he rushes into the laboratory to burn his notes.
- Ogata tries to stop him. They struggle, and Ogata suffers a bleeding head wound.
- Emiko tends to Ogata’s injury.
- After seeing them together, Serizawa resolves to use the Oxygen Destroyer.
- He tells Ogata, “You two have won. But I will use the Oxygen Destroyer only this once.”
Why does Serizawa decide to use it?
I deliberately omitted Ogata’s appeal and the televised schoolgirls’ song from that sequence. Both surely affect Serizawa. But might they also offer him a convenient excuse?
Perhaps the decisive moment is seeing Emiko care for Ogata. Watching them together, he understands that his own love has reached its end.
Wasn’t asking Emiko to keep the research secret his last gamble? When she tells Ogata, he loses. That alone would be enough, but her care for Ogata makes him certain that it is really over.
The generosity of saying “You two have won,” rather than “You have won, Ogata,” is almost unbearably beautiful.
Perhaps that is when he decides to disappear alone.
Godzilla’s Ugliness and His Own
Serizawa eventually uses the Oxygen Destroyer, but the scene on the ship is sad. Ogata initially intends to dive alone, and Serizawa insists on going himself. Everyone trying to stop him, especially Ogata, seems to sense the ending none of them wants.
Once underwater, Serizawa looks closely at Godzilla.
A creature brought into being, and made ugly, by hydrogen bomb tests: might it look to him like his own war-wounded self?
I think Serizawa already intends to die. But when he sees Godzilla up close, perhaps he finds a friend: someone who shares the wounds left by war.
Conclusion: The Tragedy of Dr. Serizawa
Those are my thoughts on Daisuke Serizawa. The discussion has wandered a little, so here is how I understand his story:
Severely injured in the war, Serizawa loves Emiko, his childhood friend and intended fiancée. Because of his injury, however, he tries to suppress those feelings.
Godzilla’s appearance brings the possibility of his secret research coming to light. Scientific pride combines with his love for Emiko, and he tells her about it.
She tells Ogata, and their shared secret becomes public. Serizawa’s romantic hopes end. As a final act of pride, he decides to leave the world along with his research.
Seeing Godzilla up close, however, he feels an affinity with the creature made ugly by nuclear power. He dies with it to remove the two ugly remnants war has left behind.
That is my interpretation.
It is a deeply sad story. The ending of the original Godzilla carries guilt at killing a creature humanity itself brought into being. But might it also move us because, somewhere within us, we understand Serizawa’s suffering?
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