I confess that I haven’t seen any of the original or older Godzilla movies outside of a few scenes here and there, but I have seen the films in the recent reboot series. When I was reading, I was reminded of Godzilla: King of the Monsters (and I had the Blue Oyster Cult song stuck in my head, thanks to whoever wrote the blurb who has probably been waiting for the day they could sneak that in somewhere), but I thought, hey, that’s probably how all Godzilla flicks are.
But no, Spica Aoki confirms that, in fact, this is a shoujo version of that movie, along with Rampage. I may not feel like Dwayne Johnson as she hopes, but I sure do love this series as much as I do his films.
Kuroe is in mental anguish due to misunderstandings with Minami and the stress of hiding her secret, but now she’s also taking physical damage from fighting another monster in kaiju form. As she battles her opponent and her emotions, her friends watch Harugon from afar — including Minami, who realizes he should have listened to what Kuroe had to say before lashing out. He knows that wasn’t his proudest moment, and Minami puts himself on the line to redeem himself.
Before Kaiju Girl Caramelise, you probably never watched a Godzilla film and thought about wanting a more sparkle-filled version, yet the author delivers. Some parts may lean a little too much into the aforementioned movies, but it’s a delight to see Kuroe’s true thoughts despite her scary face or Minami literally diving into danger. Even the secondary and minor characters like Manatsu and Daichi add a lot of charm as cheer on Harugon and acknowledge Minami’s dedication. Some of this is just to add laughs, but there are clear emotions behind their antics.
And speaking of emotion, the chapter where Kuroe dreams about a picture-perfect life only to see herself in the mirror is going to strike chords with readers. I love how Aoki weaves allegories of the teen years into the manga, and a broken Kuroe collapsing amongst an endless amount of empty drawers captures the ache and frustration of trying to accept oneself.
Volume 6 appears to be a turnpoint volume, and even though Kuroe and Minami are ready to face each other again, there’s still plenty of other fallout to be had. Still, the author gives readers plenty of material to tide them over until then…just maybe not enough to make them feel like The Rock. Oh well, you can still feel like you’re in a movie anyway — or two, as where else can you find both romance and monsters in one place on this scale!