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Did Godzilla Junior die?

I used to have a long-winded diatribe on whether or not Junior died. The movie is unclear, as the last shot of Junior showed him slightly moving. Was he just exhausted? Was his back broken? Was it a coma? The funny thing is, I had the answer in front of me the whole time! My Toho SF Special Effects Film Series: Vol. 10 book* has an almost frame-by-frame "Filmstory" pictorial of the movie (375 shots). All I had to do was find someone to translate the captions. I asked my friend Saeko, and here's what she read:


"Miki runs to Junior, but Junior was close to death"
 


"Junior seemed to hear Miki's voice, but Junior started to slowly close his eyes"
 


"And then Godzilla recognized his death and shouted out very sadly"


"It looked like Godzilla was crying"

And later...


"Godzilla got closer to Junior..."
 


"Godzilla tried to recover Junior with his life energy"
 


"Junior seemed to move for a moment, but actually closed his eyes and never moved again"


"Overwhelmed by sorrow, Godzilla struggled and fired into the sky"

So there it is, straight from Toho: Godzilla Junior did indeed die after Destoroyah smashed him.
Yes, I realize that it isn't 100% conclusive. But by applying Occam's Razor,
Junior dying is the simplest explanation.
 Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatum.

* The book with the above pictures is published directly by Toho and appears on my book collection page.

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