The story begins with footage of an atomic bomb going out. As the fireball disperses, director Hideaki Anno encourages the effects specialist to add more brightness. He then yells "Cut!" Akira Takarada and his grandson, Ashiro, are wondering around the set of the new Godzilla movie. Presently, an animatronic Godzilla comes to life and starts wrecking the set. Anno orders the crew to shut it off, but it overwhelms them. and continues wrecking the set until it powers down. Later, Anno calls the studio to tell them the animatronic came to life and destroyed the equipment, and they need new equipment, but the studio tells them the plane shipping the equipment has gone missing. Hideaki asks for Shinji Higuchi's help in making sense of what's been happening. Higuchi doesn't know any more than Hideaki knows and says he remembers reading an article on a paranormal incident happening in 1994 and used this as inspiration for the upcoming film. He then explains that this time, the evil has taken the form of Godzilla, because it is a familiar one. "Godzilla" sees Akira Takarada and the rest of the surviving cast of the original 1954 classic as the gatekeepers who keep Godzilla at bay, since their characters helped defeat Godzilla in the original 1954 film. To Godzilla, it's Akira's character, Hideo Ogata, that gave the character of Daisuke Serizawa his fortitude. Godzilla is attacking him at his weak points. Later, a news report reveals that Godzilla is loose in Tokyo. Akira deduces that Godzilla is looking for the surviving cast of the 1954 Godzilla film. At a hospital, Ashiro is visiting a friend of Akira's who was injured during the animatronic's attack, along with other patinets surrounding him. Godzilla passes by and fires his atomic ray, killing everyone except Ashiro, who fell into an air vent just before the beast fired his ray. Akira, in a rush to find Ashiro as soon as possible, drives his way through a busy street and finds the top half of the hospital building in ruins. Searching through the wreckage, he finds Ahiro in the air vents and pulls him out. He finds Godzilla standing on the other side of the building and shouts to him that he knows what Godzilla wants. Akira accepts the role Godzilla wants him to play, and disperses, later rising up from the Diet Building. Akira convinces the rest of the surviving 1954 cast to join him in a final showdown with Goji to save Ashiro, who was kidnapped by the beast. Ashiro finds Akira and the others, only for them all to be attacked by Godzilla. Akira is knocked out, and Ashiro is left in a state of defenselessness. Godzilla lures Ashiro into a trap and tries to attack him vigorously. Ashiro gets out of the trap to save Akira by taking a large butcher knife that Akira brought in with him, stabbling Godzilla in the tail. The group succeeds in killing Godzilla, by locking him in an aquarium and activating a bubble function where upon decomposing, his true visage is shown as he lets out a final roar. As the group makes it out, they find the script of the film Anno has been working on, waiting for them. Ashiro asks his grandfather to read some of it to him, which he does: "We search a cave, there's radiation and brimstone, and a set of reptilian hands building up. And the hands are moving now as if awakening from a long and unwanted sleep..."