I'm of two minds here. Firstly, Noriko shouldn't have died. Her character would've really been done dirty if she did. Secondly, she needed to "die" so that Shikishima falls into that deep depression and decides to die in a blaze of glory, giving up on Akiko (i.e. the progress he was making on recovering from his PTSD). Thirdly, this ties in perfectly with the ending of kamikaze pilots being bullshit and ejection seats being a good thing i.e. the sanctity of life, the stupidity of war etc etc.
BUT, the way the movie handled Noriko's supposed death and eventual return was pretty bad. There had to have been a better way to do both. Maybe Shikishima didn't manage to make it in time to Ginza and we just have Noriko there trying to survive and supposedly dying (trapped in rubble?). Then, after Godzilla's gone, Shikishima reaches Ginza and searches for her but doesn't manage to find her. Or he finds one of Noriko's work friends (established during the train scene before Godzilla) and they say they saw Noriko die or something. Either way, that's how Shikishima reaches the conclusion that she's dead. And near the end of the movie, you can have an injured Noriko at the welcoming party for Shikishima and the rest and we learn via flashbacks or something that she was badly injured, but recovered by help of some kind people she's helped save.
This is just off the top of my head. There's probably still a better way to do this.
Honestly yeah, my gripe wasn't at all with Noriko living - but instead just the hamfisted way they alluded to her death with the blast & following scenes only to go 'yeah but actually its chill she lived' at the very end. She should've lost an arm/hand/leg or something similar to the idea like a 'holy shit what just happened, where are you Norik- holy shit is that your hairpiece/handbag/handstitched karl marx rosary that never leaves your neck...hanging off the knocked over streetlight?...you're dead ' moment & that should've been Koichi's reasoning behind thinking that she was truly dead up until the reveal at the end.
spoiler
I'm of two minds here. Firstly, Noriko shouldn't have died. Her character would've really been done dirty if she did. Secondly, she needed to "die" so that Shikishima falls into that deep depression and decides to die in a blaze of glory, giving up on Akiko (i.e. the progress he was making on recovering from his PTSD). Thirdly, this ties in perfectly with the ending of kamikaze pilots being bullshit and ejection seats being a good thing i.e. the sanctity of life, the stupidity of war etc etc.
BUT, the way the movie handled Noriko's supposed death and eventual return was pretty bad. There had to have been a better way to do both. Maybe Shikishima didn't manage to make it in time to Ginza and we just have Noriko there trying to survive and supposedly dying (trapped in rubble?). Then, after Godzilla's gone, Shikishima reaches Ginza and searches for her but doesn't manage to find her. Or he finds one of Noriko's work friends (established during the train scene before Godzilla) and they say they saw Noriko die or something. Either way, that's how Shikishima reaches the conclusion that she's dead. And near the end of the movie, you can have an injured Noriko at the welcoming party for Shikishima and the rest and we learn via flashbacks or something that she was badly injured, but recovered by help of some kind people she's helped save.
This is just off the top of my head. There's probably still a better way to do this.
spoiler
Honestly yeah, my gripe wasn't at all with Noriko living - but instead just the hamfisted way they alluded to her death with the blast & following scenes only to go 'yeah but actually its chill she lived' at the very end. She should've lost an arm/hand/leg or something similar to the idea like a 'holy shit what just happened, where are you Norik- holy shit is that your hairpiece/handbag/handstitched karl marx rosary that never leaves your neck...hanging off the knocked over streetlight?...you're dead
' moment & that should've been Koichi's reasoning behind thinking that she was truly dead up until the reveal at the end.