Kara Dennison
October 29, 2020 
Amongst all of Netflix’s 2021 anime announcements, Godzilla: Singular Point is getting some serious attention. The title from Bones and Orange is currently keeping its secrets, but has revealed a few surprises. For one thing, more than character from the kaiju‘s franchise will be making an appearance… among them a certain grinning robot.
The trailer revealed Jet Jaguar, although only for a moment, but it’s got lots of fans excited. The unique entry in Toho’s canon is so obscure, he’s been the stuff of April Fool’s jokes. So seeing him again is exciting, even though we have no idea how he’ll figure. Yet.
Red Alone
For those who aren’t hardcore kaiju fans, Jet Jaguar may only ring a bell thanks to Mystery Science Theater 3000. He got special attention in their riff of Godzilla vs. Megalon, the robot’s notable big-screen appearance. (The film was originally meant to be Jet Jaguar vs. Megalon, but Toho didn’t believe the new robot could carry the movie solo.)
The ‘bot was created as part of a fan competition. Originally named Red Alone, he was tweaked into the odd-headed fellow you see now. Jet Jaguar is, basically, a robot who gained sentience, as well as the ability to alter his own programming and change size. That sounds kind of terrifying — but fortunately, we’ve been reassured he’s a friend to us all.
Jet Jaguar has appeared primarily in Godzilla spinoff TV series, comics, and games. He may not be as prolific on the big screen as his kaiju pals, but we’re all a bit attached at this point.
What’s to Come for Jet Jaguar
With Netflix being tight-lipped on Godzilla: Singular Point, there’s no telling how the returning robot will figure in. The single clip we see of him shows him large and significantly modified. He’s still in that recognizable color scheme, though, and sports that same grin.
Sci-fi author Toh EnJoe is in charge of the story. The physicist and sci-fi author is known for his speculative fiction, including one story featuring sentient numbers and another narrated by a morphism. In other words, just about anything goes with this guy.
In his weird way, Jet Jaguar is a sort of link between the Godzilla franchise and its fans. Originally a fan creation, he’s stayed alive in expanded media for decades. No matter what Netflix holds for him, we’re all looking forward to seeing what he gets up to next. The action kicks off on Netflix sometime next year.
