WithMonarch: Legacy of Monstersfinally coming to Apple TV+ in less than 30 days, fans all over the world are hanging on to the edge of their seats with anticipation regarding which monsters will make their way onto the show. Even though every conceivable preview thus far emphasizes that this series will focus primarily on a family’s revelatory connections with a scientific organization, there is no doubt that audiences are going to be binging throughMonarchas fast as they can just to see The King of the Monsters and all the other giant goliaths.
While Godzilla’s presence is indeed confirmed through the two trailers that have been uploaded to YouTube and other platforms, there is little to no indication of any other prolific names coming to the small-screen depiction of this kaiju universe. If we take a look into the past, though, a highly underrated anime that isexclusive to Netflixreveals the one character that should not be overlooked and may actually be the key to Monarch’s overall success.
Premiering with a first season of thirteen episodes on July 26, 2025 (and hopefully, a second will be announced soon),Godzilla Singular Pointhas quickly become a defining point in the franchise for casual and hardcore fans alike. Praised for its respectable homage to monsters that were first brought to life during the Showa Era period (1954 to 1975) but dividing fans because of the story’s unnecessary dependency on the more complex rules of science,Singular Pointquickly came to showcase none other than Jet Jaguar as one of its main protagonists.
Battling against a merciless Rodan that was ravaging through a town festival in the very first episode, defending its human allies against several Kumonga with the literal apocalypse forming around them, and eventually goingtoe to toe against GodzillaUltima himself, the once supporting character that debuted in 1976’sGodzilla vs Megalonwas finally given the time it deserved to shine in the Bones and Orange produced animation.
Humble Beginnings for Jet Jaguar
In between the almost fifty-year span in which Jet Jaguar helped Godzilla fend off the giant insect kaiju in his thirteenth film and becoming one of Earth’s final hopes inSingular Point, the self-aware advanced robot has made only one other appearance. This was inGodzilla Island,an official but verylow-budget television seriesthat aired exclusively in Japan in the late ’90s, where Bandai-licensed action figures were used to portray the monsters.
InGodzilla vs Megalon, the size-defying robot was used more or less as a tag team partner when needed and nothing more. In the cheaply madeGodzilla Island, Jet Jaguar came to have different transformations that were created for sales of toys.
Related:How the Godzilla Franchise Has Stood the Test of Time
On the one hand, this obviously proves that the various creators behindSingular Pointknew which long-running characters needed to have a chance to show their real strength in front of a modern audience. On the other hand, and most importantly, choosing to highlight Jet Jaguar for over five hours of content forced showrunners to really figure out the most relatable mechanisms behind the giant robot and exploit them for the sakeof emotional storytelling. While this process sounds hard in theory, this becomes the penultimate reason why Jet Jaguar should come to life inMonarch: Legacy of Monsters.
Redemption for the Robot
For the sake of visual excitement, one could say thatSingular Pointwas riding entirely on the tease and execution of the robot versus monster trope. There is much more depth to Jaguar’s character than first conceptualized, though. Figuratively being a robot who doesn’t feel, sense, or think as humans do, there is much work done in the 2021 anime to bridge these gaps and make thisunderutilized Godzilla figureinstead of the world’s biggest human being.
The consistent juxtaposition makes all the difference. Even though the cyborg is big in stature, the physically bodied machine plays with children and then later tries to interact and reason with small moths. Due to its strength and size, though, the child-like AI that resides inside Jet Jaguar may be the only hero who can valiantly defend our other characters from a massive web of Kumonga spiders as well as becoming a last line of defense against Godzilla Ultima, who stands tall in a menacing and fiery blaze. This overload of empathy finally gives viewers a relatable kaiju.
Related:Two Kaiju, Two Worlds: Understanding the Difference Between Japanese and American Godzilla Films
If all the monsters in theupcoming Apple TV+ seriesare meant to chaotically brawl with each other, destroy our world, and terrify the humans who are wrapped up in their own mystery, who will be our larger-than-life protagonist? While the robot’s colors don’t have to be so striking, and the scientists associated with the creation don’t have to be so haphazard (rushing into all sorts of danger without any plan), Jet Jaguar might be the answer to all the chaos that seems to be sprouting up all over the world. We will have to see what happens whenMonarch: Legacy of Monsterspremieres on Apple TV+ starting on June 01, 2025.
As we wait for its debut of this new iteration of Godzilla, check out these fun facts about our favorite monster:
