-Spoilers-
Even putting aside the things fans have complained about the most-- the lack of monster battles, the questionable kaiju designs, or the inconsistent animation, City on the Edge of Battle fails for one overarching reason:
It wants to be a character-driven dramatic tragedy without any interesting characters, drama, or tragedy. This script puts so much stock and screen time into characters that it doesnโt take the time to meaningfully flesh out, and the payoff always suffers as a result.
Every character that doesnโt have a cardboard personality is an overused archetype thatโs been done better in other anime, character dramas, or even other Godzilla movies.
One of the worst things a movie can do is kill off a majority of its cast and still make the audience feel apathetic towards it. Especially if it sets up an entire subplot to do so.
Yukoโs โdeathโ, which is supposed to be the main emotional hit of the movie couldโve actually been tragic if sheโd just been written better as a character. That kind of ending to her and Haruoโs romance couldโve been great if their romance had been developed beyond a handful of lines and kissing. The conflict between the humans and the Bilusaludo couldโve been interesting if it wasnโt so one-sided.
The worst part is that conceptually, these elements in the script *can* work, Urobuchiโs proven in his previous works that they can. The problem is theyโre executed so poorly here, when they couldโve been so much better.
And that ending? It's an actual feat to sequel-bait with Ghidorah and somehow make that concept in itself not exciting.
The whole nihilistic feel the movie goes for is kinda fitting, in a cosmically ironic way. Nothing this movie does matters in the context of its own story. Anything with consequence feels pointless. Watching this movie and the trilogy it's from? Also pointless.