Gamera (Heisei)

**This version of Gamera is a Heisei Kaiju, however it appeared in Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris which came out during the Heisei Era**

## Affiliation Information

### Enemies

GyaosLegion

Iris

Barugon

G2.5 Garasharp

## Production Information

### First appearance

Gamera: Guardian of the Universe

**Gamera** (ガメラ *Gamera*) is a guardian kaiju who first appeared in the 1995 Daiei film *Gamera: Guardian of the Universe*.

Gamera was created by the ancient civilization of Atlantis thousands of years ago in order to combat their previous creation, Gyaos. Gamera wiped out most of the Gyaos, but Atlantis was completely destroyed in the battle. Gamera was sealed within an atoll and remained dormant until 1995, when three Gyaos appeared in the skies over Japan. Gamera awakened from his long sleep and traveled to Japan to destroy his ancient enemy. Gamera killed two of the Gyaos, but the JSDF interfered with his attempts to destroy the last one, which grew into the larger Super Gyaos. With the help of his human ally Asagi Kusanagi, with whom he was telepathically bonded, Gamera fought Super Gyaos in Tokyo and successfully killed it. The following year, Gamera returned to Japan to fend off Legion, a species of extraterrestrial creatures which threatened all life on Earth. Gamera destroyed the Legion's symbiotic propagation device, a giant flower, but the Mother Legion relocated her kind to Sendai. Gamera tried to reach the new flower, but the Mother Legion badly wounded him before fleeing. The flower seeded, producing a catastrophic explosion which seemingly killed Gamera. Using energy he absorbed from the Earth itself, Gamera came back to life and fought the Legion once again, destroying them once and for all. By 1999, evolved Gyaos called Hyper Gyaos began appearing in huge numbers all over the world, pushing Gamera to the brink of his strength. In addition, a young woman named Ayana Hirasaka, who blamed Gamera for the deaths of her parents in 1995, found and raised a strange demonic creature she found in a shrine and named Iris to take revenge on Gamera for her. The JSDF had become fed up with the destruction Gamera caused in his crusade against Gyaos, and turned against him. When Iris reached maturity and traveled to Kyoto, Gamera followed it there and battled it. Gamera was able to kill Iris and free Ayana from its evil influence, but was badly maimed in the battle. However, with thousands of Hyper Gyaos descending upon the city, Gamera was ready to continue his eternal struggle with his ancient foe, knowing humanity was by his side once again.

## Name

Gamera's name comes from the Japanese word *kame* (カメ?), meaning "turtle," and *ra* (ラ?), a common suffix in kaiju names.

## Design

### Appearance

Unlike any other species of turtles, Gamera has the habit of walking bipedally rather than on all fours, though he occasionally walks quadrupedally in his first three films. Gamera is capable of using his upper limbs in the same manner as Godzilla, as his forelegs have appendages much closer in construction to hands than feet, and is capable of grappling with opponents and manipulating objects. His mouth is filled with teeth, unlike any living modern turtle (several types of extinct prehistoric turtles were toothed, however), with a pair of large tusks protruding upward from his lower jaw. Gamera is also usually seen with very large human-like eyes, adding intelligence to his overall appearance. In the Heisei trilogy, Gamera has retractable bone spikes in each of his elbows.

#### HeiseiGame

In comparison to the Showa series Gamera, this Gamera is noticeably different.

The HeiseiGame's eye sockets are also more circular compared to the previous, and the head is more muscular. The shell is similar to previous designs, but its plates are affixed tightly, and are more detailed. It can also be noted that this is the first Gamera to utilize animatronics, both located in the head and the eyes, giving Gamera the ability to blink.

This also begins a trend of designing Gamera to resemble a Leatherback Turtle.

#### RegionGame

The RegionGame is similar to HeiseiGame, but has some minor differences. The RegionGame's arms now have extensions on them which would lock into points when it was being used for flight scenes.

Gamera's head is also slightly different, and the bones of its skull are more defined. The tusks are also slightly longer. The pattern of plates on the belly were also made larger so that the Mana Blast attack could be animated.

#### IrisGame

In comparison to the previous appearances, the IrisuGame more closely resembles the ShodaiGame. It is generally far more fierce in appearance. Gamera's eyes are less circular than the previous Heisei suits, and the extensions on his arms are no longer present.

The plates on his shell are longer, articulated and more irregular in shape, and its legs and arms are more muscular. There are points on the suit which are comprised of softer parts, much like the RegionGame, which allow for Iris and Gyaos to damage it. The IrisuGame also has a "mane" of spikes on the top of its neck, which are a dark blue color.

A separate suit was used for the **Nightmare Gamera** (トラウマガメラ *Torauma Gamera*?, lit. *Trauma Gamera*) that appears in Ayana's nightmares. This version of Gamera was actually portrayed using the Gamera suit from the previous film only modified, and was portrayed by Akira Ohashi.

### Roar

Some of Gamera's roars would later be reused for the Godzillasaurus

## Personality

In the Heisei trilogy, Gamera is portrayed as being actively concerned for the well-being of the planet from the very start, consistent with his creation as a guardian of Earth. When given the opportunity, Gamera will actively protect humans, especially children. However, Gamera will show a disregard for destruction and death he causes as collateral damage when he is preoccupied with stopping a pressing threat. This is most pronounced in *Gamera: Guardian of the Universe* when he leaves a path of destruction through Fukuoka while trying to reach the Gyaos trapped in the Fukuoka Dome, and even more so in *Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris* when he kills thousands of people while trying to stop two Hyper Gyaos in Shibuya. In the latter example, Gamera does take a moment during the battle to actively save a young boy from a Hyper Gyaos. Gamera never once retaliates against the military when he is attacked, even when he is actually injured by them. Asagi Kusanagi, who forms a psychic link with Gamera that allows her to read his thoughts, says that Gamera actively fights for all life on Earth, and humans are just one thing on this list. Gamera tirelessly battles against the Gyaos, as he was created to destroy them, and it is suggested in *Gamera 3* that he has traveled around the world to hunt down and destroy all the Gyaos that have appeared. By the film's end, after he has been horribly maimed by Iris, Gamera prepares to face down a swarm of thousands of Hyper Gyaos.

## Origins

In the Heisei series films, however, the origin of Gamera was retconned, giving him a much more directly heroic themed origin. In *Gamera: Guardian of the Universe*, it is explained that Gamera is bio-engineered guardian of the Earth created by the lost civilization of Atlantis with the purpose of defeating Gyaos, another ancient creation capable of killing all human life. The giant turtle is found floating adrift in the Pacific, encased in rock and mistaken for an atoll. Within the rock, investigators discover a large monolith explaining Gamera's purpose, as well as dozens of magatama, which allow a psychic link between Gamera and humans. In the third film of the Heisei era, *Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris*, an undersea graveyard is found with many other Gamera skeletons, suggesting that the Atlanteans created several other prototype guardians before finally creating Gamera. One character in the film refers to these skeletons as "beta versions" of Gamera, possible failures in Atlantis' attempts to create the final version. Another scene provides Gamera with a link to Asian folklore, with a character relating a story in which a giant tortoise is considered the Guardian of the North, with separate, rival creatures defending the East, West, and South.

## History

#### *Gamera: Guardian of the Universe*

The plutonium transport ship *Kairyu-Maru* ran aground on a floating atoll in the waters off Japan, narrowly avoiding a disastrous radiation leak. A joint government-private sector expedition was sent to investigate the atoll, discovering various small orichalcum beads and a large ancient tablet in the center of the atoll. Suddenly, the atoll began to shake and break apart, revealing the monster Gamera within it. Gamera swam to Fukuoka, where the J.S.D.F. had trapped two giant man-eating bat creatures called Gyaos, with one escaping. Gamera killed the escaped Gyaos as it tried to fly out over the ocean, then proceeded towards the Fukuoka Dome. The Gyaos sensed Gamera's approach and escaped, with Gamera taking flight and pursuing them. When the Gyaos attacked a village in the Japanese countryside, Gamera arrived and killed one with a fireball. The second Gyaos fought Gamera briefly before retreating. Despite insistence from witnesses that Gamera was trying to save them from Gyaos, and the ancient prophecy on the tablet claiming he was destined to stop the Gyaos, the J.S.D.F. designated him as the larger threat and attacked him at Mount Fuji. As Gamera was attacked, Gyaos swooped down and attacked him as well. Seriously wounded, Gamera fled to the ocean floor to recover. Asagi Kusanagi, a teenage girl that had formed a telepathic bond with Gamera through one of the orichalcum beads, claimed to be able to read his thoughts and insisted he was fighting to save the world. The last surviving Gyaos, meanwhile, evolved into Super Gyaos and descended on Tokyo, plunging the capital into a state of panic. After recovering from his wounds, Gamera traveled to Tokyo and destroyed Super Gyaos' nest, then engaged it in battle. After battling Gyaos in the city and in the skies, Gamera was sent crashing into a refinery and was consumed by flames. As Super Gyaos believed itself victorious, it witnessed Gamera absorb the fire and blast it with a giant plasma fireball, which instantly decapitated Gyaos. Gamera roared victoriously before swimming back out to the sea.

#### *Gamera 2: Attack of Legion*

A year after Gamera defeated the Gyaos, an alien species called the Symbiotic Legion arrived on Earth in a meteor and planted a gigantic plant in Hokkaido. As the plant prepared to launch its seed into space, which would annihilate the surrounding area in the process, Gamera arrived and destroyed it. Enraged, the Soldier Legion swarmed Gamera, biting into his shell and drawing blood. Eventually, the Legion were distracted by nearby power lines, giving Gamera the chance to fly away and escape. The gigantic leader of the Legion, the Mother, traveled with her swarm to Sendai and planted a new flower. The J.S.D.F. began evacuating citizens before the flower could seed, but the helicopters transporting the civilians were prevented from taking off when the Mother Legion attacked the Sendai airfield. Sensing his human counterpart Asagi Kusanagi was on one of the choppers, Gamera arrived and attacked the Legion, holding her off long enough for the choppers to escape. Legion gored Gamera with her sharp legs and blew his shoulder off with her laser beam, then left him for dead as the flower began to seed. Gamera limped to the flower and held himself in front of it when it seeded, preventing the seed from launching but falling victim to a nuclear force explosion that leveled the entire city. Gamera was apparently killed by the explosion, giving the Legion free reign to move on to Tokyo, which was still recovering from the previous year's battle. Several people, including Asagi, surrounded the fallen Gamera, praying for him to recover. Asagi held out the bead that bonded her to Gamera, which shattered in her hand as huge amounts of energy were absorbed by Gamera's body. Gamera was revived and flew to Tokyo to stop the Legion, while Asagi noticed that her bond with Gamera had been broken. Gamera engaged the Mother Legion outside of Tokyo while the J.S.D.F. trapped and annihilated the Soldier Legion. Despite his best efforts, Gamera was unable to defeat Legion. Out of options, Gamera absorbed a large portion of Earth's Mana energy, which gave him enough power to perform his ultimate attack: the Ultimate Mana Blast. Gamera's plastron opened and fired a huge beam of plasma that vaporized the Mother Legion. Gamera looked at the J.S.D.F. forces that had aided him before roaring victoriously and flying away. Realizing Gamera's dedication to defending the Earth from any threat, humanity was left to wonder of the consequences if he ever deemed them a threat to the Earth.

#### *Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris*

Gamera's use of Earth's Mana to revive himself and defeat Legion severely depleted its presence on Earth, allowing clutches of Gyaos eggs across the globe to hatch and evolve into more powerful forms called Hyper Gyaos. Gamera, believing himself responsible for this situation, traveled across the globe aggressively hunting down and eliminating all of the Gyaos he could find. When two Hyper Gyaos appeared in Shibuya, Gamera arrived and caused horrific destruction and countless deaths in his attempts to kill them. The J.S.D.F. determined that Gamera was now their enemy and decided to hunt him down and kill him. Meanwhile, a girl named Ayana Hirasaka, who blamed Gamera for her parents' deaths during his battle with Super Gyaos in 1995, discovered a strange creature in a shrine, which she named Iris and began to raise in the hopes it would one day kill Gamera and take revenge for her. When its attempt to bond itself to Ayana failed and she was taken away, Iris rampaged through the village where she lived and killed countless villagers before escaping to the countryside. When Iris detected Ayana was in Kyoto, it began to fly there, attacking J.A.S.D.F. planes along the way. Gamera arrived and attacked Iris in the air, but was shot out of the sky by the jets, who still believed him the bigger threat. Iris arrived in Kyoto as a typhoon struck the city, intent on recovering Ayana. When Gamera touched down in the city, Ayana ordered Iris to kill him. Gamera and Iris battled in downtown Kyoto, setting the city ablaze. Iris impaled Gamera with its spear-tipped arm, and the two monsters tackled each other into the Kyoto train station. Gamera fell unconscious from his wounds and appeared dead, leaving Iris to bond with Ayana. Iris forced Ayana into its chest against her will, showing her visions of the people it had killed. Gamera regained consciousness and interrupted the fusion by punching into Iris' chest and grabbing Ayana. Iris reacted by impaling Gamera's hand against a wall with its spear hand, then drained his blood through it. Iris copied Gamera's plasma fireballs and prepared to fire them at Gamera. Gamera used a fireball to sever his own hand, then caught Iris' fireballs with the stump, using his Mana manipulation powers to form a fiery plasma fist. Gamera plunged this fist into Iris' chest wound, causing the creature to explode from the inside. Gamera set Ayana down in front of Asagi Kusanagi and her friend Mayumi Nagamine, who tried desperately to revive her. Gamera roared loudly, causing Ayana to awaken. Ayana wondered why Gamera saved her, then began to sob and beg for forgiveness. Sensing a swarm of thousands of Hyper Gyaos approaching, the wounded Gamera exited the station and waited for their arrival. Nagamine remarked that it appeared Gamera would continue to fight, even if alone, while Asagi stated that Gamera wasn't alone, knowing humanity was ready to fight by his side once more.

## Weaknessess

### Cold Temperatures

Gamera's only major weakness is cold. The monster Barugon was able to achieve success against Gamera using his freezing spray, and scientists nearly defeated Gamera during his first appearance using special cadmium freezing bombs. This weakness was only shown in Gamera's earliest films, and has not been explored since.

### Internal Organs

Gamera's internal organs are also vulnerable to parasitic actions, as shown when he fainted and turned a deathly white when the baby Jiger was growing in his lungs.

### Underbelly

Gamera's shell is said to be very durable. His stomach, however, is softer and not as resilient, and he has been cut and gouged in his stomach to the point of bleeding (his blood is blue in the Shōwa era series, but green in the Heisei films). This is most visible when Viras impales his stomach with the tip of its head, and when Iris impales Gamera straight through his entire body by stabbing him through the stomach.

## Mechanisms

* **Cells**: Because of his superior ability to regenerate, Gamera can recover quickly even when wounded
* **Shell**: Compared to his Showa counterpart its defensive abilities have fallen. It can withstand Gyaos' ultrasonic scalpel, but could not completely withstand the missile assault from the Japanese SDF, resulting in him being knocked from the sky. Legion was also able to damage it with its attacks.
* **Power**: Gamera possesses superhuman strength, with physical strength alone Gamera was able to tear off Legion's nose horn.
* **Gamera's Brain**: Gamera's semicircular canal was developed to withstand his rotation, even in disk flight his eyes and brain are unaffected by the rapid spinning. Gamera was also made to be very intelligent.
* **Telepathy Brain**: Gamera was created to communicate with people using the jewels left behind by the ancient civilization. With these he could sense Asagi Kusanagi's spirit.
* **Thermal Energy Conversion reactor (Plasma Conversion Furnace**): Gamera's blood can absorb heat, flames, high voltage current and nuclear fuel. These energies are converted into electrons, protons and atomic nuclei and stored as plasma energy to be used. Life energy from the Earth, Mana, can be converted as well. The power of the total release of Plasma is unknown.
* **Elbow Claw**: Sharp nails on both elbows, they are strong enough to tear into the flesh of Gyaos. In Gamera 2 they could also damage Legion, who lost her Egg Chambers to them. Originally, they were tucked away inside the body, in the second movie they were always out by default and in the third movie they had two tips for extra damage.
* **Chromosomal Manipulation**: Like the Gyaos of the Heisei era, Gamera could manipulate his own genetic structure to adapt to his environments. Although his mass never change, his appearance altered over the course of the three movies as his body evolved for combat.

## Trivia

* A Gamera suit from *Gamera: Guardian of the Universe* appeared in two direct-to-video films by Noriaki Yuasa, who directed all but one of the Showa *Gamera* films. In the 1995 short film *Cosplay Warrior Cutie Knight*, Yuasa himself played a character who gives one of the heroines a device to summon a human-sized Gamera. Gamera returned in the next year's *Cosplay Warrior Cutie Knight 2*. Here, he passively kicks the kaijin Rudonko as the heroines hold him down, and ultimately flies away using stock footage of the Showa Gamera. In both movies his subtitle is **Capsule Monster** (カプセル怪獣 *Kapuseru Kaijū*).