Kiryu

**Mechagodzilla 3** (メカゴジラ3 *Mekagojira surī*), nicknamed **Kiryu** (機龍 *Kiryū*, lit. *Machine Dragon*) is a cybernetically-enhanced mechacreated by Toho that first appeared in the 2002 *Godzilla* film, *Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla*.

## Name

Kiryu's nickname is derived from 機龍, *Ki ryū*, meaning *machine dragon*. Kiryu's legal name is simply "Mechagodzilla," while his official designation in the films is "MFS-3," which is short for "Multipurpose Fighting System Type-3."

## Design

### MireMekagoji

This Mechagodzilla redesign is radically different from previous versions, and bears a closer resemblance to Godzilla himself. The MireMekagoji is light silver in color, with various areas on its body explosing thick black wires underneath. The head has a long metal spike extending from the top of its forehead upward towards the back of its head.

The eyes are large and relatively close together. They are usually yellow in color, but will turn red when Kiryu is possessed by the first Godzilla's spirit. A red scar extends underneath both eyes, and it will often glow when Kiryu roars.

The suit's chest features three rounded plates that come together to cover the Absolute Zero Cannon housed underneath. When the suit is used to portray Super Weapons Kiryu, two blue rocket launchers are attached to its shoulders, while blue railguns are attached to its wrists.

### TokyoMekagoji

The TokyoMekagoji is nearly identical to its predecessor, the MireMekagoji, but has some differences upon closer examination. First of all, this suit is painted a darker gray color than the previous suit. This suit is overall thinner and more streamlined than the previous suit, and features a smaller head and shorter neck.

This suit's eyes are slightly smaller, and are further apart. The suit's chest is composed of three plates like the previous suit, however each one has a ridge on it, and the left chest plate has "MFS-3" written on it. The rest of the suit is mostly identical, although the exposed wires are a lighter shade of black, and there are many ridges and patterns present on the suit that were not present on the previous one.

The suit's rocket launcher's and railguns are the same color as the suit instead of being blue. After the suit is damaged in the battle with Godzilla, its right eye is removed, exposing more metal and wiring underneath.

### Portrayal

Mechagodzilla was portrayed through the means of suitmation, much akin to its predecessors.

### Roar

Mechagodzilla's roar during the Millennium series is a more mechanical sound, which is also mixed with Godzilla's guttural roar. The presence of Godzilla's roar in Mechagodzilla's roar varies, but is generally noticeable anytime it occurs.

## Origins

Kiryu was built around the remains of the original Godzilla and reanimated by the Anti-Megalosaurus Force.

In *Godzilla: The Half-Century War*, Kiryu is an updated version of the previous Mechagodzilla made after studying Godzilla's skeletal structure, with bits of Godzilla's skin built into its armor.

## History

### *Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla*

Although the original Godzilla had been killed in 1954 by the Oxygen Destroyer, Japan still found itself under attack from other monsters such as Mothra and Gaira over the decades. When a second Godzilla landed in Tateyama in 1999, this was the last straw. The Anti-Megalosaurus Force (AMF) division of the Japanese Xenomorph Self-Defense Force (JXSDF) proposed to dredge up the skeleton of the first Godzilla from Tokyo Bay and use it as a skeletal framework for constructing a Mechagodzilla.

The plan was executed, with cloned DNA from the bones inserted into the quasi-organic computer controls, intended to take over subconscious motor control functions for the crew. By 2003, the metal monster was ready. Kiryu was unleashed, but when the cyborg faced off against Godzilla, something horrific happened: the cyborg's own memories of when it was Godzilla were reawakened by the modern Godzilla's own roars. Kiryu broke free of its pilot, Akane Yashiro, and proceeded to trash Tokyo, ignoring attempts at manual override. Godzilla left the city and headed back to the ocean, with Kiryu continuing its rampage until its fuel ran out.

The Japanese public was not amused. Hastily recalled, Kiryu received quite a few weapon upgrades in addition to new computer control software routines. When Godzilla attacked again a few days later, both branches of the JSDF tried stopping him without the mecha's help, but it was useless. With Akane at the mecha's control again, Kiryu was sent out.

The second battle went well until Kiryu's receiver was damaged. Akane wanted to enter Kiryu and repair it herself despite orders against it. She then piloted the cyborg directly from its skull, carrying Godzilla out into the bay once more. Akane tried to destroy Godzilla with Kiryu's ultimate weapon, the "Absolute Zero Cannon", but the fight ended in a draw. Godzilla went back to the sea, though not before suffering a horribly shredded chest, and Kiryu went back to the body shop after suffering a destroyed right arm, a damaged Absolute Zero Cannon, and empty powercells.

### *Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.*

One year later, in *Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.*, Akane was sent to America for further flight training. Taking her place in case Godzilla appeared was Akiba, but Kiryu engineer Yoshito Chujo is the human focus of the film.

Mothra's twin fairies, the Shobijin, appeared to warn Japan. They claimed that building Kiryu using the bones of the Godzilla that appeared in 1954 was a violation of the natural order of things, attracting the current Godzilla. The twins further claimed that Mothra would gladly take Kiryu's place in protecting Japan if they agreed to dismantle Kiryu, and if they declined, Mothra would attack Japan. Since Kiryu had been built partially to defend against a second attack from Mothra herself, the Japanese declined.

But when Godzilla appeared and killed Kamoebas, Mothra voluntarily engaged him, and Prime Minister Hayato Igarishi was shamed into aiding her. Kiryu flew into battle again. Despite the team up, the current adult Mothra was killed and Kiryu's transmitter damaged once again. Just like Akane before him, Yoshito entered Kiryu for repairs, but remained inside the mech during the battle after Godzilla's beam had accidentally struck both of the hatch doors damaging and jamming it.

Teaming up with the newly-hatched twin Mothra larva, the **modified 3-Kiryu** (3式機龍改?) was able to use his drill in his right arm to injure Godzilla's chest even more, eventually reaching and tearing up his insides. While Godzilla screamed in pain, Kiryu fired his Triple Hyper Maser and Maser Cannons at Godzilla, making Godzilla's roar trigger another flashback in Kiryu which was directly channeled to Yoshito. Godzilla was then wrapped up by the twin Mothra larva web. Unable to fight, Godzilla dropped to the ground, allowing Kiryu to win the battle. Kiryu then broke free of Akiba's control. Instead of finishing his battle, he merely subdued Godzilla, carrying him out to sea. After releasing Yoshito to safety, Kiryu displayed a message saying "Sayonara Yoshito" on a computer monitor, then plunged into the depths with his organic counterpart, allowing himself to finally rest in peace, while ensuring Godzilla would survive. This marked the first time that Mechagodzilla was able to defeat Godzilla decisively by the end of a Godzilla film without Godzilla coming back to destroy him.

## Abilities

### Absolute Zero Cannon

Kiryu's most devastating weapon is the Absolute Zero Cannon, (a weapon also utilized by the Gotengo.) Stored in its chest behind a trio of folding panels, the Absolute Zero Cannon fires a ball of energy that flash-freezes its target to Absolute Zero, thereby causing it to disintegrate under the weight of its own mass at the molecular level. Forty percent of Kiryu's power is devoted to using this weapon.

### Alloy composition

While the Showa and Heisei Mechagodzilla are constructed of fictional alloys, it is never specified what Kiryu's armor is made out of. It is the first Mechagodzilla to include organic parts, built from the skeleton of the original Godzilla and using Godzilla's DNA in its computer system.

### Flight

Like the previous Mechagodzillas, Kiryu was also able to fly; although its limited energy reserves required the machine to be airlifted to the battlefield by two White Herons.

### Overall firepower

Kiryu is a well balanced machine and the most agile Mechagodzilla to date, moving with a fluid, almost organic grace. Its armament includes oral maser cannons (Type 99, an improved model from Type 90 used in the Maser Cannon), dual laser cannons on each arm, and a flight pack that contains two forward firing rocket launchers and four batteries along its back and sides for launching guided missiles. Upon emptying its payload, the flight pack can detach from Kiryu's body and launched to push the enemy a safe distance back before being remotely detonated. In Tokyo S.O.S., the flight pack was replaced by weapons pods where rockets were fired; leaving the attached thrusters on Kiryu's body to maintain its aerial capabilities.

### Electric wrist blade

For close combat, a short blade can be extended from Kiryu's right wrist which was not only able to penetrate Godzilla's nearly impervious hide, but was also able to discharge a crippling electrical surge into his opponent's body.

### Revolving drill

In Tokyo S.O.S., Kiryu's arsenal was upgraded to allow its right hand to collapse into a revolving drill. It did so by rapidly spinning until every finger merged together. It has shown to be very effective against Godzilla, causing extreme pain and piercing his skin with ease.

### Tail use

Additionally, unlike previous Mechagodzillas, Kiryu's tail was able to move which allowed Kiryu to use it as an effective weapon, being able to knock Godzilla down with sheer force.

### Triple Hyper Maser Cannon

After being heavily damaged in Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla, the Absolute Zero Cannon was deemed too expensive to repair and was replaced by a Triple Hyper Maser Cannon in *Tokyo S.O.S.* The Triple Hyper Maser Cannon could be fired simultaneously with Kiryu's mouth cannon, which would cause Godzilla agonizing pain.

## Weaknesses

### Godzilla's soul

Whenever Godzilla roars out of pain or is defeated, Kiryu's Godzilla side takes over and overrides all external control.

### Limited power

Because it has limited power reserves, Kiryu can only be in action for at most two hours or less when the use of Absolute Zero is involved.

## In other languages

Kiryu has very little translations compared to his alternate title. Latin alphabets are generally the same. Other translations:

* Chinese: 机龙
* Serbian: Кириу
* Russian: Кирью
* Yiddish: קיריו

## Trivia

* When Kiryu is remembering its past, Kiryu's eyes turn red. Yet when the spirit is not evil, it develops a scar without the red eyes.
* The idea of having the ghost of the original Godzilla come back to life was tossed around for the cancelled *Godzilla vs. Ghost Godzilla*.
* Alongside the Showa Mechagodzilla, Kiryu is the second Mechagodzilla to defeat Godzilla more than once.
* Kiryu is the first and only Mechagodzilla that could use its tail to attack since Kiryu has the original bones of Godzilla, allowing its tail to move. This also grants Kiryu some increased mobility in conjunction with its rotatable rocket boosters, as Kiryu can use its tail like a rudder to steer.
* Kiryu is the second Mechagodzilla to appear in more than one movie, with the first being the original Mechagodzilla.
* The rocket launchers which Kiryu wears are a reference to Super Mechagodzilla's Garuda cannons.
* Kiryu is featured in the 2011 sci-fi novel *Ready Player One*. The novel's antagonist, Nolan Sorrento, selects Mechagodzilla from a list of giant robots to control in the OASIS, a MMO game which acts as the novel's primary setting. Sorrento later activates Mechagodzilla in battle by shouting "Kiryu!". Kiryu is eventually defeated by the novel's protagonist, Wade Watts, who transforms into another iconic Japanese giant, Ultraman.
	+ In the movie adaptation of *Ready Player One,*Mechagodzilla appears in much the same role as above. However, there is no mention of Kiryu, and instead of Wade transforming into Ultraman to battle Mechagodzilla, his friend Daito instead transforms into the RX-78-2 Gundam to fight; which damages but does not wholly destroy Mechagodzilla.

## List of appearances

### Films

* *Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla* (First appearance)
* *Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.*

### Video games

* *Godzilla: Domination!* (Japanese version only)
* *Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee* (Xbox and Japanese GameCube versions only)
* *Godzilla: Save the Earth*
* *Godzilla: Unleashed* (Wii and PlayStation 2)
* *Godzilla Unleashed: Double Smash*
* *Godzilla: Pachislot Wars*
* *CR Godzilla: Descent of the Destruction God*
* *Godzilla On Monster Island*
* *Godzilla*(2014 video game)
* *Godzilla: Kaiju Collection*
* *City Shrouded in Shadow*

### Comics

* *Godzilla: Ongoing*
* *Godzilla: The Half-Century War*
* *Godzilla: Rulers of Earth*
* *Godzilla in Hell*
* *Godzilla: Oblivion*