Anguirus 晏麒羅 (2001)

Chosen early on to play a part in the early draft for Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001), this interpretation of Anguirus would have been a far cry from the incarnations that came before it.

Having been sealed away a thousand years ago, the Guardian Monster would have been named "Angira", and would have been colored gold with an ice-cold body temperature and icicle-like spikes capable of extending in size and regrowing if lost in battle. Angira would have been awakened from its slumber in Aokigahara by a group of cultists, the beast confusing their commotion for being Godzilla's roars. Angira would eventually meet Godzilla in battle, having been renamed "Anguirus" by the Self Defense Force, and used its freezing body alongside Baragon's burning-hot body to create strong turbulence for Varan to glide on. In the end, however, the lithe Anguirus would prove no match against the vengeful Godzilla, and upon dying its body would collapse and melt, turn to bone, and decay away.

Next to Baragon, Anguirus was one of the furthest along in development for the early movie draft, having concept artwork featuring the dimensions of its suit size next to Godzilla's, and even a detailed clay model of its design created for it. Unfortunately for Anguirus, Toho was adamant in adding in more bankable, "flashy" monsters to the movie. Reportedly, Kaneko agreed to Toho's terms after discussing the situation with some of his friends and discovering that most of them weren't familiar with the monsters he was proposing. His compromise, though, was to still include Baragon in the final treatment. As a result, Anguirus would end up being replaced by King Ghidorah, and Baragon would be the only one of the three original Guardian Monsters to make it to the big screen.

While Anguirus didn't make it to the final cut, some elements of the monster survived, such as its icy lair being home to the slumbering Ghidorah, and Godzilla biting down on one of Ghidorah's necks being lifted from an earlier draft where Anguirus was bitten, coupling as a reference to Anguirus's first battle against Godzilla in Godzilla Raids Again (1955).

• Most images and the suit size concept artwork can be found in the 2001 book Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack Super Complete Works (ISBN: 409101481X). Anguirus's clay model was created by monster designer and sculptor Fuyuki Shinada, whom drew influence from the mythical Kirin as the design motif. The idea for suits to be omitted in place of these small models was pitched as well.
• The details regarding "Angira" and its origins and abilities can be found in a special booklet supplied with the 2002 Toho-published 3-disc DVD set of Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001).
• In an interview with Fuyuki Shinada featured on Kaiju Masterclass, had an Anguirus suit been created, Shinada pitched the idea of having the suit controlled by just one person: the actor would walk using the back legs, and use some kind of extension or stick to control the front legs. Shinada wanted to shy away from the typical crawling style of most four-legged monsters when working on this design. Shinada also makes mention of Anguirus utilizing a "freeze ray" to create strong winds when hit by a "heat attack" from Baragon, and CGI was going to be used whenever Anguirus extended its icicle-like back spikes to attack Godzilla.
• Its combat abilities and suit concept artwork can be found in the 2022 Japanese publication Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack Completion (ISBN: 9784798627793).