Gamera: Guardian of the Universe (1995)

[Ivo-goji]

I think the comparison with G14 is apt. G14 isn't the absolute peak of kaiju films, but it's pretty competently made and consistent, which is how I feel about GotU.

[Terasawa]

Heisei Gamera Trilogy is flawless.

And no one is changing my mind.

I won’t so far as to say “flawless” but I think these are far and away the best kaiju movies made in Japan’s Heisei era.

[Omegazilla]

I love the first two Heisei Gamera movies. The third I find overrated as hell though. Anyways this is a fun movie with a cool take on Gamera and Gyaos. Gamera is very heroic without being for the kiddies and Gyaos definitely comes off as very sinister. A shame the series is so short though.

[szmigiel]

Lil bit of background, back when the rumors about Gamera: Guardian of the Universe being made came out, it was probably around the summer of 1994. This was the 90's so it was about the same time as I was able to see VHS copy of GVMGII, and even though the Heisei series was on a bit of a slide, it still had more good films then bad so far. Of course the thoughts of the Showa Gamera films, and MS3K parodies, still fresh in our minds, the potential film was pretty much just joked about, and talk of just how bad and corny it was going to be.

Then the film came out to a ton of praise, it even showed at the Toronto International Film Fest in the fall of 1995. A local weekly culture magazine film critics listed it as a highlight of his trip to the film fest. Screener copies of the film started floating around, so I saw it not long after seeing GVMGII, and it pretty much ruined the second half of the Heisei Godzilla films for me. It was so superior to GVMGII in every way, better story, better effects, pretty much better everything other than the Ifukube score. Gamera looked great, the camera angles made him look fantastic. Godzilla on the other hand was already getting called thunder thighs. There is no comparison between Fire Rodan and Gyaos. Gyoas and great mobility, wings folded, claws came out and grab things. Rodan looks like a puppet, a puppet from a sentai show. Then I learned that Gamera was made with half the budget, and my opinion of the Heisei Godzilla films feel even further.

At least for me, each Gamera film in the Trilogy got better and better, both story and effectwise, while the Heisei Godzilla films never really recovered.

[Stump Feet]

I can’t help but prefer this one over the other two.

I’d probably even consider this my favorite kaiju movie ever.

[Spuro]

The reimagined Gyaos of the Heisei series is probably one of my favorite fictional monsters ever - well beyond the kaiju genre. There's a real sense of menace and even horror from them that few kaiju are able to replicate. I think I like them more than Gamera himself.

As if my avatar didn't give that away, though.

[shadowgigan]

I love the Gyaos as well. I think you touched a bit on why that is. When I first watched the film, they just seemed so utterly Savage, and their beam weapon made them seem nearly impossible to defeat. I love the way their eyes moved and looked, even if some would consider it corny.

I also loved how the lore was built up in this film, it truly had me on the edge of my seat. Also loved the characters.

[LegendZilla]

The reimagined Gyaos of the Heisei series is probably one of my favorite fictional monsters ever - well beyond the kaiju genre. There's a real sense of menace and even horror from them that few kaiju are able to replicate. I think I like them more than Gamera himself.

As if my avatar didn't give that away, though.

They should bet their own movie one day.

[LSD Jellyfish]

The reimagined Gyaos of the Heisei series is probably one of my favorite fictional monsters ever - well beyond the kaiju genre. There's a real sense of menace and even horror from them that few kaiju are able to replicate. I think I like them more than Gamera himself.

As if my avatar didn't give that away, though.

The execution and design of the Gyaos are way more fully realized and horrific then Gamera itself. The Heisei Gamera series did a fantastic job at reinventing a kaiju that was otherwise a Rodan knock-off.

[szmigiel]

One of the most shrewd things Kaneko did was make the Gyaos a threat as a species instead of a singular creature. I loved the way he brought them back in Gamera III, giving Gamera a fight in the film while saving Iris for the final act. Now flocks of Gyaos are how they will probably always be featured if Gamera ever does return.

[Terasawa]

I love Showa Gyaos but I can’t deny that what Ito and Kaneko did was turn it into a serious, frightening threat. I think their Gyaos is one of the most perfectly realized monsters in any tokusatsu production; Legion is right there with it.

Gamera and Irys are a bit more obscure but I think that’s the point and works in their favor. We know Gamera is the hero but with his introduction in G3 we’re given a pretty credible reason to doubt that for the first time. Irys is never painted as anything but a villain but its goals, nature, and relationship to both Gamera and Gyaos are totally mysterious, which I think absolutely works in its favor.

I think it’s interesting that Ito and Kaneko’s style in the first two entries was to have the characters figure out what makes the monsters tick (also pretty typical for the Honda/Tsuburaya films that G1 and G2 draw from) but give us almost nothing but speculation in G3. Both approaches work because they made god damn good movies. But that’s another discussion altogether.

[Godzillian]

I'd love to ask Keneko what he was thinking when he updated Gyaos and what influenced his choices in creating them into truly scary monsters

[daveblackeye15]

Yeah I remember really liking Baragon as a kid and finding Guiron fun. Then in middle school I found some more Gamera movies, I think Zigra and Gyaos and didn't like them as much. Then I saw Guardian of the Universe and was like 'whoa damn!'

That said I do appreciate Showa Gamera for being not as tough as Godzilla and using his head. Y'know someone asked a web master long ago if they could have one enemy of Gamera's, Showa or Heisei, become an ally down the line which monster? They picked Guiron and I saw a fan work about a year ago where Gamera was swinging Guiron like a sword and I loved it. Can't find it at the moment but I found this and it seems a little less of a team up but still pretty cool.

https://www.deviantart.com/tohdraws/art ... -535712126

As for me...well call me crazy...but maybe Iris. I dunno but compared to Legion, a foreign creature that could never co-exist with Gamera, Iris is his enemy and yet at least they are both Earth creatures. Iris is considerably ambiguous compared to Legion or Baragon or evil bad guy Viras and Zigra. Perhaps Iris could set aside their hatred of Gamera briefly to team up with him. Y'know the classic rival team up situation. Oh goes imagine if a whole bunch of Legion arrived with Viras and Zigra ushering them on as their blind attack dogs to help turn the tide in a massive battle Iris can make the Hyper Gyaos join in the attack and we have a giant melee with Gamera and Iris leading the charge. Of course once the threat was over Gamera and Iris would have to rest and prepare for that final battle.

Added in 2 days 19 hours 17 minutes 3 seconds:
Because of this topic I think I'll be watching the trilogy again over the week.
I actually had forgotten how Yoshinari was basically allowed in by Asagi to make dinner and Naoya shows up and isn't bothered at all by an acquaintance, at best, being alone with his teenager for some time and more by the fact the guy is going through great lengths to butter him up.
If that happened in the U.S. Yoshinari would have a broken neck in a heartbeat.

[Stump Feet]

Am I the only one who prefers this over the other two? Don't get me wrong, Legion looks amazing and the special effects used to bring it to life and its energy weapons are amazing, but the pacing and Gamera's CGI ruins a lot of the movie imo.

I just can't get into Part 3, Iris has some stunning cinematography going on with it, perhaps the best of the Heisei series, but that's really all I can say, the human narrative absolutely bored me to death, the highlight is definitely Iris and that's it.

[Terasawa]

I think they all complement each other and they’re all excellent movies but GOTU is my favorite. It’s like if Honda and Tsuburaya had made Gamera vs. Gyaos (another film I really like) in the 1990s. And by saying that I don’t mean to diminish the artistry of Shusuke Kaneko, Shinji Higuchi, or Kazunori Ito. I just think they totally captured the feel of the classic Toho kaiju movies with GOTU.

[Stump Feet]

That has to be why I like it so much as I just can't for the life of me get into the Heisei-Millenium films.

Something about GGOTU just clicks with me, it has a familiar air to it that the others just don't.

[eabaker]

I love all three, and am less and less a fan of ranking things just for the sake of it as I get older, so I don't have a particular preference order for these movies.

However, I will say that GotU is one of the best structured kaiju movies of all time. The major characters - human and monster - are all given clear motivations, events are all tied together meaningfully and organically, and the action set-pieces are threaded throughout the movie at just the right intervals that we never lose track of the monsters or lose sight of the peril, but we also never get bogged down in tediously over-long fight sequences.

It's so engaging and audience-friendly, it's easily second only to Gojira in terms of kaiju flicks that I will quickly recommend to non-fans.

[Stump Feet]

I think this has always been my favorite kaiju movie ever since the first day I saw it and it still holds true today.

Everything about this movie is absolute perfection in my eyes.

[Anguirus]

Yep, as I am rewatching, this is one of my favorite films of all time. The movie has such a nice feel to it that I can not explain. Plus, the Gyaos are epic as well.

[daveblackeye15]

One moment that is kind of weird now is Gamera burrowing. I remember Legion did it too and now I wish Iris did it just to be in the 'I can do it too' club.
It's funny but of my Showa Gamera movies/enemy monsters all of them are crawlers rather than flyers. I don't have the love for Gamera vs. Gyaos like others do. Gamera vs. Barugon, great looking film love Barugon. Gamera vs. Guiron just crazy movie and monster. Gamera vs. Jiger I think my favorite kids plus going into Gamera in a sub is a neat adventure. Jiger was outmatched by Gamera every time they fought BUT she had dirty and neat tricks to win the fight. I mean I guess she is a flyer technically but I get why people love Gyaos as an enemy is that he too can fly.
I think the fight with Legion is my favorite end battle since they did a good job with such a strange but neat looking monster like Legion.