Monster Discussion #59: Gamera (Heisei)

[JVM]

What a monster. GOTU's the only Gamera film I've seen so I can't do much contrast, but Gamera was handled very impressively, and there was a real sense of 'giant monster' Toho's films of the period lack. His origin is very cool, and manages to hold interest without getting wonky or stupid.

[Alucard]

This Gamera is better then the Showa Gamera.He looks great and his design is very unique.This guys roar is better then the Showa Gamera's one.That one just creeps me out.

[Lord Gappa]

I found the G:RoI suit to be the best out of all of them. The origin's pretty sweet too, being the creation of Atlantis to counter the Gyaos. That's some good storytelling right there. Defiently my favorite Heisei redeisign.

[shinmattiathekaiju]

So much better than the ludicrous showa Gamera.

[Irys X]

Great update. Better in every way possible, though he still is a little cutesy. But thats one of the reasons the Gamera trilogy is so fun to watch. You get to see his evolution from an awesome yet still kind of "safe" looking monster to a total badass who doesnt give a shit about anything other than destroying the Gyaos. Now the Gamera from G3 is scary!

[HayesAJones]

A good update on a once goofy monster. Not an intricate design, but the details are lovely, especially all that wrinkled skin. The elbow spines are a nice edition, and the fireballs are a welcomed replacement for the generic flamethrower breath. Not big on his arm flattening out into those little 'wings' though.

[TokyoVigilante]

The Gamera 1 suit doesn't do anything for me. It's articulate and nicely detailed, but it's just sort of doing its thing. The Gamera 3 suit I think, while an incredible looking prop, just isn't appropriate overall for Gamera. The beady eyes, the over-the-top shell just doesn't feel appropriate for one of the most heroic kaiju in the genre. it fits the movie, but I don't think it fits the character.

While the Gamera 2 suit I think is incredible. Easily my favorite incarnation of the character. It's beefier then the G1 suit without looking as out-right vicious as the G3. Great looking prop and strikes the perfect balance for the character of Gamera, IMO.

Also, it reminds me; the Gamera Trilogy is a tightly focused story about a well-developed non-anthropomorphized kaiju protagonist with a constantly shifting appearance. Isn't this supposed to be one of the super big "Pros" of the Heisei Godzilla films?

Suck it, Toho. Gamera beats you again in the nineties.

[Giga Kaiju]

A Great Look for Gamera that makes him more heroic but as well as a little Anti-Heroic i only have watched the first one
but the other two just a couple scenes and i am safe to say that i prefer this incarnation better that the other two (Showa and
Millenium) makes him more realistic.

[shinmattiathekaiju]

I don't really like the showa Gamera's design,is too slim,he looks like a turtle pancake.

[therealmccoy]

I prefer the '99 Gamera, but they did a really good job with this Gamera incarnation. This look set his personality of the series in stone. They made him look more realistic; like a turtle, while somewhat keeping his more friendly look from the Showa series. His puppy dog eyes and larger head kind of make him look friendly, while the rest of him looks like a force to be reckoned with.

[Tomzilla]

Kaneko's Gamera is easily the best version to date. No offense to the Showa and Millennium incarnations, they're great in their own way. But Kaneko's Gamera has an excellent story and character arc under its shell. Being created by an ancient race to destroy the Gyaos? Cool. And let's not forget about the villains. Gyaos. Legion. Iris. They're all unique, different, and menacing.

I prefer the G3 Gamera design. The G2 one is a close second. G1 is adorable.

[Tohosaurus]

I like his redesign a lot. The Showa Gamera looked, well, stupid if I'm honest; so did the Millennium Gamera. The Heisei one looks great, staying true to Gamera without going overboard on trying to make it look too mean, too modern, and whatnot.

[Tohosaurus]

Mind elaborating? I see nothing stupid about - for example - how Gamera looked in Gamera vs Barugon. He actually looked pretty bad ass in that one.

Sure, I can do that. I think the better days were the 1965 original and Barugon, but even then neither looked very good. From then on it got worse. I just did not think they made Gamera look good, and if you liked it then more power to ya! I much preferred the Heisei update which gave him the detail and design I prefer. The Showa look and quality was fine because it wasn't aimed at adults anyways so it wouldn't as likely appeal to me.

[Blackout286]

I don't think Toto looked stupid either.

Well Toto was still somewhat of a pre-teen Gamera. But I think its interesting to see a Gamera's early childhood life cycle.
Sure its design was a bit too cute, but since the film was aimed at mostly children and young teens, then I think the design somewhat served its purpose. Establishing a Pre-teen Gamera.


Now back on Topic. My absolute all time favorite incarnation of the Heisei Gamera is Gamera 99. It just presents power, ferociousness, and badass within its appearance. This is a Gamera that pretty much states clearly within its actions: "Yeah, mankind I could care less about, my sole duty is destroying the Gyaos or any other major threat that threatens this world. I will protect children from time to time. But don't hold me completely to that". I have only seen G:GOTU, which had aired on Scifi a few times before, and that was the only Heisei Gamera film I had seen. So this year I plan on buying the Gamera Trilogy Blu-Ray Set and watch the entire Heisei Series completely.

[Rody]

Mind elaborating? I see nothing stupid about - for example - how Gamera looked in Gamera vs Barugon. He actually looked pretty bad ass in that one.

Sure, I can do that. I think the better days were the 1965 original and Barugon, but even then neither looked very good. From then on it got worse. I just did not think they made Gamera look good, and if you liked it then more power to ya! I much preferred the Heisei update which gave him the detail and design I prefer. The Showa look and quality was fine because it wasn't aimed at adults anyways so it wouldn't as likely appeal to me.

I don't think Showa Gamera looked particularly bad at first - he just didn't stand out to me the way Toho's kaiju did.
It did get a little worse as time went on, though; they kept tweaking the suit to try to make Gamera look more friendly.

[HayesAJones]

Those arms that stuck straight out in front of him were kinda awkward. Must have been REALLY uncomfortable for the suit actor.

[Captain Aktion]

My only problem with how Showa Gamera looks is how flat and stiff he looks. I mean, most turtle shells form a dome shape; Showa Gamera looked like a sandwich. Filled with boards. Other than that, I dig the hell out of it, and I think Gamera's "fangs" are like his equivalent of Godzilla's "spines". Totally iconic.

Heisei Gamera films are, without doubt, some of my personal favorite Kaiju Eiga and I would even dare say they're probably 3 of the best of all time. Seriously. If I look at all the Kaiju films as FILMS, from an academic perspective, then these 3 would easily land in the top-ten if not top 5.
Heisei Gamera's design is one of the most solid suits ever constructed. Rarely does it ever betray itself and I'm rarely conscious of the man inside the suit (ahem, Heisei Godzilla), plus it has that undefinable quality about it that gives it a life and personality. Truly one of the best and most fully-realized Kaiju in cinema. However, if I had to pick one suit as a favorite, I gotta go with the G2 suit. Something about the elbow spikes and the little things like the webbed-hands and fangs more forward jutting just makes it seem like the most re-fined you could get the Gamera design without introducing more drastic changes...like G3.

[Space Hunter M]

Showa Gamera looked like a sandwich. Filled with boards.

Looked more like some charcoal in a burnt pineapple husk to me.

[Shadow]

Love the G3 design, really gives him the "I'm not f*cking around, just die" look.

[Captain Aktion]

^Which was kind of the problem with the G3 suit for me...