Back in the April 1981 issue of Terebi Magazine, the editors included a short article featuring a brief discussion of who might be the stronger kaiju combatant—Godzilla or Gamera. The article was illustrated by Hurricane Ryu (who would later go on to draw his own original licensed Godzilla and Gamera manga—and who acted as several monsters in the Heisei Godzilla film series, including King Ghidorah and Battra.) This article of his was reprinted in the Godzilla All Movie DVD Collectors’ Box Vol. 23 (released in 2017)—this is the one that includes The Return of Godzilla (1984), and the box also included The Last Godzilla manga reprint (which I already reviewed). This reprint must have included a bit of modern meddling, though, as it includes a copyright for Kadokawa—the company that eventually purchased Daiei many years later. When I purchased this collector’s box it was mostly for this article—but to be honest, despite the intriguing premise and the great art from Hurricane Ryu, the article itself is underwhelming.
The main text (placed above an impressive illustration of the terrapin of terror facing off against Godzilla) goes like this: If Gamera fought the kaiju king Godzilla, it would be a great battle, wouldn’t it? Two kaiju, a real clash of power. But both Gamera and Godzilla protect the earth, and they are monsters of justice, so I don’t think they would fight each other.
I think you can kind of see where this is going. Other than this deflating text in the middle, there are three illustrations comparing Godzilla and Gamera’s powers, but there isn’t a conclusion as to who would win—you’re left to decide yourself.
Under an image of Gamera and Godzilla flying (with Godzilla taking his classic flight pose from Godzilla vs. Hedorah) we get this text: Gamera can fly at super speeds, but Godzilla can only fly a little bit. At least they are recognizing here that Godzilla can indeed fly, though the advantage definitely goes to Gamera in this category.
Under an image of Godzilla and Gamera blasting their respective fiery breaths, we have this text: Gamera’s fire spray has a strong power to burn, and Godzilla’s radioactive flame has a strong power to destroy. Their power is about the same strength. This section came as the biggest surprise on the page, at least for me. My image of Godzilla’s radioactive breath is generally stronger than Gamera’s fire streams, but maybe Toho and Daiei wouldn’t allow either to be named stronger on the magazine page.
Finally, next to an image of Godzilla and Gamera utilizing their tails to smash rocks (Gamera is basically hacking a boulder in half), we get this weak text: As far as tail power goes, Godzilla’s is much stronger. I guess the author (who goes unnamed on the article itself) wanted to give Godzilla the advantage in SOMETHING, and all he could think of was that the Big G had a bigger tail.
While no one is named victor on the page itself, I gotta say, Gamera comes off sounding better. Gamera can fly much better than Godzilla, and Godzilla’s tail (no matter how long the incarnation) isn’t going to balance that fight out.
Given that there were no Godzilla or Gamera films released in 1981 (Gamera Super Monster came out the previous year), this little article doesn’t seem to be advertising any particular media release and serves more as filler. There is a little advertisement for a new Gamera toy in the lower left-hand corner of the spread, but it doesn’t provide a picture of the toy! A cute illustration of Gamera states “Buy my doll!” and the catch copy goes as follows:
A Realistic Doll of Gamera has Come Out!
Poppy Toys, continuing their work after releasing Baltan Seijin, now has giant monster Gamera for sale. You can move his legs and arms, and the model is really accurate. Take a look (for it) at the (local) toy sellers!
I am not impressed with the advertisement, given that we don’t get an image of the toy itself, no description of its size, not even a mention of the dang thing’s price! If you look up ポピーガメラ １９８１ online, you can find images of the toy, which came in a box and required some assembly. The toy inside was all one dark green color—but if you look at images of the accompanying instructions that came in the box, you can find advice for how to best paint the guy to look like the Gamera from Gamera vs. Barugon, what colors to put on the nails and mouth, how to create burnt or dirty highlights, etc. The toy is around 30 cm long and is supposed to be 144th scale to the monster.
There are other, similar articles included in some of the other box sets from the same series where I got this reprint—I have one discussing whether Rodan or Godzilla is stronger, for example, but it is longer and in full color. Why did Gamera get the short end this time around?!
It seems like our turtle hero has long received rather weak-sauce crossovers with Godzilla. Gamera has appeared with Godzilla in an officially-licensed stage show back in the 1970s, though details and images are scarce online. Unfortunately, the subsequent meeting between Godzilla and Gamera in Atelier Koganemushi’s puppet show for the 1996 Hero-Festival is also poorly documented with only a few extant images surviving (at least for ready perusal). Of course, Godzilla and Gamera did both pop up in a couple video games fully licensed (the amazing City Shrouded in Shadows being one, and the mobile Godzilla Battle Line featuring them together on screen for the first time), and unofficially they have met any number of times (such as on The Simpsons). In fan-made materials, you can witness their fight in an episode of Death Battle on YouTube that also explores their strengths and weaknesses in-depth. Two Godzilla vs. Gamera fan comics can also be found here on Toho Kingdom, where you can also see them have at it in short story format within the Kaiju War Chronicles. Still, while official crossover films and comics have apparently been proposed from time to time, nothing has YET come to pass, and with Gamera once again languishing in relative failure after an unpopular Netflix show (going from released ratings), there doesn’t seem to be a lot of hope for a new iteration coming soon. This short article does little to assuage that monster mash-up itch, but at least the artwork is nice.
