What's the Best Heisei Gamera Film

[Ultimategodzilla2054]

I actually like the 1st one the most out of the whole trilogy, though Advent legion is definitely a close second (it being not only the first of the trilogy I watched when I was a kid, but also my first gamera film). the third film is alright, but that extremely disappointing ending ruins it for me.

[king_ghidorah]

I’ll never understand anyone thinking the third film’s ending is disappointing.

It’s a popular enough sentiment. I just don’t get it.

The movie concludes by showing that Gamera will always fight to protect life, no matter what the odds are and no matter how injured he is. Perfect summation of the character. That it comes after Ayana’s redemption arc, and her coming to terms with the fact that Gamera is indeed the hero and that he sacrifices a limb to save someone who hates him is icing on the cake.

In my mind, it’s the perfect end cap to a perfect trilogy.

[BlankAccount]

I’ll never understand anyone thinking the third film’s ending is disappointing.

It’s a popular enough sentiment. I just don’t get it.

The movie concludes by showing that Gamera will always fight to protect life, no matter what the odds are and no matter how injured he is. Perfect summation of the character. That it comes after Ayana’s redemption arc, and her coming to terms with the fact that Gamera is indeed the hero and that he sacrifices a limb to save someone who hates him is icing on the cake.

In my mind, it’s the perfect end cap to a perfect trilogy.

Cause a lot of us were kids when we saw 3's ending and thought it was just a cliffhanger. It's when we got older we understood that's it's not a cliffhanger but basically the film showing Gamera's unbreakable will and that he will always be there to save the day, always ready to march into battle. Gamera's battles are never ending, but so is Gamera.

[king_ghidorah]

So I get that from the POV of a kid but as people mature and reassess the film I’d hope they come to the same conclusion that you did that it’s a thematically rich ending that leaves us wanting more but doesn’t require it.

To me. That’s the perfect sweet spot

[daveblackeye15]

Yeah I was one that didn't appreciate the cliff hanger ending or thought they wanted to do one more film but maybe 3 did poorly? Now I appreciate Gamera 3 a lot more. Kaneko wanted to do something different with each film, taking extra time to cook up the story for 3 and seeing the trilogy as three acts. Very glad the two people I showed the trilogy to found the third one the best.

[GodzillaFan1990's]

I’ll never understand anyone thinking the third film’s ending is disappointing.

It’s a popular enough sentiment. I just don’t get it.

The movie concludes by showing that Gamera will always fight to protect life, no matter what the odds are and no matter how injured he is. Perfect summation of the character. That it comes after Ayana’s redemption arc, and her coming to terms with the fact that Gamera is indeed the hero and that he sacrifices a limb to save someone who hates him is icing on the cake.

In my mind, it’s the perfect end cap to a perfect trilogy.

It also lets people decide what happens next.

In my head Gamera manages to win despite all odds but dies afterwards of his wounds with his sacrifice being what it took to convince humanity to become a better species and taking more care of the earth leading to a better future for both and honoring him with an worldwide funeral with his legacy being remembered forever for what he did for us.

[daveblackeye15]

I just hope all the waifu's Kaneko put in his films survived.

[Ultimategodzilla2054]

I’ll never understand anyone thinking the third film’s ending is disappointing.

It’s a popular enough sentiment. I just don’t get it.

The movie concludes by showing that Gamera will always fight to protect life, no matter what the odds are and no matter how injured he is. Perfect summation of the character. That it comes after Ayana’s redemption arc, and her coming to terms with the fact that Gamera is indeed the hero and that he sacrifices a limb to save someone who hates him is icing on the cake.

In my mind, it’s the perfect end cap to a perfect trilogy.

3 words: the Gyaos swarm.
it gets you all hyped for an epic final battle between gamera and the "legion" of gyaos that are about to invade japan, only to fade to black. this is literally my only problem with the movie, but it's a big one. had they just not included the scene of the swarm of gyaos and just ended it right after gamera defeats Iris, I'd have no issues, but because they decided to end it off with a cliff hanger that they had no intention of actually resolving, the ending just feels unsatisfying.

[LSD Jellyfish]

I’ll never understand anyone thinking the third film’s ending is disappointing.

It’s a popular enough sentiment. I just don’t get it.

The movie concludes by showing that Gamera will always fight to protect life, no matter what the odds are and no matter how injured he is. Perfect summation of the character. That it comes after Ayana’s redemption arc, and her coming to terms with the fact that Gamera is indeed the hero and that he sacrifices a limb to save someone who hates him is icing on the cake.

In my mind, it’s the perfect end cap to a perfect trilogy.

3 words: the Gyaos swarm.
it gets you all hyped for an epic final battle between gamera and the "legion" of gyaos that are about to invade japan, only to fade to black. this is literally my only problem with the movie, but it's a big one. had they just not included the scene of the swarm of gyaos and just ended it right after gamera defeats Iris, I'd have no issues, but because they decided to end it off with a cliff hanger that they had no intention of actually resolving, the ending just feels unsatisfying.

It's not a problem, because thematically the film and trilogy is over. Gamera shows to be in the right, and continually will fight the Gyaos, and now has the support of his doubters, such as Ayana. It's not also hard to predict that Gamera would just wind up beating the swarm anyways.

[Matango Taste]

My problem was I never got the impression Gamera would win that fight

[king_ghidorah]

Winning or not is irrelevant. Gamera is kind of like Rocky. It’s not about the win or the loss it’s about going the distance and getting back up to fight against impossible odds.

[Smuggers]

Yeah, I never really had a problem with it. You can tell the movie's already over by that point and it's a cool scene nonetheless.

[Terasawa]

I like this analysis of the film's ending from Ed Godziszewski's review of the film in G-Fan #38 (March/April 1999).

The entire story arc of three films culminates in G3 with an apocalyptic setup: the appearance of the super monster Irys, a massive Gyaos outbreak, Earth's energy at dangerously low levels. An end of the world scenario, not unlike that predicted by Nostradamus, with humanity largely responsible for the drains on Earth's life energy that first brought back the Gyaos in 1995 due to the incessant infliction of ecological damage. Technological advances have created the mess, but technology seems incapable of dealing with its offshoot... a rather disturbing repeat of the Atlantian legend. The Atlantians' highly advanced technology created the Gyaos who doomed them, and too late they also made Gamera, who saved Earth but not the Atlantians. And even Gamera (a form of technology) is not invincible, as the graveyard of Gamera discovered at the film's beginning reminds us.

In this context, the somewhat infuriating climax of the film makes perfect sense; the earth is still in great peril, and it is uncertain if even Gamera can prevail. The end title card appears "Gamera 1999 - The Absolute Guardian of the Universe". The usage of 1999 in this way seems no coincidence, as 1999 is the legendary year of the apocalypse. Mankind has survived... for now, but the end is still precariously close.

The open-ended finale leaves no space for a tidy conclusion, but that is because there isn't any, and that's what makes the viewer think (after overcoming the disappointment). The message is there if you think about it, wrapped in a visually stimulating and exciting monster package. Perhaps this is the real brilliance of the script; it conveys its message without outright or obvious moralizing, thus avoiding the trap of preachiness and pretentiousness that poor filmmakers always fall into when trying to convey "a message." It makes one think, and how many monster films can make that claim?

[GojiDog]

My personal favorite of the trilogy is Gamera III. It just far exceeded what I would have ever expected out of it, even after enjoying the first two films as much as I did.

[daveblackeye15]

Anyone familiar with Super Robot Wars? Basically bring together a bunch of different mech series into one universe or several universes, bring their big bads, have some original heroes and villains an boom fan fiction the game!

I wish we had super kaiju wars. I made up attacks for an entry with Heisei Gamera.