Gamera (ガメラ) is a series of giant monster films and other licensed products featuring the character Gamera, owned by the Kadokawa Corporation. Starting in 1965, the Gamera series remains one of the longest-running film series.

The Gamera series initially began as an attempt by Daiei Motion Picture Company to capitalize on the success of rival studio Toho's successful kaiju films of the time, most notably the Godzilla series. The first Gamera film, Gamera, was released to Japanese theaters on November 27, 1965. The film was a success, inspiring Daiei to not only produce a sequel, but also the acclaimed Daimajin trilogy of films. Gamera was released on television in the United States a year later as an edited version titled Gammera, the Invincible

Like the Godzilla series before it, the Gamera series went on to include numerous other entries, all featuring the titular Gamera battling against other, more malevolent creatures. The Gamera series attempted to aim itself more towards child audiences, often featuring children as the main characters. The Godzilla series even attempted to emulate this with its films in the late 1960's and early 70's. After Daiei went bankrupt in the early 70's, the Gamera series was placed on hiatus and, aside from a failed revival film in 1980, another entry was not produced until the series' 30th anniversary in 1995. The new film, Gamera: Guardian of the Universe, was distributed by Daiei's former rival Toho and proved to be a huge critical and financial success, inspiring two critically-acclaimed sequels. In the early 2000's, Daiei was acquired by the Kadokawa Corporation and absorbed by the company's filmmaking branch. Kadokawa finally released its first Gamera film, Gamera the Brave, in 2006 to celebrate the franchise's 40th anniversary. Kadokawa has since released many of the Gamera films on home video and produced remastered versions of a few entries, and released a 4-minute short in 2015 to commemorate the character's 50th anniversary.

While the Gamera series began as a cash-in on the popularity of the Godzilla franchise, it has since developed its own identity and become a popular and respected film series in its own right. Gamera, while not quite as popular as his counterpart Godzilla, is still a recognizable pop culture icon in Japan and around the world. The 1990's Gamera trilogy directed by Shusuke Kaneko is widely recognized as the finest example of giant monster films ever produced. Many crew who worked on the trilogy would go on to work on the Godzilla series as well.

Series history

The Gamera series consists of 12 films, 11 of them produced by the defunct Daiei Motion Picture Company and one produced by its successor, Kadokawa Daiei Studio. Like the Godzilla series, the Gamera series is divided into distinct eras, however unlike the Godzilla series the Gamera series consists of only two: the Showa and Heisei series. The first eight entries make up the Showa series, while the last four are considered to comprise the Heisei series. The Showa films are often categorized by their campy, child-friendly nature while the later Heisei films are seen as much more serious and mature in nature.

The first series of Gamera films is named after the Showa period of Japan, referring to the reign of the Showa emperor, Hirohito. The Showa series began in 1965 with the release of the black-and-white film, Gamera. This film is distinct from all of those that followed it in that it is the only one filmed in black-and-white as well as the only one to portray Gamera as a villain and not feature him battling another monster. Gamera was inspired by the popular Godzilla films, most prominently the original Godzilla, telling the story of an ancient giant reptile being awakened by a nuclear bomb and laying waste to Tokyo. Following the film's success, a sequel was greenlit by the studio. Like what had occurred with the Godzilla series, Daiei chose to film the sequel in color and have Gamera do battle with another creature. The creature chosen was the giant lizard monster Barugon, which was Gamera's opponent in the film Gamera vs. Barugon. This film was followed a year later by Gamera vs. Gyaos, which introduced Gamera's arch-nemesis, the flying creature Gyaos, and also featured a child protagonist who assists Gamera. Gamera vs. Gyaos set the formula for the remaining Showa films, which all revolved around a heroic Gamera collaborating with human children to defeat other monsters and oftentimes alien invaders. The Gamera films were notable for featuring a great deal of graphic violence and gore in its monster battles, while the Godzilla films of the time often refrained from showing the creatures bleed. As the Gamera films proved incredibly popular with child audiences, the Godzilla films of the early 1970's found themselves emulating them by featuring increased blood and gore and the appearance of child protagonists.

As the Japanese film industry declined in the late 60's and early 70's, Daiei found itself relying heavily on the use of stock footage from previous entries. The company planned to produce another Gamera film following the release of Gamera vs. Zigra in 1971, but the studio went bankrupt and a fire destroyed all of the remaining suits and props. Daiei was eventually purchased by Tokuma Shoten, who planned to revive the Gamera series with a new film while the Godzilla series remained on hiatus. The newest Gamera film, Gamera: Super Monster, was released in 1980, nine years after the previous film, and was primarily composed of stock footage from the previous films. Super Monster also featured obvious attempts to capitalize on the popular Superman and Star Wars films of the time, seen through the Spacewomen and Spaceship Zanon. Super Monster was a critical and financial failure, and convinced Daiei and Tokuma to put the series on hold once again. In the meantime, most of the Gamera films were dubbed and released by Sandy Frank in the United States on television and home video, leading to a growth in the series' popularity outside of Japan. Several of the movies were even featured on the movie-mocking show Mystery Science Theater 3000 in the early 1990's.

1999) Gamera Trilogy ( 1995

In 1995, Daiei began production on a new film to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Gamera series. Daiei turned to its former rival Toho to distribute the film, and hired little-known director Shusuke Kaneko to direct. It was decided to begin the series anew and ignore the previous entries, discarding the kid-friendly tone of the later Showa films in favor of a darker and more serious style, akin to what the Godzilla series had done with The Return of Godzilla. The resulting film, Gamera: Guardian of the Universe, was a huge success with critics and audiences, even earning a theatrical release in the United States. Famed film critic Roger Ebert, who had long given negative reviews to kaiju films, gave the film three out of four stars, praising it for being "fun." Daiei immediately began production on a sequel, Gamera 2: Attack of the Legion, which was released in 1996. The sequel was even more well-received than its predecessor, making use of higher production values. A third entry, Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris, was released in 1999, and despite disappointing box office returns was praised by many as the greatest giant monster film ever made, rivaling the original Godzilla.

Daiei was later purchased by the Kadokawa Corporation in the early 2000's and merged with the company's filmmaking branch. As the series' 40th anniversary approached, Kadokawa decided to produce a new film for 2006. The film, Gamera the Brave, was a reboot from Kaneko's trilogy that re-adopted some of the kid-friendly tones of the Showa series while still maintaining the seriousness and production values of the trilogy. Gamera the Brave was a box office failure despite being well-received, inspiring Kadokawa to put the series on indefinite hiatus. In the meantime, Kadokawa began releasing the previous entries on DVD and Blu-ray in Japan, while extending the Gamera license to other companies who began making Gamera merchandise.

While Gamera the Brave is not connected to the Gamera trilogy, it is still grouped in with it as part of the Heisei series, due to it being released during the political Heisei period in Japan. Contrary to popular belief, Gamera the Brave is not part of the Millennium series, a term that only applies to Godzilla films released from 1999 to 2004.

For Gamera's 50th anniversary in 2015, Kadokawa commissioned a 4-minute short simply titled GAMERA directed by Katsuhito Ishii, which was first shown at New York Comic-Con. The short featured Gamera, Gyaos, and a new monster with tentacles, all rendered through CGI. No news of a feature film has materialized since this short was released, and the future of the Gamera film series remains uncertain.

Films by series

The following is a list of all official entries in the Gamera franchise, grouped according to series and including the year of release.

Unmade films

Aside from the 12 official entries in the Gamera series, numerous films were planned but never saw production.

Daiei's original plan for a sequel to the original Gamera featured Gamera doing battle with a race of ice-based aliens attempting to take over the Earth. The film's climactic battle would have Gamera taking on the aliens' ultimate weapon, the Ice Giant. Daiei decided to make Gamera's opponent to be a non-humanoid reptilian creature instead, but retained the Ice Giant's cold-based abilities. The Ice Giant was heavily altered to form the basis of the stone giant Daimajin from Daiei's successful Daimajin trilogy of films.

Gamera vs. Wyvern

Following Gamera vs. Zigra, Daiei began production on the next Gamera film. The film, Gamera vs. Wyvern, pitted Gamera against a giant two-headed fire-breathing dragon called Wyvern, which appeared to be loosely based on the Godzilla monster King Ghidorah. Ultimately, this film was reworked into Gamera vs. Garasharp.

A Japanese book about Daiei's fantasy films provided a synopsis for an unmade Gamera film which was much more ambitious than any film previously attempted in the series. This unnamed film was similar to Toho's Destroy All Monsters, featuring a huge cast of giant monsters from the previous films coming together to battle an alien invasion. According to the synopsis given in the book, the film's plot revolved around two alien races, the Zigrans and Virasians, joining forces to invade Earth. Using Gamera's DNA, the aliens engineer the two-headed dragon Wyvern to battle Gamera, and also take control of a flock of Space Gyaos. After being seemingly killed by Wyvern, Gamera is revived by a benevolent alien race, along with Gyaos, Barugon, Jiger and a giant whale god (sometimes speculated to be Kujira Gami). The Earth monsters then all join forces against the alien invaders and their monsters.

Details about this film are scarce, and it is unknown if it was actually planned by Daiei or just the speculation of the author of the book. It is also uncertain whether this film was meant to be Gamera vs. Wyvern or an entirely separate project simply reusing the Wyvern monster from the aforementioned film. Whatever the case, any plans for this film or others like it were abandoned after Daiei filed for bankruptcy and the studio was destroyed in a fire.[1]

Daiei's original vision for Gamera's 30th anniversary revival film was titled Gamera vs. Phoenix, and involved Gamera battling a giant phoenix. When Daiei brought Shusuke Kaneko on board as the director, he discarded the screenplay and chose to revive one of Gamera's old opponents for the new film, which was ultimately decided to be Gyaos. Rather than completely ignore the Gamera vs. Phoenix screenplay, Daiei published it as a novel.

During production of the Gamera trilogy, Daiei's executives mused at the idea of a film pitting Gamera against Godzilla. The two famous kaiju had already clashed in a live stage show in 1970 and had been featured in numerous informational books and magazines together. Following Daiei's acquisition by Kadokawa, Kadokawa approached Toho in 2002 and proposed a Godzilla vs. Gamera film. Toho rejected the offer for unknown reasons.[2]

Gamera 3D

Following the abandonment of Godzilla 3-D in exchange for Legendary Pictures' Godzilla, Yoshimitsu Banno, the unmade film's producer, turned his eyes to a Gamera project. Banno repackaged the screenplay for Godzilla 3-D into Gamera 3D, featuring Gamera battling a pollution-based monster called "Gaira" (no relation to the Green Gargantua), which transforms into the more powerful Namagon. Gamera would then team up with the mythical creature Son Gokuu and defeat Namagon. Like Godzilla 3-D, this was intended to be a 40-minute short IMAX film to be produced by Banno's independent company Advanced Audiovisual Productions. This idea was discarded in favor of another film featuring Hedorah battling a green algae-based kaiju called Midora, on which Banno was still actively working at the time of his death.

Monsters

Every entry in the Gamera series since the original Gamera has featured at least one other monster doing battle with Gamera. The following is a list of all monsters that have appeared in a Gamera film.

Other Media

Like Godzilla, Gamera has appeared in his fair share of non-film media, including books, comics, toys and video games.

Books

Gamera, along with many other famous Japanese kaiju, was frequently featured in informational books and magazines in the 1970's and 1980's. Notable among these is Godzilla-Gamera Daikaiju, a book featuring super-deformed illustrations of monsters from both the Godzilla and Gamera series drawn by the artist behind Bandai's Godzilland merchandise line.

In 1995, the story for the unmade film Gamera vs. Phoenix was published as a novel by Shogakukan. To tie-in with the 30th anniversary film Gamera: Guardian of the Universe, a manga illustrated by Hurricane Ryu Hariken called Manga Boys Special Edition: Gamera was released, featuring Gamera battling all of his enemies from the Showa era along with new monsters based on the unmade monsters Garasharp and Marukobukarappa. Following the success of Gamera: Guardian of the Universe, Dark Horse Comics, publishers of numerous Godzilla comics at the time, published a brief American comic series titled Gamera: The Guardian of the Universe set after the events of the film. This comic featured Gamera battling Gyaos as well as new versions of Viras and Zigra. In 2002, Kadokawa published a manga adaptation of the film Gamera vs. Barugon, adapting it into the continuity of the Gamera trilogy and setting it between the events of Gamera 2: Attack of the Legion and Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris. A tie-in manga called Gamera 2006: Hard Link was released for the film Gamera the Brave, taking the form of an anthology telling various different stories connected to the film.

Video games

Gamera has been featured in numerous video games, many of them developed and published by the company Sammy. A tie-in game for the film Gamera: Guardian of the Universe was released for the Game Boy in 1995, along with a strategy game titled Gamera: Gyaos Destruction Strategy for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. In 1997, Virgin Games released a space shooter-style game called Gamera: 2000 for the PlayStation. In 2009, Sammy developed a Pachinko game titled CR Gamera, which featured computer-generated recreations of Gamera's numerous battles from the films. Oratta released a mobile game titled Gamera: Battle in 2012. To commemorate Gamera's 50th anniversary, he and a few of his monster costars were included as guest characters in the Sega mobile RPG Monster Gear, which also included exclusive costumes and weapons based on them.

References

This is a list of references for Gamera (franchise). These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]