It's not just from GODZILLA that the Japanese market for Kaijus (怪獣 means “strange beast”) survives. Gamera (ガメラ) is a daikaijū of Japanese cinema, a fictional giant turtle-like monster created by the defunct Daiei Studios, now owned by Kadokawa. Gamera's original film was released in 1965 to rival Toho Pictures' hit Godzilla in the 1960s. From there the character gained fame and notoriety as a Japanese icon in his own right.
Gamera, despite resembling a gigantic tortoise, has teeth in its mouth and two immense fangs in the lower arch, which project bilaterally out of the mouth from the end of the dental arch. Assumes quadrupedal or bipedal stature and produces a ferocious roar. Gamera measures between 60 and 80 meters in height and weighs between 80 and 120 tons.
Gamera features
It uses as a weapon, in addition to its claws, a flame of fire that it launches through its mouth, as Godzilla does in some movies. She can also fly using jets that propel her out of the cavities of her hind legs when she pulls them into her hull, or from the cavities of her four paws.
His flight can reach Mach 3, three times the speed of sound — 3,672 km/h. It is seen as a discoid and incandescent object, perfectly resembling a flying saucer and has been seen flying over several cities around the world, but always chooses Japan to land and cause destruction or save Civilization.
Gamera, though initially created as a mindless and destructive monster, later appeared in countless films as a friend of children and defender of Humanity, fighting off alien invasions and other monsters.
One of the episodes (65) of the Detective Conan anime, set in the TV series studio where they were shooting Gamera, it was easy to notice in this episode the children's passion for the monster. There are several references to him, as in the anime of Detective Conan.
To celebrate 50 years of Gamera, a new movie will be released, and from the trailer we can see how spectacular it will be.
