Anguirus (Second Generation)
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The Second Generation Anguirus (二代目アンギラス Nidaime Angirasu) is a giant Ankylosaurus kaiju who first appeared in the 1968 Godzilla film, Destroy All Monsters.
Another member of the same species as the Anguirus which fought Godzilla in 1955, this Anguirus was a resident of Monster Island, where he befriended Godzilla. When the evil M Space Hunter Nebula Aliens unleashed Gigan and King Ghidorah to invade the Earth, Anguirus escaped the island with Godzilla and the two forced the space monsters back into outer space. The following year, Anguirus fell into a tectonic fissure when Monster Island was affected by nuclear testing. He resurfaced the next year to investigate when a fake Godzilla began terrorizing the Japanese countryside. Anguirus was beaten into submission and had his jaw broken by the impostor, but managed to call Godzilla to face it. By the end of the 20th century, Anguirus was now contained with the other monsters of Earth on Monsterland. When the Kilaaks invaded the island, they took control of Anguirus and the other monsters and sent them to aid in their invasion of Earth. When humanity severed the Kilaaks' hold on the kaiju, Anguirus assembled with his fellow monsters in the Aokigahara and battled the aliens' trump card, King Ghidorah. Anguirus played a key role in the ensuing battle which ended in Ghidorah's final defeat. Anguirus and the others were then returned to Monsterland to live out their days in peace.
Name
Anguirus's Japanese name, Angirasu (アンギラス), comes from the Japanese spelling of the name of the dinosaur genus Ankylosaurus (アンキロサウルス Ankirosaurusu), upon which the monster's design is based. The name was chosen from several names proposed by employees of Toho during production of Godzilla Raids Again.
In the mid-1970's, Toho copyrighted the new revised English name Anguirus, making it the official Anglicization of the monster's name for all subsequent media. However, only the English dub of Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla uses anything resembling this spelling. The English dubs for Destroy All Monsters, All Monsters Attack, and Godzilla vs. Gigan all call him "Angilas," while in Godzilla: Final Wars, the pronunciation sounds like "Angweenus." Another alternative name, Anguillas, appears in the German theatrical trailer for Destroy All Monsters[6] and the American version of the Godzilla Game Boy game.[7]
In the Japanese trailer for Godzilla vs. Gigan, Anguirus is given the subtitle Meiconbi (名コンビ),[4] a Japanese word referring to a well-oiled team or one's loyal companion. This is translated as "His [Godzilla's] famous partner" on the Kraken Blu-ray release of the film, and as "His famous sidekick" on The Criterion Collection's Godzilla: The Showa-Era Films, 1954-1975 set.
Several American publications from the 1970's, including issue #34 of The Monster Times and the children's book Godzilla by Ian Thorne, offer Anzilla as an alternate spelling. The origin of this name is yet unknown.
References
This is a list of references for Anguirus (Second Generation). 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]
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