Anguirus (Second Generation)

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Anguirus (Second Generation)
Anguirus in Godzilla vs. Gigan
Alternate names Angilas, Anguillas, Anzilla
Subtitle(s) Fierce Dragon (暴,   Bōryū)[1][2]
Godzilla's Companion
(ゴジラの仲間,   Gojira no Nakama)GvG[3]
Famous Partner
(名コンビ,   Meiconbi)GvG[4]
Species Giant Ankylosaurus
Height 60 meters[5]
Length 100 meters[5]
Weight 30,000 metric tons[5]
Controlled by KilaaksDAM
Allies Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra, Minilla, Gorosaurus, Kumonga, Manda, Varan, Baragon
Enemies King Ghidorah, Gigan, Fake Godzilla
Modeled by Nobuyuki Yasumaru
Played by Hiroshi Sekita,DAM Tadaaki Watanabe,DAM Koetsu Omiya,GvG Kinichi KusumiGvMG
First appearance Latest appearance
Destroy All Monsters Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla
Roar(s)
More roars

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.

Development

For Anguirus' return in Destroy All Monsters 13 years after Godzilla Raids Again, a new suit was constructed.[8][9] The new Anguirus suit was modeled by Nobuyuki Yasumaru.[9] The back of the new suit was composed of leather, while the thorns were made of polished balsa wood painted with polyester resin. The suit was worn in the film by both Hiroshi Sekita and Tadaaki Watanabe. In addition to the suit, a miniature model of Anguirus was constructed for distant shots of the monster prior to the final battle at Aokigahara.

The Anguirus suit from Destroy All Monsters was brought back and left mostly unchanged for Godzilla vs. Gigan. This time, the character was portrayed by Koetsu Omiya. For this film, Anguirus would be depicted bleeding graphically and sustaining gruesome injuries, while in most previous films special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya had shied away from showing the monsters bleed. Teruyoshi Nakano, who served as the special effects director for the series following Tsuburaya's death, said he had noticed children asking why Godzilla and the other monsters never bled, and so was influenced to depict monster bloodshed in the film.[8] In water scenes, the head of the Anguirus suit is black, with what appears to be red and yellow moss or algae growing on the rest of its body. In addition, some scales seem to be falling off the suit, particularly on its arms and chest. It is possible this is a separate suit employed specifically for water scenes, just as the MusukoGoji suit is employed for Godzilla in such scenes in the film with the SoshingekiGoji used in the rest of the film.

The Anguirus suit was employed for a single scene in Godzilla vs. Megalon the following year, depicting Anguirus falling into a fissure during the destruction of Monster Island at the beginning of the film. It is unknown who portrayed the monster during this scene.

The Anguirus suit from Destroy All Monsters was employed one final time for Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla in 1974. By this point, the suit's horns had been considerably worn down and shortened, while its large protruding fangs had been removed. According to Anguirus' suit actor Kinichi Kusumi, who also played King Caesar in the film, the Anguirus suit was so badly rotted that the inside of the suit was sticky and falling apart, and baby powder had to be liberally applied to the suit's feet for him to even be able to use it.[10]

Design

Anguirus is a stout, armored, quadrupedal reptilian creature that looks fairly similar to an Ankylosaurus, with aspects of his design also resembling armadillos, hedgehogs, and crocodiles. He has several inwardly curved horns at the top of his head and a single, short horn on the end of his snout. His face is long, puffy and drawn out, like a crocodile, with two large tusks at the start and rows of smaller, jagged, serrated teeth following suit. His carapace is studded with a plethora of long, sharp, prickly spikes. Anguirus' tail is spiky and longer than his body, accounting for the majority of his total body length. His hind limbs are longer than his forelimbs, enabling him to stand upright to his full height, but he primarily walks upon all fours.

Personality

Anguirus is depicted as a very tenacious and fierce fighter. Despite constantly going up against enemies tougher than himself, Anguirus rarely backs down and always puts up a vicious fight. Despite his fierce nature, this Anguirus has been shown as being a close friend of Godzilla. While many of Godzilla's allies have had to work with him out of necessity, such asMothra and Rodan, Anguirus and Godzilla appear to have a genuine friendship. This is most pronounced in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, where Anguirus senses that the Fake Godzilla roaming Japan is not the monster he knows and attacks it, with a character even mentioning that it's strange to see Anguirus attack "his friend" Godzilla.

Origins

In Godzilla Raids Again, it is suggested that Anguirus is an Ankylosaurus that lived during the Cretaceous, 150 to 70 million years ago, around the same time as Godzilla. Like Godzilla, Anguirus managed to survive into the modern day by lying dormant before being awakened and irradiated by nuclear bomb tests in the 1950's.[11] This origin is never discussed further nor contradicted in subsequent films. The Second Generation Anguirus was living on Monster Island in 1972, and it is unknown if and when he had appeared prior.

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]

  1. Common Knowledge of Godzilla. Futabasha. 6 July 2014. pp. 17, 51, 55, 59, 69, . ISBN 978-4-575-30696-5. Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  2. ゴジラ東宝大怪獣図鑑. Shogakukan. 1 April 2005. ISBN 4-09-280052-5. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. Toho Special Effects All Monster Encyclopedia. Shogakukan. 23 July 2014. pp. 10, 51, 57, 64, 68. ISBN 4-096-82090-3. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. 4.0 4.1 Japanese Godzilla vs. Gigan trailer
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 J.D. Lees, Marc Cerasini (24 March 1998). The Official Godzilla Compendium. Random House. p. 118. ISBN 0279888225 Check |isbn= value: checksum (help). Check date values in: |date= (help)
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  6. Anguillas de.png
  7. Anguillas gb.png
  8. 8.0 8.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named 1954-1999
  9. 9.0 9.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named TSEMCW
  10. Godzilla Toho Champion Festival Perfection. ASCII MEDIA WORKS. 29 November 2014. p. 112. ISBN 978-4-04-866999-3. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  11. Godzilla Monsters All Overall Encyclopedia (7th Edition). Shogakukan. 10 November 1993. p. 105. ISBN 4092811047.