Ebirah

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Ebirah
Ebirah in Godzilla: Final Wars
Ebirah in Ebirah, Horror of the Deep
Alternate names The Sea Monster, Evirah
Subtitle(s) Horror of the Deep,
Giant Shrimp Monster
(大エビ怪獣,   Dai Ebi Kaijū)[1]
Huge Shrimp Monster
(巨大エビ怪獣,   Kyodai Ebi Kaijū)EHotD[2]
Heinous New Monster
(凶悪新怪獣,   Kyōaku Shin Kaijū)EHotD[3]
Species Giant Crustacean
Height Showa: 50 meters[4][5]
Millennium: 50 meters[6]
Length Showa: 60 meters[4]
Millennium: 100 meters[6][7]
Weight Showa: 23,000 metric tons[4][5]
Millennium: 50,000 metric tons[6][7]
Pincer Length Showa: 15 meters (Right),
13 meters (Left)[5]
Millennium: 20 meters (Right),
15 meters (Left)[6]
Forms Flying EbirahKM
Controlled by XiliensGFW
Allies HedorahGFW
Enemies Godzilla, MeganulonGRoE, MegaguirusGRoE
Created by Tomoyuki Tanaka,
Shinichi Sekizawa,
Jun Fukuda
Played by ShowaHiroshi Sekita
MillenniumToshihiro Ogura
First appearance Latest appearance
Ebirah, Horror of the Deep Godzilla: Final Wars
Roar(s)
ShowaMillenniumMore roars

Ebirah (エビラ,   Ebira) is a giant crustacean kaiju created by Toho that first appeared in the 1966 Godzilla series film, Ebirah, Horror of the Deep.

Ebirah was the primary monster antagonist in Ebirah, Horror of the Deep, a huge crustacean mutated by nuclear waste produced by the Red Bamboo's activities on Letchi Island. Ebirah patrolled the island's waters, destroying any watercraft that tried to enter or leave the island, except for the Red Bamboo's ships, which released a yellow juice that repelled him. When Godzilla was awakened from his slumber in a cave on the island, Ebirah battled him twice, losing both times. In their second battle, Godzilla removed both of Ebirah's claws and forced him to retreat to the ocean depths. Ebirah made a stock footage appearance in All Monsters Attack, where he battled Godzilla on Monster Island within the dreams of Ichiro Miki. Ebirah returned over 30 years later for the final entry in the Millennium series, Godzilla: Final Wars, in which he was a mind-controlled pawn of the Xiliens. Ebirah was initially defeated by the Earth Defense Force's mutant soldiers at Tokai, and was deployed again to assist Hedorah against Godzilla in Tokyo Bay.

Name

Ebirah's name is derived from the Japanese word ebi (海老), meaning shrimp. The "-ra" (ラ) part of Ebirah's name is a common suffix for kaiju names.

Design

Ebirah generally looks like a giant lobster or shrimp. His body is red all throughout, and he has one pincer that is bigger than the other one. He also has two antennae and a giant nose-like shell piece. Ebirah additionally has multiple legs and multiple segments in his body, leading up to a normal lobster tail. In Ebirah, Horror of the Deep specifically, Ebirah's body is wide and his body segments are not very pronounced, his left claw is more massive than the right one, he has crustacean whiskers, eyes on stalks, and about six legs. Ebirah also has big eyebrows and spikes on its back, as well as fairly long scythe-like pointy crest, and seems to have a mouth like Mothra's, in that it is flipped on its side.

In Godzilla: Final Wars, Ebirah has a large goblin nose-like crest, one claw that is much longer than the other, eight large legs, and 16-20 spikes along his length. Ebirah's eyes are set into the head and he has crustacean-like antennae and mouth. Ebirah's underside is a very dark red, almost brown color. The body segments are clearly distinguished and separated, making it more closely resemble real-life crustaceans.

Origins

Ebirah was a crustacean that was mutated to colossal size by the nuclear waste produced by the Red Bamboo's operations on Letchi Island. The Red Bamboo used Ebirah's presence to their advantage, keeping him in the island's waters to prevent any ships from entering or leaving. The Red Bamboo released a yellow juice from their own ships that repelled Ebirah, allowing them to enter or leave the island's waters at their leisure.

History

Showa Series

Ebirah, Horror of the Deep

A terrorist organization known as the Red Bamboo secretly operated on the remote Letchi Island in the South Pacific, where they enslaved natives of Infant Island while producing nuclear weapons. Guarding the waters of the island was Ebirah, who destroyed any ship that came too close to the island. Ebirah was successful at this and no ship could reach the island. The Red Bamboo ships used a special extract from the island's fruit to protect themselves from Ebirah. When a small group of people stranded on the island saw Godzilla sleeping in a cave, they woke him so he could fight Ebirah. Godzilla easily won and injured the crustacean with the atomic breath. The day after, a Red Bamboo ship appeared, but they accidentally used a placebo and not the fruit extract. Ebirah attacked and tore the ship apart. Godzilla reappeared, but this time, Godzilla pulled off Ebirah's claws. Ebirah retreated and was not seen again.

All Monsters Attack

Ebirah appeared on the sea near Monster Island alongside the Giant Condor in Ichiro's dream. He fought Godzilla briefly, and retreated back into the water after Godzilla defeated him.

Millennium Series

Godzilla: Final Wars

Ebirah was one of the many kaiju under the control of the Xiliens when they invaded Earth in 20XX. He destroyed a factory near Tokai. The JSDF tried to destroy Ebirah, but the immense crustacean was too powerful, knocking over buildings in order to destroy tanks and resisting weaponry with its durable exoskeleton. The Earth Defense Force's mutant soldiers were then called to stop the monster. The mutants successfully defeated Ebirah with specialized hand-held maser cannons and were about to kill it, when it suddenly disappeared. The Xiliens then revealed themselves to the people of Earth and claimed that they destroyed the monsters to save humanity. However, the EDF soon discovered that the monsters were controlled by the Xiliens, who aimed to conquer the planet. The Gotengo then freed Godzilla from Antarctica so he could fight the controlled kaiju. The plan was a success and Godzilla successfully defeated most of the kaiju as he made his way to Japan. Ebirah and Hedorah were sent to destroy Godzilla in Tokyo Bay. However, Godzilla blasted them out of the water with his atomic breath and the duo crashed into a building, with Ebirah accidentally piercing Hedorah's large eye with his pincer. Godzilla then emerged from the waves and fired another blast of atomic breath, destroying both Ebirah and Hedorah.

Abilities

Ebirah has no special powers, but he has strong claws and is an adept swimmer.

In Godzilla: Final Wars, Ebirah can attack with both of its claws in a signature attack called "Crisis Scissors."

Weaknesses

In Ebirah, Horror of the Deep, Ebirah showed an aversion to a yellow fruit that grew on Letchi Island. The Red Bamboo used this weakness to prevent Ebirah from attacking their boats, which shot out jets of juice from the fruit to ward him off.

Filmography

Video Games

Godzilla: Save the Earth

Ebirah makes its only appearance in the Atari-Pipeworks games in Godzilla: Save the Earth in the final on-rail shooter-style level when playing as Godzilla 2000. Ebirah appears before facing the Vortaak's Hammer Sub and must be defeated to continue.


Godzilla (PlayStation 3 / PlayStation 4)

Main article: Godzilla (2014 video game)/Kaiju Guide#Ebirah.

Comics

Godzilla, King of the Monsters

Main article: Flying Ebirah.

Ebirah appears in Kodansha's Godzilla, King of the Monsters manga series, where he is modified by the evil Dr. Oniyama into Flying Ebirah to battle Godzilla, but is defeated.

Godzilla: The Half-Century War

Godzilla: Rulers of Earth

During the battle between King Caesar and Megalon, the island's natives caught between the two kaiju's battle ran for cover, some escaping to the ocean. However, Varan and Ebirah started to devour any stragglers. Ebirah, Varan, Megalon and King Caesar all vanished as an alien ship crash landed into the ocean near by. Ebirah was later seen on the water monsters section of the mural on Infant Island.

Ebirah makes a full appearance in issue #17, where he abruptly attacks Godzilla, who is swimming back after his battle with the Mechagodzillas and Mecha-King Ghidorah. Godzilla throws Ebirah to the surface, and the two monsters arrive in Sao Paulo, Brazil. While Godzilla and Ebirah battle, Ebirah is swarmed by Meganulons, who break through his shell and draw blood. Ebirah snaps his claw shut on some of the Meganulons, cutting them in half. Megaguirus soon arrives and stings Ebirah. After repeated attacks from all of the monsters, Ebirah retreats to the ocean. Ebirah was not seen afterwards, and none of the Trilopods possessed his characteristics.

Godzilla: Cataclysm

In Godzilla: Cataclysm Issue 2, Arata's grandfather states that members of his village pray to Ebirah to bring them plentiful fishing trips.

Gallery

Main article: Ebirah/Gallery.

Sightings

  • Ebirah inspired two monsters who appeared in the Nintendo anime Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, Ebifryer and Ebizou. Both are giant shrimp monsters who have abilities far stronger than the rest of the cast.

Roar

Ebirah's roars in Ebirah, Horror of the Deep
Ebirah's roars in Godzilla: Final Wars

In Other Languages

  • Russian: Эбира
  • Chinese: 伊比拉 (Yībǐ lā)

Trivia

  • Toho had first envisioned Ebirah to be King Kong's enemy instead of Godzilla's, but rights problems with Rankin/Bass caused Kong to be dropped from the film and replaced by Godzilla.
  • In the English version of the 1966 tokusatsu film, The Magic Serpent, Tsunade's giant spider used edited Ebirah roars.
  • According to the German release of Ebirah, Horror of the Deep, Ebirah was possibly created by Dr. Frankenstein.
  • In the original concept for Destroy All Monsters, known as All Monsters Attack Directive, Ebirah was supposed to appear as one of the guards for the Kilaak base, and one of Godzilla's main allies against King Ghidorah, along with Maguma. However, Ebirah and Maguma were left out due to the water damage sustained by their suits and were eventually replaced with Anguirus, Gorosaurus and Minilla in the final draft.
    • Baragon and Varan were supposed to take Ebirah and Maguma's roles as guards of the Kilaak base, but their suits were in poor condition as well and as such they were relegated to small cameo roles.
  • The version of Ebirah in Godzilla: Final Wars is nearly killed by Ozaki and the other mutants' handheld Maser Cannons, making Ebirah one of the few monsters to be defeated by humanity without the use of vehicles, super-weapons like the Oxygen Destroyer or other monsters.

References

This is a list of references for Ebirah. 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. Godzilla Toho Giant Monster Pictorial Book. Shogakukan. 1 April 2005. p. 105. ISBN 4-09-280052-5. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. Ent.kodansha.co.jp: Godzilla All Movie DVD Collector's Box IQ Test
    HugeShrimp.png
  3. Toho Special Effects All Monster Encyclopedia. Shogakukan. 23 July 2014. p. 45. ISBN 4-096-82090-3. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 J.D. Lees, Marc Cerasini (24 March 1998). The Official Godzilla Compendium. Random House. p. 123. ISBN 0279888225 Check |isbn= value: checksum (help). Check date values in: |date= (help)
    Compendium3.png
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 ゴジラ完全解読 (別冊宝島 2207). The Monsters that Time Forgot; Page 103.
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 ゴジラ完全解読 (別冊宝島 2207). The Monsters that Time Forgot; Page 114.
  7. 7.0 7.1 Toho Special Effects All Monster Encyclopedia. Shogakukan. 23 July 2014. p. 118. ISBN 4-096-82090-3. Check date values in: |date= (help)

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