Guiron
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Guiron (ギロン Giron) is a blade-headed kaiju who appeared in the 1969 Gamera film, Gamera vs. Guiron.
One of many monsters spawned when the electronic brain controlling planet Terra went haywire and altered the environment, Guiron fell under the control of the last two surviving Terrans, Barbella and Florbella, who used him as their guardian monster. Guiron was kept underneath a riverbed on Terra and summoned whenever Space Gyaos menaced the planet. When Gamera arrived to save two children who were kidnapped by the Terrans, Guiron was unleashed to battle him. Guiron triumphed in their first encounter, but Gamera recovered and sprung back into action, ultimately killing Guiron by throwing a missile into his head and igniting it. In Gamera Super Monster, Guiron was unleashed by the evil crew of the pirate spaceship Zanon, with his appearance in that film being depicted entirely through stock footage. Guiron will be among the five kaiju Gamera battles in the 2023 Netflix anime series GAMERA -Rebirth-.
Name
Guiron's Japanese name Giron (ギロン) is most likely a truncation of the Japanese word for guillotine, girochin (ギロチン), a clear reference to the monster's sharp, blade-like head. In English, the monster's official name is "Guiron," but the spellings "Guilon" and "Guillon" have been used in official merchandise as well. In earlier scripts for Gamera vs. Guiron, Guiron was simply called Giant Evil Beast X (大悪獣Ｘ Dai Aku-jū Ekkusu).
Development
Guiron was designed by Tomohisa Yano on behalf of Akira Inoue, who suffered a backache while working on preparations for the 1970 World's Fair before work began on Gamera vs. Guiron. According to director Noriaki Yuasa, Yano initially wanted the new monster to be a flounder-like monster with the actor entering its suit sideways, but this was too difficult to realize. Inoue commented that the design of the enemy monster was "biologically in mind" at first, and of the final design of Guiron - which was far from "biological" and contrary to this idea - said "I created an amazing monster anyway. The staff came up with the idea of having the whole body be a weapon, and when I put the head of a knife on a body I created Guiron. It's not a living thing anymore, the idea comes from a weapon. Only Guiron is like this." Looking back on the series, Inoue cited Gamera vs. Guiron as his favorite work.
While Ex Productions was typically in charge of modeling monsters for the Gamera series, the company was busy modeling Yongary for the South Korean monster film Yongary, Monster from the Deep. Instead, Eizo Kaimai's Kaimai Productions handled modeling of the Guiron suit. An elaborate miniature model of Guiron was also created.
Guiron was revisited as a possible foe for Gamera in the second entry of the Heisei trilogy, but did not make the cut. However, many features of Guiron such as his extraterrestrial origin, facial horn used as a weapon, and a body made of inorganic material were present in the Mother Legion.[5] Director Shusuke Kaneko stated that he was in charge of writing the script and coming up with ideas for Gamera 2 with Shinji Higuchi and said that Guiron was indeed considered as an enemy monster. Writer Kazunori Ito stressed, however, that Guiron did not form the basis for the Mother Legion, who was conceived based on ideas for the story. Ito did however state that Legion being a space monster may have been influenced by Guiron.
Design
In the Showa era, Guiron is an alien monster who is predominantly quadrupedal, but can also stand on two legs when the situation requires. He is an unusual-looking creature, with a stout and tailless body covered in tough gray-green skin, a lighter segmented underbelly, and raised orange striations running down his flanks. Orange spines run down the kaiju’s back. His mouth is small and beak-like, and short twin tusks jut out near the back of his lower jaw. He has sleepy eyes with black pupils and white sclera. The hind limbs have fin-like webbing lining them, whereas the forelimbs do not possess this. The most unusual feature of this beast's anatomy, however, is the gigantic blade that he sports on its head, which is nearly as long as his body. On the sides of this blade, just above Guiron’s eyes, are two ports that house shuriken, covered by a membrane of raised circular skin that disappears when the monster prepares to launch its sharp-edged projectiles.
Guiron’s design in GAMERA -Rebirth- keeps a similar look to that of the Showa era, but with several changes. The bladed head on this version of Guiron is less bulky than the Showa’s and is curved in shape. Guiron's build is notably more slender in the anime series, along with a stubby tail and bluish skin. Its forelimbs and hind limbs are also longer, with segmented scales cascading down them, and spikes lining their sides. The monster’s back is now lined with three rows of short spines, which resemble the teeth of a saw, and its flanks are lined with two rows of spikes. The eyes have the drowsy appearance and black pupils, but the sclera are red. The monster’s beak-like mouth is longer than the Showa design, and the lower jaw is split into two parts.
Origins
In Gamera vs. Guiron, when the Terrans came under threat by near constant attacks by swarms of Space Gyaos, Guiron was used as a sort of guard dog to kill off the attackers and kept under control with devices in their base.
In GAMERA -Rebirth-, Guiron was one of several kaiju created by an ancient civilization many thousands of years ago, alongside the likes of Viras, Jiger, Zigra, Gyaos, and Gamera, with the purpose of culling the human population. After Gamera broke away from his original intended mission he defeated the other monsters. In 1989, another Guiron appeared as an egg discovered at a drilling site in Niue.[6] Whether this was the original Guiron reconstituted or another of the same making is unstated.
History
- Gamera vs. Guiron (1969)
- Gamera vs. Jiger (1970) [stock footage]
- Gamera Super Monster (1980) [stock footage]
- GAMERA -Rebirth- (TV 2023) [episode 4]
Showa era
Gamera vs. Guiron
Guiron acted as the guardian monster of two Terrans, the last survivors of a dead civilization on the planet Terra. Under their control, Guiron lived in a special hangar under a stream at their base, which the Terrans would open by reversing the flow of the water using their advanced technology.
After arriving on Terra, the young boys Akio and Tom were immediately forced to hide when a Space Gyaos appeared and began attacking the base. The boys then witnessed the release of Guiron, who crawled out of his hangar to defend the base. With minimal effort, Guiron was able to sever a leg from the Space Gyaos by reflecting its beam back at it, then leapt into the air to sever one of the bat monster's wings. Immobilized, the Space Gyaos could do nothing to fight back as Guiron proceeded to decapitate it and cut its body into many small pieces with his blade-like head. Though Guiron returned to his home, the Terrans were forced to dispatch him again against another Space Gyaos mere minutes later, which the Terrans revealed to be a recurring nuisance for them on the planet.
Later, Gamera arrived to rescue the boys, leading the Terrans to unleash Guiron upon him as well. Guiron wasted no time in repeatedly slashing at Gamera’s shell as soon as the turtle kaiju landed on the surface, quickly drawing blood. Gamera eventually managed to toss Guiron away and attempted to burn him with his flame breath, though Guiron retaliated by launching shurikens from the sides of his head, striking Gamera in the face. Though Gamera managed to dodge a second attack from the shurikens and deflected them back into Guiron’s own body, Gamera’s wounds caught up to him and caused him to fall unconscious at the bottom of a lake while Guiron departed.
While trying to escape the Terran base, Akio and Tom accidentally released Guiron and set him free of the Terrans’ control, leading him to attack their spacecraft while the Terrans were inside. Though they attempted to escape, Guiron bisected the craft before rampaging through the Terran base, where one of the Terrans was killed amid the chaos.
Eventually, Gamera recovered and engaged Guiron once again. Though Gamera repeatedly dodged Guiron’s blade with new acrobatic techniques, Guiron eventually gained the upper hand by launching his shurikens into Gamera’s limbs, preventing him from flying away. While Gamera temporarily retreated back into the lake, the boys attempted to stop Guiron by opening his hangar beneath him and sealing him inside. However, Guiron managed to break back out, at which point he dove into the lake where Gamera was removing the shurikens. After Guiron failed to slice into Gamera’s shell, Gamera managed to catch knife-headed beast, at which point he propelled himself back to the surface and high into the air before slamming Guiron back down into the ground blade-first. As Guiron flailed about helplessly, the boys tried to help by firing missiles at Guiron, with one killing the last Terran. Gamera caught the other missile and threw it into the empty shuriken port in Guiron's head. Using his flame breath, Gamera ignited the missile, resulting in an explosion that blew Guiron apart. Shortly after his bisected body landed on the ground, Guiron died, bringing an end to Terra's strongest monster while Gamera rescued the children.
Gamera Super Monster
Guiron was among the many monsters released by the pirate captain of the Zanon to stop Gamera. Though Gamera was severely wounded by Guiron's shurikens, Gamera managed to force Guiron's head into the ground before throwing a missile into his head, which detonated and killed him.
Reiwa era
GAMERA -Rebirth-
"KILL"
To be added.
Abilities
Blade
Guiron is mostly a melee-oriented kaiju. Almost all of his abilities revolve around the massive blade he sports on his forehead. It is 100 times harder than diamond, strong enough to reflect Space Gyaos' Supersonic Scalpel and cut into Gamera's shell after repeated stabs.[4] In GAMERA -Rebirth-, the blade was sharp and strong enough to cut one of Gamera's arms severely enough to sever it. The blade possesses an additional function to produce vibrations to empower its attacking power. This also enables it to burrow and travel underground.[6]
Guiron stabs into Gamera's shell with his blade
Shurikens
Due to Guiron's blade only being usable as a weapon at close range, Guiron will resort to his secondary attack, a pair of four shurikens stored in two circular indents in the side of his head, located just behind the cutting edge of his blade. These shurikens are incredibly sharp and also induce severe bleeding in any opponent they hit, enough to render Gamera unconscious in mere minutes. Guiron can guide these shurikens using telepathic waves.[4] They were sharp enough to cut right through Gamera's arms and lacerate his temples to the point of unconsciousness.
Electromagnetic Wave
In GAMERA -Rebirth-, Guiron can produce electromagnetic waves from its tail and utilize it to fire scales off its back and along the length of its blade as projectiles similar to a railgun.[6] This attack is called Scale Shot (鱗弾 Urokodan).[7]
Physical abilities
Despite his bulky appearance, Guiron can be extremely agile in battle, as noticed when he was able to leap high into the air to take down Space Gyaos. Guiron displays an impressive amount of strength and persistence in battle, demonstrated when he was able to cut through Gamera's shell by repeatedly slamming his blade down on it. Guiron can jump up to a distance of 1,300 meters per jump.[4] Guiron's eyes have a 360 degree field of view like a chameleon's, and his teeth are 60 times sharper than those of a piranha. Guiron has powerful magnetic suction cups in the palms of his hands which can attract objects.[4]In GAMERA -Rebirth-, Guiron is fast enough to leap into the air and dodge one of Gamera's flame bullets.
Elastic Torso
In GAMERA -Rebirth-, Guiron is capable of stretching its torso especially when jumping.
Poison
Within an anatomical illustration, Guiron was noted to have poisonous liquid within its body.[8]
Jets
Several anatomical illustrations note that Guiron can emit jets from its hind legs to empower its jumping capability.[9][10]
Weaknesses
The skin over the part of Guiron's head where he launches his shurikens is weak,[4] which Gamera exploits by shoving a missile through it and then detonating it, killing Guiron.
Video games
- Gamera the Guardian of the Universe (1995) - Nintendo Game Boy
- Gamera: The Time Adventure (1995) - Bandai Playdia
- CR Gamera (2009) - Pachinko
- Gamera Battle (2012) - GREE, Mobage
- Monster Gear (2015) - Android, iOS
Guiron in Monster Gear
Comics
- Gamera vs. Guiron (1969)
- Gamera the Giant Monster (1994-1995)
- Gamera the Giant Monster 5: Gamera vs. Guiron (1995)
- Gamera the Giant Monster 8: Gamera vs. 6 Great Monsters (1995)
Gamera the Giant Monster
Guiron was among Gamera's many past foes who were combined into a single hybrid kaiju dubbed Powered Gyaos.
Books
Friends: Gamera the Brave
G Guiron appeared along with other G monsters that were born by intaking Gyaos's DNA akin to Zedus. In their first battles, G monsters appeared only to defeat Gamera and they also fought each other. In the final battle, they were led by Zedus.[12]:282
Gallery
- Main article: Guiron/Gallery.
Roar
Guiron emits slowed-down lion roars.[citation needed] After Guiron kills the Space Gyaos by beheading it, he can also be heard making a low, guttural laugh. The cries of disgust Guiron makes when he inspects slices of Space Gyaos' carcass are actually director Noriaki Yuasa saying "Kusee, kusee," as written by the recording staff. These roars would later be used for the monster Scoradon from the show Fireman.
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Trivia
- Guiron is referenced in Gamera the Brave. When Toto is exploring the house, Toru's father accidentally knocks a knife off a counter while he is cooking. The knife sticks into the floor, and Toto breathes fire at the blade.
- It has been popularly speculated that Knifehead, a kaiju from Pacific Rim, was possibly inspired by Guiron, also possessing a blade-tipped head. However, in a two-part interview with Ain't It Cool News, Pacific Rim director Guillermo Del Toro revealed that Knifehead was not inspired by Guiron. According to Del Toro, Wayne Barlowe, who drew a silhouette that became Knifehead in the final film, had never heard of Guiron when he drew the silhouette. Del Toro acknowledged in the interview the resemblance between the two kaiju, though he further noted that upon comparison the two kaiju "don't look alike."[13]
- Guiron's head makes a brief appearance in Pacific Rim Uprising, during the scene where Hermann Gottlieb examines PPDC records in search of a match for the image Mako Mori transmitted.
- While Guiron is initially shown to have been decapitated after the missile lodged in his head explodes, he is shown seconds later dying with his head still intact, having been bisected by the explosion instead.
- Many pieces of concept art for Guiron depict him as bipedal.
- During the concept, Guiron was planned to fire its dorsal fins as projectiles.
- One of promotional stills featured Guiron to emit a laser from its head instead of shuriken.
- In one of promotional stills, Gamera attacked Guiron with jets from his hind legs instead of his usual fire breath.[14]
- In GAMERA -Rebirth-, Gamera lost one of his arms and was impaled his chest and shell by Guiron. This somewhat bears remembrances to the outcome of the battle between Heisei Gamera and Iris in Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris.
References
This is a list of references for Guiron. 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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