Gyaos

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Gyaos
Original Gyaos in Gamera the Brave
Gyaos in Gamera vs. Gyaos
Space Gyaos in Gamera vs. Guiron
Super Gyaos in Gamera: Guardian of the Universe
Hyper Gyaos in Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris
Alternate names Gaos, Gyaos Bird
Subtitle(s) Supersonic Monster
(超音波怪獣,   Chōonpa Kaijū)SHO,
Super Genetic Beast
(超遺伝子獣,   Chō Idenshi-jū)HEI[1]
Ultimate Lifeform Monster Beyond Genes
(遺伝子を超えた究極生命体の怪獣,   Idenshi o Koeta Kyūkyoku Seimei-tai no Kaijū)HEI[1]
Shadow of Evil
(災いの影,   Wazawai no Kage)HEI
Species Vampire Bat-like Creature
Height 65 metersGvGy-GSM[2]
10 metersGOTU
85 meters (Super)[1]
88 meters (Hyper)
30 metersGTB[3]
Wingspan 172 metersGvGy-GSM[2]
15 metersGOTU
185 meters (Super)[1]
190 meters (Hyper)
90 metersGTB[3]
Weight 25 metric tonsGvGy-GSM[2]
20 metric tonsGOTU
75 metric tons (Super)[1]
78 metric tons (Hyper)
500 metric tonsGTB[3]
Flight Speed Heisei:  Mach 4.2 or greater[1]
Forms Super Gyaos, Hyper Gyaos, Neo Gyaos, Space Gyaos, Original Gyaos
Place(s) of emergence Japan Archipelago, Chubu Major Fault Zone,GvGy[2] Himegami IslandGOTU[1]
Controlled by ZanonGSM
Relations Atlanteans (Creators)GOTU-G3,
Numerous offspring, Iris,
Greta Karbone (Clone Creator)DH
Allies Other Gyaos
Enemies Gamera, Guiron
Created by Masao Yagi
Played by Yumi KameyamaGOTU
First appearance Latest appearance
Gamera vs. Gyaos Gamera the Brave
Roar(s)
1967Space GyaosHeiseiMore roars
The Shadow of Evil, Gyaos.
„ 

— Inscription from the obelisk found on Gamera's atoll (Gamera: Guardian of the Universe)

Gyaos (ギャオス,   Gyaosu) is a bat-like kaiju created by Daiei that first appeared in the 1967 Gamera film, Gamera vs. Gyaos.

Gyaos is considered to be Gamera's arch-enemy, and has more film appearances than any of his other enemies. In the Showa series, Gyaos was Gamera's second foe, and emerged from an underground cave to feed on humanity. Gamera battled the creature in several encounters, finally destroying it by pulling it into the crater of an active volcano. However, Gyaos wasn't the only creature of its kind, as multiple silver Space Gyaos were a frequent nuisance on the alien planet Terra in the film Gamera vs. Guiron. The Terrans' guardian monster Guiron fought and brutally killed one Space Gyaos by chopping it apart with its nose blade. In Gamera: Super Monster, Gyaos was one of the monsters controlled by the sinister space criminal Zanon, which he used to menace humanity and try to defeat Gamera.

In the Heisei trilogy of films, Gyaos was reinvented as a perfect organism genetically engineered by the ancient Atlanteans. Gyaos began reproducing out of control and turned on their creators, who created Gamera as a last-ditch effort to stop them. Gamera succeeded in killing most of the Gyaos, but clutches of their eggs survived into the modern day, where changing environmental conditions brought on by human activity caused them to hatch. Gamera reemerged as well to battle his ancient foe, and successfully killed three Gyaos that appeared in Japan in 1995. However, countless more Gyaos would appear in 1999 as a result of Gamera depleting the Earth's mana in order to destroy Legion. These evolved Hyper Gyaos began overrunning the world, with Gamera desperately trying to defeat them. After Gamera defeated the creature known as Iris, an ancient demonic beast genetically related to Gyaos, a swarm of thousands of Gyaos descended on Japan to attempt to destroy Gamera once and for all.

In the most recent Gamera film, Gamera the Brave, a flock of three Gyaos attacked a Japanese village in 1973, but were attacked by Gamera, who was forced to self-destruct in order to kill them. A new monster called Zedus was eventually spawned by feeding on the corpses of Gyaos, and did battle with the reincarnation of Gamera three decades later.

Name

In Gamera vs. Gyaos, Gyaos' name comes from the onomatopoeia for its roar according to the film's protagonist, Eiichi. The majority of English-language media prior to the release of Gamera: Guardian of the Universe spelled the monster's English name as Gaos, without the "y."

Design

In each of its appearances, Gyaos resembles a giant pterosaur or bat-like creature, with a flattened, arrow shaped head, leathery wings with three claws on each, taloned feet and a flat tail.

In Gamera vs. Gyaos, Gyaos' skin is dark brown with orange-red markings across his chest and wings, while his eyes are bright yellow. Gamera vs. Guiron introduced the Space Gyaos, which possesses silver skin with dull reddish-purple markings and amber-colored eyes.

In the Heisei trilogy, Gyaos was given an updated appearance for each film it appeared in. The Gyaos in Gamera: Guardian of the Universe had a more streamlined appearance, with larger wings and a longer neck, as well as red eyes after its evolution into Super Gyaos in Tokyo. In Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris, a new type of Gyaos, Hyper Gyaos, was introduced. While sharing similarities to its earlier forms, Hyper Gyaos has a much more draconic appearance, with larger wings and rough, reddish-brown skin. Hyper Gyaos is also considerably thinner than previous incarnations, with elements of its skeleton such as its ribcage protruding from underneath its skin.

Origins

In the Showa series, Gyaos has no definitively explained origin, and is discovered living in a large cave. In Gamera vs. Guiron, it is revealed that there are multiple silver space-faring Gyaos, suggesting that Gyaos may be an extraterrestrial species, or that there are multiple species of Gyaos specific to other planets.

In the Heisei trilogy, Gyaos are the result of genetic engineering by the ancient Atlanteans in order to create a genetically perfect organism, possibly as a weapon. However, the asexually-reproducing Gyaos began breeding out of control and turned on their creators. The Atlanteans created Gamera as a last-ditch effort to stop the Gyaos, but their civilization was ultimately destroyed by the Gyaos. While Gamera successfully destroyed most of the Gyaos, several clutches of their eggs survived into the present day and were able to hatch due to human activities causing a decrease in the Earth's levels of Mana.

History

Showa Series

Gamera vs. Gyaos

In Gamera vs. Gyaos, Gyaos appeared in Japan from a large cavern, and feasted on blood, principally that of livestock and humans. Soon, Gamera confronted Gyaos, and after a battle, Gyaos was forced to flee, and Gamera was forced into the ocean to recover. It is soon learned that light causes Gyaos' skin to shrink, so the light of the city stadium of Nagoya kept Gyaos at bay. Gamera soon returned to finish Gyaos off and, after a battle in the air, Gyaos cut off his own foot to escape from the sun.

The protagonists developed a plan to place artificial blood on a rooftop in Nagoya. The plan was to keep Gyaos drinking the blood for so long that the sun would come up and kill him. But Gyaos proved more cunning than originally thought and used a strange fog attack to protect himself from the sun. The next plan was to lure Gamera to Gyaos' lair in the forest by setting the forest alight. Gyaos used his fog attack to put out the flames, but Gamera arrived and eventually defeated Gyaos by throwing the beast into a volcano.

Gamera vs. Guiron

Space Gyaos in Gamera vs. Guiron

A silver Space Gyaos (宇宙ギャオス,   Uchū Gyaosu) appeared briefly in Gamera vs. Guiron, as a victim of Guiron. A swarm of Space Gyaos had attacked the planet Terra, an undiscovered planet in our solar system, being kept at bay only by the Terrans' guardian monster, Guiron. A Space Gyaos arrived near Guiron and tried to attack with its laser beam, but it was reflected by Guiron's bladed face, and unceremoniously sliced off Space Gyaos' right leg. Gyaos attempts flies into the air in order to continue the fight, but in a swooping maneuver Guiron slices off Space Gyaos' wing. With its prey grounded and immobile, Guiron cuts off Gyaos' other wing before decapitating it and slicing its body into disc-like chunks before deciding that Space Gyaos was not fit to eat. After Gamera had killed Guiron, the planet was seemingly abandoned to the Gyaos.


Gamera: Super Monster

Stock footage of Gyaos was later featured in the Showa series recap Gamera: Super Monster along with the other Showa era Gamera kaiju.

Heisei Series

Gamera: Guardian of the Universe

Three Gyaos appeared on an island archipelago on the coast of Japan, where they wiped out entire villages, eating every human being they could find. Ornithologist Mayumi Nagamine and police inspector Osako were sent to the islands to investigate, where they saw the three creatures up close. Together with the JSDF, Nagamine and Osako formulated a plan to lure the Gyaos to the Fukuoka Dome in Fukuoka, using hunks of raw meat laced with tranquilizers. By nightfall, the three Gyaos arrived at the stadium and descended. The stadium lights were activated in order to trap the Gyaos, which had an aversion to light. Two of the Gyaos were sedated and captured, but one escaped. The Gyaos tried to fly over the ocean, but was suddenly swatted into a nearby refinery and destroyed by Gamera, who proceeded towards the Fukuoka Dome. The two Gyaos awakened and used their sonic beams to cut free of the cages restraining them. The Gyaos flew out of the stadium, avoiding Gamera, and retreated.

The two Gyaos later attacked a village in the Japanese countryside, but were intercepted by Gamera. Gamera destroyed one of the Gyaos with a fireball, but the other escaped. When Gamera was attacked by the JSDF near Mount Fuji, the surviving Gyaos attacked him with its sonic beam. Gamera was seriously wounded by the JSDF and Gyaos' attacks and was forced to rest underneath the ocean. Gyaos began feeding on wildlife, livestock, and humans and eventually grew into the 85 meter-tall Super Gyaos (スーパーギャオス,   Sūpā Gyaosu). Super Gyaos flew to Tokyo, where it fed on the helpless populace. Super Gyaos later built a nest on the Tokyo Tower and laid eggs. Gamera traveled underground and surfaced in the center of Tokyo to challenge Super Gyaos. Gamera blasted the nest with a fireball, destroying all of the eggs. Super Gyaos and Gamera fought throughout Tokyo, causing major damage to the city. Eventually, the two kaiju took their battle to the sky, engaging in a supersonic dogfight that reached the top of the atmosphere. Gamera and Super Gyaos plummeted down to Earth, and Gamera crashed into a factory which exploded. Super Gyaos stared at the fireball, believing itself victorious, when suddenly the fire was absorbed by Gamera, who stood unharmed. Gamera fired a massive fireball at Super Gyaos, which blasted its head clean off. Super Gyaos' headless corpse then fell backwards and exploded.

Stock footage of Super Gyaos and its battle with Gamera was later shown in Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris, where it is revealed to be the cause of the death of Ayana Hirasaka's parents.

Gamera 2: Attack of Legion

The Gyaos do not appear in Gamera 2 physically, but they are mentioned and are the subject of a book in the film.

Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris

After Gamera's Ultimate Mana Blast attack used to destroy Legion depleted the Earth's Mana, thousands of Gyaos began appearing all over the world in new evolved forms known as Hyper Gyaos (ギャオス・ハイパー,   Gyaosu ・ Haipā, lit. Gyaos Hyper). The corpse of one Gyaos was found in a village in the Philippines, where it had eaten an old woman's son and grandson. Gamera was reportedly seen in several locations across the planet battling the Hyper Gyaos, causing terrible destruction in the process. One night, two Hyper Gyaos appeared in the Shibuya district of Tokyo, where they battled Gamera. Gamera killed both Gyaos, but at the cost of thousands of human lives, ending humanity's trust in Gamera and causing them to designate him as an enemy. Meanwhile, a powerful creature related to the Gyaos, Iris, was awakened from a shrine in Nara Prefecture and raised by the vengeful orphan Ayana Hirasaka to kill Gamera, who she blamed for the deaths of her parents in 1995. Iris and Gamera battled in Kyoto, with Iris being killed and Gamera brutally maimed. After the battle, a swarm of thousands of Hyper Gyaos approached Kyoto, intent on finishing Gamera once and for all. However, humanity's faith in Gamera had been restored and they were ready to fight side-by-side with him against the Gyaos.


Gamera the Brave

Original Gyaos in Gamera the Brave

The Gyaos also appeared in Gamera the Brave, called Original Gyaos (オリジナルギャオス,   Orijinaru Gyaosu), where a flock attacked a small village, only to be stopped by Gamera, who sacrificed himself to destroy the flock. Supplementary materials for the film reveal that Zedus was later mutated from eating the corpses of Gyaos.


GAMERA

Gyaos appears in the 2015 short first screened at New York Comic-Con to commemorate Gamera's 50th anniversary. Swarms of Gyaos are shown attacking Tokyo ten years in the past, and one of them eats the main character's father. The main character is saved when Gamera smashes through a building and kills the Gyaos by stomping on its neck. Gamera then destroys the incoming swarm of Gyaos with a powerful blast of fire.[4]

Abilities

In both incarnations the Gyaos have been shown to be astonishingly capable flyers, able to fly incredibly fast and perform agile aerial maneuvers with ease. Also, both Showa and Heisei versions have been able to spit an amazingly precise beam from its mouth, which is actually created by the Gyaos' supersonic scream, apparently able to resonate at 3 million hertz and slice objects into halves. Although they are nocturnal, the Gyaos can overcome the sun by emitting a fog-like gas to obscure the sun and douse flames, while the Heisei version simply hyper-evolved itself to gain protective lenses over its eyes.

Interestingly, the Space Gyaos in Gamera vs. Guiron seems to have no such aversion to sunlight: logical, given that it would be impossible for a space creature to avoid sun and star light. The Showa version also has a regenerative ability, as it was able to regrow its severed foot after only an hour. The Heisei version showed several evolutions: it was asexual and could reproduce on its own. While not shown to be regenerative, the Super Gyaos is immensely physically tough, able to easily shrug off missile attacks, and even survive orbital re-entry.

In the Showa series, the source of Gyaos' sonic beam is through the use of a special forked-shaped throat. However, the downside was that it left Gyaos unable to turn its head sideways, only upwards and downwards. In the Heisei series, Gyaos was able to turn its head normally.

Filmography

Video Games

City Shrouded in Shadow

Gyaos is featured in the survival RPG City Shrouded in Shadow developed by Granzella and Bandai Namco for the PlayStation 4. Flocks of Gyaos fly around the city and antagonize the player and other NPCs. On the second part of the game's tenth stage, Gamera appears to battle the Gyaos.

Comics

Manga Boys Special Edition: Gamera

Gyaos battling Gamera in Manga Boys Special Edition: Gamera

Gyaos appears in this 1995 manga illustrated by Hurricane Ryu Hariken, along with several other kaiju. Eventually, Gyaos merges with all of Gamera's other foes from the Showa era into a chimera-like creature called Powered Gyaos, which is defeated by Gamera.

Gamera: The Guardian of the Universe

Isssue #1

After the battle between Gamera and Super Gyaos, Dr. Greta Karbone illegally obtained a sample of Gyaos' DNA. On her private island in Guanajota Mexico, she and her assistants Gusano and Carlos worked to create an army of Supermonsters, which included a cloned Gyaos. However, Gyaos quickly grew too big for its incubation jar and escaped. It ate Carlos before flying through the roof and escaping into Guanajota Harbor. Gyaos lived for some time on whatever humans it could find, such as lone fishermen, before entering Guanajota. As soon as it landed it began to wreak havoc. It had destroyed many structures, and the city was aflame before Gamera arrived. Gamera hit Gyaos with a fire blast from behind. On turning to see its aggressor, Gyaos returned fire. Gyaos then leaped upon Gamera, who used one of his tusks to stab Gyaos' ankle. Not swayed by the attack, the two monsters prepared their next attacks as the people fled the ruined city.

Isssue #2

Gyaos charged at Gamera with a headbutt, but Gamera grabbed Gyaos' shoulders and lead it into a roll that Gamera used to slam Gyaos into the water. Gyaos managed to get back up, but it then saw Gamera blasting through the air toward it. Gamera tackled Gyaos so that it fell backwards into a tanker ship in the harbor, and then blasted upward and spat his fire blast at Gyaos, igniting the oil in the tanker and bringing the entire Guanajota harbor to a boil. Gamera sustained the blast on the harbor, and the helpless Gyaos clone was effectively obliterated.

Gamera vs. Barugon

In Kadokawa's manga adaptation of Gamera vs. Barugon, set between the events of Gamera 2: Attack of Legion and Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris, Gamera does battle with a horde of Gyaos after defeating the Mother Legion.

Gamera 2006: Hard Link

The Gyaos attack Gamera in Gamera 2006: Hard Link

In the spin-off manga to Gamera the Brave, Gamera's battle against the Gyaos in 1973 is gone more into detail within the "Special Link" chapter.

Gamera is being attacked by four Gyaos' sonic beams. Gamera kills a first Gyaos with a point-blank fire blast and then stomps on its head. The remaining three Gyaos keep firing at Gamera, but Gamera gets in his shell and charges up a fire blast which he fires at one of the Gyaos. Another Gyaos comes in and bites Gamera's arm, and Gamera throws it to the ground and fires at it, killing it. The two remaining Gyaos hover about, and Gamera fires another fire blast at one of them. From the smoke the Gyaos flies toward Gamera and unleashes a flurry of beams. Gamera punches it to the ground. However, the Gyaos continues its onslaught of beams just as the other Gyaos turns out to have survived and flies over to Gamera. Gamera begins spurting blood, and the two Gyaos feast on Gamera's entrails. Gamera, acknowledging he's been defeated, triggers his Fireball Ejection Suicide, killing both him and both Gyaos.

Gallery

Main article: Gyaos/Gallery.

Roar

Gyaos' roars in the Showa series
Gyaos' roars in the Heisei series

Trivia

  • The production team of the Heisei Gamera trilogy decided on Gyaos as an opponent, as they believed that Gyaos was Gamera's most famous foe, having appeared in at least three of the Showa Gamera films. Originally, this role was set for Barugon (at least for one of the films) as shown within the manga adaption.
  • Gyaos is the only enemy monster in the Gamera series to appear in more than one film, not counting stock footage.
  • Counting stock footage and photographs, Gyaos have appeared in every Gamera film since Gamera: Super Monster, and have also appeared in the 2015 50th anniversary GAMERA short.
  • Gyaos' roar was later altered for the The Return of Ultraman kaiju, Earthtron, and also reused for a giant snake in the 1968 Daiei film The Snake Girl and the Silver-Haired Witch.
  • Hajime Isayama stated that he was influenced by the Gyaos from Gamera: Guardian of the Universe when creating the man-eating Titans for his popular Attack on Titan manga series.[5] Ironically, Shinji Higuchi, who oversaw the special effects for Gamera: Guardian of the Universe, later directed a live-action film adaptation of Attack on Titan in 2015.
  • Gyaos was the first known kaiju to be portrayed onscreen by a woman. Yumi Kameyama was chosen as the suit actress for Super Gyaos in Gamera: Guardian of the Universe, as director Shusuke Kaneko wanted the creature to appear more streamlined and feminine.
  • Gyaos' skull 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.

References

This is a list of references for Gyaos. 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. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Heisei Gamera monsters data - Gamera.jp
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Showa Gamera monsters data - Gamera.jp
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 Gamera the Brave Super Complete Works. Shogakukan. 20 May 2006. p. 32. ISBN 4091051081.
  4. Katsuhito Ishii Interview - CGWorld
  5. Gammerama: The extended universe of Daiei's most famous monster - Maser Patrol

Daiei
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Era Icon - Heisei.png
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