Gamera in popular culture

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Among the many kaiju to have emerged amid the success of the Godzilla franchise, Gamera has become an icon in his own right and is frequently referenced and parodied in popular culture. Gamera and many kaiju in the Gamera franchise have appeared in a variety of mediums ranging from cartoons, films, literature, television series, comics and video games. The following is a list of such references, organized in alphabetical order. While this page aims to be comprehensive, due to the broad subject matter, it is always ever-growing.

Film

Image	Film of origin	Release date	Description
	Billy and Mandy's Big Boogey Adventure	2007/03/30	A variation of Gamera makes a short appearance. Here, Gamera is depicted as red, a noticeable change from the character's typical charcoal-green.
	Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance	2009/06/27	At the climax of the film, Evangelion Unit 01 enters a Pseudo-Evolved state. It replaces its arm, which it lost in its fight with the Tenth Angel, with one of energy. This is similar to the Heisei Gamera's Banishing Fist ability, which he used to defeat Iris in Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris.
	Frankenweenie	2012/09/20	When Toshiaki resurrects his deceased pet turtle Shelley in an attempt to copy how Victor Frankenstein resurrected Sparky, Shelley turns into a giant turtle monster similar to Gamera.
	Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter	1984/04/13	Among the many items on Tommy's shelf is a puppet closely resembling Gamera.
	Godzilla Final Wars	2004/12/04	The Canadian child played by Jordan Fleming throws a nondescript blue turtle into a fireplace with a cry of "You loser!" This may have been a jab at Gamera and/or the Pokémon franchise.
	Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah	1991/12/04	The Godzillasaurus uses Gamera's roar.
	Love & Peace	2015/06/27	Ryo is made fun of for his pet turtle Pikadon and releases it; Pikadon later ends up growing to the size of a kaiju. This calls back to films such as Gamera the Giant Monster with Tosho releasing a turtle he finds before encountering Gamera, or Gamera the Brave with Toru Aizawa keeping Toto as a pet and witnessing him grow into a kaiju.
	Pacific Rim: Uprising	2018/03/23	Gamera, Gyaos, Guiron, Jiger, and Zigra's heads are listed on the records of past kaiju. Battra, Gigan, Yonggary, Baragon, Varan, and MUTO's heads are also shown.

Television

Image	Series of origin	Episode(s)	Air date	Description
	Big Hero 6: The Series	"Rivalry Week"	2018/08/11	Fred’s Godzilla-like costume from the film returns. Fred also mentions that the San Fransokyo Art Institute mascot, Sabatini the Sea Snail, is a rip-off of his costume, making it a rival monster like Gamera is to Godzilla.
	Case Closed	various episodes		In this TV series, there is a famous kaiju series named "Gomera", which parodies both Godzilla and Gamera.
	Dexter's Laboratory	"Last But Not Beast"	1998/06/15	Badaxtra, a giant monster with an axe-shaped head, has a body resembling that of Godzilla's (though without his dorsal fins) while his head follows a similar design concept as Guiron's.
	Dr. Slump: Arale-chan	"The Mysterious Dr. Monster?!"	1982/01/13	Dr. Monster daydreams of playing jump rope with Godzilla and Gamera.
	Food Wars! The Second Plate	"The Age of Kings"	2016/07/16	As Hisako Arato prepares her Soft-Shelled Turtle Hamburger for the competition, a visual metaphor is employed featuring the girl wreaking havoc on a city dressed as a giant turtle that looks similar to Gamera.
	Franklin	"Franklin in the Dark"	1998/01/05	Franklin imagines several Gamera kaiju coming out of his shell, including Gyaos, Viras, Jiger, and Barugon.
	Gintama	"Summer Vacation Is The Most Fun Right Before It Begins"	2008/07/17	A giant, flying, fire-breathing Chinese soft-shell turtle appears in the episode as an obvious reference to Gamera. Some characters wear turtle-shell armor modeled after Gamera's shell.
	The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy	"Giant Billy And Mandy All-Out Attack"	2006/01/27	The episode is a parody of Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack and features a monster called Cragera, who is a parody of Gamera.
	Johnny Test	"Johnny Grow Your Own Monster"	2010/06/17	The monster Gameroid is named after Gamera, but actually resembles Godzilla and is a parody of him (for other details about this episode, see the Television section of Godzilla in popular culture).
	Justice League Unlimited	"Chaos at the Earth's Core"	2005/09/24	At the beginning of the episode, John Stewart, S.T.R.I.P.E., and Stargirl are facing off against a giant turtle monster similar to Gamera, who is attacking Tokyo similar to the Showa Gamera in Gamera the Giant Monster. The turtle monster's flight pattern is strikingly similar to Gamera's flying saucer-like flight pattern, right down to the jets where his arms and legs would be, and the monster can also breathe fire much like Gamera does.
	Kill la Kill	"Ride Like the Wind"	2014/01/16	During Honnōji Academy's Tri-City Schools Raid Trip, Nonon Jakuzure is leading the assault on Abekamo Academy in Kyōto when she faces the school's four Guardian Students. The students form a Divine Four Formation, each one summoning giant spirit monsters, with the Guardian Student of the North, Taro Genbu, unleashing a giant monster turtle resembling Gamera. The monster even possesses Gamera's tusks and elbow spikes.
	The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson	various episodes		To transition into the "Email Twitter Attack!" segment, an opening jingle is played featuring stock footage from multiple Gamera films and Gappa.
	Like a Dragon: Yakuza	"Departure/Return"	2024/10/24	Posters for both Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla and Gamera the Guardian of the Universe are present outside of a movie theater.
	Lucky Star	"Pandora's Box"	2007/08/26	At Kyoto Station, Konata remarks that it was where Iris had entered, referencing the final battle between it and Gamera in Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris.
	Megas XLR	"Breakout"	2004/06/05	One of the escaped prisoners is a giant robot with a striking resemblance to Gamera, notably the Heisei Trilogy version in Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris.
	Pani Poni Dash!	"A Wise Man Will Know Not to Approach Danger"	2005/11/13	In the episode's prologue, Kurusu and Serizawa square off in the school hallway wearing costumes. Kurusu is wearing a Godzilla costume, while a Type 66 Maser Cannon, Gyaos and Viras also make very brief appearances.
	The Powerpuff Girls	"Octi Evil"	1998/12/02	A giant turtle monster similar to Gamera appears briefly in the episode.
	Robot Chicken	"Molly Lucero in: Your Friend's Boob"	2019/10/20	In a parody of the 2013 musical King Kong, here titled King Kong: Alive on Broadway, Godzilla, Rodan, Mothra, and Gamera all perform in a musical on Broadway before King Kong and Ann Darrow crash the show in order to try and sabotage their competition.
	The Simpsons	"Lisa on Ice"	1994/11/13	Lisa, in danger of failing Physical Education, fears that if she ever receives an "F," it could blemish her record forever. Fantasizing that her Presidency of the United States is revoked during her inauguration due to the grade, the official sentences her to "a lifetime of horror on Monster Island," but reassures her that it is only a name. She and other hapless humans are then seen fleeing in terror from Gamera, Rodan and Mothra.
		"Thirty Minutes Over Tokyo"	1999/05/16	Throughout the episode, the names of various kaiju can be seen written in katakana on signs and paintings, including Mothra, Anguirus, Ebirah, and Barugon. As the Simpson family departs from Tokyo via airplane, a sudden attack by four famous kaiju prompts routine assurances by an unfazed pilot. Upon their escape, the scene reveals Gamera, Rodan, Mothra and Godzilla all roaring into the sky.
	South Park	"Mecha-Streisand"	1998/02/18	Sidney Poitier's giant monster form is meant to reference Gamera.
	Super Electromagnetic Machine Voltes V	"Father's Trick of Aiming at the Earth"	1977/08/27	Throughout the TV series, various Beast Fighters and Super Fighters also use the roars of several kaiju, including Anguirus, Ebirah, Gabara, Gamera and Kamacuras.
	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles	various episodes		This 2012 animated TV series' depiction of Tokka is strikingly similar to Gamera, being a giant turtle monster with fire breath and the ability to fly. Additionally, unlike other versions of Tokka, this version is a guardian creature, much like Gamera is.
	Transformers: Super-God Masterforce	various episodes		The Decepticon Seacon Turtler bears some resemblance to Gamera.
	Turbo Fast	"Turbo Drift"	2014/4/4	Chet gets lost in a toy store and accidentally activates both a giant robot toy and a giant kaiju toy (the second toy is a three-way hybrid of Godzilla, Gigan and Guiron) which then terrorize him in a toy city.
		"Skidzo-Brainia"	2014/6/27	When Skidmark mistakes a wire for a giant worm, he imagines it turning into a giant moth that he names Megamoth, clearly referencing Mothra, and mentions that it has a 50-foot wingspan. It destroys a taco stand as it battles a monster based on the giant kaiju toy from the episode "Turbo Drift" (see above) that was a three-way hybrid between Godzilla, Gigan and Guiron, now alive and gigantic, though it uses a different roar this time (for another part of this episode that is not mentioned here, see the Television section of King Kong in popular culture).
	Ultraman Max	"Prophecy of Baradhi"	2005/09/10	This episode, directed by Shusuke Kaneko, begins with two children playing with action figures of Gamera, in his design from Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris, and Godzilla, in his design from Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, two kaiju films which were both directed by Kaneko. The two kids are interrupted by the arrival of the Ultra Series monster Antlar and run away from it.
	Urusei Yatsura	"Ah, the Eyelid of Mother"	1983/08/17	Ataru Moroboshi's mother sees herself inside her home as Godzilla, Gamera and Alien Baltan all hang around outside.
		"Dreaming Ten-chan! The Great Adventure at the End of the Rainbow!!"	1986/01/15	Ten uses a figurine of Gyaos in a play fight with Ataru, only for Ataru to destroy it with his Godzilla puppet and strike by himself. Ten later dreams that he is riding on top of Gyaos, getting payback on Ataru for all of his victories.

Video games

Image	Game of origin	Release date	Description
	The Battle Cats	2014/09/17	Guardian Gamereon (and by extension King Gamereon) reference Gamera in both name and appearance. "Guardian" pays homage to Gamera's status as a guardian in various films, and his title introduced with the film Gamera the Guardian of the Universe.
	Dawn of the Monsters	2022/03/22	The playable Nephilim Megadon seems to be based off kaiju such as Godzilla and Gamera, being reptilian like both of these kaiju while having a spike on his back similar to Godzilla's dorsal fins and fire-based attacks like Gamera. A skin for Megadon is named "Turtle," which has similar colors to the Heisei Trilogy Gamera.
	Dezeni World	1985/12	Both King Kong and Gyaos appear in the game.
	Five Nights at Freddy's: Into the Pit	2024/08/07	The inventory features a doodle of Godzilla and Gamera fighting with each other.
	Kid Dracula	1990/10/19 (NES) 1993/01/03 (GameBoy)	Gamera is an enemy that appears in both the NES version and the Gameboy version of the game.
	Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure	2011/10/13	The Skylander Warnado can fly by spinning in his shell in a tornado, similar to Gamera's method of flight.
	Sonic the Hedgehog 2	1992/11/21	The Turtloid enemy clearly resembles Gamera in flight.
	World of Warcraft	2004/11/23	Multiple turtle large monsters have been featured in the game, including Ghammoo-Ra and Gammerita. The old design for Ghamoo-Ra and the design for Gammerita sport tusks, much like Gamera.
	Xenoblade Chronicles X	2015/04/29	Jet Turtle, a common collectible in the game, very clearly resembles Gamera in flight.

Books

Image	Book of origin	Author(s)	Publish date	Description
	Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich	Adam Rex	2006/09/01	One of the poems featured in this collection of parody poems centered around famous movie monsters, "Godzilla Pooped on My Honda", features a narrator expressing regret about moving to Tokyo due to multiple humorous kaiju-related incidents. The incidents, in order of occurrence, include King Ghidorah fighting an unnamed turtle kaiju (possibly Gamera) and kaiju being exposed as giant men in suits, giant robots crushing their mailbox, Mothra eating their Sunday clothes, and Godzilla defecating on their car. The poem is accompanied by simple illustrations of the heads of King Ghidorah, Mothra, and Godzilla, and the next page showcases Godzilla fighting Mothra with King Ghidorah and two giant robots rampaging all around, all while a woman stares in disbelief at what is presumably her car covered in Godzilla's feces.
	GODZILLA: Monster Apocalypse	Renji Oki	2019/10/05	Kamoebas IV's carcass that washes up onshore at Odo Island is 60 meters tall and is missing its right hand, much like the Showa Gamera's 60-meter height and the Heisei Gamera losing his right hand in Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris. It also references a similar scene in Godzilla: Tokyo SOS, where Gamera was planned to wash up onshore before being replaced by Kamoebas, since he was the only Toho turtle kaiju that could have been used.

Comics

Image	Comic of origin	Issue(s)	Publish date	Description
	Devilman			The titular character encounters a demon turtle named Jinmen. The turtle can fly in a manner that is similar to Gamera's.
	Dogby Walks Alone	Volume 2	2008/01/13	Abee, one of the members of Squad B, an A-Team inspired group of tokusatsu actors turned mercenaries, dresses as a Gamera-like turtle kaiju. He functions as the group's parody of B.A. Baracus with a fear of trains instead of planes and wearing Mr. T's chains in one of the chapter covers.
	Green Lantern (vol. 3)	#136 ("While Rome Burns Part 5")	2001/05/01	While fighting Alexander Nero, Green Lantern manifests a creature that is almost identical to Gamera, except that it has horns instead of tusks.
	The Powerpuff Girls	#69	2006/02/01	A monster from Japan looking for the World Ping Pong Championships in Townsville bears a striking resemblance to Guiron, specifically the Showa era version; it has green skin, a blade-like head, and tusks on its lower jaw. However, it also has three eyes on the side of its head and ping pong paddles on all four of its four arms in the place of hands and also on the tip of its long tail.
	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Macro-Series	#3 ("Leonardo")	2018/11/28	While hanging out at their farmstead, the Turtles are seen watching a Gamera film, with the Showa Gyaos visible onscreen.
	Usagi Yojimbo (vol. 18)	#66-68 ("Sumi-e")	2003/05/01-2003/07/01	This three-part story has multiple references to famous kaiju. A "Kappa" that closely resembles Gamera (with a horn on its head and a bird-like beak) fights with a "dragon" that closely resembles King Ghidorah.
	Uzumaki	"Chapter 15: Chaos"	1999/09/30	A large figurine of the Heisei Gamera can be seen in the wreckage of Kurouzu after typhoons have destroyed the town.

Music

Image	Song of origin	Artist(s)	Release date	Description
	"Gamera"	Tortoise	1996/01/30	This instrumental song's title is "Gamera".
	"Gamera"	Disastroid	2012/06/01	The song is titled "Gamera", and the lyrics make reference to him as well.
	"Gamera"	Society's Ugly Son	2013/10/09	The song is titled "Gamera", and Gamera is named in it.
	"Paragraph President"	Blackalicious	2002/04/30	One of the lyrics in the song says, "Leave your city burnin' like Gamera."
	"Revenge of the Evil God"	Kinzoku-Yebis	2023/10/11	The title references Iris, with the monster's title of Evil God. Additionally, it references his debut film, Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris.

Dragon Ball

Main article: Dragon Ball#Monster cameos.

Mystery Science Theater 3000

Main article: Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Pokémon

Main article: Pokémon.

Miscellaneous

Image	Media of origin	Description
	Dungeons & Dragons	The Forgotten Realms campaign has a dragon turtle called Aremag, whose name is "Gamera" spelled backwards.
	King of Tokyo	One of the cards in this board game is called "Friend of Children," a title associated with Gamera, notably the Showa version of the character. In the first edition of the game, the picture on the card is of a giant sea turtle.
	Mountain Dew Code Red	The artwork for this cherry-flavored Moutain Dew features a giant turtle monster that is highly reminiscent of Gamera.
	Naoyuki Naito	A Japanese baseball player (currently retired) whose nickname is "Gyaos."

Real life

Image	Name	Reason for name	Date	History and / or description
	Gamerabaena sonsalla	This extinct species of turtle is named after Gamera, alluding to the Hell Creek Formation through the kaiju's fire breath.	2010	G. sonsalla lived in the Hell Creek Formation in Montana during the Late Cretaceous Period. It was identified in 2010 by Tyler R. Lyson and Walter G. Joyce from fragments of a skull.
	Gamera Games	A Chinese indie game publisher	2018	Named after Gamera, this company developed games such as The Rewinder, Volcano Princess, and The Awakener: Forgotten Oath.
	University of Maryland Gamera helicopters		2011 2012 2016	Engineering students at the University of Maryland, whose mascot is a terrapin, named their entry for the 2011 Igor I. Sikorsky Human Powered Helicopter Competition Gamera I. They would further develop the craft for the 2012 competition with Gamera II, which would set a human powered helicopter flight record of 97 seconds in 2013. Components of Gamera II were repurposed into a solar-powered craft called the Solar Gamera or S-Gamera and would make the first solar powered helicopter flight in 2016.
	"Gamera" nodosaurid ankylosaur specimen	Specimen nicknamed "Gamera" after the kaiju	2006/09/20 (CEUM-1522)	An unknown type of nodosaurid ankylosaur, speculated to be in the subfamily Polacanthinae, that is notably larger than nodosaurids such as Gastonia and Polacanthus.
	Sinemys gamera	This species of turtle in the extinct genus Sinemys is named after Gamera.	1993	S. gamera lived in Mongolia during the Early Cretaceous Period, and the species was named by Donald Brinkman and Jiang-Hua Peng in 1993. It is distinctive for twin wing-like growths on the backs of its shell, resembling many Gamera incarnations' wing-flippers, which are thought to serve a hydrodynamic purpose, i.e., aiding the animal while swimming.

See also

• Godzilla in popular culture
• King Kong in popular culture

References

This is a list of references for Gamera in popular culture. 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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