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. | |
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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. |
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Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah | 1991/12/04 | The Godzillasaurus uses Gamera's roar. |
Love and 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. Also featured are Mechagorillasaur - a parody of Mechani-Kong - and Kittyra - a parody of King Ghidorah. | |
Johnny Test | "Johnny Grow Your Own Monster" | 2010/06/17 | The monster Gameroid is named after Gamera, but is a parody of Godzilla. | |
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. | |
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. | ||
Lucky Star | "Pandora's Box" | 2007/08/26 | At Kyoto Station, Konata remarks that it was where Iris had entered, referencing the final battle 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 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 | The Beast Fighter Kuragenyara appears to be identical to Dogora. 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. | ||
Transformers: Super-God Masterforce | various episodes | The Decepticon Seacon Turtler bears some resemblance to Gamera. | ||
Turbo Fast | "Turbo Drift" | 2014/4/4 | Skidmark mentions some kaiju while the rest of the F.A.S.T. team explores Toyko that includes Godzilla, Mechagodzilla and SpaceGodzilla (he was also going to mention Minilla before Whipflash slapped him in order to shut him up). Later on, 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. The giant kaiju toy mimics Godzilla and also uses the Showa Godzilla's roar. The giant kaiju toy uses Godzila's tail-sliding kick from Godzilla vs. Megalon on the giant robot toy, then focuses its full attention on the giant robot toy as Chet flees from the scene. | |
"Skidzo-Brainia" | 2014/6/27 | When Skidmark mistakes a wire for a giant worm, he imagines it turning into a giant moth, 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. | ||
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's mother sees herself inside her home as Godzilla, Gamera and Alien Baltan all hang around outside. |
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. | |
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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 |
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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 |
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Devilman | The titular character encounters a demon turtle named Jinmen. The turtle can fly in a manner that is similar to Gamera's. | ||
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. | |
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 |
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"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 |
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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."[1] |
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.[2] | 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.[2] | |
Sinemys gamera | This species of turtle in the extinct genus Sinemys is named after Gamera.[3] | 1993 | S. gamera lived in Mongolia during the Early Cretaceous Period,[3] and the species was named by Donald Brinkman and Jiang-Hua Peng in 1993.[4] 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.[5] | |
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 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. |
See also
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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