Guiron
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Guiron (ギロン is a blade-headed Giron)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 is 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.
In GAMERA -Rebirth-, Guiron was originally designed with a tail, but it was removed to make the kaiju look more like a living sword.[6] His battle with Gamera was created with the concept of "samurai vs. ninja."[4]
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. In CR Gamera The Battle Pachinko, his head was reduced in size compared with the design in Gamera vs. Guiron.[7]
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, curved, and is covered in a pattern resembling a Damascus knife. Guiron's build is notably more slender in the anime series, along with a stubby tail and bluish, metallic 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, with a red sclera. The monster’s mouth is concealed along the lower half of the blade's length, unlike the perpendicular arrangement in the Showa design. The lower jaw is hidden when closed, in line with the blade's edge. Two mandibles flank the sides of the jaw along the flats of the blade, attaching to the blade body in a jigsaw pattern.
Origins
In Gamera vs. Guiron, when the Terrans came under threat by near-constant attacks from 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 at least 25 kaiju created by an ancient civilization many thousands of years ago for the purpose of culling the human population. Guiron was created from the same prototype as Gamera himself.[4] After Gamera disobeyed his intended mission, he defeated the other monsters. In 1989, a Guiron hatched from an egg discovered at a drilling site in Niue.[8]
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 shuriken from the sides of his head, striking Gamera in the face. Though Gamera managed to dodge a second attack from the shuriken 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 shuriken 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 shuriken. After Guiron failed to slice into Gamera’s shell, Gamera managed to catch the 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 shuriken, 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"
As Eustace Foundation workers extracted samples from Zigra's charred corpse, the ground started rumbling and Guiron leaped from below it, spinning and slicing a warship floating in the bay in half. The kaiju landed on each of the boat's halves then quickly leaped again, spinning around in the air before slashing through the Foundation's wrecked submarine midair, left over from Zigra's attack, and landing again while bringing his blade down on a vehicle. Guiron leapt backwards and destroyed another vehicle and dug his blade into the ground, dragging it through several soldiers and slamming it down again on Zigra's head, splitting it open. Guiron roared and proceeded to consume the corpse of the other kaiju.
As a helicopter landed on the Foundation's floating mine base, the sea began to churn and Guiron erupted from the waters, flipping and slicing through the helipad and landing on the artificial island. He started flipping and jumping all over the island, slicing through its stationary weapons and buildings as Tazaki ordered soldiers to hold off on firing until all were evacuated. Stationary guns began firing at Guiron's armored back while it was turned, having no effect as the monster lined its body up with the gun. Guiron suddenly performed a back flip, landing facing the gun and he sliced through it, causing an explosion. Guiron continued searching for Boco throughout the facility, locating approximately where he was and jumping over to the building, crushing another beside it, pinning Emiko under rubble. He turned and walked away a few steps only to back-flip again, slicing into the building and causing Joe and Junichi to fall out of the air duct onto a partially destroyed floor. Guiron threw its head back while standing on his back legs, bring his blade down on another part of the building and exposing Boco and Brody's location.
As Guiron looked into the building at Boco and Brody, the kaiju suddenly turned his head and leaped away just in time to dodge a fireball. Suddenly a second fireball blasted through the floating mine facility, striking Guiron in the blade and flipping him into the air as Gamera flew up from the ocean. Guiron landed on his feet has Gamera touched down on the ground, and the kaiju turned to face each other, roaring. With another roar, the monsters charged each other, with Gamera smacking away the blade only for Guiron to counterattack with a slice through his thigh. Gamera fired another flame shot, only for Guiron to dodge in a front flip, spinning twice to slice into Gamera's arm as the turtle monster blocked with it.
Gamera charged again, hitting Gurion's blade with his claws and dodging each time as his opponent tried to bring it down on him. Gamera fired two more blasts, with Guiron jumping aside from the first and leaping over Gamera to avoid the second. Gamera finally landed a shot as Guiron touched down, but it seemed ineffective against the bladed kaiju's durable back. As Tazaki freed Emiko from rubble, Gamera continued to shoot flame bullets at Guiron, with these shots being dodged each time. Guiron leaped over Gamera again, and his back blades began to crackle with bright blue electricity. His middle row of back blades locked into position and he straightened his back and started launching electrically-charged blades at Gamera, causing small cuts where they bounced off and sliced into his body, almost hitting Boco and Brody. As Guiron slowly marched forward while firing the blades, Gamera continued protecting the children. Gamera fired another flame blast at Guiron, but he leapt into the air yet again and fires another blade, hitting Gamera in the eye. Yet again, Gamera fired a flame bullet only for Guiron to dodge, flipping toward him and slashing through Gamera's right arm, cutting it off. Blood sprayed from the wound, and Boco yelled in pain and grabbed his right arm in the same spot.
Gamera stumbled backwards into the building, and Guiron rushes forward with his nasal blade pointed straight ahead, piercing all the way through Gamera's body and out the back of his carapace. Gamera roared in pain, falling forwards as Guiron pulled his blade out of him. Gamera tucked his remaining limbs against his shell, the plates that make up his carapace stuck out, and he started his jets, spinning and hovering up from the ground. Guiron attempted to fire more blades as Gamera spins faster, but they bounced harmlessly off his shell. Gamera lifted into the air and spun towards Guiron, with the quadruped leaping up to avoid the attack. Guiron landed and attempted to fire more blades, having to leap to avoid another oncoming attack. Gamera turned so that his spinning jets were pointed vertically and slowed to a halt before speeding upward and bisecting Guiron in half length-wise, his two pieces falling into the ocean.
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' Ultrasonic Scalpel and cut into Gamera's shell after repeated stabs.[3] In GAMERA -Rebirth-, the blade was sharp and strong enough to cut off one of Gamera's hands and stab through his body and shell. The blade possesses an additional function to produce vibrations to empower its attacking power. This also enables it to burrow and travel underground.[8]
Guiron stabbing into Gamera's shell with his blade
Guiron's blade deflecting a Space Gyaos' Ultrasonic Scalpel
Guiron attacking Gamera in GAMERA -Rebirth-
Shuriken
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 shuriken stored in two circular indents in the side of his head, located just behind the cutting edge of his blade. These shuriken 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 shuriken using telepathic waves.[3] They were sharp enough to cut right through Gamera's arms and lacerate his temples to the point of unconsciousness.
Scale Shot
In GAMERA -Rebirth-, Guiron can produce both plasma and electromagnetic waves from its tail.[4] These can be used to fire off scales from its back as projectiles called Scale Shots (鱗弾. Urokodan)[9] These were sharp enough to cut through Gamera's eye.
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.[3] 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.[3]In GAMERA -Rebirth-, Guiron is an extraordinary acrobat, jumping and spinning midair with incredible speed. Guiron used his agility to easily dispatch moving targets and was even fast enough to dodge almost all of Gamera's fireballs.
Elastic torso
In GAMERA -Rebirth-, Guiron is capable of stretching his torso when jumping, adding more force to his blade attacks.
Poison
An anatomical illustration states that the Showa Guiron's body contains poisonous liquid.[10]
Jets
Several anatomical illustrations note that the Showa Guiron can emit jets from its hind legs to empower its jumps.[11][12]
Durability
In GAMERA -Rebirth-, Guiron's back is armored, allowing him to withstand Gamera's fireballs if positioned correctly.
Weaknesses
The skin over the part of Guiron's head where he launches his shuriken is weak,[3] 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: The Battle Pachinko (2009) - Pachinko
- Gamera Battle (2012) - GREE, Mobage
- Monster Gear (2015) - Android, iOS
- Godzilla Battle Line (2021; added in 2024) - Android, iOS, Microsoft Windows
Gamera the Guardian of the Universe
Guiron is featured as Gamera's third opponent in the game following Viras.
Guiron in Gamera the Guardian of the Universe
Gamera: The Time Adventure
Guiron appears in the fifth level of Gamera: The Time Adventure. Like all monsters in the game, Guiron is depicted exclusively through stock film footage as the player revisits key moments in Gamera's history. As in the film, Guiron quickly dispatches a Space Gyaos on Terra before Gamera arrives to fight him, eventually killing him by throwing a missile into his head.
Spacetime controller Ayako reporting on Guiron in Gamera: The Time Adventure
Monster Gear
Guiron appears in the "Gamera vs. Mon Gear" collaboration event. Costumes and weapons based on Guiron are also featured.
Guiron in Monster Gear
Godzilla Battle Line
- Stars: ★★★★
- Energy cost: 3
- Attack speed: 1.9 seconds
- Target: Leader/Ground/Aerial/Facility
- Movement speed: 13
- Search range: 67
- Reach: 67
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When Attacking |
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Guiron in Skull Island
Guiron in Hollow Earth
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.[14]: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."[15]
- 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 that 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 design process, Guiron was planned to fire its dorsal fins as projectiles.[citation needed]
- A promotional still features Guiron emitting a laser from its head instead of shuriken.
- In a promotional still, Gamera attacked Guiron with jets from his hind legs instead of his usual fire breath.[16]
- The depiction of Scale Shot in GAMERA -Rebirth- resembles the above-mentioned scrapped idea of the Showa incarnation to fire dorsal fins, as well as the Blade Launcher for Mechagodzilla by Hiroyuki Seshita in GODZILLA: Planet of the Monsters.
- The battles between Gamera and Guiron in Gamera vs. Guiron and GAMERA -Rebirth- have several parallels, with Guiron striking Gamera in the head with his projectile weapon and Gamera killing Guiron by splitting him in two.
- Their battle also echoes the final battle in Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris, with both Guiron and Iris skewering Gamera through his plastron; he also loses a hand during each fight, although he severed it himself against 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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Bibliography
- Sasaki, Gaku, ed. (29 January 2024). GAMERA -Rebirth- Official Setting Materials Collection. Kadokawa. ISBN 978-4-04-113841-0.
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