Sanda
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I think that it was I who knew our Gargantua the best. He was so gentle when he was treated kindly.
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— Akemi Togawa recalls her part in raising Sanda (The War of the Gargantuas) |
Sanda (サンダ Sanda) is a Frankenstein spawn kaiju who first appeared in the 1966 Toho film The War of the Gargantuas.
A creature spawned by the immortal regenerating cells of Frankenstein, Sanda was discovered and raised by a group of scientists at an institute. The friendly creature eventually escaped and seemingly died at Mount Fuji. However, reports of a Frankenstein-like creature called Gaira attacking ships and eating humans led many to suspect that Sanda was still alive and had turned against humanity. Sanda's former caretakers Dr. Paul Stewart, Dr. Yuzo Mamiya, and Akemi Togawa began a search for Sanda, investigating huge humanoid footprints left behind in the Japanese Alps as well as tissue left behind by the malevolent Gargantua, determining that Sanda was alive and that Gaira was genetically identical to him. However, when the JSDF nearly killed Gaira with its Type 66 Maser Cannons, Sanda appeared to call off the attack and bring his "brother" to safety. It was learned that Gaira had regenerated from some of Sanda's cells left behind in Lake Biwa, becoming hateful and brutal due to his environment unlike his brother. Sanda was horrified to learn Gaira was eating humans and attacked him, sending Gaira into a violent frenzy as he made his way to Tokyo. Sanda followed his brother and tried to reason with him, but was ultimately forced to fight him to protect humanity. The Gargantuas' battle spilled out into Tokyo Bay and out into the open ocean, where they were seemingly destroyed by the nearby eruption of an undersea volcano. Sanda and Gaira both reappeared in the television series Go! Godman and Go! Greenman as one-off enemies of the titular heroes. Despite not debuting in the Godzilla series, both Gargantuas have subsequently made appearances in its related media such as video games and comic books.
Name
Sanda's name is derived from "san" (山), the Japanese word for "mountain,"[1] in reference to his habit of spending most of his time living in the mountains. Originally, Sanda was given the name Mountain Frankenstein (
Development
Following Frankenstein vs. Baragon, Toho began work on a direct sequel. Takeshi Kimura turned in the first draft of the script in January of 1966, titled The Frankenstein Brothers. Originally, Sanda was the white-haired "Mountain Frankenstein."[1] Ishiro Honda, who directed both films and had a rare screenwriting credit on The War of the Gargantuas, felt that the new story would stand better on its own, so the connections to Frankenstein vs. Baragon are diminished in the finished film.
Gaira and Sanda were designed by artist Tohl Narita,[5] known most prominently for his work as art director on the Ultra Series.
Teizo Toshimitsu prototyped and modeled the heads of the Gargantua suits,[6] while the Yagi brothers Kanju and Yasuei, along with Eizo Kaimai, were responsible for their bodies. Kaimai stated that the suits did not use wetsuits as their cores, despite the film's extensive water scenes, as he believed the rubber material would be too restrictive to act in.[6] Instead, they were based around boilersuit-esque garments with skin and fur directly applied.[6] Both Gargantua suits also featured football shoulder pads to emphasize their agility and strength.[7]
To play Sanda, special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya first asked Shoichi Hirose, who had already played opposite Haruo Nakajima as King Kong in King Kong vs. Godzilla and King Ghidorah in Invasion of Astro-Monster. Hirose declined, favoring a part he had been offered in another film where he would actually get to show his face.[8] Hiroshi Sekita took his place, in the first of his many kaiju roles at Toho. Like Nakajima, his mask was a lifecast of his own face.[6] The juvenile Sanda, who briefly appears in flashback, was portrayed by child actor Yasuhiro Komiya who wore an appropriately-sized mask and fur suit.[6]
Toho reused the Sanda and Gaira suits for Go! Godman and Go! Greenman, though each featured a new headpiece.
Design
Sanda resembles his "brother" Gaira, being a humanoid giant covered in fur. Unlike Gaira, Sanda has a more human-like face, and has what appears to be a beard on his chin. Sanda's fur is a light brown color.
In Go! Godman, Sanda's suit has heavily decayed and most of the hair on his body has fallen off, while the hair on his head is much longer. In the follow-up series, Go! Greenman, Sanda's suit is still decrepit, but his head has been replaced with a more ape-like head.
Personality
In The War of the Gargantuas, Sanda is gentle and caring, due to being lovingly raised by human scientists, including Akemi Togawa, when he was an infant. After learning that his "brother," Gaira, is under attack by the JSDF, Sanda rescues him, but does so non-violently, refusing to fight back against the military. Sanda tries to keep Gaira safe and allow him to recuperate, but grows angry when he learns that Gaira is attacking and killing humans. When Gaira attacks Tokyo, Sanda decides he is willing to kill his own brother rather than let innocent humans die.
In Go! Greenman, he has a more evil and violent personality.
In Godzilla: Rulers of Earth, Sanda retains most of these traits. Sanda has desperately been searching for Gaira, and follows him to the Pacific Ocean after Gaira escapes from a Chinese military facility. When Sanda finds himself surrounded by military forces after coming ashore in Australia, he surrenders and refuses to fight them. When he sees Gaira willingly destroying the military forces, he becomes distressed and tries to stop his brother. Despite this, Sanda has a strong loyalty to Gaira, and will do whatever he can to protect him without endangering human lives.
Origins
In The War of the Gargantuas, Sanda is believed to be the result of some of Frankenstein's flesh breaking off in the mountains of Japan. Over time, this severed flesh grew into Sanda, who was discovered by scientists. As a child, Sanda was raised in a research facility under the care of Akemi Togawa. Eventually, Sanda escaped and returned to the mountains, where he grew to 30 meters in height. Due to his upbringing, Sanda became a gentle and kind creature who had a positive view of human beings.
History
- The War of the Gargantuas (1966)
- Go! Godman (TV 1972-1973) [episode 16]
- Go! Greenman (TV 1973-1974) [episode 31]
Showa era
The War of the Gargantuas
Sanda grew from the flesh of Frankenstein, along with Gaira. He was captured by scientists and studied when he was small, but he escaped to the mountains. One year later, he had grown to 30 meters in height. He returned to save Gaira from the JSDF, and he took him to the mountains. Gaira started to eat humans, which angered Sanda, due to his upbringing around people. Sanda attacked Gaira, but Gaira fled. Gaira attacked Tokyo, and Sanda fought him again. They fought in the sea, but they were both pulled into a volcano.
Go! Godman
Sanda also appears in Go! Godman as a villain. He was the nineteenth kaiju to battle Godman. Sanda looms over a group of boys playing ball before Godman appears to challenge him. Godman finally makes Sanda collapse and explode with his Supersonic Wave attack.
Go! Greenman
Sanda reappears in Go! Greenman. Sanda has a new head and wig, and can breathe a highly toxic mist from his mouth as well as being able to change his size. He was the thirty-second kaiju to battle Greenman.
Abilities
Physical abilities
Sanda demonstrated his strength by uprooting a tree to attack Gaira. Sanda is a capable hand-to-hand combatant, and in Godzilla: Rulers of Earth demonstrates the ability to use improvised weapons.
Intelligence
Sanda appears to have human-like intelligence.
Split-off biogenesis
Like his brother, Sanda displays enhanced regeneration, being able to completely grow back from just a few of Frankenstein's cells.
Object-vanishing
In Go! Greenman, Sanda can make objects vanish.
Eating
In Go! Greenman, Sanda foiled two of Greenman's projectile attacks, Greenman Breaster and Leg Arrow, by snatching them out of the air and eating them.
Toxic mist
In Go! Greenman, Sanda can breathe a very toxic pink mist from his mouth.
Size changing
In Go! Greenman, Sanda can alter his size after Tonchiki casts his trademark magic spell.
Weaknesses
Sanda's leg was injured after a boulder fell onto it.
In Godzilla: Rulers of Earth, Godzilla overpowered Sanda, who needed Gaira’s help to fight back. Sanda was also defeated and captured by the Trilopods.
Video games
- Godzilla: Heart-Pounding Monster Island!! (1995) - Sega Pico
- Godzilla: Trading Battle (1998) - Sony PlayStation
- Godzilla Generations (1998) - Sega Dreamcast
- Collect Godzilla: Giant Monster Assembly (1998) - Sega Dreamcast VMU
- Godzilla Defense Force (2019) - Android and iOS
Comics
- The Godzilla Comic [Monster Warrior Godzilla] (1990)
- 4-Panel Land: Godzilla World (1993)
- Godzilla: Rulers of Earth #5, 10-13, 19-21, 25 (2013-2015)
Godzilla: Rulers of Earth
In the wake of Gaira's battle with Varan, Sanda spotted the dueling monsters flying high above Sanda's mountain range. Sanda reached out to his brother, but could only watch as Varan flew the green Gargantua further out over the sea. Sanda attempted to follow the two out to sea, but the waters took a toll on him. When they finally reunited days later, Gaira attacked Sanda by smashing a ship over his head, knocking him out. Unfortunately, the two monsters had also attracted the attention of Godzilla, who chased them to land. When Sanda awoke on a beach in Australia, he found himself surrounded by the military. Before he could react, Gaira surfaced and tackled Sanda, which saved him from being hit by Godzilla's atomic breath. The Green Gargantua then hurried to keep his injured brother safe, fleeing deeper into the city. As they came under fire from a tank, Gaira smashed the tank to Sanda's horror - but as he attempted to fight Gaira over killing the humans, Godzilla caught up to them. After being separated by Godzilla's atomic ray, the two brothers worked together to fight Godzilla. While Gaira bit and clawed at Godzilla, Sanda unleashed a volley of punches, their speed and strength overwhelming Godzilla. Their upper hand would soon be lost, however, as Godzilla threw Sanda aside and stepped on Gaira. Sanda then attempted to scale a building to get the jump on Godzilla, but Godzilla caught him and destroyed the building, allowing the green Gargantua to engage Godzilla again. On the ground, Sanda happened upon a Saradian petrol tanker, which he used to smash over Godzilla's face. Temporarily blinded by the explosion, Godzilla at last retreated. Afterwards, Sanda watched over the injured Gaira as the military elected to use a gas on the monsters to render them unconscious. After capturing the duo, both were relocated to the new Monster Islands to live in peace.
Years later, the two brothers were still on the islands, now living alongside Baragon, Kumonga, Rodan, and Zilla. At one point, Sanda was seen battling Kumonga alongside Baragon. When the Trilopods attacked the Monster Islands, Sanda was quickly overpowered by a Trilopod with Kumonga's traits, though he was saved by his green brother. Unfortunately, despite their best efforts, both monsters were eventually captured by Trilopods and had their characteristics copied, ending up in the Trilopod hive alongside the rest of Earth's monsters. Soon, King Caesar broke all the Earth monsters free, allowing them to fight the invasion again and aid the outnumbered Godzilla. The two Gargantuas fought off the Trilopods before engaging Magita when the massive Trilopod queen appeared, only to be swatted to the side. When Magita was finally killed, Sanda, his brother, and every other monster present followed Godzilla out into the ocean.
Sanda reaches out for Gaira
Godzilla faces off against the Gargantuas
Gallery
- Main article: Sanda/Gallery.
Roar
Sanda's original roars are a combination of King Kong's roars from King Kong vs. Godzilla and Frankenstein's roars from Frankenstein vs. Baragon.
In Go! Godman, Sanda reused one of the Ultraman Taro kaiju Tyrant's roars.
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Trivia
- The ambitious first draft of Destroy All Monsters included both Sanda and Gaira, along with just about every monster Toho had a suit for.[9] A later draft gave Sanda a cameo as a Monsterland resident, although the Kilaaks left him out of their invasion plans.
- During the long hiatus between Terror of Mechagodzilla and The Return of Godzilla, Toho and UPA considered making a film in which Godzilla fought a Gargantua.[10] This may have been one of the concepts they considered after Toho announced a new Godzilla film in 1978, under the vague title U.S.-Japan Collaboration: Godzilla. Whether this would have been Sanda, Gaira, or a new Gargantua entirely is unknown. At some point, UPA owner Henry G. Saperstein also planned to produce a sequel to The War of the Gargantuas, where Godzilla would battle a cyborg version of one of the monsters.[11]
- The Sanda Plain is an area on Godzilla Island in the show of the same name.
- Sanda's first appearance in Godzilla: Rulers of Earth, as he runs away from a helicopter, is an homage to the iconic pose struck by the Bigfoot in the Patterson–Gimlin film. Like his brother, Sanda does not appear in the cave painting on Infant Island showing ancient monsters aligned with the four elements.
Videos
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References
This is a list of references for Sanda. 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]
Comments
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