Zedus
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Zedus (ジーダス Jīdasu) is a giant sea lizard kaiju who appears in the 2006 Kadokawa Gamera film Gamera the Brave.
Name
According to screenwriter Yukari Tatsui, Zedus was named in-universe by councilor Yoshimitsu Hitotsugi, who had became enamored with kaiju after seeing Avant Gamera's battle with a flock of Gyaos on television as a child, and long contemplated what the next monster Gamera fights should be called.[5][6]:111 In Friends: Gamera the Brave, Amamiya named the kaiju after on the Greek word "Cetus".[7]
The name "Zedus," spelled in Japanese as Jīdasu (ジーダス), is a possible homage to Jirahs from the original Ultraman: another frilled reptile monster whose Japanese name Jirāsu (ジラース) is only one syllable different from Zedus's. Similarities between Zedus and Jirahs and Godzilla were directly mentioned in interviews with Tomoo Haraguchi and Yoichi Arishige, respectively.[8][9]:52-53
Development
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Originally, the villain of Gamera the Brave was intended to be a squid-like kaiju with tentacles, with its whole body coated with "special nuclear waste bacteria." It would overcome waves of "ice missiles" and evolve a tolerance against them.[9]:61 However, the filmmakers felt this would be too similar to Viras, so it was decided to create an original reptilian monster as Toto's opponent instead. In order to differentiate Zedus from monsters like Barugon and Jiger, it was decided to make him walk bipedally rather than quadrupedally.
Zedus was intentionally designed to be a "Toho-esque" kaiju, with his anatomy and movements modeled after Varan, Gorosaurus, the TriStar Godzilla, and Barugon, as well as the Dilophosaurus from Jurassic Park.[10][11] Tomoo Haraguchi noted that he was the only one who submitted a concept image adhering to this approach, and those by all of the other designers coincidentally resembled the MUTOs from Godzilla (2014).[8]
Design
Zedus is a dark purple and pink-colored monster who resembles an upright theropod dinosaur with a somewhat hunched posture, pebbly skin, and four claws on both his hands and feet. He is covered in long spikes that go from the top of his head, down his back, on the backs of his legs, and down his long, thin tail. His head is large in comparison to the rest of his body, with a muzzle and bright, red eyes. Zedus has a multicolored frill that can pop out from behind his head, and his purple tongue can extend a great distance from his mouth.
Origins
Zedus' origins are never explored in his film appearance. However, the book Gamera the Brave Super Complete Works states that Zedus was a type of semi-aquatic lizard that was mutated by feeding on the corpses of Gyaos.[3]
History
- Gamera the Brave (2006)
Heisei era
Gamera the Brave
A man-eating monster from the depths of the ocean, Zedus attacked several ships at sea before finally making landfall, causing all sorts of damage. Fortunately for what remained of the city, Toto, the young Gamera found and raised by a young boy, appeared. Zedus unleashed its spear-like tongue on Toto while they battled. After several missed, Toto grabbed the tongue and held on as it pulled back into Zedus's maw. The creature was blasted in the face with a ball of fire, sending the monster into the sea below.
Zedus returned in full force, attacking the complex that Toto was being held in before unleashing his wrath on the rest of Nagoya. The two clashed once again, and like before, Zedus was quickly getting the upper hand. Overpowering the turtle with brutality, the creature tossed Toto into a building. The hero's body now stuck in the building, Zedus began to climb up.
Zedus had no idea that Toto had just been empowered by the jewel that gave him birth and was knocked off of the building by the flying Toto. Quickly getting to his feet, he lashed out with his tongue yet again, this time impaling it through Toto’s shoulder. As the two struggled on, Toto ripped the tongue in half and unleashed a powerful fireball. The ball of flames quickly engulfed the creature and blew it into bloody pieces.
Abilities
Prehensile Tongue
Zedus' most powerful weapon is his elongated Harpoon Tongue (ハープーン舌 Hāpūn Jita).[2] It can reach up to 100 meters in length, and can be launched in a spear-like attack which is powerful enough to easily penetrate the edge of Toto's shell or 50 centimeter wide steel plates.[2] The tip of his tongue can emit a strong biological acid.[2] In one of the novelizations, Zedus's tongue was noted to have protrusions which the monster uses to impale and devour multiple human victims at once.[6]:106
Acid
According to an anatomy diagram, Zedus can emit a powerful biological acid from his claws and the tip of his tongue, allowing him to penetrate Toto's shell with ease and empower his melee attacks.[2]
Leg muscles
Zedus has powerful muscles on its legs, allowing him to leap up to 200 meters. He can also perform a powerful kick called Brawl Kick (喧嘩キック Kenka Kikku).[2]
Tail
His tail functions as both a balancer and a rudder to support his movements. It is also a powerful weapon, able to collapse skyscrapers with a blow.[2]
Agility
Zedus can leap up to 200 meters by using his powerful legs. He is also agile enough to climb buildings and other structures. He can swim at 70 knots.[2]
In the novelization Friends: Gamera the Brave, his agility was further enhanced; he is capable of leaping over distances more than several dozen times his whole body length, and too agile for Toto to hit with Fireballs.[12]
Amphibiousness
Being a mutated aquatic lizard, Zedus is capable of swimming underwater as well as moving on land. Zedus possesses multiple gills on its fins and is able to respirate underwater.[2]
Durability
Zedus survived a fireball Toto fired down his throat, although it did cause him to retreat. The warts covering his scales and skins possess rubber-like characteristics, enabling Zedus to repel military weapons such as missiles,[2] although this was never demonstrated in the film.
Growth
Zedus, when he was still a normal reptile inhabiting a tropical island, became a monster in a few days after he consumed a piece of meat from an Original Gyaos.[2] Zedus first appeared at a height of 30 meters when he reached Shima, but after being defeated by Toto he retreated. When he attacked Nagoya the next day,[13] his height, length, and mass had all nearly doubled. One of the Gamera the Brave tie-in novelizations implies that Zedus would continue to evolve physically and potentially develop additional abilities if Toto failed to defeat him in Nagoya.[14]
Flight
In one of the Gamera the Brave tie-in novelizations, Zedus spontaneously grew a pair of enormous wings and was able to fly.[15][14][6]:160-161
In the novelization Friends: Gamera the Brave, Zedus redeveloped his neck frills into small wings and repeatedly used them to dodge Toto's fireballs in the air.[12]
Stealthiness
In the novelization Friends: Gamera the Brave, Original Gyaos and mutations derived from them, including Zedus, could not be detected by radar using microwaves, acoustic waves, lasers, or heat sensors, due to their peculiar skin cells.[12]
Leadership
In one of the Gamera the Brave tie-in novelizations, Zedus demonstrated a capability to lead other Gyaos-mutated kaiju who were initially a disorderly crowd, gathered only for their common goal of slaughtering Gamera.[16][15]
Coercion
As the Original Gyaos "possesses" and "commands" Zedus, Zedus' mind is filled with a malice and a viciousness to exterminate humanity and hatred for Gamera.[2] An anatomy diagram notes that his neck frills produces bioluminescence to threaten an opponent, and his eyes peculiarly glow to stun targets with fear,[2] although neither was demonstrated in the film.
Independently-moving flesh
In one of the Gamera the Brave tie-in novelizations, Zedus's dropped flesh and scales move independently, akin to the Showa Gyaos. Soichiro Amamiya and Yoshimitsu Hitotsugi, who are neutral antagonists in this adaptation, fall into a coma temporarily and lose their memories at the climax by the preserved claws of Zedus, which presumably burst out of a storage box.[15]
Video games
- CR Gamera: The Battle Pachinko (2009) - pachinko
Comics
- Gamera 2006: Hard Link (2006)
Gamera 2006: Hard Link
Zedus makes a brief appearance in this manga, being mentioned by the main characters.
Gallery
- Main article: Zedus/Gallery.
Roar
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Trivia
- Zedus is the only Gamera kaiju of the Heisei era who cannot fly, although he gained this ability in one of the Gamera the Brave novelizations.
- In the final draft of the film, Zedus (as a normal lizard) instantly grew fins just a moment before touching a Gyaos eyeball.[15]
- The relationship between Toto and Zedus somewhat resembles that of Minilla and Gabara or Daigoro and Goliath.
- Zedus is featured in multiple tie-in books for Gamera the Brave. In one, Zedus develops wings and the ability to fly,[14] and in another he leads several of Gamera's foes from the Showa series that were also once normal organisms but were mutated by the Original Gyaos' DNA.[16] The possible presence of other Gyaos-mutated monsters were implied in the film timeline as well.[2]
- Zedus was portrayed by accomplished suit actor Mizuho Yoshida, who is perhaps most well-known for portraying half of the Mother Legion in Gamera 2: Attack of Legion and Godzilla in Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack.
- At 2,000 metric tons, Zedus is tied with the GAMERA -Rebirth- version of Zigra as the third-heaviest kaiju in the Gamera franchise. They are surpassed only by the 3,000-metric-ton Legion Plant and the 3,600-metric-ton S-Gyaos.
References
This is a list of references for Zedus. 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
- Maruzawa, Shigeru, ed. (20 May 2006). Gamera the Brave Super Complete Works. Shogakukan. ISBN 4091051081.
- Nakamura, Satoshi; Shimazaki, Jun; Sugita, Atsuhiko; Shiraishi, Masahiko; Yamazaki, Yu; Maruyama, Takeshi; Hayakawa, Yu; Tomoi, Taketo; Akita, Hideo (21 August 2015). Heisei Gamera Perfection (2nd ed.). Kadokawa. ISBN 978-4-04-891881-7.
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