Zigra
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Zigra (ジグラ Jigura) is an alien fish kaiju who first appeared in the 1971 Daiei Gamera film Gamera vs. Zigra.
An alien hailing from a planet where his fish-like race preyed on human-like land creatures, Zigra traveled to Earth in his spaceship with the intent of enslaving the human race and raising them as cattle. He took mental control of a woman named Chikako Sugawara, forcing her to act as his agent, X1. When Chikako was freed from his hypnosis and Gamera continuously interfered with his plans, Zigra emerged from his UFO and attempted to battle the heroic turtle kaiju. While Zigra had an advantage over Gamera underwater, he was outmatched once the battle moved to land and was ultimately destroyed. Zigra returned, though depicted entirely through stock footage, in the 1980 film Gamera Super Monster, this time as a pawn of the crew of the pirate spaceship Zanon. Though he has not reappeared in a film since, Zigra has made appearances in various non-film media, including Dark Horse's Gamera comic series. He is also one of the five kaiju Gamera will face in the upcoming animated Netflix series GAMERA -Rebirth-.
Design
Zigra in general resembles a goblin shark, possessing a silvery gray hide and a pointed nose. His aquatic form has him postured like a shark, while his terrestrial form has him standing upright on legs that are not present in his aquatic configuration. His head has a pointed snout that continues onward to form a fin-like crest that juts out from behind his head. Zigra possesses a beak with several teeth along its edges, as well as red eyes with slit-pupils. He has a whale-like texture on his underside and wide pectoral fins with sharp, metallic ridges, shaped like a shark's. From his back protrudes similar metallic ridges to those on his fins, traveling down his body until his tail fin. His tail fin is shaped similarly to a shark's, but the bottom half of the caudal fin splits into two instead of one. In his aquatic form, Zigra has metallic pelvic fins, which are replaced by legs in his terrestrial form.
In GAMERA -Rebirth-, Zigra appears to resemble a ray or skate. Additionally, he appears to have clawed feet, rather than the sleek, boot-like feet of the Showa design.
Origins
Zigra is an alien creature hailing from a distant planet where fish feed on people. Zigra traveled to Earth in a spaceship with the intent of destroying Gamera and enslaving the human race.
In Dark Horse's Gamera comic series, Zigra is instead a biological weapon from the planet Broomark which escaped to Earth and took refuge in the Pacific Ocean.
History
- Gamera vs. Zigra (1971)
- Gamera Super Monster (1980) [stock footage]
- GAMERA -Rebirth- (TV 2023)
Showa era
Gamera vs. Zigra
Zigra invaded the Earth with the intention of enslaving the human race and raising them like cattle. Like Viras attempted three films earlier, Zigra held a pair of human children hostage in order to force the human race to conform to his plan, but Gamera engaged him in battle. Gamera eventually threw him on land, using a rock to play his theme song on Zigra's dorsal fins like a xylophone before setting the alien shark ablaze with his fire breath.
Gamera Super Monster
In Gamera Super Monster, Zigra, a pawn under the control of the unseen captain of the Zanon, fought with Gamera again in one of the many stock footage scenes. When Gamera hits his back with the rock, his theme song is not played, and is instead replaced by a new, simple tune. Zigra's fate is left unknown, as Gamera is never shown defeating him.
Reiwa era
GAMERA -Rebirth-
Zigra will be one of the five kaiju fought by Gamera in the summer of 1989, along with Gyaos and Jiger.
Abilities
Movement
When in its land form, Zigra can fall flat on its stomach and use its fins as wings to fly through the air, usually to dive into the nearest available body of water. It can also use its legs to jump great distances, up to 200 meters.[2]
Land Adaptation
When out of the water, Zigra can convert its underside into legs and stand, achieving a "land form." Inversely, it can also transition back into its aquatic form.
Light Beams
Zigra has three separate sack-like organs located in the back of its head which are each able to produce a different form of light ray. These include an orange-colored Cell Activity Suspension Beam (細胞活動停止光線 Saibō Katsudō Teishi Kōsen) fired from the third eye on its forehead which is capable of halting human cell activity, a green Fourth Dimensional Beam (四次元光線 Yojigen Kōsen) which can transfer matter, and a red Earthquake-Inducing Beam (地震誘発光線 Jishin Yūhatsu Kōsen) that can cause massive explosions and devastating earthquakes.[2] Zigra also possesses a tricolored beam attack, named the Tri-Color Ray Blast exclusive to Gamera.
Zigra fires its Fourth Dimensional Beam while in its spaceship
Zigra fires its Earthquake-Inducing Beam while in its spaceship
Zigra fires its tricolored beam in a dream sequence in Gamera
Clone Rocket
According to a Gamera vs. Zigra poster, Zigra could launch a nuclear missile called "Clone Rocket" (分身ロケット bunshin roketto) from his mouth.[3]
Physical Attacks
With the exception of its aforementioned light beam attacks, Zigra relies almost entirely on its razor sharp teeth and fins. Its dorsal fins, referred to as Poison Fin Zoringen Dorsal Fins (毒びれゾーリンゲン背びれ Dokubire Zōringen Sebire), are immensely sharp cutting tools, said to be able to rip Gamera's body to shreds and cut oil tankers clean in half. Its teeth are also sharp enough to tear apart a YS-12 airliner.[2] In its land form, Zigra gains the ability to slap opponents with its fins or jab them with spikes.
Weaknesses
Due to originally living in the dark ocean depths of its homeworld, Zigra is extremely weak to light, namely that of the sun.[2] It is also greatly susceptible to fire.
Video games
- Gamera: The Time Adventure (1995) - Bandai Playdia
- CR Gamera (2009) - Pachinko
- Gamera: Battle (2012) - GREE, Mobage
Comics
- Gamera #2-3 (1996)
- Gamera vs. Barugon (2002)
Gamera
Isssue #2
Zigra was a a biological weapon from the alien planet of Broomark, that belonged to someone called "Lom Phlizium." Zigra was noted in its documentation to become unpredictable when startled. Unfortunately, it managed to escape and take refuge on the planet Earth, where it slept in the Pacific Ocean. However, a nuclear test by the French military roused Zigra from its slumber, and enticed it to attack. Zigra attacked a ship and cut its hull with its body, before shooting down approaching attack planes with its Tri-Color Ray Blast. It went back in the water for another attack, but as it leaped up it was hit by a fireball from Gamera. Briefly startled, Zigra watched as Gamera flew around for another attack, but with one blast of the Tri-Color beam, its assailant fell from the sky and began to sink to the ocean floor. All of this occurred while bioweapon retrieval specialist Freena was fast approaching to return Zigra to Broomark.
Issue #3
Just before Gamera hit the seafloor, an approaching submarine sent by the French hit him in the head with a torpedo, angering and awakening the beast. Gamera then blasted to the surface of the water and into the air faster than Zigra could react. Gamera bit Zigra's throat, and flew the injured monster across the ocean to the Pacific Ring of Fire, where he dropped the wounded Zigra into an active volcano west of Java, effectively killing it, much to Freena's dismay.
However, Zigra lived on in the nightmares of a Mr. Lutz, who had been onboard one of the attacked battleships. In the dream, Gamera had been killed, not by the drowning, but because of his magic amulet being broken, however his having done this had removed the Earth's only hope of defeating Zigra, and as such he had doomed the human race. Before he could really react to this news, Zigra hit him and Asagi Kusanagi with its Tri-Color Ray Blast, incinerating them both.
Gamera vs. Barugon
Zigra makes a brief one-panel appearance alongside Jiger and Iris in Kadokawa's Gamera vs. Barugon manga, which is set between the events of Gamera 2: Attack of Legion and Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris. Seen in a vision an explorer is subjected to inside a secret Atlantean ruin the original Barugon's skeleton was entombed in, it is implied Zigra was precursor to Gamera, a creation of the Atlanteans meant to combat the Gyaos.
Books
- Friends: Gamera the Brave (2006)[4]
Friends: Gamera the Brave
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[citation(s) needed] — This article is missing references. Please improve this article by including relevant citations. As a reader, exercise caution when encountering unsourced statements. |
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G Zigra 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.
Gallery
- Main article: Zigra/Gallery.
Roar
Zigra's roars are modified Gyaos roars.
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Trivia
- Zigra's design, along with that of Guilala, influenced the design of Legion from Gamera 2: Attack of Legion.[5]:54[6]
- Zigra'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 Mako Mori transmitted.
References
This is a list of references for Zigra. 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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