Conception The name derives from the Japanese
kame ("turtle"), and the suffix
-ra, a suffix shared by such other
kaiju characters as
Godzilla (
Gojira) and
Mothra. Gamera's name was spelled
Gamela on a French newspaper in the 1965 film, and
Gammera in the title of
Gammera the Invincible, the re-titled American release of the first film in the franchise,
Gamera, the Giant Monster. The character was named by
Masaichi Nagata, who pushed ahead both of the production and the name to contend Godzilla, while other executives were against it for its resemblance to Godzilla, however others eventually didn't come up with any sufficient names for the turtle kaiju, along with their reluctances to resist the autocratic president. Prior to the idea of the flying turtle monster, there existed preceding concepts of a
mole kaiju , octopus monsters and , and the rat monsters. These pre-Gamera projects resulted in failures by using live animals for filming, presumably due to the efforts to avoid the
Toho-based tokusatsu techniques under the constraints from the
Six-Company Agreement (Five-Company Agreement), which was led by Masaichi Nagata himself. There had been contradicting testimonies regarding the original conceptor and models of Gamera.
Noriaki Yuasa believed it was
Niisan Takahashi's idea, while Takahashi noted that he heard
Masaichi Nagata came up with the idea of a "giant, flying turtle". There had also been rumors of "lewd turtles" as the model(s) of Gamera, either true stories or jokes, among Daiei staffs including . Alternatively, , a student of
Eiji Tsuburaya and had repeatedly associated with Daiei Film and crews of the
Gamera and other Daiei tokusatsu productions,
claimed that the concept of Gamera originates in his demo reel, while
Yonesaburo Tsukiji, another student of Tsuburaya, declared it was
Hidemasa Nagata's idea. , a possible source of inspiration for Gamera. Gamera's turtle-like design may have been inspired by the
Black Tortoise, one of the
Four Symbols of the
Chinese constellations in
East Asian mythology. The Black Tortoise is known as
Genbu in Japanese, and is usually depicted as a turtle entwined together with a
snake. In
Gamera, the Giant Monster, the first film in the franchise, Gamera is depicted as awakening in the
Arctic, the northernmost region on Earth. These plots had introduced ideas to refer kaiju to both ancient civilizations and deities.
Hidemasa Nagata's intention to make the franchise child-friendly was also due to his desire to create positive emotional influences on
child developments. •
As below-mentioned, all domestic film studios were forced to produce war propaganda films by the order of the
Imperial Japanese Armed Forces, and most of Noriaki Yuasa's career as a
child actor were his uncle
Koji Shima's war propaganda films. He can fly by means of "jets" which can be ignited out of his limb holes when he retracts into his shell. In
Gamera, the Giant Monster and
Gamera vs. Barugon, extreme cold temperatures are shown to weaken Gamera, although he is capable of being active in the
outer space and the deep ocean. Gamera is also capable of performing additional feats including
supernatural ones such as emitting electricity and
electromagnetic waves, while he was potentially known to the inhabitants on the
Mu continent because of his fights against Jiger back then, as the civilization had been troubled by the parasitic monster. • Gamera in the first film was originally planned to "cry" to cause child audiences to feel pity, sorrow, and sympathy towards the kaiju.
Heisei trilogy '' (1995) In the franchise's
Heisei period, which began with the 1995
reboot film
Gamera: Guardian of the Universe, Gamera's in-universe origins were changed. In the Heisei films, Gamera is portrayed as an ancient,
bio-engineered creature from
Atlantis, created for the purpose of defending the people of Atlantis from
Gyaos (
ギャオス), a bat-like creature which breathes a destructive supersonic beam to attack. Within the rock, they discover a large
monolith explaining Gamera's origins, along with dozens of
magatama made from
orichalcum, which allow for a
psychic link between Gamera and humans. In
Gamera 3: Revenge of Iris, an undersea graveyard containing numerous Gamera-like fossils is shown. While this may suggest that the Gamera was not the only one of his kind, one character in the film refers to these fossils as "beta versions" of Gamera, possible failures in Atlantis' attempts to create the final version. This iteration of Gamera has retractable claws within his elbows, Gamera has also been shown as being able to absorb
mana from the Earth, to fire a plasma beam from his chest, and to manipulate energy to create a pseudo arm composed of fire to destroy a foe. Within the first and the third films of the trilogy, Gamera magically healed harmed humans including reviving temporarily deceased or nearly dead individuals, although he was unable to revive humans whose corpses were physically destroyed. Within the comic book adaptation of the 1999 film by
Kazunori Ito and , who had also published another Gamera manga
Gamera vs. Morphos in 1999, Gamera performed extreme regeneration to restore his head from mimicked plasma fireballs by Iris, and defeated the antagonist with either an empowered fire blast or fireball instead of the "vanishing fist". In
Gamera vs. Morphos, Gamera performed additional abilities including
telepathy without a
magatama, an earthquake, and a powerful fireball with himself glowing red, akin to the "Toto impact" in
Gamera the Brave.
Gamera the Brave The franchise was rebooted a second time with the 2006 film
Gamera the Brave, the 12th entry in the film series. This incarnation was modeled after the
African spurred tortoise, and also possesses supernatural traits Gamera's origin is unclear, while a top scientist was utterly shocked with the virtual replica of Gamera's cells and consequently committed a suicide, and Gamera has been referred to sacred entities; one of scientists described the kaiju as a
deity, and some of villagers saved by Avant Gamera kept the red pearls as
amulets and called the objects as "fragments of the
guardian angel"; the items became a center of public attentions and brought economic effects, and significantly contributed in the reconstruction of the region. 33 years later, a young boy named Toru Aizawa finds a glowing heart-shaped rock near his home, with a small egg lying on top of it. A baby turtle hatches from the egg, and begins to grow in size at an alarming rate. The turtle, dubbed "Toto" by Toru after his own nickname by his deceased mother, In one of novelizations, additional mutants spawned from Gyaos cells made appearances, including Space Gyaos, Barugon, Viras, Guiron, Jiger and its offspring, and Zigra, and Toto fought against a legion of these kaiju. While previous incarnations of the character possessed affinities to elements most notably fire, electricity,
plasma energy,
electromagnetic pulse, and
jamming, Gamera appeared to protect children from other monsters trying to feed on children and other humans. Through battle, Gamera was severely damaged and nearly died. During the battle against S-Gyaos, an enormous Gyaos mutant who fed on Viras' corpse, Gamera was injected with specific
RNA viruses to reprogram him for the original usage. However, Gamera managed to regain his consciousness by willpower and a telepathic link with a boy. To prevent himself from being enslaved for carnage, Gamera sacrificed himself to destroy the
Moonbase of the antagonists, the descendants of nobles of an ancient civilization who were using kaiju. Using all of his remaining power for the planet-penetrating Charged Baryon Cannon, the "Moon Buster", Gamera dissolved into ashes, leaving behind an egg for the new incarnation of Gamera who strongly resembles Toto from the 2006 film. is unclear. Showa era Gamera defeated villainous kaiju like in previous films while the "new" Gamera who emerged from underneath the
Nazca Lines possessed characteristics of the 1995 film
Gamera: Guardian of the Universe. This "new" Gamera initially attacked
chemical plants all over the world, resulting in hostility from humanity, though his intention was to prevent an oncoming catastrophe caused by
environmental degradations and to warn humanity. After sealing the Phoenix, an immortal but suicidal, fiery entity constantly suffering due to its immortality, the new Gamera sacrificed himself to save the Earth from further destruction caused by harmful
sunlight triggered by air pollution, following a similar fate as the Phoenix where both monsters cannot die for the sake of the planet which was damaged by humanity. Gamera made several appearances in the two
tokusatsu television series ''
and Cosplay Warrior Cutie Knight
series (Ver.1.0, Ver.1.3, 2: Revenge of the Empire
) in 1995 and 1996 (as a "Capsule Monster" in the 1996 video, Noriaki Yuasa directed a related 1996 video Cosplay Warrior Cutie Knight 2: Revenge of the Empire
and appeared in it as the character "Dr. Yuasa", making it his posthumous work. Hurricane Ryu, who was also working for the 1994 manga Giant Monster Gamera'', played Gamera in the video. In the 2015 short film to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the franchise, Gamera saved a boy from a swarm of Gyaos attacking Tokyo and incinerated them with a powerful fire blast. A decade later, another monster appeared in Tokyo to cause havoc, and the boy again witnessed Gamera returns to fight it. Within the
USO Makoto Yōkai Hyaku Monogatari series by
Natsuhiko Kyogoku, in which multiple Kadokawa stakeholders, Daiei (Kadokawa)-related characters, and characters from
GeGeGe no Kitarō made cameo appearances as unsubstantial entities along with various other characters from multiple different franchises. ==Relationship with Godzilla==