The original hero in a half-shell returns! For the first time ever worldwide, all twelve tales of the adventures of everyone’s favorite titanic terrapin are collected together in one deluxe Blu-ray boxset. This limited edition collectors’ set traces the decades-long evolution of Gamera, from the “friend of all children” in his more light-hearted earlier films to the “Guardian of the Universe” in the groundbreaking 1990s reboot series, often hailed as three of the best kaiju films ever made.
Gamera first hit the silver screens in 1965 out of Daiei Films and was directed by Noriaka Yuasa. Daiei developed this idea as a means of competing against the already popular Godzilla. After some experimentation with the idea and producing a few films, the Gamera series was off and running. Gamera’s abilities and characteristics would change in an attempt to find the right fit for him in this vast kaiju film universe. The series of films took a brief pause that pushed it into a new era when Daiei Films went bankrupt and was absorbed by a new production company. Yet, Gamera still managed to make his mark as one of the most recognizable monsters during his time and did what he was meant to do.
In 1965 when Gamera was introduced to the world, there was, of course, no guarantee the monster would garnish a fan base. It was also not in the style of Daiei Films to produce such visual effects-heavy monster films. Taking a chance on this idea, which could, in theory, do the same for this studio as Godzilla did for Toho, they gave the film to Yuasa. Yuasa had just come off of an unfinished film that involved using wild rats to destroy miniature sets. Those sets would become the backdrop for Gamera’s first movie. “Gamera: The Giant Monster,” ended up becoming a bigger success than anticipated and the studio began to focus on creating more of these monster movies. The studio put more money and a supposedly better director for the second film, but it was quickly realized that Yuasa understood the character better.
Gamera still presented a monstrous analogy for the world’s use of fossil fuels, lack of environmental awareness, and radioactive experimentation. Gamera would usually be attracted to some type of energy source or blazing fire which he would then consume to energize himself. Despite these instinctual characteristics of the monster, there was always a sense of benevolence and morality in Gamera. Even in the first film, which is the only one where Gamera aggressively attacks mankind, he always contained a soft spot for children. This specific characteristic is the main through-line in which Gamera evolved throughout the years. Whether his powers changed from breathing fire to regeneration, Gamera always had a connection to the youth of the world.
Between the years 1965 and 1971, a new Gamera film was released annually. Each iteration would show Gamera fighting a new monster after the first film, which portrayed Gamera as the main antagonist. Each monster had a unique ability and form that challenged Gamera. Gamera was typically the same with small variations in him like weakness of cold temperatures or flying forms. It wasn’t until the reboot of Gamera that he was given additional skills and an origin story. Originally, Gamera is an ancient creature dormant in the earth who was awakened by an atomic bomb. In the 1995 reboot, Gamera is explained to have come from an ancient civilization after being bio-engineered to protect the citizens of this society from other creatures. In these versions of Gamera, he also had the ability to shoot a plasma beam from his chest after absorbing energy from the earth.
In the final iteration of Gamera, the 2006 film “Gamera the Brave,” a new turtle takes up the mantle of earth’s defender. The film begins with the sacrifice of the original Gamera reminiscent of the 1980 film “Gamera: Super Monster”’s ending. Decades later a young boy finds an egg that hatches and grows into a giant turtle-like Gamera. This turtle is named Toto and is essentially a descendent of the original Gamera. Toto shares Gamera’s connection to children and most of his powers. The Gamera series has since expanded into other mediums and become a classic monster (Kaiju). No other films have been made since the 2006 version but Gamera still continues to live in legend and rereleases.
Gamera may seem like a silly flying turtle in retrospect when compared to today’s monster or even the older more popular monsters. Yet, it still positions itself as a unique monster idea and created a thriving series of films that are still discussed to this day in famous shows like Mystery Science Theatre 3000. Gamera’s unique form and special connection to children, both fictionally and realistically, has given it the clout to continue to be brought up at the water cooler when reminiscing of the monsters of old. Kaiju-based stories have always been a staple in Japanese fiction and Gamera continues to live on as one of the best.
Collector’s Edition Box Set Contents:
- Limited collectors’ edition packaging, housed in a large-format rigid box, fully illustrated by Matt Frank
- Casebound, fully-illustrated disc book containing eight Blu-ray discs
- High Definition (1080p) versions of all twelve films, with lossless original Japanese audio and a complete collection of English dub tracks, including classic American International dubs on the Showa-era films remastered from original MGM elements
- Hardback 130-page comic book including a full-color reprint of the four-issue Gamera comic series originally released by Dark Horse Comics in 1996, and the first-ever English-language printing of the prequel comic The Last Hope by Matt Frank and Joshua Bugosh
- A perfect-bound 80-page book including a new retrospective on the series by Patrick Macias, an archive interview with Noriaki Yuasa by David Milner, kaiju X-ray illustrations by Jolyon Yates, Fangoria set reports on the Heisei trilogy by Norman England, and a viewers’ guide to the English-dubbed versions of the films
- Double-sided four-panel poster of “Gamera’s Map of Japan” in both Japanese and English
- Collectors’ artcards for each film, featuring new artwork by Matt Frank
Now available in a deluxe Blu-ray boxset from Arrow Video
