Anguirus
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| Godzilla film series character | |
|---|---|
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| Anguirus | |
| Species | Giant Ankylosaur |
| Alias | Angilas Angurus |
| Length | 100-160 meters |
| Weight | 30,000-60,000 tons |
| Origins | Pacific Proving Grounds |
| Major Enemies | King Ghidorah Gigan MechaGodzilla Godzilla(in Godzilla Raids Again and Godzilla: Final Wars) |
| Allies | Godzilla Rodan King Caesar Mothra Gorosaurus Minilla Manda Baragon Varan Kumonga |
| Controlled By | Xiliens Kilaaks Vortaak (in Destroy All Monsters Melee) |
| First Appearance | Godzilla Raids Again (1955) |
| Created By | Motoyoshi Oda |
| Portrayed By | Shōwa Series Katsumi Tezuka Hiroshi Sekita Koetsu Omiya Momoru Kusumi Millennium Series Toshihiro Ogura |
Anguirus (アンギラス Angirasu?) is the second daikaijū ("giant monster"), who appeared only a year after Godzilla in the 1955 Toho film Godzilla Raids Again. The original English name given to the monster by Toho was Angilas, which was changed to Angurus in Gigantis, the Fire Monster, the 1959 American version of the film. In the mid-1990s, Toho copyrighted the revised name Anguirus, thus making it official.
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[edit] Appearance
Appearance-wise, Anguirus is a four-legged dinosaur that looks vaguely similar to an Ankylosaurus. He has several horns at the top of his head and a single horn above his nose like a rhinoceros. His face is long and drawn out, like a crocodile, and has rows of jagged, serrated teeth. His carapace is studded with long, sharp spikes. Anguirus' tail is covered with spikes and makes up most of his body length. His hind limbs are longer than his forelimbs and he can stand up on them to his full height, though he generally walks upon all fours.
[edit] Special Abilities
Anguirus is armed with sharp teeth, claws, horns, and a spiky carapace. Although an aggresively tenacious fighter, Anguirus lacks ranged capability compared to some of Godzilla's other opponents. Nevertheless, regardless of how much stronger his opponent might be, Anguirus never retreats from a fight without first taking substantial punishment. In his first appearance in Godzilla Raids Again, it is explained that Anguirus' is capable of moving incredibly fast in spite of his bulk due to his brain extending into his chest and abdominal areas, allowing him to react more quickly. He is able to lunge at his opponents with massive leaps and is also capable of burrowing substantial distances. Two of his more impressive attacks involve jumping backward to impale his opponents on his spiked carapace or his vice like bite; the most famous example of the latter being when he faced King Ghidorah in Destroy All Monsters where he latched onto one of King Ghidorah's necks, his grip holding firm even as his opponent took flight until King Ghidorah bit Anguirus' own neck and forced him to let go and drop to the ground.
In Godzilla: Final Wars Anguirus was redesigned with the ability to curl himself into a ball and propel himself forward with tremendous speed, an ability most likely inspired by the video game Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee. The Final Wars version also possessed a tail club like a real Ankylosaurus, though he was not witnessed using it in combat. He, Rodan, and King Caesar were the only enemy monsters that survived their battle with Godzilla; a homage to the Shōwa films in which the three of them were Godzilla's allies.
[edit] Origin
[edit] Showa Series
It can be gathered that Anguirus is a dinosaur, either awoken by nuclear tests or existing remotely. Anguirus was the first enemy that Godzilla ever faced, in 1955 (Godzilla Raids Again). Apparently, Anguirus' species was extremely competitive toward other hostile creatures, thus explaining his attacks on Godzilla. Godzilla and Anguirus battled in Osaka, and after a fierce struggle Godzilla won with a bite to the neck. He then appeared to incinerate his opponent's body with his atomic blast.
Anguirus was re-introduced (in a brand-new costume) in the 1968 film Destroy All Monsters as an ally of Godzilla, living with him on Monster Island. Fans have alternately speculated that this was a new Anguirus, or that the first had somehow survived. This costume was re-used throughout the remainder of the Showa series, and Anguirus continued in his capacity as Godzilla's ally. He helped Godzilla repel the space monsters, Gigan and King Ghidorah, in 1972 (Godzilla vs. Gigan). He and Godzilla returned to Monster Island, but the island was disturbed by nuclear bomb tests (Godzilla vs. Megalon). The ground beneath Anguirus cracked and he fell into a pit.
Anguirus next appeared at the beginning of Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, in a snowy region (possibly Siberia), where he witnessed Mechagodzilla's first emergence. Due to the previous movie where he fell into a pit, he rose from the ground. He followed Mechagodzilla underground to Japan and engaged him there. However, Mechagodzilla was too powerful for Anguirus, and severely injured him, breaking his jaw in a bloody display. Anguirus was forced to retreat, possibly to summon the real Godzilla.
In 1999, (Destroy All Monsters takes place in this year, though it was made in 1968) Anguirus and the other inhabitants of Monsterland were captured and mind-controlled by an alien race known as Kilaaks who desired to dominate Earth. Anguirus guarded the Kilaak base until the humans severed the mind control. Anguirus was then sent to fight King Ghidorah at Fuji, where he and the other monsters successfully destroyed the space dragon once and for all. While fighting King Ghidorah, Anguirus fell and inadvertently revealed the Kilaaks' underground base, allowing Godzilla to destroy it. Anguirus and the other monsters returned to their home where they lived in peace to this day.
[edit] Millennium Series
After a 30 year absence from the Japanese movie screens Anguirus made a return in the 2004 movie, Godzilla: Final Wars as a controlled monster of the Xilians. (This is a separate timeline from the Showa series.) He appears in "Shanghai", and tramples everything in his path, then engaged the flying UN battleship, Karyu. Then the Xilians appeared and teleported Anguirus and the other monsters away. They told the humans that they eliminated the kaiju to save Earth, but this was soon discovered to be a ruse, and that the Xilians were controlling the kaiju. In Shanghai, the Xilians use their fighter ships to attack Karyu. While Karyu was distracted, Anguirus jumped and curled himself into a ball, crashing into the ship at its midpoint. Karyu went spinning in the air before colliding into the Oriental Pearl Tower.
Later, the Xilians used Anguirus, Rodan, and King Caesar to engage Godzilla at Mt. Fuji, but they were easily defeated.
[edit] In Other Media
- In Marc Cerasini's series of novels, Anguirus is first mentioned in Godzilla at World's End as a sea monster that had been recently reported to have been sighted in the Caspian Sea, later appearing and defeating Gigan. In the next book, Godzilla vs. The Robot Monsters, Anguirus has been attacking oil platforms in the four years since his first appearance. Anguirus was eventually subdued by the Russian-built robot Moguera and airlifted to a containment pen outside of Moscow.
- In Billy & Mandy's Big Boogey Adventure, a red Anguirus is seen on Monster Island with other kaiju. Along with his fellow monsters, he tried to roast any passerby with his fire breath (which he lacked in the film series).
[edit] Trivia
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This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2008) |
- Anguirus was to have made an appearance in the film Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack. Originally, the first draft of the film was to be called Godzilla, Anguirus, and Varan: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack as one of the three guardian Yamato monsters. The other two monsters were Varan and Baragon. However, Varan and Anguirus were seen as less popular by the executives at Toho and were replaced with the more profitable King Ghidorah and Mothra. In the end, the only of the original three monsters to be included in the film was Baragon. There was much confusion among American fans as to why Baragon was chosen over Anguirus. Many American fans stressed that Anguirus was more popular than Baragon; however, in Japan, Baragon is far more popular, making appearances in Frankenstein vs. Baragon and the Japanese anime series Dragon Ball.
- In the movie Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S., a giant sea turtle dubbed Kamoebas is found dead, having washed onto to a beach with three huge lacerations inflicted in its neck. At first, it was going to be Anguirus, but the producer Shogo Tomiyama, disagreed about using him in this way, possibly because it would have generated quite a negative fan reaction.
- Anguirus has been featured in the following video games: Battle Soccer, Godzilla: Battle Legends, Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee, Godzilla: Save the Earth, Godzilla: Giant Monster March, and Godzilla: Unleashed. In Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee and Godzilla: Save the Earth, Anguirus is a powerful close-range fighter with many claw, bite and tail attacks. His spiked shell protects him from many attacks giving him great defense, and he can use it as a weapon by turning his back to a foe and jumping backwards (a move first seen in Godzilla vs Gigan), as well as causing opponents to flinch if they attack his back. Relatively fast, Anguirus relies on closing the distance and delivering devastating combos and single strong blows. His roar has short range but a wide area of effect and passes through buildings and obstacles, meaning hiding behind a skyscraper is no defense. In Save the Earth, Anguirus' Rage attack was to curl into a ball and roll about the area crushing buildings and knocking his opponent around. This ability was then used in Godzilla: Final Wars, where Anguirus used it to escape the main weapon of the warship Karyu, to destroy the Karyu, and finally to attack Godzilla (during the three-on-one battle between Godzilla, Anguirus, Rodan and King Caesar).
- Anguirus' role in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla was originally written for Baragon, but the Baragon suit was in such bad condition that the studio chose to use Anguirus as a replacement to fill the role. This could also be interpreted as the reason we see Anguirus gain burrowing and leaping abilities, traits that are known for Baragon.
- Anguirus was included in early script drafts of Godzilla 2000.
- At the time that Godzilla: Final Wars was in production, it was rumored that the Anguirus suit used in Godzilla: Final Wars was actually a modified version of Dagahra (or Dagarla), the seagoing monster with which Mothra did battle in Rebirth of Mothra II. This rumor was shown to be false: all of the suits and props used in the film were original with the exception of Mothra, a reused prop from Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.. The rumor may have been influenced by the fact that Dagarah was nearly one of the many enemy monsters to appear in Final Wars. The rumor was not baseless, however, as the Final Wars Anguirus and Dagahra are similar in appearance, particularly in head design. In addition Anguirus was originally considered for one of the Rebirth of Mothra films, further adding to the string of coincidence.
- In Gosei Sentai Dairanger, the Super Mythical Chi Beast Daimugen makes a sound similar to the roar Anguirus makes. Anguirus' roar is used in the Capcom video game The King of Dragons as well as Fei Long's stage in Super Street Fighter II. The roar of the boss creatures Ridley and Draygon in Super Metroid also sounds very similar to Anguirus. Anguirus's roar can be heard while fighting Leviathan in her Stingray Mech during the Temple stage of Mega Man Zero 2. In Megaman ZX Advent, the roar emitted when you shoot the Freezing Dragon shot is an almost exact recording of Anguirus's roar.
- The Pokémon Rhyhorn, Rhydon and Rhyperior may have been inspired by Anguirus, considering the nose horn and the spikes on their back.
- Along with the Godzilla family, Anguirus has been shown to speak and converse with others as shown in Godzilla vs. Gigan and Godzilla: Final Wars
[edit] External links
- Barry's Temple of Godzilla
- Toho Kingdom
- Kaijuphile: Monster Site. Monster Obsession.
- Monster Zero News
- Sci-Fi Japan
- Godzilla Stomp
- Secret Message of "Mothra" (Mosura) (multilingual trivia and links)
