Favorite Heisei Gamera Movie?

For the discussion of any Gamera related movies, comics, video games, etc.

Best Heisei Gamera Movie?

Guardian of the Universe
10
28%
Advent of Legion
10
28%
Revenge of Iris
15
42%
Brave
1
3%
 
Total votes: 36

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GodzillavsRayquaza
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Favorite Heisei Gamera Movie?

Post by GodzillavsRayquaza »

Throwing in Brave on the poll because it’s a Heisei-era movie even if not part of the “Heisei Gamera Trilogy”.
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Re: Favorite Heisei Gamera Movie?

Post by Angilasman »

Love all four, but I have to go with G2.

It's probably my favorite kaiju film of all time because it has so much of my favorite things of the genre and it has those things in surplus: that feeling of unease at the beginning of a horror movie when people are noticing things are strange, that great procedural nature of the humans figurring out what's happening (something that can be dull in other hands, but is ripe with intrigue when taken seriously), monsters on the loose causing havoc, humans vs. monsters, multiple monster battles that are thrilling and unique from each other, incredible monster designs, fantastic miniatures, clever sci-fi ideas, fantastic human cast where even the most minor roles ooze personality (a Kaneko speciality)

- and for all these excesses it's a lean, mean movie that's tight as a drum and flies by but feels like it has the content of a movie twice its length!

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Re: Favorite Heisei Gamera Movie?

Post by FalconEdge »

Gamera vs Legion was always my favorite of the Heisei era Gamera movies.

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Re: Favorite Heisei Gamera Movie?

Post by SpiderZilla »

I love the trilogy but I have to go with G1. Shusuke Kaneko made kaiju fans and the world stand up and take notice about what a kaiju film could be instead of accepting what they had been getting. The fact that he did it for half of what it cost to make GvD which was released the same year is truly impressive.

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Re: Favorite Heisei Gamera Movie?

Post by king_ghidorah »

G1 is the perfect encapsulation of what a kaiju movie is. The effects are good, especially for the time, but I’m fairly confident that had this movie had G3 level effects it would rank much higher on people’s list.

That being said, I went with G3. It’s the rare sequel that goes smaller and more intimate than it’s predecessors. Yes, the fate of the world is at stake but more critical to the story is the redemption of Ayana. Also, it’s a great idea to turn Gamera’s strength, children, into a weakness with his for being a young girl essentially.

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Re: Favorite Heisei Gamera Movie?

Post by eabaker »

king_ghidorah wrote: Tue Oct 04, 2022 5:32 am G1 is the perfect encapsulation of what a kaiju movie is.
Yeah, that is what my first screenwriting teacher would refer to as a "Classic Coke" movie. It's bascially doing a "formula" version of the genre, but it gets the ingredients and proportions exactly right, so that it doesn't feel formulaic.
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Re: Favorite Heisei Gamera Movie?

Post by king_ghidorah »

Exactly.

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Re: Favorite Heisei Gamera Movie?

Post by edgaguirus »

G1 is a great kaiju and Gamera film. It perfectly balances the light and heavy elements of the story and gives us some nice action scenes.
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Re: Favorite Heisei Gamera Movie?

Post by Creature22 »

Oof, I’m gonna have to think on this one. My track record on the Heisei trilogy isn’t great- I haven’t watched G1 in years, and had an inadequate viewing of G2 due to multiple people being in the room and talking through the entire movie. I don’t remember anything about that one.

I loved G3, although I had the benefit of watching it alone on a rainy Saturday night and just getting fully immersed. Of the three, I think it might be my favorite.

Gamera the Brave was also a lot of fun and a special favorite for me- I saw it back when it hit the US around 2006/2007. It seems like the reception on it has always been kind of lukewarm but it is an overall relaxed and uplifting entry.


Ultimately though, Showa dominated most of my childhood. The Heisei stuff was just impossible for me to track down growing up.

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Re: Favorite Heisei Gamera Movie?

Post by vastatosaurus »

I think G2 is the highest quality and most well-made movie. It is the standard of "masterpiece level" in this genre. But my favorite movie is G3 despite its few flaws. It has the best ending scene in the history of Kaiju movie. It gives me goosebumps every time I watch it.
Last edited by vastatosaurus on Sat May 13, 2023 9:46 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Favorite Heisei Gamera Movie?

Post by Malchik »

G2 was my introduction to the Heisei era and is still my favorite. G3 has some odd CGI choices and a few characters I question why they were there. Also I found the girl annoying. We get it, you hate Gamera.

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Re: Favorite Heisei Gamera Movie?

Post by king_ghidorah »

….odd cgi choices? Pray tell what you would have done better/differently in 1999 Japan?

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Re: Favorite Heisei Gamera Movie?

Post by LSD Jellyfish »

Malchik wrote: Sun May 14, 2023 5:20 am Also I found the girl annoying. We get it, you hate Gamera.
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Re: Favorite Heisei Gamera Movie?

Post by Jomei »

Gamera 3 was my favorite for a long time. Recently, I'm more drawn to the cozy moments of the first two films. I like all three about equally but voted Guardian of the Universe today. Really just depends on my mood, as I consider them all classic.
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Re: Favorite Heisei Gamera Movie?

Post by king_ghidorah »

LSD Jellyfish wrote: Sun May 14, 2023 5:55 pm
Malchik wrote: Sun May 14, 2023 5:20 am Also I found the girl annoying. We get it, you hate Gamera.
Boo hoo, your parents were violently murdered in a horrific accident.
Yeah everything about that original post just rubbed me the wrong way…

Back to Jomei’s comment though…the trilogy is the only series of films that I legit can make a case for any of the three being my favorite depending on the day.

GOTU is the perfect kaiju movie.
G2 is a great alien/sci fi movie and it gets bonus points for anytime I want to watch something with a winter setting.
G3 is the most emotionally and technically mature of the bunch. There’s honestly never been a film like it in the genre save possibly G 54.
Last edited by king_ghidorah on Mon May 15, 2023 4:24 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Favorite Heisei Gamera Movie?

Post by CamtheGodzillafan »

Easily G3, great story, Ayana was a reasonable character when you think of it, and the effects hit harder than most modern movies, especially Gamera and Iris' battle in the sky, that felt impossible for a pre 2010's movie.
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Re: Favorite Heisei Gamera Movie?

Post by HeiseiGodzilla117 »

Guardian of the Universe for sure. It's more subdued than G2 and G3 and has a more traditional kaiju movie kind of vibe, but I think that's why I like it best. 2 and 3 are still good though.
Spirit Ghidorah 2010 wrote: Sun Dec 03, 2023 4:54 pm Anno-san pleasures me more than Yamasaki-san.

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Re: Favorite Heisei Gamera Movie?

Post by Vakanai »

Guardian of the Universe without a doubt, tightest story of the bunch and just so, so good, with Legion and Brave being so close together in how great yet how different they are that it's hard for me to pick a clear 2nd and 3rd place between them and I go back and forth on them a bit.

But Iris is last for me - as much as this film is clearly a step up in a lot of ways for the special effects and monster designs and darker tone and general action, it's the plot and characters that drag this thing down into the muck for me. The one girl who hates Gamera because her family died as collateral damage from the fight with Gyaos, instead of you know hating the Gyaos for wanting to eat all of humanity rather than the kaiju trying to keep our species off the dinner menu...yeah, there was never a point in the film where she made sense or was likeable to me. And then that one weird creepy guy who's a total misanthrope going on about how humanity probably deserves to die or something, I can't remember exactly because this is the one Gamera film I've refused to watch ever since, I think he was good with computers or something.

Basically GotU, Legion, and Brave are all movies I love to watch, with GotU being the frontrunner, while Iris is the one whose fight scenes I love to watch on youtube but I don't intend to sit through and suffer through the plot ever again. The writing in that film, particularly for those two characters, just sucks a lot of the enjoyment out that I'd otherwise has. Best effects and fights of the era, but writing ruins it for me.
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Re: Favorite Heisei Gamera Movie?

Post by LegendZilla »

I've seen people draw comparisons between Irys and Destoroyah, understandably so given their final-boss status of both Godzilla and Gamera's respective eras. Personally, I feel that Irys is more analogous to Biollante. Let me explain why :

1. Both are tentacled, further-mutated variants of pre-existing monsters (Godzilla and Gyaos respetively)
2. Both have a connection with a young human female.
3. Both were featured in films darker and moodier than most of their contemporaries.
Last edited by LegendZilla on Wed Jan 03, 2024 5:41 pm, edited 7 times in total.

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Re: Favorite Heisei Gamera Movie?

Post by JAGzilla »

LegendZilla wrote: Wed Jan 03, 2024 5:28 pm I've seen people draw comparisons between Irys and Destoroyah, understandably so given their final-boss status of both Godzilla and Gamera's respective eras. Personally, I feel that Irys is more analogous to Biollante. Let me explain why :

1. Both are tentacled, further-mutated variants of pre-existing monsters (Godzilla and Gyaos respetively)
2. Both have a connection with a young human female.
3. Both were featured in films darker and moodier than most of their contemporaries.
Fair enough. Biollante and Irys were polar opposites in one big way, though. Biollante was an innocent victim of manipulative forces beyond her control, turned into a monster by the self-serving actions of Dr. Shiragami, the bioterrorists, and Godzilla's cells. Irys, by contrast, was a sinister force himself and the one manipulating Ayana for his own ends. Maybe. G3 is deliberately vague on the question of who was manipulating whom and to what extent. Irys doesn't come across as a good guy, though.
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