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Zigra (ジグラ Jigura?) is an alien monster and the main antagonist in Gamera vs Zigra, the seventh Gamera film. Zigra is a deadly opponent who looks like a cross between a goblin shark and a bird, possessing a silvery gray, armor-plated hide, a pointed nose, a row of sharp dorsal fins on his back, as well as sharp pectoral ones.
History
Gamera vs. Zigra
Zigra swimming
Zigra invaded earth in a spaceship that was part of his anatomy with his subordinate - a hypnotised spacewoman who was famous on the Earth for being an astronaut. Together they caused large earthquakes across the globe, with the intention of enslaving the human race and raising them like cattle - Zigra came from a planet where instead of people eating fish, fish eat people (thus making the film the first known Japanese instance of the Russian reversal). 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 fought the underwater spaceship and breathed fire at it, causing it to explode, revealing Zigra's true form. The water pressure on Earth was different from his planet though, so it made Zigra triple his previous size. Eventually Gamera was knocked out by Zigra but soon re-awakened by a series of lightning shocks. After a battle underwater, in which Gamera was badly cut by Zigra's pectoral and dorsal fins, Gmera threw him on land, using a rock to play his theme song on Zigra's dorsal fins like a xylophone before burning the huge Alien shark alive, incinerating and killing him.
In the film Gamera: Super Monster, Zigra 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 new tune.
Abilities
Zigra's attacks are all based around the blades on his back, head, and fins. Underwater, his great speed and agility allows him to easily evade Gamera's attacks and out-maneuver him, however Zigra's weakness is that he is virtually helpless when on land. Zigra can also shoot a beam of light from the gem between his nose that paralyzes an opponent using a supersonic form of hypnosis. In the Gamera: The Guardian of the Universe, Zigra fired tri-colored beam as a weapon.
Zigra's spaceship can shoot a tractor beam to capture opponents and a deadly red-colored laser to destroy enemies. His secondary pair of pectoral fins can grow to become a pair of appendages for land, so he can stand up like a biped animal.
In a poster, Zigra was noted to shoot biological nuclear missile called "Clone Rocket" (分身ロケット, Bunshin Roketto) from mouth.[2]
Other Appearances
Like many of his fellow Showa monsters, Zigra has not made a film appearance outside his initial debut, (except for the obvious stock footage scenes). However, he made an appearance in the Gamera comic series by Dark Horse Comics, that was based on the Heisei Gamera series. In the story, Zigra was an escaped alien creature from outer space, who managed to find his way onto Earth. He'd eventually meet up and face Gamera, who made relatively short work of him. In this series, he was pretty much unchanged, except for the fact he was more of a wild animal, and was more aquatic-based.
Gallery
Trivia
- Zigra's Japanese name is based on "kujira", the Japanese name for whales.
- The Gyaos seen in the comic by Higuchi was very similar to Zigra in appearance, though being able to fly.
- Mother Legion's concept was originally based on Zigra's and Guilala's designs.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Showa Gamera monsters data - Gamera.jp
- ↑ まんだらけオークション, ガメラ対深海怪獣ジグラポスター
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