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| Species: | Giant Ankylosaurus |
| Height: | Showa: 60 Meters Millennium: 40 Meters |
| Length: | Showa: 100 Meters Millennium: 160 Meters |
| Weight: | Showa: 30,000 Metric Tons Millennium: 60,000 Metric Tons |
| Appearances: | Godzilla Raids Again (1955) Destroy All Monsters (1968) All Monsters Attack (1969) Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972) Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973) Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla (1974) Godzilla: Final Wars (2004) |
Summary
Anguirus is a giant Ankylosaurus kaiju who first appeared in the 1955 Toho Godzilla film, Godzilla Raids Again.
Anguirus was Godzilla's first-ever opponent, and battled him to the death in Osaka in Godzilla Raids Again. Anguirus was ultimately killed by Godzilla, but a second individual debuted in the film Destroy All Monsters in 1968. This Anguirus became a friend and ally to Godzilla, loyally fighting alongside him to fend off alien monsters such as King Ghidorah and Gigan. Anguirus' final appearance in the Showa series of films came in 1974's Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, where he had his jaw broken by the alien machine Mechagodzilla, who was masquerading as Godzilla. Anguirus' next film appearance came 30 years later in Godzilla: Final Wars, where he was a mind-controlled pawn of the Xiliens in their invasion of Earth. While not as popular as the likes of Rodan, Mothra or King Ghidorah, Anguirus has become a popular monster in his own right, and has earned a reputation as being both Godzilla's closest friend and as a tenacious fighter even when severely outmatched.
Name
The original English name given to Anguirus by Toho was "Angilas", given the pronunciation of the name in Japan, which was changed to Anguirus in the 1959 American release of Godzilla Raids Again, with the film's title being changed to Gigantis, the Fire Monster. In the mid-1990s, Toho copyrighted the revised name "Anguirus," making it official. Pilots Shoichi Tsukioka and Koji Kobayashi are scouting the ocean for schools of fish for Marine Fisheries KK, located in Osaka. Suddenly, the engine for Kobayashi's plane malfunctions and he makes an emergency landing on the remote Iwato Island. Hidemi Yajima, Tsukioka's lover and the daughter of the company's owner, informs him of the situation, and he immediately flies to the island to rescue his friend. Tsukioka sees Kobayashi's plane sitting atop the water near the island, with Kobayashi himself waving at Tsukioka's plane from the island. Tsukioka lands and reunites with Kobayashi, who has only suffered a sprained wrist in the incident. The two men hear strange noises coming from the cliffs on the island, then look to find two huge monsters battling on the island. Tsukioka immediately recognizes one of the monsters as Godzilla, but cannot identify the other. The grappling monsters tumble off the island into the ocean below, after which they both disappear.
Design
Anguirus is a stout, armored, quadrupedal reptilian creature that looks fairly similar to an Ankylosaurus, with aspects of his design also resembling armadillos, hedgehogs, and crocodiles. He has several inwardly curved horns at the top of his head and a single, short horn on the end of his snout. His face is long, puffy and drawn out, like a crocodile, with two large tusks at the start and rows of smaller, jagged, serrated teeth following suit. His carapace is studded with a plethora of long, sharp, prickly spikes. Anguirus' tail is spiky and longer than his body, accounting for the majority of his total body length. His hind limbs are longer than his forelimbs, enabling him to stand upright to his full height, but he primarily walks upon all fours. In Godzilla: Final Wars, Anguirus is jokingly referred to as an "armadillo," most likely due to his ability to curl himself into a ball.
The Final Wars Anguirus has some differences in his design. His skin is a a much lighter shade of gray, with yellowish-colored spikes. This Anguirus has a shorter, more mammal-like snout, and his underbelly has an armored, brick-like texture. He now has spikes on his arms and legs, and his tail ends with a spiked club, a trait shared by the real-life Ankylosaurus.
Personality
Anguirus is depicted as a very tenacious and fierce fighter. Despite constantly going up against enemies tougher than himself, Anguirus rarely backs down and always puts up a vicious fight. Despite his fierce nature, Anguirus has traditionally been shown in various media as being a close friend of Godzilla.
While many of Godzilla's allies have had to work with him out of necessity, such as Mothra and Rodan, Anguirus and Godzilla appear to have a genuine friendship, despite initially being enemies. This is most pronounced in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, where Anguirus senses that the Godzilla roaming Japan is not the monster he knows and attacks it, with a character even mentioning that it's strange to see Anguirus attack "his friend" Godzilla.
Origin
In Godzilla Raids Again, it is suggested that Anguirus is a relative of the dinosaur Ankylosaurus that lived around the same time as Godzilla. Like Godzilla, Anguirus managed to survive into the modern day by lying dormant somewhere, presumably underwater, before being awakened and irradiated by nuclear bomb tests in the 1950s. This origin is never discussed further or contradicted in subsequent films.
History
Showa Era
Anguirus first encountered Godzilla in Godzilla Raids Again, on Iwato Island. The two ancient creatures fought then fell into the sea below and disappeared. After some research was carried out, Anguirus was revealed to be an ancient and incredibly strong dinosaur from the Cretaceous Period. The two kaiju resurfaced and met each other again in Osaka, Japan, where they fought. After a fierce and destructive battle, Godzilla gained the upper hand when he bit Anguirus in his neck then threw him into a moat near Osaka Castle, before finishing him off with his atomic breath.
In Destroy All Monsters, Anguirus was now living on Monsterland along with the other Earth monsters in the year 1999. The Earth was invaded by the Kilaaks, however, and he was sent to guard the aliens' earth base. The humans intervened, and freed the monsters from the alien mind control. Anguirus battled King Ghidorah once again, and managed to kill him with the other monsters.
Almost 20 years after the events of Godzilla Raids Again, in Godzilla vs. Gigan, Godzilla and Anguirus were now living together on Monster Island. Whether this was the same Anguirus that fought Godzilla in 1955 or a different Anguirus entirely is never explained. Godzilla sent him to Japan to check on a strange noise they were hearing. Anguirus swam to the shores of Japan, where he was attacked by the military. The military managed to drive him off, but he returned to Monster Island to inform Godzilla. Godzilla returned with him to Japan, where they fought Gigan and King Ghidorah at the World Children's land. Despite being badly injured in the battle, Godzilla and Anguirus drove off the space monsters and returned to Monster Island in peace.
Anguirus appeared briefly in Godzilla vs. Megalon, where he was seen on Monster Island with Godzilla and Rodan. The trio of monsters were resting on Monster Island when nuclear tests were carried out nearby, causing the island to split in half. Godzilla managed to escape, but Anguirus toppled over and fell into the growing fissure.
Three years later, in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla, Anguirus, having been resting and travelling underground ever since he fell into the fissure a year earlier, traveled to Japan in search of Godzilla. Anguirus knew something wasn't right, when he saw his friend Godzilla was attacking buildings mindlessly and walking around the Japanese countryside with no specific pattern. Anguirus burrowed out of the ground after Godzilla attacked an apartment building, tripping him over. Anguirus then challenged Godzilla, but Godzilla threw him through a bridge and into a valley. As Anguirus got back up, he leapt out of the valley, knocking off some of Godzilla's scales with his claws as he passed, revealing metal underneath. The now-revealed Fake Godzilla then fought back viciously, beating Anguirus and slamming him into the ground. The Fake Godzilla broke Anguirus' jaw in a violent and bloody fashion, forcing Anguirus to burrow back underground and retreat. Chronologically, this wasn't Anguirus' last appearance in the Showa era, as at some point between 1975 and 1999, he was found and taken to Monsterland, his injuries having been completely healed.
Millennium Era
In the year 20XX, the Xiliens used the M-base in Anguirus's DNA to control him, siccing him on Shanghai, China. He was engaged by the Earth Defense Force battleship Karyu, but proved too fast for its main weapon to hit. Anguirus was soon recalled by the Xiliens, posing as friends to humanity who saved the planet from the monsters by capturing them. After their scheme was exposed, they redeployed Anguirus to Shanghai with a swarm of Xilien Fighters, where he finished off Karyu. Next they sent him, Rodan, and King Caesar against a reawakened Godzilla at the foot of Mount Fuji. The monsters coordinated their attacks against him, but ended up defeated in a pile.
Trivia
- Anguirus was the second kaiju in the Godzilla series, and Godzilla's first-ever enemy.
- In the 1957 Toho film Tokyo is a Fine Place, a baseball player named William Radon joins a team called the Tokyo Anguirus. The team's uniform includes a shoulder patch with the monster's head in silhouette.
- Anguirus, Rodan, and King Caesar are the only enemy monsters Godzilla spares in Godzilla: Final Wars.
- Godzilla: King of the Monsters director Michael Dougherty stated that, "the skeleton of a creature that might or might not be Anguirus is briefly visible in one shot, just outside Godzilla’s underwater lair."[23] Anguirus is also featured in concept art of the film's final scene, published in The Art of Godzilla: King of the Monsters, as are other established kaiju such as Gigan and Gamera.[24] In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Dougherty said, "We had thought about using some additional Toho creatures to give them some cameos but every Toho creature comes with a price tag. It was a choice to either shell out more money simply for the rights for these creatures to show up on screen for a few seconds, or embrace the opportunity and the challenge to create new creatures."
