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Anguirus 1955

Anguirus, a detail from the Godzilla Raids Again film poster.

Anguirus (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.

Appearance

Anguirus 1955 2

Anguirus, a detail from Godzilla Raids Again film poster.

Anguirus is a four-legged dinosaur that looks vaguely similar to an Ankylosaurus or a Glyptodon. He has several horns at the top of his head and a single horn above his nose. Anguirus appears to be a cross of a dinosaur and a hedgehog. He sometimes can be represented as a turtle in this crossbreed. His face is long and drawn out and has rows of jagged, serrated teeth. His carapace is studded with long, sharp spikes resembling a porcupine's back. 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.

Like most of Toho's kaiju, Anguirus is distinguished from other monsters in part by his unique vocalizations. In Final Wars, his most common sound is a high-pitched keening, but he also produces several other roars, including a cry extremely similar to that of the alien Ridley from the Nintendo game Super Metroid.

Special Abilities

Anguirus is armed with sharp teeth, claws, horns, spiky tail, and a spiky carapace resembling a porcupine's back. Anguirus seems to be a cross of a dinosaur and a hedgehog. Although an aggressively 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.

Anguirus

Screenshot from the film Destroy all Monsters, where Anguirus appeared in color (Eastmancolor) film for the first time.

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, and 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 Ghidorah's necks, his grip holding firm even as his opponent took flight until 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 like in the videogame 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. In many video games, Anguirus can create a sonic wave from his mouth. It is known as his long ranged attack that most monsters have.

Origins

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 aggressive toward other 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 breath.

Anguiris vs King Ghidorah

Anguirus clings tenaciously to King Ghidorah in Destroy All Monsters

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 the first that 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.

Millennium Series

After a 30 year absence, 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. Godzilla did not kill them, instead leaving them where they were.

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).
  • Anguirus was also on the show, Godzilla island, where his spiked carapace helped save the day from a cactus kaiju.
  • 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 ranged attack is the Sonic roar. It has short range but it compensates with 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).

[[Category:Fictional anthropomorphic characters

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