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thezanyarthropleura · 1 year

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April 29 (2006)

AKA The Not-March Ones (5 of 5)

Happy 17 years to Gamera the Brave, the final Gamera film to date and technically the last film of the Heisei era (but if you call it Millennium I won’t tell anyone). This movie is its own standalone story, not intended as part of either the Showa era or the Heisei trilogy before it – however, it strongly invokes both continuities in its world-building, implying that some equivalent of the 1965-1971 mainline run of Showa films exists in its timeline and that Gamera’s origin is more-or-less identical to the one established in the Heisei trilogy. The film opens in 1973, with an older, battle-weary take on Showa Gamera sacrificing himself against a Heisei-style Gyaos swarm, leaving behind a series of gemstone-like artifacts marked with the traditional ammonite-shell symbol associated in the Heisei trilogy with the continent of Atlantis.

It’s not only in its setting, but also in its main characters that Gamera the Brave splits itself almost neatly down the middle in being a tribute to both eras of the franchise’s past, so let’s talk about those – and yes, I’ll go into detail for both protagonists this time, because I like the film that much!

With a slight leading edge in being the film’s advertised main character, we have Aizawa Toru, a throwback to many of the young boy protagonists prevalent throughout the Showa era – although in this case, Gamera spends a lot of time being held in his hand, rather than the other way around. While it unambiguously really is a young Gamera here, unlike the past examples, Toru still easily brings to mind Toshio from Giant Monster Gamera or Keiichi from Gamera: Super Monster because of the relationship he has with his pet turtle. On a darker note, we also get some harsher-in-hindsight echoes of Akio from Gamera vs. Guiron, as when we meet Toru, he has recently lost his mother in one of those traffic accidents that apparently no one in 37 years has been able to make Earth into a world without. Yes, Toru’s story is a much more serious and emotional tale than probably any Showa protagonist besides possibly Toshio, and his bond with the young Gamera, whom he calls Toto after the nickname his mother used to call him, is deeply entrenched in his sense of loss and the longing for people in his life that won’t leave him.

Our other protagonist is Nishio Mai, a young girl who brings to mind Asagi and Ayana from the Heisei trilogy. She’s strongly associated with the Atlantis artifacts, including one that glows when held in her hands, and like Ayana, her hospitalization is the reason her family is in a major city during a kaiju attack. She’s introduced as simply a friend of Toru’s who lives next door, jokes around with him, and lets him borrow manga volumes to cheer him up when he gets lost in memories, but once Gamera is introduced, we see a more definitive protective side to her. She first tries to convince Toru to let Gamera go, then shows him articles about Gamera, concerned that his new pet is soon going to grow to a dangerous size and start breathing fire – something Toru insistently denies, because, as he eventually snaps and reveals, Toto can’t be Gamera because Gameras fight and die, and Toru can’t lose anyone else.

This scene is particularly chilling because of its timing with another slow reveal throughout the film – at first, unknown to both Toru and the audience, and later only unknown to Toru, Mai has a heart complication and is scheduled for a high-risk surgery the following week. As days pass, we realize Mai has been living them as if they may be her last, all while being scolded and berated by her mother, who is in a state of denial and refuses to hear a word from either Mai or her father about any possibility other than things turning out perfectly fine. Mai has to fight with her mother about being able to live those days the way she wants, and the urgency of her worry over Toru is founded upon a belief she, too, snaps and reveals – that if something bad happens later on, she might not be there to help him.

All these themes of loss and death become interwoven as the plot goes on. Toru overhears an argument between Mai and her mother, discovering the truth that someone else he cares for deeply might soon disappear, and gives her the Atlantean stone that held Toto’s egg as a good luck charm. Toru’s father tells the story of the 1973 Gamera’s sacrifice, and it makes Toru hesitate in his quest to power up Toto, wondering if this Gamera will also just use the stone’s power to sacrifice himself. Despite representing similar demographics, Toru and Mai never feel like they’re directly repeating the stories of the characters they’re referencing, but telling unique, deeper emotional tales in a film that gives its characters more space to feel.

I’ll also note here that a potential plot point where Toru develops a crush on Mai was dropped completely from the final film, making it a surprisingly earnest, romance-free story about friendship and comradery, especially highlighted when Mai seamlessly works together with Toru and his other two friends to sneak Toto out at night after the turtle has grown too large to be inconspicuous.

This film is one fraught with potential for emotional heartbreak, but as one discovers upon getting to the end, it simply isn’t the type of movie to play the cards in its hand toward shock or tragedy. We’re presented with a scenario where both Mai and Toto need the energy of the Atlantean stone, and other stories might use a similar setup to teach the audience a cruel lesson in choices and loss, but nope. Gamera the Brave may be more serious than the whimsical Showa entries for most of the running time, but when it counts, this movie is still a Gamera movie, priding itself on hope and prevailing over circumstances. The stone is enough to save Mai and then the only issue from that point is how to get it from her to Toto. This is one of two Gamera films that make me genuinely cry every time, but the scene where it happens isn’t sad, just beautiful.

And really, the whole film is just that. The cinematography is incredible, with shot composition and lighting and color worthy of the most critically-acclaimed arthouse film. The scenery and establishing shots breathe magic into the homey seaside setting, and uses of slow motion, creative lighting, and internal monologue give the movie just the right amount of campiness without sacrificing tone. The music here is always on-point, whether the scene is serious or bordering on comedic, and there’s something unique and experimental about it that’s unlike any other soundtrack in the genre.

Most of this film’s common complaints have to do with the monster action, so to be fair, yes, Toto’s design is a bit of a cutesy take on Gamera, and no, they didn’t use the exact same sound file for Gamera’s roar as in the other films. But the former is fitting for the movie and the latter, I didn’t even notice while watching it. And all of this can be solved by acknowledging that Toto is a juvenile Gamera that doesn’t quite exhibit all the qualities or fulfill all the fandom expectations of a fully-grown Gamera. There are a few instances of the ‘stock roar’ that gets mentioned often, which could be compared to an undeveloped growl, but Toto’s other vocalizations are pitched right to foreshadow a more Gamera-like roar when he’s an adult.

One genuine flaw I will point out is that it’s hard to believe the Toto that fights Zedus in the first battle can be carried away on a flatbed truck when he was shown with his just his head filling up the inside of a tool shed a few scenes before, but that is also a scene I would point to that exhibits the amazing detail in the special effects, keeping the franchise consistent in at least one respect with the Heisei trilogy. And the monster battles here are just as bloody and brutal as has been a theme with all the films prior, with Gamera repeatedly getting grazed and impaled by Zedus’s sharp tongue.

Zedus himself is an interesting opponent for this film, because at every turn he seems to be referencing Gamera’s first ever foe Barugon, being a reptile with long back protrusions, a weaponized tongue, and a reflective rainbow pattern on his frill. All of these are, however, done in distinct enough ways that he can’t properly be called a redesign, just a most-likely intentional homage. And that’s kind of fitting, because the film isn’t about Zedus, he could’ve looked like just about anything without changing much, all he needs to do is be a real and convincing threat (which he does, brutally, by eating a bloody mouthful of people). He neatly avoids being either an underdeveloped new, interesting creature or an underutilized returning favorite, he’s just ‘the monster Gamera fights that isn’t Gyaos again’ and honestly that’s good enough.

For some, it may feel anticlimactic when the final powerup here is just Gamera gaining abilities he’s had from the start in all his other depictions, and has exhibited weaker versions of already in his smaller stages, but for me, the film’s characters and musical score do more than enough to sell it. This is effectively Gamera: Year One, the story of a rise to power that the other films all skip over, and in being that, it most certainly excels. Honestly, I think the worst way you can look at this film is comparing it to other Gamera movies, and not because it’s worse than they are, but because it was never aiming to replicate those same exact things.

Abuse warning for a scene early in the final battle where Toru’s father slaps him. This is probably a case of a different time and culture, as Toru’s father isn’t really portrayed as a bad guy, just a single father having reached his breaking point after his child has run off into a disaster zone. Like Asagi’s father before him, he isn’t quite ready to accept Toru’s necessary role in powering up Gamera so that he can save everyone, but to perhaps a greater extent than his predecessor, he ultimately realizes how important this is to Toru, if not to the world, and even assists his son for much of the final leg of his journey up the tower to deliver the stone.

If you’re looking for yet another giant monster smackdown of epic proportions… that’s not what this film is. It’s a human story with creative and endearing cinematography, real and compelling emotional weight, and also giant monsters. It’s Gamera meets Life is Strange or Moonrise Kingdom. It’s a story where Gamera doesn’t only represent hope against fictional despair, but also real despair, where his game-changing presence as a giant flying firebreathing pseudo-mystical hero turtle is brought to a more meaningful and engaging world than it ever has before, and that’s what makes Gamera the Brave my favorite Gamera film.

#gamera #gamera the brave #nishio mai #aizawa toru #toto gamera #zedus #gamera march #gamera april #a lesbian reviews all the gamera movies

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