Ranking Anguirus's showa appearance

[DannyBeane]

Its been a while since I've watched DAM because the crappy ADV dvd is truly awful and I am tired of waiting for the Media Blasters blu ray. Anyways after popping in the DVD I had forgotten how much of an impact Anguirus had in this movie and it gave me the idea to rank his Showa appearances since only Ghidrah, Mothra and Rodan really compare in amount of quality appearances.

1.Destroy All Monsters
This was Ang's second appearance in the series and a new suit was constructed for this film. This was his first appearance as Godzilla's ally and probably his strongest fight. What's impressive about his appearance here was that he was the first monster to lead the attack on KG, he was also the first kaiju to make KG bleed. He was also the first kaiju to kill one of KG heads. He did get beat up a bit though but overall he was one of the monsters to cause the most damage to KG.

2.Godzilla Raids Again
This was his first appearance. It also features my favorite suit and battle. Anguirus was also the first monster to fight Godzilla which I think is pretty cool. In this film he was pretty ruthless. This film (and to an extent Mothra vs Godzilla) are the only films to feature animalistic fighting. From KKvsG on the fights were more like WWE fights. As such this movie's battles are pretty unique and exceptionally brutal. Even though Ang is apparently killed. He still put on a helluva show.

3. Godzilla vs Gigan
This was the film that cemented Ang's legacy as Godzilla's sidekick. This was also the film most like a WWF tagteam match. The fighting is top notch but unfortunately Anguirus is treated like a whipping boy. He gets chased off by the military after investigating the action recording. He gets whooped by both KG and Gigan and uses the questionable tactic of running face first into a buzz saw. As much as Ang gets his butt kicked, when Godzilla finally chases off Gigan, Ang's little backwards leap attack was pretty cool. I would have liked to have seen him though get the upper hand against Gigan at some point though. His main role is pretty much to act as a distraction to take heat away from Godzilla.

4.Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla
By this film the suit was getting pretty beat up. Ang had lost his fangs and his main role was to show off MG's strength and as such, he gruesomely gets his butt kicked and jaw broken. He was important to the story though as he was the one that revealed MG was an impostor Godzilla. His little intro in Siberia was cool. Anguirus always struck me as a cold weather monster. I also would have like to see him join in the battle with Godzilla and King Caesar but I understand why he was left out.

Godzilla's Revenge, and Godzilla vs Megalon were left off because they were minor cameos/stock footage. What I felt believe to be interesting is that as his friendship with Godzilla was expanded upon, Anguirus seemingly got weaker and weaker. By the GvsMG he was a punching bag and not a real threat. It didn't matter to me as a little kid though, he was and still is my favorite kaiju. He just looks cool and seems so scrappy that you can't help but root for him. Also the woodwind instrument used for his roar gives him one of the most sorrowful, unique and beautiful roars from the Showa era in my opinion. Three cheers for Anguirus!

[klen7]

1. Godzilla vs Gigan
2. The other ones.

[MekaGojira3k]

[DannyBeane]

[RaymondBurr]

Great thread, Danny! My favorite is Gigantis/Raids Again. As you say, he looks great and gives a helluva fight. I didn't realize Anguirus was such a beast in DAM though. Definitely makes me want to go back and watch again.

[lhb412]

[tbeasley]

I think the 68 design is perfect for the character so anything with that.