Gaira

Gaira (Showa)

Gaira (Showa)

Gaira of the Showa era (緑色の巨人 ガイラ, Midoriiro no Kyojin Gaira — The Green Gargantua / Oceanic Titan) is one of the most terrifying, bloodthirsty, and memorable humanoid kaiju in cinema history, starring as the ferocious primary antagonist in Toho’s 1966 tokusatsu masterwork *The War of the Gargantuas* (Japanese: フランケンシュタインの怪獣 サンダ対ガイラ, *Furankenshutain no Kaijū: Sanda tai Gaira*), directed by Ishirō Honda with special effects directed by Eiji Tsuburaya. Like his gentle mountain brother Sanda, Gaira was spawned through asexual cellular proliferation from severed tissue of the immortal Frankenstein titan that drifted into the ocean depths. Raised in the pitch-black, predatory abyss of the Pacific, Gaira matured into a 25-meter-tall, 10,000-metric-ton aquatic humanoid monstrosity encased in slimy olive-green scales and algae-like bristles. Possessing extreme photophobia that confined his hunts to nocturnal squalls and fog banks, Gaira earned infamy by actively stalking coastal shipping, invading foggy airports, and devouring human beings alive. Gaira earned an indelible place in military sci-fi history as the first monster targeted by the Japan Self-Defense Forces' legendary Type 66 Maser Cannons, before succumbing to a fratricidal duel against Sanda that terminated in an erupting undersea volcano.