Godzilla fought many wars with other Kaiju over the years, but he seldom stepped up to his biggest competition. Kong is the exception although all the strategizing, finagling, patience, litigation, and backstabbing it took (ask Willis O’Brien) to get the giant ape in a Toho film made sure they only threw hands – and rubble – at each other three times in 60 years.
The multiversal considerations are an issue too, if you’re a nitpicker, but Godzilla and Kong have one of the most storied rivalries in cinema history, nevertheless. Yet the latter is not the only ‘King’ or ‘Guardian’ that can be called a rival to the undisputed King of the Monsters.
Gamera has been one of Gojira’s closest competitors in Japan when it comes to the box office, and around the world in terms of the hearts and minds of the Tokusatsu-obsessed. However, as hard as it might be to believe for some of you out there, the two have never crossed heat rays on the big screen.
That’s not to say there is no demand for it; it’s just that the top studio-level decision-makers don’t care to see it. The most important people among those bigwigs run Toho, and mainly they have been the ones against the idea every time it’s brought up. Yes, indeed, the pitch has been made a few times.
Still, the most noteworthy occurrence was in the mid-90s when Gamera returned after a 15-year hiatus to be declared “Guardian of the Universe” – even if he never leaves the planet. His 1995 film bearing that title would light the fuse on a trilogy that’s still highly regarded, and that put struggling studio Daiei back in business for a bit.
An X post by comic book author Masumi Kaneda alleges “in a bizarre story” that Daiei president Yasuyoshi Tokuma suddenly said he had an idea for a Godzilla vs. Gamera film during the first press conference for Guardian of the Universe. Tokuma reportedly let Toho know about the proposal but by the time of his death, and a recurrence of financial problems at Daiei in 2000, there was no momentum, and talks, if any, cooled down.
![Gamera: Guardian of the Universe (1995) Original Trailer [FHD]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/a8lKCMIF4iA/hqdefault.jpg)
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However, within a few years, Daiei was purchased by Kadokawa and they were interested in bringing Gamera back in a big way yet again. Godzilla’s Millennium Era was in full swing, fresh off the epic Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (which was the top-grossing installment of that period), and Toho was about to resurrect Mechagodzilla for the Kiryu saga. The box office numbers weren’t always enchanting, but they were on a roll.
Kadokawa, naturally, figured a “Godzilla vs. Gamera” movie was the ticket, and it might have made some money. It at least would have attracted some buzz, but Toho thought otherwise. As SciFi JAPAN reported in 2006, Kadokawa’s new film entity, the Kadokawa-Daiei Motion Picture Company, approached them about a co-production and passed on the proposal.
The reason why may have been another case of a studio making excuses for not listening to fans – before that phenomenon became as overt as it is now. Ex-Toho producer Shogo Tomiyama, who covered a lot of ground overseeing every kaiju film made by them between 1994 and 2004, said in 2021 when he was asked by Vantage Point Interviews, “Perhaps Godzilla or tokusatsu fans would want to see it, but there would be no benefit for the filmmakers to make this movie.”
The way that answer is viewed by some of us “Tokusatsu fans” in other words is, ‘Neither side wanted to see his monster lose and both wanted theirs to win, so…no movie! Sorry, guys.’ Don’t get me wrong, I can understand that sentiment from a business standpoint. Companies with million-and-billion-dollar franchises want to protect their brands from tarnishment. On the other hand, however, it’s not like they had anything to lose.
Gamera could not sink any lower than the disaster of 1980’s Super Monster or the financial woes brought about by corporate greed and corruption at the top of Daiei in the previous decade. As for Godzilla, Japanese moviegoers – and to an extent ones abroad in America and other markets – were beginning to feel burnt out on the big guy. He still hadn’t quite recovered from the disappointment of the 1998 Sony film and was headed for a ten-year hibernation anyway. Toho couldn’t have gone wrong by closing the Millennium chapter in grand fashion.
A match-up of this scale doesn’t hinge on Godzilla losing to be successful, and fans could have accepted Gamera taking the loss in the long run. You have to figure Godzilla would be the odds-on favorite to triumph internally within the Japanese film industry and with fans worldwide. Moreover, it wouldn’t matter who wins when you consider the sheer spectacle of the whole thing. In the mid-2000s, matches for the ages (Freddy vs. Jason, AVP) were all the rage. Toho and Kadokawa could’ve ridden that wave right to the bank.
Alas, it was one more thing not to be in the annals of Kaiju History, at least on the big screen. Gamera and Godzilla did ‘get it on’ in a stage production at the Expo’s Festival Plaza during the Children Festival portion of the Osaka World’s Fair. Daiei and Toho collaborated on the production in 1970 for a reported ten-day run and none other than the original Gojira suit actor Haruo Nakajima wore the Goji costume.
Surviving photographs give a record of the event, and it stands as the only time the two creatures tussled in legitimate Tokusatsu style. There have been puppet shows and you can play as Gamera against the Godzilla of your choice in the game Battle Lines, but that’s as close as you will get – unless Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. feel like pulling off another miracle.
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