Gamera Rebirth

Gamera Rebirth (stylized as GAMERA -Rebirth-) is a Japanese original net animation (ONA) series directed and co-written by Hiroyuki Seshita. Produced by Kadokawa Corporation and animated by ENGI, it is a reboot of the Gamera franchise following Gamera the Brave (2006), the first animated entry in the franchise and the first entry in the franchise's Reiwa era.[2] The series was released worldwide on Netflix on September 7, 2023,[3] and a re-edited edition consisting of 12 episodes was broadcast on NHK General TV from April to June in 2025.[4]

Synopsis

During summer 1989, three elementary students witness Gamera in battle as monsters converge on Tokyo before they annihilate most of humanity.

Voice cast

Production

On November 16, 2022, Kadokawa announced plans for a new Gamera production, entitled Gamera Rebirth, which will be released globally on Netflix. Shusuke Kaneko, director of the Heisei Gamera trilogy, had proposed an idea for a new film. However, Kadokawa had already proceeded with their new project by the time Kaneko presented his pitch. Regardless, Kaneko had expressed his support for the project. A figure of Gamera was exhibited at Tamashii Nation 2022 between November 18 and 20, along with a newspaper featuring Gamera that was distributed at the event.[10]

In February 2023, Kadokawa revealed the cast and staff. The series would be animated by ENGI, with Hiroyuki Seshita directing, who co-directed Polygon Pictures' Godzilla anime trilogy, Tetsu Iijima producing, Atsushi Tamura designing the characters, and Kan Takahama designing the monsters.[11] A teaser released in January debuted footage, albeit briefly, from the series and revealed that it would consist of six episodes and feature five additional enemy monsters.[12] In March, Kadokawa released a new key visual poster, a synopsis, and a full trailer.[13][14] ENGI was originally launched to focus on 2D anime, and 3D CGI department was newly established for Gamera Rebirth. As the company was relatively new and most of its creators are young, production of Gamera Rebirth and building ENGI's CGI department were simultaneously progressed, drastically increasing the difficulty of the production.

The series is designated as a tribute to Noriaki Yuasa and to stay faithful to previous productions especially the Showa films, where the time setting of the series (1989) is to represent both eras of Showa and Heisei, and a number of references to previous films and scrapped projects and unused ideas were made.[15] Designs of Gamera and Gyaos,[16] and the first scene of Gamera to fight against a flock of small Gyaos in the first episode were reused from the 2015 short film, and Katsuhito Ishii, the director of the 2015 short film was credited as the designer of Gamera. Gamera's design was modified from the 2015 version to portray him being less intimidating, and to emphasize his intelligence, gentleness, and dignity.[16]

Seshita approved the offer for the Netflix series partially because Kadokawa approved his request to focus on kaiju battles which he couldn't achieve in the Godzilla anime trilogy. He originally prepared fighting scenes twice or five times more than actual ones, including more diverse abilities and characteristics of kaiju, however he had to cut them due to budget and schedule,[16] and noted the difficulty to insert kaiju battles in every episode due to budgetary constraints. One of policies for battle scenes was to prevent human casualties by Gamera, therefore such depictions were avoided during Gamera's appearances in early episodes in Tokyo; Gamera arrived at Tokyo after most evacuations were completed, and he threw Gyaos and Jiger at open areas without people. This direction was also effective to reduce production costs. Seshita also highlighted the concept of "children, who have been protected by Gamera, in return protect Gamera".[16]

The titles of each episodes are references to classic films and other productions; Kanał, Run Silent, Run Deep, Daiei Film's Destiny's Son The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, Childhood's End, and Aura Battler Dunbine. Aura Battler Dunbine was directly mentioned and an actual publication of Dunbine was briefly depicted within the first episode; its episode title and the location (Nishi-Shinjuku) were tributes to Yoshiyuki Tomino by Shinichiro Inoue as Inoue was once an editor in charge of Tomino including the Dunbine publication, and Inoue specially gained a permission to use the book from Arata Sasaki for the reference.

Japanese punk rock band Wanima provided both opening and ending songs, Natsuake and FLY&DIVE (jp).[18] An acoustic version of Gamera March, the iconic song used in Showa films and other medias, was also inserted.[19]

Episodes

Tie-in media

Reception

Bloody Disgusting's Paul Lê criticized the animation but praised the characters. He called the animation "awkward and stiff" but felt that the visual aesthetic complimented the monster battles. Lê found the human subplot "compelling" and the series' child leads to be an improvement over the child leads of the Showa era Gamera films. Lê awarded the series four skulls out of five and praised it for being an "emotional, ambitious, and well-told story."[36] Writing for The A.V. Club, Kayleigh Dray likewise found similar flaws in the series and likened Gamera Rebirth to Stranger Things. She praised the effort that went into its character development and friendship themes that results in characters that are "pretty damn likable." However, she criticized the animation for feeling "clunky", comparing it to a low-resolution version of The Sims and likened the characters to PlayStation 2 animations. While Dray didn't consider the series to be bingeable or a must-watch, she awarded the series a C+.[37]

Joshua Kristian McCoy from GameRant did not consider Gamera Rebirth to be an "ideal" introduction for newcomers. McCoy also criticized the animation for being "jittery" and compared it to the animation from Robot Chicken, and found the concept to be flawed; he specifically targeted the series' tone and its depressing climax, calling them improper for a Gamera story. He concluded by ridiculing the creators for taking inspiration from Godzilla Singular Point instead of Shin Godzilla, stating that the series starts "rough, gets weird, and ends almost impressively poorly."[38] James Beckett from Anime News Network scored the series a C+, commenting that "it's a shame that the ugliness of visuals will likely turn away a good many potential fans because underneath all of that jank is a solid kaiju adventure".[39] Masaki Tsuji positively reviewed the series for its variety of fighting sequences and uniqueness of human characters.[40]

Insufficiency of budget and schedule[16] has also been pointed out;[41] 3D models of humans are poor and do not fit in with 2D backgrounds.[42] It also lacks an opening animation which is a common feature of Japanese anime.[43] Additionally, as aforementioned, fighting scenes were declined to the half or even less (20%) of what Seshita originally intended[16] where it was very difficult to add kaiju battles in every episode due to budgetary problem. A number of abilities and characteristics of kaiju were also eventually not used.

Fussa City and Tsushima Island were elected for one of Anime Pilgrimage Sites of 2024 by the Anime Tourism Association as Gamera battled Gyaos and Jiger in the former, and fought against Zigra at the Tsushima Omega Station.[44]

Ryan Bartley, who voiced Boco in the English edition was nominated for the 2023 Voice Arts Awards.[45]

Potential sequel

The series' production committee (jp), including the director and other executives, is willing to produce additional seasons with more budgets and increased fighting scenes,[15] though its future is uncertain.[46][16] Seshita noted that he has enough ideas for up to five seasons, including returns of classic antagonists especially Barugon,[16] and he pointed a possibility of a future live-action adaptation if the series is successful. Seshita also hopes the series to eventually become a stepping stone for the recovary of the character's public recognition and the revival of the franchise in the future.[46][47][48]

External links

• Official GAMERA -Rebirth- website by Kadokawa