BLOOD WORK: KAIJUOLOGY: KAMACURAS

Subject: Kamacuras a.k.a. Gimantis

Documentation: Son Of Godzilla (1967), Godzilla's Revenge (1969), and Godzilla: Final Wars (2004)

History: Derived from the Japanese word "Kamakiri" meaning mantis, the Kamacuras was first discovered by Japanese archeologist Dr. Matsumiya in 1955 on a remote tropical island in the Pacific Ocean. Solgel Island, as it was called, was home to several Kamacuri as well as a colossal prehistoric spider-like beast named KUMONGA. At the time the Kamacuri were 25 feet in height with legs fully erect and 35 feet long. The Kumonga kaiju would feed on the Kamacuri for sustenance.

Matsumiya and his six year old daughter, Riko, were the only members of the Solgel Island expedition. Dr. Matsumiya's focus studies shifted from archeology to kaijuology upon discovery of the great beasts living on the island. A freak accident destroyed their radio equipment, effectively stranding the father and daughter alone on this island of monsters. The 25 foot giant mantises soon began hunting the two of them, nearly killing them both on several occasions. The locating of a cave system beneath the jungle terrain became the Matsumiyas salvation from the Kamacuri.

The cave system extended all over the island allowing the two of them to move about the island undetected by the Kamacuri. Matsumiya's notes suggest that the cave system may have been created by an extinct race of mega-lumbricus terrestris (giant earthworms). These gargantuan worms may have also been the primary food source of the Kamacuri, perpetuating the species for millennia, with the monstrous Kumonga in turn consuming the Kamacuri, keeping the numbers of Kamacuri low.

Artwork by Dave Wachter from IDW's Godzilla: Cataclysm

In 1960 Dr. Matsumiya passed away leaving his daughter alone on the island. For seven years Riko lived by herself on the island, surviving and growing into adulthood. In 1967 a team of Japanese scientists arrive on Solgel Island to run secret weather control experiments for the United Nations. The UN team, led by Dr. Kusumi, were plagued by the Kamacuri just as the Matsumiyas were. During one of the team's experiments a radioactive isotope was detonated in the atmosphere resulting in a radioactive storm on the island. Extreme temperatures and flood-rains along with the radioactivity transformed the Kamacuri from 25 feet tall to near Godzilla-size.

The Kamacuri were now large enough to level buildings and cause wide-scale destruction. In one instance, Riko Matsumiya and a reporter assisting the UN team witnessed three Kamacuri level a peak on the island and unearth a kaiju egg. The giant mantises cracked open the egg revealing what appeared to be a creature belonging to the Godzillasaur family. The three Kamacuri quickly descended upon the newborn kaiju with the intent to kill and presumably eat the creature. Before the giant insects could inflict any serious damage, Godzilla arrived on the scene.

Artwork by Yasushi Torisawa

The three Kamacuri engaged the king of the monsters in combat, much to their folly. Godzilla succeeded in killing two of them, the third Kamacuras retreating before meeting a similar demise. Several days later the lone Kamacuras again encountered the infant Godzillasaurus and attempted to kill the baby kaiju once more. The Kamacuras' battle was interrupted by the giant arachnoid Kumonga. Kumonga covered the Kamacuras in anesthetizing webbing before injecting the kaiju with a lethal dose of venom. No more Kamacuri were seen during the remainder of the time Dr. Kusumi's team spent on Solgel island. The UN team succeeded in their weather experiment, lowered the temperature on the island, and forced the kaiju on the island into hibernation.

Years later a research team, led by Riko Matsumiya, returned to Solgel Island and captured both Kumonga and a surviving Kamacuras. The two kaiju were transported to the Ogasawara Islands for study.

Artwork by Bob Eggleton

KAMACURAS' BIOLOGY

Gigas-Acontista Solgelis.

The differences between the common mantis and Kamacuras, beyond the obvious, are minimal. The giant mantis has six legs, the two forelegs being spiked and raptorial which allow the monster to grasp, hold, and attack. Kamacuras stands almost as tall as Godzilla when its legs are fully extended. The legs, despite being quite slender, allow the Kamacuras to leap great distances without the aid of its wings. Kamacuras' raptorial forelegs are the kaiju's primary method of attack, but not its only method of attack.

Kamacuras has two sets of wings. The Tegmina or 'outer wings' are heavier and coarse, almost as if covered in a lightweight armor. These outer wings shield the more delicate hind wings. It is these hinds wings which move at incredible speeds, carrying the great monster through the air. At full speed the slipstream created by the Kamacuras is powerful enough to shatter steel and level buildings.

And lastly the Kamacuras has the ability to change its pigmentation in accordance with its surroundings, a natural camouflage. It's usual coloration is of a reddish brown hue but due to the camouflage capabilities its natural complexion is unknown. Kamacuras being a carnivore and possessing the ability of flight, if the kaiju were to ever reach a populated area the resulting damage and death toll could be catastrophic.

**note: the camouflage and destructive slipstream abilities were introduced in Godzilla: Final Wars

Review: Let's be honest, giant praying mantises are awesome. If one is going to take a creature from the insect kingdom and blow it up to gargantuan proportions the praying mantis is likely high on the list. Anybody remember Universal Studios' 1957 giant monster movie THE DEADLY MANTIS? That film set the precedent for giant mantises in movies. I'd like to think Toho went through all these classic 1950's giant insect movies like TARANTULA, THE BLACK SCORPION, THEM, and The Deadly Mantis and recruited what they believed to be the best among them.

As a child when I first saw Son Of Godzilla the Gimantis and Spiega were scary. Even now, thirty years later, they're still creepy. The amount of detail on the Kamacuras marionette is mind blowing too. And the movement of the mandibles was always skin-crawling. Overall the design work and build of the Kamacuras is very impressive and visually compelling. And in general giant mantises make for exciting enemies in anime or monster movies with their deadly forelegs and flight.

And like Kumonga, the Kamacuras is basically a large-scale puppet. Bringing both kaiju to life as convincingly as they did is an incredible feat compared to the relative simplicity of a man wearing a monster suit. I have to give credit where credit is due on this. The puppetry of Kamacuras and Kumonga is very well done and impressive. It's interesting in that with many American monster movies they seemed to have gone with giant insects for antagonists whereas Toho seldom used insects. Maybe it was because to achieve the Toho standard of reality and believability in their monsters they knew the only way to bring such creatures to life would've been through the difficult process of puppetry. Mothra, Battra, Kamacuras, Kumonga, and Megaguirus remain the only insect kaiju in the entire roster probably for this reason.

On the flipside though, it's just a big insect. As amazing as Kamacuras is with its detail and marionette performance, at the end of the day it's not a very imaginative design. Insects themselves are such bizarre looking creatures already that if blown up to kaiju-size they make great monsters. But for my personal preference I love seeing creatures I've never seen before or things with a natural esthetic but a unique design like Varan or Anguirus. Battra and Megaguirus managed more interesting and creative designs in my opinion than Kumonga or Kamacuras.

All in all Kamacuras is still an great kaiju and an impressive sight to behold in Son Of Godzilla. The CGI Kamacuras in Final Wars is less impressive however and the brief shots of the puppet Kamacuras are even less so. It was great that they chose to bring the Kamacuras back for another movie but the 2004 rendition pales in comparison with the 1967 realization. But to be fair, most if not all of the kaiju suits looked subpar in Final Wars, not just Kamacuras.

Artwork by Dave Wachter from IDW's Godzilla: Cataclysm

Beyond Son Of Godzilla and Final Wars and a brief tiny new shot in Godzilla's Revenge, Kamacuras is a seldom seen kaiju. Stock footage of the kaiju was heavily featured in Godzilla's Revenge and briefly in Godzilla Vs Gigan. The giant mantis hasn't had any major or playable appearances in video games. But the kaiju did make a brief appearance in the IDW comics GODZILLA: CATACLYSM and GODZILLA: RULERS OF EARTH.

Kamacuras made appearances too in four young adult books from Random House, GODZILLA INVADES AMERICA, GODZILLA: JOURNEY TO MONSTER ISLAND, and GODZILLA VS THE SPACE MONSTER all written and illustrated by Scott Ciencin and Bob Eggleton as well as the book GODZILLA 2000 written by Marc Cerasini. If you can track down these books from Random House (all of which are sadly out of print) they're fun reads and the art of Bob Eggleton is, as always, amazing.

As for kaiju I'd like to see resurrected in a new film, Kamacuras is pretty low on my list. But just imagining what they could do today with CGI effects, if they were to bring Kamacuras back and drop a decent amount of money into the effects the kaiju would look absolutely spectacular. The MUTO from Legendary's 2014 Godzilla film resembled Kamacuras in more than a few ways.

Threat Level: 6 out of 10

Wide-Spread Destruction