Gamera Rebirth (stylized as GAMERA -Rebirth-) is a Japanese original net animation (ONA) series directed and co-written by . Produced by Kadokawa Corporation and animated by ENGI, it is a reboot of the Gamera franchise and the 13th entry in the franchise. The series was released worldwide on Netflix on September 7, 2023, and a re-edited edition consisting of 12 episodes was broadcast on NHK General TV from April to June in 2025.
Overview
It is the first animated entry and is the first major installment of the franchise following Gamera the Brave (2006), making it also the first entry in the Reiwa era. In response to the commercial failure of the 2006 film, both Gamera and Daimajin franchises had faced stagnations, and various plans were terminated including several Gamera anime projects (such as the ones by the Cartoon Network and Yoshitomo Yonetani). The director had previously participated in Rex: A Dinosaur's Story (1993), the last film by the with influences on the direction of Gamera the Brave.
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.Kadokawa Anime, October 12, 2023, GAMERA -Rebirth- | Special Interview Part 4, at 01:37 and 06:15, Youtube Akin to Gamera the Brave, the storyline of Gamera Rebirth has been under the influences from the "Konaka Gamera" script, one of two original plots prepared for Gamera: Guardian of the Universe (1995) by Chiaki and .
One of policies for battle scenes was to prevent human casualties by Gamera, therefore such depictions were avoided during the turtle kaiju's appearances in early episodes; Gamera arrived at Tokyo after most evacuations were completed, and he threw Gyaos and Jiger at open areas without people. Seshita also highlighted the concept of "children, who have been protected by Gamera, in return protect Gamera".
Designs of Gamera and Gyaos, 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.
Japanese punk rock band Wanima provided both opening and ending songs, Natsuake and FLY&DIVE (jp).Wanima official website, July 24, 2023, 「GAMERA -Rebirth-」9月7日よりNetflixにて世界配信決定!!主題歌は、WANIMA「夏暁」に決定!! An acoustic version of , the iconic song used in Showa films and other medias, was also inserted.Shazam, Gamera March -Rebirth- Edition
Synopsis
During summer 1989, three elementary students witness Gamera in battle as monsters converge on Tokyo before they annihilate most of humanity.
Voice cast Characters Japanese English Hiroki "Boco" Wada Hisako Kanemoto Ryan Bartley Satoru "Joe" Matsuoka Yoshitsugu Matsuoka Robbie Daymond Jun "Junichi" Ichihara Aki Toyosaki Abby Trott Douglas Ken Osborn ("Brody") Subaru Kimura Sean Chiplock James Joshua Tazaki Mamoru Miyano Kaiji Tang Emiko Melchiorri Saori Hayami Suzie Yeung Muneatsu Sasaki Takahiro Sakurai Tom Choi Mio Enatsu Yu Shimamura Elspeth Eastman Atsushi Higashifushimi Keenan Shimizu Aiko Wada Nanako Mori Melissa Greenspan Raymond Osborn Kazuya Nakai Patrick Seitz Nora Melchiorri Karen Strassman Winston Griffith Wataru Hatano Todd Haberkorn Anselm Rybrant Michael C. Pizzuto Prudencio Fortea Shunsuke Takeuchi Jason Griffith Bernie Dawson William Salyers Roderich Auler Xander Mobus Erkki Pirhonen Ryan Colt Levy Dario Montemayor Zeno Robinson Professor Suzuki Bill Rogers Professor Matsui Todd Haberkorn Julian Bompiani Ryota Suzuki Angus Gayler Mark Addison Gen Sato U.S. soldiers Kazuki Yoshida Others Christopher W. JonesDorothy FahnMichael C. Pizzuto
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.
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. 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. In March, Kadokawa released a new key visual poster, a synopsis, and a full trailer.
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 (due to the policies set by Toho). 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, and noted the difficulty to insert kaiju battles in every episode due to budgetary constraints. The aforementioned direction to avoid casualties by Gamera was also effective to reduce production costs by limiting destructions of urban areas.
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.
Staffing and influences from other works Among Seshita's previous works, his Godzilla anime trilogy, KamiErabi God.app, Ajin: Demi-Human, and Levius had significant influences on Gamera Rebirth. Seshita had previously co-participated in Hiroshi Seko, , and in these works (except for the Godzilla trilogy). Similarly, some colleagues of Seshita (from their Final Fantasy era) joined the production team. These staffing eased the decision-making processes for Gamera Rebirth. His dissatisfaction with the Godzilla anime trilogy's exclusion of detailed kaiju battles was one of major reasons for his appointment for Gamera Rebirth, and he reused a number of concepts from the Godzilla trilogy for the Netflix series, along with appointments of some voice actors. Gamera Rebirth also took notable inspirations from the Cthulhu Mythos and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. The former had shaped both the "Konaka Gamera" and the Heisei Gamera trilogy, where Shusuke Kaneko had also participated in Necronomicon. The latter possesses connections with the Heisei Gamera trilogy especially when Daiei Film was under Tokuma Shoten. and and from Studio Ghibli participated in Gamera Rebirth, and its character design was under the influences from Ghibli's art styles. The three has also previously contributed in projects by both Seshita and his friend Makoto Shinkai. Yoshikazu Yasuhiko's Giant Gorg and Mobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan's Island also influenced character designs of Gamera Rebirth, where Atsushi Tamura also participated in the latter. Gamera Rebirth introduced various references to a variety of topics, such as the tale of Urashima Tarō, Stand by Me, Stranger Things, Blade Runner, and the below-mentioned Destiny's Son and Aura Battler Dunbine (which was produced as a rival work to Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind). decided the titles of each episodes as 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. Masaichi Nagata and others such as Ichikawa Raizō VIII (the spouse of Masaichi's adopted daughter Masako Ōta) had participated in Destiny's Son. Arthur C. Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) was influenced by Warning from Space (1956) which bears connections with the Gamera franchise. On the other hand, Gamera vs. Viras (1968) instead bears similarities to 2001: A Space Odyssey for its depictions of spaceships and technologies. Various Aura Battler Dunbine references in the first episode, including the choice of Nishi-Shinjuku were tributes to Yoshiyuki Tomino; Inoue was once an editor in charge of Tomino including the Dunbine publication, and Inoue specially gained a permission to use the book from for the references.
Episodes
Tie-in media Novelization Official novelization of the series consisting of two parts by Hiroyuki Seshita and Jin have been published in August 2023 and May 2024 respectively.Kadokawa, 2023, 小説 GAMERA -Rebirth- (上)Kadokawa, 2024, 小説 GAMERA -Rebirth- (下)
Manga A prequel manga, GAMERA Rebirth Code Thyrsos, illustrated by Cambria Bakuhatsutarō began serialization on Kadokawa Shoten's Young Ace UP website on September 8, 2023. The prequel is licensed in English by Titan Comics.
Collaborations An official collaboration with the mobile game Godzilla Battle Line was made, featuring Gamera, Gyaos, and Guiron as playable characters. "Godzilla Earth", the Godzilla incarnation from Hiroyuki Seshita's anime trilogy, was chosen for the key art of the collaboration.ScifiJapan.com, Godzilla vs Gamera in New GODZILLA BATTLE LINE/GAMERA -Rebirth- Collaboration Godzilla Game Portal, June 28, 2024, Part 2 of the GAMERA -Rebirth- Collab!
Additional collaborations include the kaiju brawler game GigaBash, of the Ao Oni series, Odekake Kozame, Nights with a Cat. ,GAMERA -Rebirth-【UA22BT】 and the sake brand , where the both represent "godly turtles".
Reception Insufficiency of budget and schedule has been pointed out;Sam Pearce, September 12, 2023, Review: Netflix's 'Gamera: Rebirth', The Cosmic Circus 3D models of humans are poor and do not fit in with 2D backgrounds.Sean Barry, 2023, Anime Review: Gamera Rebirth (2023) by Hiroyuki Seshita, Asian Movie Pulse It also lacks an which is a common feature of Japanese anime.KADOKAWA Anime, September 9, 2023, 『GAMERA -Rebirth-（ガメラリバース）』オープニング映像｜WANIMA「夏暁」, Youtube Additionally, as aforementioned, fighting scenes were declined to the half or even less (20%) of what Seshita originally intended 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.
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." 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+.