I've learned one thing while watching all of the Gamera Showa-era movies. Never start watching in the evening. Because what happens is, I'll fall asleep and then being the completist that I am, I'll have to watch it a second time and a third, etc. While watching "Gamera vs. Zigra", I think I fell asleep about eight times. I kept having to go back and re-watch chapters on the Blu-Ray because what I woke up to made no sense. Then I realized that Gamera movies really make no sense anyway so it really doesn't matter. "Gamera vs. Zigra" is just like every other Gamera flick, the world is in peril and some annoying little kids recruit Gamera to save it. All the while, the adults are stumbling and bumbling and dying. Gamera gets his butt kicked early and then everything goes to hell in a hand basket until he is revived (by a chance lightning strike, no less) and defeats Zigra. Zigra could have helped his own cause if he hadn't spent so much time napping himself. So basically, you get a lot of monsters sleeping in this movie. No wonder I found myself falling asleep. There are a couple of things I like about this. Zigra is about as strange of a monster as I've seen. It's a shark/swordfish/bird/electronic thing that swims, flies or stands on its tail fin and walks around. The best thing about Zigra is he is the only kaiju I can think of that can broadcast his intentions to humans in a megalomaniacal fashion. He's at once vengeful, power hungry, vain, claims benevolence...and finds humans to be tasty. Quite the villain. Thankfully, I only have one Gamera movie left of the original eight. But it's "Gamera Super Monster" which is notoriously bad. I'll make certain I don't start watching at night or I may never get through it.

Takes about 45 minutes for Gamera, you know, the title character, to show up for 7 minutes after which he spends 23 minutes upside down when we get a scooby doo style foot chase with the kids and the brainwashed supermodel moon scientist. For then to finally get the kaiju battle we've been waiting for that just throws underwater physics out the window... Although they're not great movies to begin with I've enjoyed the series so far for it's ridiculousness but this one focuses way to much on the human part. The way Gamera violated Zigra by playing his theme song on his dorsal fins and then just barbecues him is just, chef's kiss!