Gamera 3: The Revenge of Iris

"Gamera will continue to fight...even if he's alone." "He's not alone." "...Gamera." —~Nagamine, Asagi, and Ayana, respectively, as Gamera walks out into the flaming ruins of Kyoto to face the impending Gyaos swarm.

The finale of the Gamera trilogy *sob*

In 1995, the battle between Gamera and Gyaos left much of Tokyo destroyed, but buildings were not the only casualties in the city. A young girl named Ayana Hirasaka, who had recently had her appendix taken out, could only watch in horror from her family's van as her house, and her parents within, were crushed by Gamera.

In 1996, Gamera fought the Legion, but in order to defeat the Legion, he had to take drastic measures, which broke his connection to Humanity.

Now, in 1999, under the sea, a graveyard of Gamera skeletons has been discovered. Coinciding with this, reports have been surfacing all over the world that tell of flying, man-eating bird-like creatures. The Gyaos have returned, and their attacks are being tracked by Professor Nagamine. By this time, Ayana, who is living in a village in the mountains, has grown into a bitter young woman, and she often thinks about revenge. Ayana soon finds an egg of sorts in a cave, along with a strange bead, reminiscent of the one that Asagi used to have, and when the creature within hatches, she quickly becomes friends with it, and names it after her deceased cat, Irys. Ayana decides to raise Irys to get revenge against Gamera, for killing her parents.

Later that same night, Gamera fights two Gyaos over the Shibuya district of Tokyo, setting the city ablaze and killing hundreds, if not thousands, of innocent people in the process. Seeing this on a news report, Ayana's hatred for Gamera only grows stronger. The JSDF has also put Gamera back onto their enemy list, and are actively hunting him. Meanwhile, Nagamine has made contact with Asagi Kusanagi and her old friend Osako. Asagi reveals to Nagamine her fear that Gamera's ties with her were severed when the bead was destroyed in 1996. Recently receiving a video game, as well as an address of its developer, Nagamine investigates a man named Shinya Kurata, and his partner Mito Asakura, both of whom are involved in some kind of conspiracy.

With the reluctant help of her neighbor Tatsunari Moribe, Ayana raises Irys in secret until it decides to "bond" with her. After Moribe rescues Ayana, Irys goes on a killing spree, sucking the fluids outof almost everyone in the village, save Tatsunari, who managed to hide from the creature. After investigating the village, Nagamine and Osako find Tatsunari and attempt to rescue Ayana, who has been kidnapped from the hospital by Asakura and Kurata. Osako stays with Tatsunari, trying to convince him to rescue Ayana as well. Meanwhile, Irys has grown since its village massacre, and is now almost as tall as Gamera, if not taller. The JSDF is sent in to deal with the monster, but it quickly defeats them and soon goes off in search of Ayana, who is now in Kyoto.

Flying towards Kyoto, which is being hit by a hurricane. Irys is intercepted by two jets, and before it can eliminate them, Gamera appears, duelling with Irys in midair until the military shoots him [Gamera] down. Irys soon makes landfall in Kyoto, and the city is unrpepared for the monster. Making his way towards the train station where Ayana is at, Irys leaves death and destruciton in his wake, but he is soon intercepted again by Gamera. The two monsters soon turn Kyoto into a raging inferno as Irys manages to deflect Gamera's fireballs, forcing the turtle to resort to melee combat. Asagi and Nagamine try to break Ayana's bond iwth Irys in order to help Gamera, but it does not work. When Asakura takes Ayana's bead, but this only gets her killed when Irys impales Gamera and sneds him crashing into the station. Kurata is also killed after a large piece of debris falls onto him, while Nagamine is wounded.

Irys once again attempts to bond with Ayana, but Moribe steps in the way. After throwing a ancient dagger (which does jack shit) at Irys, the beast deflects it, and it makes a small cut on Ayana's cheek, knocking her out of her stupor. Realizing her situation, ayana is helples as Irys knocks Tatsunari out of the way and then absorbs her inot his chest. Irys then forces Ayana to relive her memories of when her parents were killed, making her realize that their deaths were an accident when Gamera was fighting the Gyaos. Irys then forces Ayana to watch his memories of killing the villagers, including most of her family and Moribe's family, in a horrific act of cruelty. Just as Ayana begins to lose all hope, she is pulled out of Irys by none other than Gamera. Irys does not take kindly to this, and impales Gamera's right hand with one of his tentacles, which then begins to drain Gamera's fluids, which allows Irys to steal his powers and create fireballs of his own. Gamera, in a bold attempt to stop Irys, destroys his own arm and hand, before Irys releases the fireballs. Gamera absorbs the fire and creates an arm of flame that he uses to impale Irys, killing the monster and blowing it up.

Meanwhile, the JSDF has received a reports that thousands of Gyaos are converging on Japan. The JSDF decides to switch from fighting Gamera to fighting Gyaos, as onyl with Gamera's help can they hope to survive. Back in Kyoto, Gamera hands Ayana over to Nagamine and Asagi, who try to revive her, but are unable to do so. Gamera then takes matters into his own hands and revives his former enemy. Moribe has survived, and everyone watches as Gamera heads out into the flaming ruins of Koyoto, intent on fighting the Gyaos, even if it kills him.

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This film contains examples of the folllowing:

• Battle in the Rain: Gamera's fight with Irys in Kyoto happens while the city is being hammered by a hurricane.
• Call Back: Perhaps, to the Showa films, when Gamera protects a small child from one of the Gyaos during his battle in Shibuya.
• Cerebus Retcon: Hey, remember that one building that Gamera smashed in order to get at Gyaos during their final battle? Well, Ayana's parents were in there. Also, remember how the runes of that tablet said, "The last hope, Gamera?" Well, turns out that they really meant the "last hope", as Gamera is not only the last defense against the Gyaos, but also the last Gamera, period.
• Cerebus Syndrome: This film itself just keeps getting darker and darker, with the Gyaos swarm at the end making things seem almost hopeless.
• Cliff Hanger: This film, and subsequently the Heisei series, ends this way, with Gamera's ultimate fate left ambigous.
• Combat Tentacles: Irys, which he can use to drain the life out anything and even create and fire sonic beams similar to Gyaos, and even fireballs similar to Gamera, after draining some energy from him.
• Darker and Edgier: Definitely darker than any previous Gamera movie, and most Godzilla films for that matter.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Gamera is dark colored, compared to Irys who is shiny and bright, with red and silver coloration.
• Deconstruction: Gamera 3 being the biggest what with it explaining that because Gamera used the Mana Cannon in part 2 more Gyaos are appearing, as well as using simple fire balls cost mana. It also demonstrates that for good or not, a monster out to kill worse monsters will cause major damage in a city. Gamera 3 is also more human driven where it's about people in a world with monsters and Gamera is the best one.
• Demoted to Extra: Not so much extra, and he is VERY much a major force, but Gamera got a lot less screen time in the third film with only two scenes.
  • While he's not shown much onscreen, it mentioned often he's fighting off the Gyaos all over the world for much of the film.
• Giant Flyer: Gamera, Gyaos, and Irys.
• Good Is Not Nice: Gamera, while still the good guy, ends up killing hundreds, maybe even thousands, of innocent people in his attempts to stop the Gyaos.
• Hot Scientist: Nagamine was hot in the first film, and she's stil hot here. Yes, yes she is...
• I Will Fight Some More Forever: Gamera will continue to fight the Gyaos until his last breath.
• Last of Their Kind: Gamera is revealed to be this in the opening after the graveyard is discovered.
• The Tokyo Fireball: Gamera creates one while fighting the Gyaos in Shibuya. As horrific as it is, the effect actually does look pretty good.
• Turtle Power: It's Gamera.