Ganimes

Ganimes (Showa)

Ganimes (Showa)

Ganimes of the Showa era (大蟹怪獣 ガニメ, Daigani Kaijū Ganimes — Giant Crab Kaiju / Space Amoeba Crustacean) is the second titanic monster featured in Toho's 1970 tokusatsu science fiction masterpiece *Space Amoeba* (Japanese: *Gezora, Ganimes, Kamoebas: Kessen! Nankai no Daikaijū* / Decisive Battle! Giant Monsters of the South Seas), directed by Ishirō Honda with special effects directed by Sadamasa Arikawa. Following the fiery demise of the giant cuttlefish Gezora, the ethereal extraterrestrial energy entity **Yog** (*Space Amoeba*) evacuated the burning carcass and biologically hijacked an indigenous Pacific red-eyed rock crab (*Eriphia sebana*). Rectifying Gezora's lethal thermal vulnerability, Ganimes emerged with a 20-meter-tall, 12,000-metric-ton anatomy encased in a rugged, granite-like silicate carapace capable of withstanding heavy rifle fire, explosives, and open flame. Armed with twin hydraulic rock-shattering pincers, the first Ganimes assaulted the island before being obliterated by a subterranean World War II explosive trap. Yog subsequently created Ganimes II to coordinate with the giant turtle Kamoebas, but ultrasonic interference from native cave bats severed Yog's psychic grip. Driven into a frenzied madness, Ganimes II engaged Kamoebas in a savage grapple atop the active caldera of Mount Maumau, pulling both leviathans into the molten lava below.