Spoilers for Gamera: Guardian of the Universe will be left unmarked. You Have Been Warned.
Gamera 2: Advent of Legion, also known as Gamera 2: Attack of Legion, is the 1996 sequel to Gamera: Guardian of the Universe and the second installment in the Heisei trilogy. It is directed by Shusuke Kaneko and written by Kazunori Ito.
Several years after the Gyaos were defeated thanks to Gamera, a strange meteor shower strikes Hokkaido, Japan, in the Winter of 1996. Meanwhile, strange lights, much like aurora borealis, appear in the sky over the countryside, not too far from where the meteor shower hit. An investigation is headed by a scientist named Midori Honami (played by Miki Mizuno), and her colleague Obitsu (played by Mitsuru Fukikoshi). The next day, another investigation headed by JSDF colonel Watarase (played by Toshiyuki Nagashima), looks into these strange incidents and the impact crater of one of the meteors. The impact crater, despite its size, appears to be normal, however, one of the witnesses of this meteor noted something strange: the meteor was slowing down as it neared the ground.
As it turns out, the meteor was actually a pod carrying strange, insect-like aliens eventually dubbed "Legion," who swarm over Japan, attacking major cities while altering Earth's atmosphere to make it inhospitable to humans.
Once again, Gamera rises to fight off this new threat to the Earth itself — but this time, Gamera might not be able to win alone...
The film was released on July 13, 1996. Its story is followed by Gamera 3: Awakening of Irys.
This film contains examples of the following:
- Ambiguously Christian: Colonel Watarase and Hanatani name Legion after a Biblical reference, so they are familiar with the Bible, but it is unclear if they are actually Japanese Christians.
- Alien Invasion: How the Legion arrived on Earth, and how the species propagates across the galaxy. The Legion are actually reasonably benign; they're not out to deliberately cause trouble, and the only reason they find themselves at odds with Gamera and the JGSDF is due to the Legion Flower's habit of violently exploding when it sends its spores into orbit, which would render Earth uninhabitable. Otherwise, there'd be no serious reason to not just let them leave.
- Badass Normal: Colonel Watarase. He takes on a Symbiotic Legion soldier by himself, with nothing more than a pistol and a radio. He wins.
- Bee People: Legion.
- Big Damn Heroes: Gamera does this three times, although the second instance is subverted when the Legion Queen soundly defeats him.
- Bug War: Humanity and a giant Atlantean turtle vs. insects from space.
- Butt-Monkey: Mr. Osako. Poor, poor Mr. Osako.
- "Why do I always have to put up with this shit?"
- Dangerous Forbidden Technique: The Mana Cannon/Ultimate Plasma, although it wouldn't be revealed as such until the next movie.
- Expy: The Legion Queen's design has been compared to one of the Angels from Neon Genesis Evangelion, which was still dominating Japanese pop culture at the time. Specifically it shares more than a few features in common with Shamshel the 4th Angel, such as rib-like claws on the inside of its shell and lashing energy whips capable of piercing through anything.
- Fantastic Nuke: When the Legion Flower launches its seeds into space, it does so with the force of a nuclear explosion. Gamera stops one from doing so near the beginning of the movie, but when he tries to stop a second one, it literally blows up in his face, utterly destroying the city and nearly killing the mighty turtle (he gets better).
- It should be noted the Legion don't really intend to nuke cities, the Flower is simply their way of spreading from planet to planet.
- Gag Dub: The ADV DVD has two of these, with the first being a collection of "outtakes" and the second being a true gag dub that runs over a selection of scenes, called Lake Texarkana Gamera.
- Giant Equals Invincible: Subverted. The Legion Queen certainly has a wide array of fantastic powers and abilities to stop the JSDF's weaponry, but once Gamera distracts her, she proves to be just as vulnerable to missiles and rockets as Gamera.
- Giant Flyer: Gamera and, briefly, the Legion Queen.
- Heroic BSoD: When viewing the computer simulation of the blast radius of the Legion Flower's launch, Honami realizes that she and Obitsu would never be able to escape in time, and she ends up having a brief BSOD until Gamera shows up and destroys the flower.
- I Am Legion: Legion, named after the biblical character by a member of the JSDF.
- Jump Scare: In a giant monster movie of all places, and the thing is, it works.
- Oh, Crap!: When Obitsu and Honami see the simulation of how large the Legion Flower's explosion launch will be, Obitsu has this look written all over his face.
- Gamera gets his when Legion is still alive after getting her horn ripped off.
- Shout-Out: The Legion Flower is a reference to the Mammoth Flower from Ultra Q.
- Wave-Motion Gun: Gamera's Mana Cannon/Ultimate Plasma.
- You Shall Not Pass!: Gamera holds off the Legion Queen at Sendai to give the helicopters a chance to escape. He succeeds in holding her off, but she soon defeats him anyway, much like how the trope namer was also taken down by his enemy, although both ended up getting better.
