Salunga (サルンガ Sarunga?) is a kaiju from the Singular Point continuity. He made his debut in the fifth episode of the 2021 Netflix-exclusive animated series, Godzilla Singular Point.
Name[]
"Salunga" is a transliteration of Sharanga, the bow weapon of the Hindu God Vishnu. The name is due to the kaiju emerging in India, where SHIVA Consortium Staff named it after the arc-shaped pattern on his head.[2]
Design[]
Appearance[]
Salunga's design was inspired by elements of [{Gabara (AMA)|Gabara]] and Baragon.[1] He is a heavy-bodied, four-limbed kaiju with a lengthy tail, possessing pebbled, green skin with numerous bronze ridges running down his spine and covering his knuckles, as well as a crocodile-like plated underbelly colored silver. While he largely resembles reptiles in nature, his form is very similar to large, ground dwelling monkeys, such as baboons.
He has a large curved horn on his forehead and a row of smaller ones on his upper back. He has a bright blue curving streak across his forehead, running on top of his ears and forming his signature bow pattern. His eyes are pale and do not possess pupils. On his muzzle are ridges resembling those of a mandrill's, with some red accents. His frontmost teeth are uncovered by lips, and he can further bare his gums like a gelada. Like Godzilla Ultima, his mouth opens particularly wide, revealing even more large, pointed teeth.
He has 4 fingers on all limbs, with one finger acting in opposition to the others. His main walking gait is through knuckle-walking, although he can easily use a bipedal stance. Salunga is surprisingly agile, making great leaps through the air and swinging on large girders and cables as if they were vines. This may be because of Salunga's arms, which are longer than his legs, providing a great range of motion.
History[]
Godzilla Singular Point[]
Gadabout[]
Salunga is first spotted on a video camera, shrouded within the Red Dust mist.
Theorist[]
Salunga is spotted by BB when his team went down into the Archetype well. After the Red Pool experiences a violent tremor, the group makes their way back up the staircase. However, Salunga takes advantage of this and starts climbing up as well, attempting to escape onto the surface. Tilda manages to close the blast doors just as Salunga is partway up, nearly trapping BB inside the well. Enraged by his failure, Salunga roars and attempts to smash through the doors.
Omniarch[]
Salunga manages to break through the doors, this time encountering resistance from SHIVA personnel. However, he shrugs off the anti-materiel rounds of their rifles and continues to climb up the steel girders. Despite the detonation of several girders, Salunga uses his agility to swing up past the broken beams and continues his way up. With the situation becoming dire, BB appeared with an Orthogonal Diagonalizer capsule in a suitcase, prompting the guards to stop shooting and retreat. BB kicks the suitcase down, releasing the OD capsule which parachutes down into the billowing Red Dust. As soon as BB detonates it, red crystals begin to grow extremely quickly, racing up the borehole and impaling the walls, pipes, and Salunga himself. Completely immobilized, Salunga growls at the humans as another series of blast doors closes off his exit.
Encipher[]
Salunga is revealed to have turned tail and disappeared, finding another cave exit through the Red Lake. As he makes his way towards the SHIVA Union Compound, a number of personnel attempts to slow him down, firing at him with AK rifles and BTR APCs. Completely unfazed, he blasts the vehicles away using his manipulation of Red Dust. BB and his team locates Salunga and fires at him using Orthogonal Diagonalizer missiles from their jeep. The first shot generates several red crystals which impale Salunga, angering and causing the kaiju to envelop itself in the Red Dust. Due to this however, the second missile produces a greater effect, producing a great tangle of red crystals which successfully impales him, once again stopping him in his tracks.
Explorer[]
BB reveals that while Salunga may still be contained, the code he used for the OD is imperfect, causing the crystals to be unstable. Indeed, Tilda receives news that the crystals holding Salunga in place are disintegrating. Despite the large crystals still embedded within his body, Salunga continues his march towards his objective: the Superdimensional Calculator.
Together[]
Salunga reaches the SHIVA compound. However, he is greeted Tilda and another SHIVA employee, the latter launches a rocket with an orthogonal diagonalizer at Salunga. However, Salunga controls the red dust to move away, nullifying all effects of the O.D. He then uses the red dust and smashes through the roof of the SHIVA compound. He makes his way down the facility, tearing his way through the floor to reach the Calculator. Using cables to slow his descent, he finally reaches the Superdimensional Calculator, roaring in triumph as he begins to rip into the Singular Point's containment field. The dimensional distortions are exacerbated by his rampage, but as he threatens to reach the Singular Point inside, the Orthogonal Diagonalizer in Tokyo was triggered, and the Red Dust around him shifted into blue crystals, destroying the Superdimensional Calculator as well. Salunga is last seen frozen in roaring fury, blue Archetype crystals pinning him into place atop the calculator. His status is unknown.
Abilities[]
Agility[]
Despite mostly being seen as slow and methodical in his movement, Salunga is extremely agile for his size. Due to his opposable fingers and toes and his long limbs, Salunga is capable of skillful climbing and swinging, provided that there are large enough perches for him to use. When these are unavailable, Salunga is still capable of moving swiftly, bounding through the air as if he were a monkey.
Durability[]
Salunga is extremely durable. He is capable of shrugging off high caliber bullets from anti-materiel rifles and heavy machine guns, but what is most impressive is his ability to survive full-body impalement multiple times in short order. Despite numerous large crystals going straight through his torso and brainpan, he was merely immobilized temporarily, and eventually breaking free despite his multiple grievous injuries, quite literally walking it off.
Red Dust Manipulation[]
Salunga is capable of producing the Red Dust form of Archetype from his body. He is even capable of using them offensively, generating large dust explosions to send his foes flying.
Electricity[]
Salunga may generate electricity from his body. This was seen as he pried off the seal of the Superdimensional Calculator's borehole, where electricity arced off his arms and horn.
Trivia[]
- Due to his design being fairly similar to both monsters, Salunga was believed to be a redesigned version of Gabara or Baragon before his true identity was revealed.
- The trademark for the name "Salunga" was filed by Toho on October 6, 2020, and registered on April 20, 2021, nearly a day prior to the fifth episode's premiere on Netflix.[3]
Appearances[]
- Gadabout (debut / cameo)
- Enfatico
- Omniarch (first defeat)
- Encipher (second defeat)
- Explorer
- Together (final defeat / final appearance)
