The Dagahra (ダガーラ Dagāra?) of the AniGoji continuity is a species of giant pollution-consuming dragon-like kaiju created by Toho that first appeared in Godzilla: Monster Apocalypse, a prequel novelization for the 2017 film, Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters.
Design[]
Appearance[]
This Dagahra's general appearance was almost identical to its predecessor in its grown form except for elongated shoulder spikes and somewhat slender physique, and glowing eyes.
History[]
Godzilla: Monster Apocalypse[]
Dagahra attacked Oceania in 2017, forcing US forces to sally out. This was also the first confirmed monster appearance in southern hemisphere.
The first confirmation was an encounter by the USS Seawolf (SSN-21) of the US Army at 47°9′S 126°43′W at the end of November, 2017. About two weeks later, it was wounded in a battle against the US navy, which included the USS Saratoga (CV-60) within the Territory of American Samoa, but the navy failed to pursue due to Barem, a poisonous byproduct of Dagahra's ability to absorb pollution, flooding from the creature's wounds. The Barem made their way onto the port of Pagopago three days later, causing severe bacillus infections and killed one third of the population, the first confirmation in official record.
Two weeks later on December 25, Dagahra emerged in Sydney and brought total destruction all the way up to Newcastle, but the Australian Navy hesitated to attack the monster out of the risk of releasing more Barem. An ill-fated order to attack made during the chaos fatally damaged Dagahra, but the monster, on the verge of death, retreated back into the ocean. Although the army successfully defeated the monster, floods of Barem burst forth from its carcass, and severely polluted the surrounding waters of Australia. This, along with Dagahra's direct attacks, resulted in the total casualties of 6.7 million civilians, ranking next to Godzilla's damage in the official record. The combination of Dagahra's attack and the resulting Barem pandemic lead to what would become known as The Red Tragedy on Christmas. International support was hindered by the Barem, and resulted in three million causalities by 2018.
As the result, humanity had to abandon the continent, and Dagahra's appearances provided severe setbacks to humanity in the longer run; humanity lost food production in Australia and was forced to change anti-kaiju tactics. This was further prolonged by civil wars in China, which could provide manpower, caused by loss of control over Hedorah, and the fall of both India and Pakistan due to the nuclear war called the "last inter-humanity major tragedy" triggered by appearances of monsters, but the two nations were actually dealing with one or more monster(s).
Godzilla: Project Mechagodzilla[]
Another Dagahra was mentioned that it made an appearance at Izmir, a city which was also attacked by Orga in 2022.
Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters[]
Dagahra was one of few monsters that briefly appeared in the prologue of the film.
Abilities[]
Like most of the other kaijus except for Godzilla, this Dagahra doesn't have special weapons of its own and concentration of normal weaponry is capable to defeat it.
Unlike its predecessor, the Barem was not a symbiotic species but a fatal, internal contaminant resulting as a byproduct of Dagahra's ability to absorb pollution. Symptoms from victims included emitting red bubbles from their bodies, which in turn melted down the victims while they were still alive. This made the US force hesitate to attack the monster and resulted in the annihilation of East Samoa and Australia.
Humanity had hypothesized that Dagahra and other flying monsters possibility possessed abilities to control gravity due to physical infeasiblity to achieve flights with their masses and weights.
Trivia[]
- According to the official record, USS Saratoga (CV-60) fought against thirteen monsters including Ebirah, and Godzilla Earth during the final operation against it in Hamamatsu, Japan in 2046. After the loss, the ship was used for helping many soldiers to evacuate from Japan to Rio de Janeiro. However, the battle against Dagahra was not included in the official record.
- John Smith, one of featured characters in Godzilla: Monster Apocalypse who went by an alias, engaged in the battle against Dagahra as a pilot of jet fighter of US Army in 2017, but lost his will to continue to fight against monsters after knowing the disasters Dagahra brought, and later became a pilot for transport in the G-Force.
- While total causalities by Dagahra and Barem's pollution were stated to be next to Godzilla's, several other cases, such as of Orga's and Megalon's damage estimates were said to be larger; the former attacked the largest refugee camp site in Turkey and the official damage report didn't include the damages on refugees, and the latter brought on fatal damage to the African continent.
- The concept of severe environmental pollution by kaiju with internal contaminants resembles that of The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms and Pacific Rim series.
- The location 47°9′S 126°43′W corresponds with the location of "R'lyeh", a fictional lost city in The Call of Cthulhu by H. P. Lovecraft.
- Pagopago was the name of the island used in From a Distant Ocean Came Coo by Tamio Kageyama, a story of a boy and father saved a survivor of Plesiosaurus.
List of appearances[]
- Godzilla: Monster Apocalypse (First appearance)
- Godzilla: Project Mechagodzilla
- Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters
