Review: ‘Gamera: -Rebirth- : Code Thyrsos’ Vol. 1

I for one was a huge fan of the Netflix Gamera: -Rebirth- (2023) animated series that brought back the beloved daikaiju icon and a menagerie of classic foes back onto the screen after nearly a decade of turtle-less content. I personally felt that after such a drought of content, -Rebirth- brought much-needed life into the daikaiju terrapin’s franchise, brought to surprisingly life by the same group of people who made the controversial Godzilla anime trilogy of films. 

So, imagine my surprise when it was revealed that almost after three years since the Netflix debut of Gamera concluded, an English adaptation of a little-known online prequel tie-in series known as Gamera: -Rebirth- : Code Thyrsos was receiving a physical release for Western audiences. This prequel series sets up a world of monsters by exploring the very ancient civilization that spawned the great giants; with a premise like that, I had to pick it up!

The story of Code Thyrsos explores an advanced civilization that existed before known history on our planet about a hundred thousand years ago known as Elisitania. This shining country-sized metropolis was a pinnacle of various achievements, but at the very same time, seems to be constantly at war. This backdrop of conflict introduces us to orphans Lucius and his sister Sica, who have recently lost their parents to the perpetual warfare that seems to plague their culture. The two are raised by their uncle who runs a meat packing plant that feeds the many mouths of Elisitania. One day, while looking for supplies, Lucius sees the bloodshed that took his father and realizes it was a lot closer to home; he witnesses a battle between man and a genetic abomination underneath the meat packing plant.

The orphan child soon discovers his parents are dead due to proxy wars between major corporate families that are revealed to rule Elisitania in a way to manage the wealth of the country. With him and his sister now learning the truth of their culture, their uncle reveals himself to be in opposition of this elite way of life and hires them to help him and others of a rebel cell with the goal of making their own monsters to battle the corporate overlords. Will Lucias be able to get his revenge on the upper class of his society, or will he also be corrupted by the very people he swore against with his very own monsters. Only time will tell. 

Code Thyrsos Volume One only covers three chapters of the total seven chapters that were released online in Japan a few years ago. The reason why the publisher went with splitting the story into such segments is beyond me since honestly, this separation of story telling really hurts the engagement of this volume. Manga is usually anywhere between six or seven chapters as is, so I feel like I would have had a better experience with this manga in full than this three chapter volume. I bring this up because Thyrsos is an incredibly brief narrative that tries to put a lot in for the reader and I consider it a bare minimum of successful storytelling. The story itself is incredibly tropey that will have readers think of other Japanese media such as Attack on Titan, the Netflix Godzilla trilogy, and countless other stories that we’ve seen before. Due to this, Code Thyrsos struggles to find its own way that makes it stand out and make Lucius and Sica’s cold war against the upper class compelling enough to connect with.

For this literary critic, it feels like Kadokawa wanted Hiroyuki Seshita to play to his cards with characters that we’ve already seen in his Netflix Godzilla anime trilogy, that frankly Seshita does a better job with there than the story he is attempting to portray in this manga. The “protagonist of revenge” character trope that is Lucias feels incredibly forced and honestly, I’m more interested and hopeful in seeing how Sica’s narrative of trying to live up to her brother’s genius by making her own monsters to possibly challenge him to play out. While I will admit I do enjoy the direction Seshita brought to the -Rebirth- anime, I feel like his written narrative for this manga is relying on his own storytelling playbook a little too hard, making it quite difficult to connect with this world and its characters. 

Cambria Bakuhatsu Taro’s art is a nice touch and keeps the story engaging. The artistic direction is undoubtedly one that ties in well with the source anime’s style and I enjoy the designs of the monsters a lot. Seeing how these genetic creatures have the “blueprints” to classic monsters like Gamera and Gyaos really makes the unique “proto-daikaiju” really pop in the story. The fights between these monsters are well executed, and I have to admit, I am a sucker for Sohra’s appearance in this manga. I mean, a land whale that breathes fire? Absolutely metal. 

I’ll also note that the book ends with a really intense final panel showcasing the King of the Underworld, Bodera, surrounded by failed experiments makes the cliffhanger of this manga all the more exciting. It should be noted that Gamera (a bit stylized from how he’s portrayed in the anime) is only seen at the start of the manga on a two page spread battling Gyaos. It must be made clear to the reader that this is an origin story and one should be patient with the narrative. My gripes aside, I must admit that I like that we are not stampeding to the creation of Gamera and being allowed to experience a brief slow burn to expand this plot of class wars and monsters. Be patient with this one, as I do believe that Gamera will be coming in the next volume in force! 

Gamera: -Rebirth- : Code Thyrsos is a lot of things, and one, especially Gamera fans, must be patient with this manga. I am incredibly curious to see what will happen with this series because technically, Code Thyrsos Volume One is more or less simply a first act and first act only. With the ominous ending and tried out themes at play, I must believe that the next volume will be one that will make reading this manga all the while. Have faith Gamera fans, for hopefully this series conclusion will give us what we all want: the birth of Gamera.