Manda

Manda マンダ (Manda) is a sea dragon created by Toho that first appeared  in the 1963 film Atragon.

Name
Manda's name could be a combination of the Japanese words "man" 万 and "daija" 大蛇, which when combined mean "ten thousand serpent."

Appearance
Manda resembles an Eastern dragon, as he has four legs, multiple horns on the head all the way down to the tail, and two barbs coming from the face. In Atragon, Manda's roar was deeper and his eyes had slit pupils.

Origins
In the Showa series, Manda was the guardian of Mu, an underwater kingdom. How Manda became its protector and how long he had been protecting it is unknown.

Manda's origins in Godzilla: Final Wars are unknown.

Atragon
Manda was a dragon that lived in the sea and was the guardian of Mu, an underwater kingdom. When the Gotengo attacked, Manda fought it and wrapped his body around the ship and trying to crush it. But Gotengo charged electricity and unleashed it on Manda, badly shocking him. Manda unwrapped himself and tried to swim away. Gotengo chased after, and fired the Absolute Zero Cannon, which froze Manda.

Destroy All Monsters
Manda was taken to live on Monsterland in Destroy All Monsters. In 1999, the Kilaaks came to Earth and took control of Manda and the other monsters of the island, and made them attack major cities around the world, eventually ending up in Tokyo where he crushed a monorail line. Then, the people of the world freed them from the mind control, and the monsters were sent to fight King Ghidorah. Manda did not fight in the battle, and watched from the sidelines with Varan and Baragon. After King Ghidorah was defeated, Manda and the other returned to Monsterland.

All Monsters Attack
Manda also made a very brief appearance in All Monsters Attack, but only in a brief glimpse of recycled stock footage.

Godzilla: Final Wars
In the Millennium series, Manda attacks Normandy, when the Gotengo comes to stop it and attacks Manda. At first, Manda was able to constrict himself around the Gotengo and pull the warship further and further into the depths of the water, severely damaging it. However, the crew spotted an underwater volcano and charged into it, with Manda stuck on their ship. Unable to withstand the heat, Manda was forced to uncoiled himself and swam away. The Gotengo managed to get out of the volcano, but Manda charged at the ship. The Gotengo turned around 180 degrees and fired the maser cannon to freeze the weakened Manda, and then rammed into him with its powerful drill, breaking him into pieces.

Abilities
Manda does not have any special weapons, but he can wrap his body around an enemy and crush them similar to how a snake constricts his prey. Although he is slow on land, Manda can also swim very fast and can breathe while submerged in water. In the video game Godzilla: Monster of Monsters, Manda has the ability to spit fireballs.

Filmography

 * Atragon
 * Destroy All Monsters
 * All Monsters Attack (Stock Footage)
 * Terror of MechaGodzilla (Stock Footage)
 * Godzilla: Final Wars

Video Game Appearances

 * Godzilla: Monster of Monsters
 * Kaiju-Oh Godzilla
 * Godzilla (Arcade) (Cameo)
 * Godzilla Trading Battle
 * Godzilla Unleashed: Double Smash

Godzilla: Rulers of Earth
Manda appears in Godzilla: Rulers of Earth Issue #3 along with Gezora. Manda appears and destroys an aircraft carrier. Manda is later revealed to be a "Water monster", along with Titanosaurus and Gezora. After a brief fight with Godzilla, the trio of aquatic monsters retreat. Later, the trio, now joined by a revived Destoroyah fight Godzilla under water. During the fight, the Military used a new sonar blaster to confuse Gezora, Manda and Titanosaurus, making them flee, leaving Destoroyah to deal with Godzilla and the military. After Destoroyah and Godzilla battled, Manda was seen living in the oceans around the Monster Islands. One of the characters state that Zilla can't get onto the island because of the monsters keeping him in the ocean and off land, Manda possibly being the cause of it. It is unknown if Manda partook in the battle when the Trilopods invaded, as he was not seen afterwards.

Godzilla: Cataclysm
Manda is briefly shown in issue 1, fighting Anguirus by wrapping himself around the monster.

Sightings

 * A giant snake in Naruto has the same name as Manda as well as bearing some similarities.

Roar
Manda's roars in the Showa series were basically human rasps and grunts from tigers or lions, which the sounds would later be restocked for Godzilla's grunts and other monsters. Upon its debut the roars were deeper and slower, but in 1968 the roars were sped up and higher-pitched. In 2004, Toho gave Manda a variety of roars from different animals, typically lions (prior to the original Manda), rather than using the same two roars (however these roars were deeper). The roars were mixed with snarls from a leopard. These roars also made Manda sound more dragon-like.

In Other Languages

 * Russian: Манда
 * Chinese: 曼达 (Màndá)

Trivia

 * Manda, along with Gorosaurus and Varan, are some of the few that appeared in Godzilla films which aren't related to Godzilla, had appeared alongside him, and never fought him at all.
 * However, there was a deleted scene in Destroy All Monsters that would have had Manda fighting Godzilla.
 * Manda finally does do battle with Godzilla in Godzilla: Rulers of Earth.
 * In the manga version of Destroy All Monsters, Manda takes part in the final battle with King Ghidorah, wrapping around his wing.
 * In the Toho film King Kong Escapes, a Giant Sea Serpent swims toward a hovercraft, looking to attack it. However, King Kong throws a rock at it, causing the serpent to retreat back to the depths. It is unknown whether or not this creature has any connection with Manda.

Poll
Do you like Manda? Yes! No. Kind of.

Manda Manda