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Frankenstein (Showa)
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Frankenstein (Showa)

Frankenstein's Monster

Toho Expanded Universe

Frankenstein's History

Frankenstein was a kaijin created by Dr. Frankenstein. His immortal heart was exposed to radiation, causing him to grow and mutate rapidly.

owards the end of World War II, Nazi soldiers confiscated the living heart of Frankenstein's monster from the scientist studying it, Dr. Liesendorf. They transported the heart to Hiroshima in the hopes that Japanese scientists could use it to create an army of immortal super-soldiers. Before they could make any breakthroughs, however, an American bomber destroyed the city with an atomic bomb.

Fifteen years later, the story of a boy eating animals and wandering the streets of the now-rebuilt city reached Dr. Sueko Togami, assistant to radiologist Dr. James Bowen. Soon after, she saw the boy fall victim to a hit-and-run, though he seemed unharmed, and Sueko threw him a loaf of bread. After the police later cornered him in a seaside cave, she was able to convince him to travel to their laboratory for study. Bowen was amazed to find that the boy had been exposed to radiation as an infant, yet exhibited no symptoms of radiation poisoning. With the help of the press, Dr. Bowen put out a plea for any information on the boy's parentage. Through the testimony of a sailor on the submarine that brought the heart to Japan, as well as that of Dr. Liesendorf, they learned of his possible connection to the Frankenstein monster's heart. Liesendorf added that if the boy regrew a severed arm or leg, it would prove that he was indeed Frankenstein.

In the meantime, the boy had grown far larger than a normal human, forcing Bowen's team to house him in a cage. Bowen's other assistant, Dr. Kenichiro Kawaji, secretly attempted to remove the giant's hand to discover the truth, but he was interrupted by a TV crew who wanted to film Frankenstein. The crew purposely agitated Frankenstein for the sake of better footage, and ended up making him a killer as he broke out of the cage. After causing panic in the streets of Hiroshima, he visited Sueko one last time before fleeing the city.

In the aftermath of the attack, two reporters found a severed hand crawling in the cage, proving that the giant was indeed Frankenstein. The scientists attempted to keep it alive by bathing it in a protein solution, but it soon escaped and trapped itself under a grate, starving to death. Meanwhile, reports of destroyed farms and slain livestock throughout Japan convinced the police and military that Frankenstein must be destroyed. Still, no one actually reported a Frankenstein sighting until he briefly menaced a pleasure cruise ship in Byoko. Tanks pursued him across the countryside, but he escaped after one fell into a pitfall trap he had dug for a wild boar. When the military came upon a destroyed, desolate village, they assumed Frankenstein was responsible. In reality, it was the work of a subterranean reptilian monster called Baragon.

After Baragon attacked another village, two boys found Frankenstein hiding in an abandoned ammunition dump nearby. Army infantry opened fire on him, but Frankenstein was only frightened by their bullets and fled once more. Though Bowen's team was running low on funds, they continued dropping food parcels for him to retrieve. While they searched for him on foot, Kawaji revealed his plan to kill Frankenstein with explosives, as he was no longer confident that Sueko could tame the giant. Unfortunately, the first explosive he tested lured Baragon to the surface. Before the monster could devour Sueko, Frankenstein arrived to challenge him. Baragon retreated after a brief scuffle, allowing Frankenstein to rescue Kawaji and return him to his fellow scientists. As Baragon closed in on another village, Frankenstein again intervened, using hit-and-run tactics to lure the monster to his cave. There, he retrieved a pair of torches to continue the fight, accidentally starting a forest fire when he threw one. Ultimately, he was able to kill Baragon by snapping his neck. As he howled in triumph, a fissure opened up beneath his feet, swallowing up both monsters.

It was later discovered that some of the immortal cells left behind in Japan by Frankenstein regenerated and took on lives of their own. One of these Frankenstein spawns, Sanda, was raised from childhood by a team of kind scientists before escaping into the mountains. The other, Gaira, grew up underwater in the sea surrounded by dangerous creatures, and became a violent and hateful beast.