Kamata-kun

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Editor's note: This article contains some spoilers for Shin Godzilla/Godzilla Resurgence

About

Kamata-kun (Japanese: 蒲田くん) is a nickname given to a character appearing in the 2016 Godzilla film Shin Godzilla, also known as Godzilla Resurgence.^[1] This creature has gained a cult-following within the fanbase for his cute, and somewhat derp-like appearance.

Origin

Kamata-kun refers to the 2nd form of Godzilla in the film. The first instance calling the form as Kamata-kun is a tweet by Twitter user @pasinpasin on July 29th, 2016 (shown below)^[2], which Kamata^[3] and Shinagawa^[4] come from the names of the neighborhoods of the first landing points of each forms.

pasin @pasinpasin Follow 以降第2形態:蒲田くん第3形態:品川くん第4形態:シソゴジラ東京駅:寝ゴジラと呼称します。 RETWEETSLIKES 52 94 9:16 AM 29 Jul 2016 52 94

Translation:

From now, I call Godzilla by these names:
2nd Form: Kamata-kun
3rd Form: Shinagawa-kun
4th Form: Shin Godzilla
Tokyo Station ver. : Sleeping Godzilla

Spread

The popularity of the movie through the summer of 2016 gave a huge visibility to the 2nd form of Godzilla. Alongside, "kamata-kun" in that user's casual tweet quickly became to be the nickname for the creature among Japanese viewers, and also became to be used as a hashtag for fan works on Twitter. ^[5] Following the trend, Japanese illustrators communities Pixiv^[6] and Nico Nico Seiga^[7], where the users had proposed an euphemistic expression "That Dude in Kamata" (蒲田のあいつ) as the creature's tag prior to the popularization of the nickname, have introduced Kamata-kun into a tag name for fan illustrations. In addition, Shinagawa-kun (品川くん) is also used as the nickname for the 3rd form, and in the same manner, the 4th & final form which made a landfall in Kamakura^[8], Kanagawa prefecture, has been given a nickname Kamakura-san (鎌倉さん).

Kamata-kun has also been gaining visibility in the English-speaking web since the film's release in the North America in October. Twitter's hashtag #kamatakun owns many fan works^[9], and fan illustrations are also uploaded to English illustrators community DeviantArt.^[10] Many fan illustrations featuring Kamata-kun also feature the character Hiromi Ogashira, a minor human character from the film who has also obtained a cult following among fans.