G-FEST XXIV (July 14th thru 16th, 2017)

[klen7]

Friday was great. Spent a lot of time hanging out with friends I've made online. Spent a lot of time and money in the dealer's room. The Mysterians panel was great but i really don't need to hear Godziszewski rant about Shin Godzilla again..i think we saw different films because for about half his explanation it sounded more like he was talking about G'14. Ryfle gave a much more political answer that didn't dismiss the entire film. Seeing Kong again on the big screen was fun

I'll continue live blogging the con at klen7.tumblr.com

[DannyBeane]

[Godzilla21]

[Gojira07]

This is my favorite G-Fest tradition. Almost every panel gets hijacked into personal views on the latest Godzilla film. Because someone always has to bring it up during the Q&A

[klen7]

^^ i didn't catch who that was

[klen7]

Whew. I'm back home.

Saturday morning i went to the panel for Kazuhiro Nakagawa (an Assistant Director on Shin Godzilla, and Writer/Director of 'Day of the Kaiju')
- If you haven't seen Day of the Kaiju yet, check it out. its great
- he was directing the crowd running scenes for the Kamata-kun attack and said he had to keep telling people to look lower (instead of way up at normal Godzilla height) - many people took this to imply a different monster other than Godzilla was attacking
- When asked about how Higuchi and Anno worked together he laughed and said to ask Higuchi - he [politically] said "They both wanted to make the best film possible"
- During the Soggy Noodles scene Anno kept sending them back because the noodles werent soggy enough - "He can still eat that"
- When asked what he was working on now or next he laughed again and said "I'm on vacation"
- They all have theories on the tail, but Anno won't confirm or deny

Michiru Ōshima - I ducked out part way through this panel
- Had only seen one Godzilla film before
- Had not heard of Akira Ifukube
- Has not heard of the Toho Kingdom animated fan movie that claims an original score by Michiru Oshima in the teaser
- Lots of symbolism in the music, different instruments represent different aspects of Godzilla

Yuji Kaida
- Name dropped Kaiju Club - (it was later revealed by Higuchi that Kaida did a lot to bring kaiju films back with film festivals, etc in the early 80s)
- Bob Eggleton was the moderator so there was a lot of art related discussion

Shinji Higuchi
- FIrst off, just wow on this panel - he seemed to shoot down a lot of the rumors we heard about production
- The plan was always for Shin Godzilla to be CG
--- This is why the tail is so long, because they wire constraints were gone so they could have a lot more freedom
--- The puppets aren't complete because they were only intended for close up shots, however they didnt fit with the movie (i guess this the equivalent of the animation or stop motion in biollante)
- Higuchi started off at Toho G'84, he did thinks like paint the wires to match the backdrop and give water to Satsuma, move the tail outside of the frame to give it more realism in frame without a wire setup
- Higuchi is a complete goofball. lots of joking throughout
- he spilled a lot of details on the Legendary deal with Toho, basically Shin had to come out in 2016 because American Godzilla 2 was supposed to be out in 2017 and they couldnt be out the same year. If Godzilla 2 had gotten pushed back to 2019 earlier, they would likely still be working on Shin Godzilla
- Higuchi and Anno pitched a number of ideas with Godzilla mutating into something new (think the multiple headed concept art) - Toho said NO. so they had something turn into Godzilla instead
- Higuchi does know what the front part of the first form (we only see the tail) looks like - but he didnt bring any pictures of it
- The time he spent working on Daicon stuff seems magical and i want to go to there
- They would film in public parks, and have look outs for cops and firemen before doing any pyro technics to keep out of trouble
- Kaida was a bit of a mentor in this set up, provided the poster for their Orochi movie
- He made a comment about how America is portrayed in the film as military super power well beyond Japan (so there's some American "nationalism" for those out there that are hung up on that)
- At the Shin Godzilla screening he was joking a lot, he "apologized" for things - like the American plane at the end was actually a Japanese plane they painted, and that they thought Satomi's english was very good but he was sorry we didn't think so. Not sure how much of it was subversive jabs at the criticisms that he heard from the American fandom, but i thought it was funny. He also kept trying to walk off stage to the point RSF and Nakagawa had to jokingly hold him in place.

Kaiju Gaiden
- Trailer for Outer Man
- That tourism commercial with the fast tides
- 12 minutes of Atragon 2
- Zeros vs Kushkun (sp?) - a "JUNGLE" short film
- Godman fighting Gabara
- Wolfman vs Baragon - This is the 1972 predecessor to Godzilla vs Wolfman featuring a very different Wolfman (dressed like Olvier Reed in Curse of the Werewolf"
- a trailer for the Yongarry Chronicle Project documentary
- a Music video from a band called Certain Distant Suns and a song called Bitter (its sooo 90s)
- an 83 Godzilla fan film
- Showdown of the Godz - a romantic dramedy about a couple where the husband is obsessed with Godzilla, also starring George Takai
The 3 Koichi Kawakita films
- Apollo Knight - pretty standard henshin hero
- Battle Bot - I want to see more of this, its giant mechs fighting alien mechs
- God of Clay - a beautiful, poignant short film, delightful yet bittersweet knowing its the last thing he worked on

Kiyotaka Taguchi (G, Gehara, Ultraman X/Orb/Geed)
- This was amazing.
- This was great
- highlight of the trip.
- He had two new indie films to debut that only a few people have seen in Japan - they were just was great as G and Gehara
-- Zone - Felt very much like G. Lots of people spitting blood
----Taguchi - "i love violence" but can't put it in Ultraman, so I put it in my indie work
---- short and brutal, but the pacing and the reveals work so damn good, you had a room full of kaiju fans simultaneously gasping and reacting
-- 701 - a comedy with a bit of adult humor
---- fans of a certain Ultraman X actress should probably seek this out
---- the comedy works really well. the timing is great, this was a big hit with the audience
---- I'm the bald one laughing in the front row here: https://i.imgur.com/zBTSkI9.png

[Benjamin Haines]

^ Cool stuff. The Shin Godzilla and Legendary Pictures insight is much appreciated.

[lhb412]

Great write-up, klen! It's almost (okay, not really) like being there.

[DannyBeane]

I agree a 100% about your Taguchi writeup. He was fantastic and I loved his 2 shorts.

[edgodzi]

[lhb412]

[klen7]

Ed,
Sorry for the overly generalized description of your response. I do disagree with your assessment of the film, and unfairly lumped you in with some of the more militant elements of the fandom that took a similar stance and treated people as ignorant for enjoying the film.

Shin Godzilla aside, I would gladly attend any future panels you offer, especially related to Showa films. Your contributions to the English speaking fandom over the years have been significant especially considering how much has yet to be documented. I have the Honda book on preorder and look forward to reading it. Maybe even get it signed next year (Hmmm 2018, maybe be a DAM @ 50 retrospective ... or a Gino @ 20 )

[Godzilla21]

G-Fest 2018 registration and hotel info has gone up this morning. Already booked my room.

[klen7]

Yay! Room booked!

[DannyBeane]

My room is also booked!

[TripMasterMunky]

I'm going to try to make it to G-Fest XXV next year - haven't been able to make it out to one in awhile. Also stoked about the special guests!