Special Effects Photo Book Kawakita Koichi & Keizo Murase

[ebirahsmeg1]

I've noticed that no mention has been made of this book, which was released back on 7/2 last month.

http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E5%B7%9D%E5%8C ... GHYRAYTT6P



It is similar to the Harou Nakajima Monster Photobook released by Yosensha last year.



I'm on a business trip for the next week, but I definitely want to pick this up when I get back. Will post my thoughts and some stills. If anyone else has picked this up , please post your thoughts.

[Dr Kain]

This book is probably what, 5 pages long?

[klen7]

Please post your review! I love the Nakajima book, but the reviews were half a little lackluster, and it appears to be B&W, and there are already a few solid color Heisei books in a larger format, right now its a skip for me

[Hybrid Gojira]

I'm looking forward to the review as well - I don't have any behind the scenes books and wanted some advice on which ones to get...I'm looking primarily for picture books.

[ebirahsmeg1]

My sincere apologies folks, as my work has been dominating my life lately (one aspect I don't like about Japanese culture). But I *should* finally be free to go check this out tomorrow or Thursday.

Honestly, as much as I enjoyed the Nakajima photo book, it will take a lot to make me get this (they go for about $40 a pop) as I already have the "Hesei Perfection" book, not to mention that there have been a gazillian books already devoted to Kawakita and the Heisei films in general. If it has anything new to offer though, I'll snatch it up. I hope they continue this series and release an edition having to do with the Millennium series (how about photo book of Ando and Higuchi? Or suit actor Kitagawa? I've noticed that Asada and Kitagawa often seem left out of in most compilation books (which often focus on Kawakita and the Heisei films, and to a lesser degree Tsuburaya and other figures of the Showa era. It would be refreshing to hear some more insight from these guys and have them share behind-the-scenes musings, experiences, and photos). Regardless, I will thumb through it and let you know my thoughts/impressions....

[klen7]

[ebirahsmeg1]

[Hybrid Gojira]

Ebirahsmeg, I'm excited to see some scans and get your thoughts - the behind the scenes and unused stills are really fascinating.

[ebirahsmeg1]

Well, I made some scans (sh*tty scans that is sorry for the quality, haven't had much free time and did them out of haste). As most are away, countless books have posted behind the scenes photos of the Heisei G films, and although there are some rare stills, they're nothing much different from what I've seen before.

Where this book is unique and separates itself from the pack of other endless Heisei/Kawakita books, however, are some really rare, unique stills of Kitakawa behind the scenes of SHOWA films when he was cutting his teeth under Tsuburaya and Nakano's watch. Additionally, there are loads of interesting stills from Kawakita's non-Godzilla films (Mothra series, Gunhed, Bye Bye Jupiter, Gorath) and numerous other non-daikaiju films, the titles of which I don't recall off the top of my head, as well as various promotional events (1986 Sci-Fi World event using the Cybot Godzilla / The Godzilla Pachinko game from a few years ago / Planet Godzilla ride ), commercials, TV series(Justirisers / Ultraman (again, don't recall which specific Ultraman series at the moment) / Zone Figher / etc) that he has worked on. This is the book that the Heisei Perfection Book *SHOULD* have been.

I'll post some more info/details when I'm not sleep deprived, haha. In the meantime, enjoy:

From GTTHM, which is of special interest as it's my all time favorite G film, and I never realized he worked as an assistant on it:




From GvsHedorah:


GvsMG74


1986 SF World event:


Godzilla Pachinko game:

[Hybrid Gojira]

Really cool stuff - thanks for posting. Out of curiosity, what books would you guys recommend for behind the scenes stuff from each series (Showa, Heisei, Millennium)?

[klen7]

For Heisei I'd say
Godzilla Chronicles.. for my money this book is significantly better than Heisei Perfection


For Showa
GODZILLA'S HEROIC YEARS: 1969-1975 Godzilla 'Toho Champion
http://i.imgur.com/wpz5lq6.jpg

I know ebirahsmeg will agree that the Shogakukan books are fantastic. I'd say they are your best bets across the board for the millennium films and pretty solid for the Heisei (including the RoM films)

For Heisei Gamera, definitely pick up Gamera Heisei Perfection, though the Shogakukan Gamera the Brave has a lot of additional behind the scenes shots

The Nakajima Yosensha book mentioned in this thread is pretty great as well

[ebirahsmeg1]

[klen7]

I got a shipping notice from Amazon this morning on the Keizo Murase book, so mine should be in hand shortly!

[ebirahsmeg1]

Just picked up this bad boy after work earlier this evening Will post thoughts and photos soon...

[klen7]

Short review: 200+ pages of rare behind the scenes pictures of props and suits and their construction. This series continues to amaze

Some samples from the book

[kiryugoji04]

So I need to get all of these. Noted.

[klen7]

They cover some Heisei, Korean, and television work of Murase as well. Very cool book.

[ebirahsmeg1]

And don't forget the photo of King Ghidorah





My Japanese girlfriend translated to text caption. According to her, it is said in Japanese folklore that Yamata no Orochi was a greenish color. Drawing inspiration from Yamata no Orochi, they initially decided to go with a blu-ish color for KG((For those who are not familiar with Japanese culture, older Japanese texts, writings, and literature have always blurred the lines between the colors blue and green, with green often being lumped into "blue". For example, green traffic lights are often described as blue over here, and Haiku poet Basho often described "the blue grass and blue trees" of spring.

Anyways, I'm glad that they decided to eventually drop the blue paint scheme in favor of the more majestic gold, which I think makes KG look much more grand and frightening. Nevertheless, this is pretty fascinating stuff. Great book so far...

[klen7]

If this book series continues, i hope they keep the larger format they used for the Murase book.

[ebirahsmeg1]

[klen7]