Toei Heroes to the Rescue!

Hiroyuki Takano. Photo by Brett Homenick. 

Tonight, immediately after work, I made my way to Shinjuku to see a stage play starring two Toei (and even Tsuburaya Pro!) actors -- Hiroyuki Takano and Sayoko Hagiwara. These two names ought to be rather familiar by now, as I've blogged about both multiple times.

Takano-san can be seen in Ultra Seven (1967-68), Fight! Mighty Jack (1968), Operation: Mystery (1968-69), Spectreman (1971-72), Return of Ultraman (1971-72), Kamen Rider (1971-73), Silver Mask (1971-72), and Submersion of Japan (1974-75). However, his most notable role was co-starring in the Toei superhero series Barom-1 (1972) as Kentaro Shiratori.

Sayoko Hagiwara. Photo by Brett Homenick. 

Sayoko Hagiwara, who played the role of Ryoko Hoshi, Yullian's human form, on Ultraman 80 (1980-81) from episode 43, as well as Dyna Pink on Kagaku Sentai Dynaman (1983-84). She also appeared on Choushinsei Flashman (1986-87) as the villainous Leh Nafel.

I arrived rather late (due to work), so I was only able to catch the last 30 minutes or so of the play. It didn't bother me so much, as the reason I came was to visit Takano-san and Hagiwara-san, anyway. After the show, I spotted several friendly faces in the audience, and suffice it to say, it was great to see so many great people in one spot.

A great time was had by all.