Legends of Millennium-Era Tokusatsu Gather for a Special Evening!

Toshio Miike, Shinji Higuchi, and Makoto Kamiya pose for pictures. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Saturday, November 6, was a great evening for those who enjoy Millennium-era tokusatsu. Three luminaries who have earned their reputations in the last couple of decades headlined a special event just days after Godzilla's 67th birthday.

The guests in question were Shinji Higuchi, Toshio Miike, and Makoto Kamiya. Higuchi-san, fresh off directing the upcoming Shin Ultraman, was a particularly impressive guest.

Shinji Higuchi poses with a Shin Ultraman poster. Photo by Brett Homenick.

While I wasn't a fan of the film, I felt it was just too good an opportunity to pass up getting a couple of Shin Godzilla (2016) mini posters signed by one of the co-directors. It took me a while to dig them out, but I finally did after a lot of searching!

Higuchi-san was a lot of fun, and I enjoyed asking him about Ultraman: The Ultimate Hero, which he seemed fond of reminiscing about. 

Toshio Miike. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Also on hand was veteran SFX art director and production designer Toshio Miike, who has worked on: Gunhed (1989), Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991), Zeiram (1991), Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992), Gamera: Guardian of the Universe (1995), Gamera 2 (1996), Gamera 3 (1999), GMK (2001), Godzilla against Mechagodzilla (2002), Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. (2003), Godzilla: Final Wars (2004), and Shin Godzilla (2016).

I actually didn't get to spend that much time with Miike-san this time, which was a shame, as he's one of the nicest guys around. I just happened to be seated next to Higuchi-san all evening, so it wasn't in the cards. But there's always next time!

Makoto Kamiya. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Kamiya-san, the remaining guest, was an assistant director of SFX from Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989) through Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993), then served in the same capacity on Gamera: Guardian of the Universe (1995) through Gamera 3 (1999). After that, he became SFX director on GMK (2001) and Shinji Higuchi's Sinking of Japan (2006).

 And that's a wrap! Another night of tokusatsu history in the books. And what an evening it was!