Veteran Tokusatsu Actor Goro Mutsumi Passes Away at the Age of 86

Goro Mutsumi in April 2013. Photo by Brett Homenick.

It has been reported that actor Goro Mutsumi, best known for playing alien leaders Kuronuma in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974) and Mugar in Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975), passed away on June 5, 2021, at the age of 86.

Unfortunately, I'd known that this had been likely since September of last year. I mailed Mutsumi-san a birthday card that month to his home in Kawasaki, which eventually was returned to me unopened. Considering that the New Year's greeting card that I'd sent a few months prior to that wasn't, I immediately became worried that something was wrong. To make matters worse, neither of the two phone numbers I had for him worked anymore. A message to the acting school where he had been recently teaching went unreturned. I didn't want to accept it, but I knew what likely had happened. I'm deeply saddened that my fears have been confirmed.

I had the privilege of meeting Mutsumi-san three times -- all of which were in the year 2013. I met him twice in April of that year, both times were to conduct an interview. (The interview ran a bit long, so we agreed to meet a few days later to finish it.) The last meeting, circa July 2013, was purely social. The biggest memory I have of that occasion was that I asked to take photos at the end of the dinner, but, because he had been drinking throughout the evening, he didn't want to be photographed.

In the summer of 2016, I invited him to see Shin Godzilla (2016) with me, but, while he couldn't make it, he said he wasn't even aware that the film was coming out! I thought that was pretty amusing. 

To the best of my memory, I last spoke to Mutsumi-san on the phone in March 2019. He was sometimes hard to get a hold of, and it was never easy making plans with him. I really wish I could have arranged to see him again, but I was never able to do it. But I'm grateful for the time I was able to spend in his company.

I was able to conduct two interviews with Mutsumi-san. The first interview is from 2009, and it was done by correspondence. The second interview was conducted in April 2013 in person. As you could imagine, it's much more detailed and comprehensive. For those of you who'd like to get a sense of Mutsumi-san's life and career, I'd highly recommend reading them.

Rest in peace, Mutsumi-san.

Ultra-Series Director Akio Jissoji Celebrated in Kawasaki!

Akio Jissoji celebrated at the movie theater Cinecitta in Kawasaki! Photo by Brett Homenick.

Last night, I went to a movie theater in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, called Cinecitta in order to attend a special event honoring Ultra-series director Akio Jissoji. Episodes 15 and 23 of Ultraman (1966-67), both directed by Jissoji, were screened, as was a brand-new documentary about his career (featuring interviews with the likes of Bin Furuya, Hiroko Sakurai, Sandayu Dokumamushi, Toshihiro Iijima, and many others). After the documentary, actor Minori Terada (who appears in episode 14 of Ultraman) and veteran cameraman Masao Nakabori held an in-person Q&A about Jissoji.

Out in the hallway was a corner featuring several bits of memorabilia related to Jissoji's work on the Ultra-series. In particular, the French-inscribed Jamila plate from the last scene of Ultraman episode 23 ("My Home Is Earth") was on display, along with the French inscription as it appeared on the last page of the shooting script. Other scripts, storyboard drawings, and props were on display, as well. Below are a few of the photos I took of the gallery. Enjoy!

Vantage Point Interviews Returns with a New Look at 'Godzilla 1985'!

Photo courtesy of James Melkonian.

Vantage Point Interviews presents a new interview with James Melkonian, who worked on the post-production side of Godzilla 1985's Americanization. You might recognize Mr. Melkonian as the writer-director of the mid-'90s comedies The Stoned Age (1994) and The Jerky Boys (1995), but he got his start about 10 years before that working at New World Pictures.

Content is king once again at Vantage Point Interviews!

Witnessing the Return of Ultraman!

Eiichi Kikuchi. Photo by Brett Homenick.

On Saturday, May 21, I attended a special event with legendary suit actor Eiichi Kikuchi. Of course, Kikuchi-san's best-known role was that of Ultraman Jack in Return of Ultraman (1971-72). He also donned the Ultra Seven suit in Ultra Seven (1967-68) for the King Joe episodes. 

Kikuchi-san talked about many things, including his experience on the set of You Only Live Twice (1967) as a henchman who gets dispatched by James Bond (played by Sean Connery). 

Toward the end of the evening, Kikuchi-san pulled out a couple of copies of an advertisement for Return of Ultraman gear for which he modeled. He signed one for me (and a few others at our table) simply because he wanted to. I was impressed by his generosity. 

Overall, it was a great evening, and it was a privilege to spend so much time in the company of Kikuchi-san. Hope I'm able to do it again soon!

Attending a Gathering of Tokusatsu Fans and Pros!

Atsushi Hagiwara. Photo by Brett Homenick.

On Friday, May 20, I attended a tokusatsu gathering of fans and professionals. Two of the pros on hand were ones I'd never met before, so I was eager to make their acquaintance.

One of them was Atsushi Hagiwara, who helped build many of the spaceships for Sayonara Jupiter (1984), one of Toho's most ambitious tokusatsu films of all time. Whatever you might say about the quality of the storytelling, no one can deny the quality of the SFX work. Hagiwara-san was surprised that I was familiar with his work, but it is most definitely great work!

Hideo Okamoto. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Also on hand was kaiju designer extraordinaire Hideo Okamoto. His credits are legendary, but his best-known projects are Yamato Takeru (1994), Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995), Rebirth of Mothra (1996), Rebirth of Mothra II (1997), and Godzilla 2000 (1999). 

I didn't have much of a chance to chat with him, so I just expressed my admiration for his work. He seemed pleased by that.

Overall, it was a fun evening, and the recently released Shin Ultraman was a hot topic of conversation.  A lot of interesting opinions were shared!

'Shin Ultraman' (2022)

A poster for Shin Ultraman (2022) on display at Toho Cinemas Roppongi Hills. Photo by Brett Homenick.

I finally saw Shin Ultraman after almost a week after it was released. There was no major reason for the delay, other than timing. But, having seen the film at long last, here are my impressions.

Overall, it's the second-best kaiju-related movie that's come out since 2014. (I still put Godzilla: King of the Monsters in the top slot.) But that may not be quite the praise it probably sounds like. 

The first hour is by far the more entertaining half. It's full of nostalgia and references to mid-1960s Ultra-stuff. Things start to drag in the second hour, which becomes much talkier and less dynamic. Even Ultraman's battles suffer in the second hour. It just doesn't stay interesting.

But the extent to which I can even say that Shin Ultraman is "interesting" is a bit uncertain. I enjoyed the film when it was reminding me of the original Ultraman series (and, at the very beginning of the movie, Ultra Q). It felt like a genuine love letter to the work of the original Tsuburaya Productions craftsmen. Unlike Shin Godzilla, the use of the original series' music and sound effects wasn't out of place here. It was entertaining to see Showa-style monster battles with updated special effects (even if the CG was sometimes of questionable quality).

But I can also see all the above as a demerit. If a film's highlights are the things it borrows from other sources, how good can it really be? (Maybe Quentin Tarantino can help us answer that one.) Essentially, when Shin Ultraman wasn't waving references to the original Ultraman or Ultra Q in front of my face, I just wasn't invested.

That said, I do think the characters are a step up from Shin Godzilla. There were some amusing moments from most of the main cast. Some scenes involving Masami Nagasawa, though, have already caused a bit of controversy online. If the movie gets some kind of release in the U.S., well, I'm just saying it might be a good idea to stay off Twitter for a while. 

This was a tough review for me to write because my feeling about Shin Ultraman is basically lukewarm, and I just don't have that much to say about it. It's certainly not great, but it's also not bad. The fact that it isn't terrible, though, is probably cause for a bit of celebration. But what's good about the film are things we've already seen, quite frankly, done better. I'm also not as well versed in Ultraman lore as other tokusatsu fans are, so I'm afraid I just don't have any hot takes. 

It was all right, I guess.

Another Evening of Chanson!

Yoshiro Uchida. Photo by Brett Homenick.

On May 17, I attended another chanson performance by former child actor Yoshiro Uchida. When Uchida-san informed me of the event, I thought I'd have to miss it due to my work schedule. But thankfully I was able to catch the last 30 minutes or so. It was well worth attending!

After the show, I had a nice chat with Uchida-san, who kept me up to speed. I found the info he had to share quite interesting!

The audience was a bit smaller than last time, but I thought that improved the atmosphere. I always enjoy meeting Uchida-san, who is a super-friendly guy!

Hanging Out with a '70s Toei Tokusatsu Icon!

Go Takashina. Photo by Brett Homenick.

On Saturday evening, May 14, I had the opportunity to meet Toei actor Go Takashina for the first time.

Go Takashina, whose real name is Masahiro Takashina (which also used to be his old stage name under a different kanji spelling), began acting professionally in 1973. He has appeared in several movies, but he is mostly known for his decades-long career in television.

Since debuting as an actor, Takashina-san has appeared in episode 14 of Iron King (1972-73) as Phantom member Minazuki, episode 26 of Kamen Rider X (1974) as the human form of a GOD agent, episode 6 of The Kagestar (1976-77), episode 11 of Toho's Super Sentai-inspired series Enban Senso Bankid (1976-77) as a police officer, and (most notably) episodes 16 through 35 of Daitetsujin 17 (1977) as Tetsugoro Iwayama.

When I sat down across from Takashina-san, he said that I had a nice face. Later on in the evening, he was looking at a poster for the James Dean epic East of Eden (1955). I asked him who directed it, but he wasn't sure. I got up to look at the poster and found the name of director, Elia Kazan. But then I quipped that it was actually "Alien" Kazan, which is a play on the katakana spelling of the two names. Well, at least he seemed to appreciate it!

All in all, Takashina-san didn't have many memories about his tokusatsu work. He was surprised to find out that I was familiar with Iron King and knew that he was in it. When I asked him about the infamous Starfish Hitler character from his episode of Kamen Rider X, he had no memory of it. But he was a lot of fun to hang out with and talked a lot about his enthusiasm for driving.

It was great to meet Takashina-san, who was quite a friendly chap to converse with.

Vantage Point Interviews Explores One of the Worst Movies Ever!

Photo courtesy of Tom DeSimone. 

It's not tokusatsu, but, if you like old, whacked-out cult movies, you might find this one interesting. Director Tom DeSimone discusses making arguably one of the worst movies ever, Terror in the Jungle (1968), on Vantage Point Interviews. At least he talks about making the first 30 minutes of the flick, as he quit the production due to constant disagreements with the producer. It's all fascinating stuff; give it a read!

Revisiting the Godzilla Statue in Hibiya!

Godzilla in Hibiya! Photo by Brett Homenick.

Today, I happened to be in Hibiya, so I photographed the Godzilla statue there. Here are the shots I took. Enjoy!