Spending an Afternoon with the Modern-Day Master of Monsters!

Fuyuki Shinada. Photo by Brett Homenick.

This afternoon (Sunday, January 7), I was privileged to spend a couple of hours in the company of Fuyuki Shinada, a legendary kaiju suitmaker who has made some of the most impressive monsters in Japanese film history.

Among many others, Shinada-san made Biollante in Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989), Godzillasaurus in Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991), Legion in Gamera 2 (1996), Irys in Gamera 3 (1999), and the title monsters in GMK: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001).

Shinada-san became particularly animated when discussing the kaiju productions he grew up watching. As you'd imagine, he's as much a Monster Kid as any you've ever read about in the pages of Famous Monsters.

One amusing moment came when Shinada-san asked if I was married, to which I replied that I wasn't. He seemed a bit surprised and commented that I was handsome but then reason that I'm probably single because I'm an otaku. In any case, I got a kick out of the fact that the maker of Biollante called me handsome! 

It was a fun afternoon with a true legend of the genre and an all-around nice guy. Couldn't have had a better Sunday if I tried!