Tadaaki Watanabe, Toho's Gunpowder Guru, Passes Away at 81

Tadaaki Watanabe in April 2015. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Veteran Toho special effects crew member Tadaaki Watanabe passed away on September 16 after a long illness. He was 81. Mr. Watanabe, known affectionately as Nabe-san to his colleagues, was born on August 9, 1940, in Fukushima Prefecture. As a 14-year-old boy, he was impressed by Godzilla (1954) and would eventually join Toho in 1959.

Tadaaki Watanabe holds a photo of himself in the Angilas suit on the set of Destroy All Monsters (1968). Photo by Brett Homenick.

In the beginning of his career, Mr. Watanabe wanted to become a cameraman, but due to his background in pyrotechnics, he ultimately would work on the special effects side of films, specializing in explosions. His first works at Toho were the all-star epic The Three Treasures (1959) and the war film Submarine I-57 Will Not Surrender (1959). Mr. Watanabe would work continuously on Toho tokusatsu films all the way through Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (2000). 

SFX director Teruyoshi Nakano (left) and Tadaaki Watanabe. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Mr. Watanabe would even don the Angilas suit for Destroy All Monsters (1968) during the climactic kaiju battle in the shadow of Mount Fuji. However, there is some dispute about whether he actually appears in the film as Angilas. According to special effects director Teruyoshi Nakano, Mr. Watanabe wouldn't have appeared in the film as a suit actor because he wasn't a professional in that capacity; he simply would have been a stand-in who wore the suit during a camera test.

For what it's worth, though, Mr. Watanabe's Japanese Wikipedia page does mention that he plays Angilas in some scenes in the movie, and it should be noted that Mr. Nakano doesn't have any firsthand knowledge about whether Mr. Watanabe wore the Angilas suit at any point in the film.

I was lucky enough to meet Mr. Watanabe in April 2015, an event which Mr. Nakano joined. Mr. Watanabe, like most Toho tokusatsu veterans was quite friendly, and I was quite surprised that he never turned up at another event. I'd been pursuing an interview with him for a while but was told that he was unavailable to his illness. 

Rest in peace, Mr. Watanabe.

OSAKA CASTLE STORY! Finally Seeing This Memorable Location in Person!

"Hey, I thought it was going to be a lot bigger!" A miniature replica of Osaka Castle. Photo by Brett Homenick.

One iconic image in the Godzilla series is Godzilla's battling Angilas near Osaka Castle in Godzilla Raids Again (a.k.a. Gigantis the Fire Monster, 1955). I remember seeing the same publicity still from that scene in just about every monster book that came out in the 1980s. Therefore Osaka Castle was location I had my eye on for quite some time, and on August 16, I was finally able to pay it a visit.

The pictures below are self-explanatory; they're of Osaka Castle and the surrounding area. They say a picture's worth a thousand words, and who am I to argue? Let's get to the good stuff.

ANGILAS STOMPS INTO YOKOHAMA! A Kaiju Suit Actor Makes a Rare Appearance!

Toho SFX technician and Angilas suit actor Tadaaki Watanabe holds a copy of a production still from the set of Destroy All Monsters (1968), as he emerges from the Angilas suit. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Just a week after its successful event focusing on Espy (1974), Cinema Novecento returned to the mid-'70s with a screening of Conflagration (1975). Joining the event again was SFX director Teruyoshi Nakano.

SFX director Teruyoshi Nakano poses with posters of some of his most famous works. Photo by Brett Homenick.

As an aside, I actually met Nakano-san on the way to the event. As I boarded the Keikyu Line at Yokohama Station, I noticed Nakano-san standing in the same train car just a few feet away! When we got off at Tobe Station, I greeted him. We spent the next 10 minutes walking to the venue. In the best Japanese I could muster, I asked him questions about his career and his thoughts on a few movies. It was a rare opportunity to have a one-on-one audience with a Showa-era SFX director, and one that I certainly appreciate.

Watanabe-san and Nakano-san tell the audience what it was like to blow Toho Studios up during the 1970s. Photo by Brett Homenick.

The other guest at the event was longtime SFX technician Tadaaki Watanabe, who joined Toho in the 1950s and worked on films into the 2000s. In 1968, Watanabe-san was asked to play Angilas in Destroy All Monsters for some of the scenes, making this a rare public appearance of a Showa-era suit actor not named Nakajima or Satsuma! It was quite exciting to meet Angilas in the flesh.

Meeting Angilas for the first time. He was just as good-hearted as he is portrayed in the movies.

It was enjoyable to see a 35mm print of Conflagration, even if it was showing signs of wear. After the film, Nakano-san and Watanabe-san shared their memories of the movie, as well as their respective Toho careers.

It's always great to hang with Teruyoshi Nakano, one of the true masters.

At one point, Nakano-san pointed me out in the audience and told the story (written elsewhere on this blog) about how I caught that the Toho production logo for the print of Espy was actually taken from The Last Days of Planet Earth (1974), which nobody else in the group noticed. Naturally, it was an honor to be recognized by the master.

Afterward, obligatory photos were taken and autographs signed. We all had a delicious dinner together, over which many Toho tales were told. I'll be returning to Cinema Novecento this Saturday for yet another event, this one Godzilla-centric. Watch this space for a report.