Minya Saves the Day ... Again!

Atomu Mizuishi (left) and Naoko Kamio. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Tonight (Sunday, March 10), I attended an event with two headlining guests -- actor Atomu Mizuishi and suit actress Naoko Kamio. Of the two, I was much more interested in Kamio-san, as she played Rodan and Minya in Godzilla: Final Wars (2004). 

While I'm not familiar with him, Mizuishi-san played Kiramai Blue on Mashin Sentai Kiramager (2020-21), among other tokusatsu projects. I was surprised to find the audience packed with younger females who were completely enamored of him. I certainly wasn't expecting to find that when I entered the venue, but there you go!

It was a lot of fun meeting Minya in the flesh. When I asked her to reenact her Minya pose from Final Wars, she happily agreed to do. The other attendees were much more familiar with her career in Super Sentai and peppered her with many questions about it. 

Below are the other photos I took tonight. Enjoy!

GO, RODIE BABY, GO! Attending a 4K Screening of 'Rodan' in Chofu!

A poster for the Chofu Cinema Festival in Chofu Station. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Today (Sunday, February 11), I went to the Chofu Cinema Festival to catch a screening of the 4K version of Rodan (1956). The venue was the Chofu City Cultural Hall Tazukuri, which I've visited several times in the past few years. 

I was a bit surprised at how small the screen was. I was also seated a bit farther back than I usually prefer, so it would be more than fair to say that my first screening of Rodan at Toho Cinemas a while back was superior to this one. The 4K restoration looked amazing, of course, though I wish I could have seen it on a bigger screen.

After the screening, there was a Q&A with Toshio Miike, who talked about tokusatsu production designer Yasuyuki Inoue and his contributions to the film, alongside Toshifumi Shimizu, who discussed the process of the 4K restoration. The interview session lasted a little more than 30 minutes.

When I was leaving the theater, I spotted Godzilla series tokusatsu director Yuichi Kikuchi in the audience. I greeted him and informed him of my plans for late March. After chatting for a short while, we took the selfie that you can see at the bottom of the blog post.

When I was heading back down to the lobby area, I noticed Ultraman (1966-67) actress Hiroko Sakurai's leaving the theater. Suffice it to say, it's quite rare to see such a high-profile figure attend a screening of an old kaiju movie that he or she wasn't even involved in.

In the lobby of the building was a special exhibit honoring Yasuyuki Inoue, the centerpiece of which was a recreation of the Iwataya Department Store as seen in the film. Also on display were various blueprints, location-scouting photos (including pictures of the Yawata Steel Works, which Rodan was supposed to attack in the script, even though it's not in the finished movie), and even a tape measure that Inoue used when location-scouting in Fukuoka for Rodan. There was also a cool reproduction of Nishitetsu train cars that you can see in the film. 

Shin Kamen Rider (2023) will also be screened as part of the film festival, and on display in another section were the henshin belt and mask of the titular character.

All in all, it was a fun afternoon, to which the photos in this blog post will attest. Enjoy!

GO, RODIE BABY, GO! Attending a Screening of 'Rodan' at Toho Cinemas!

Signage for Rodan just outside the theater screening room. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Tuesday, December 20, proved to be a rather unusual morning. Just before 9:00 a.m., I arrived at Toho Cinemas Nihinbashi to take in a 4K screening of the kaiju classic Rodan (1956), remastered from the original camera negative. 

I'm not so sure a movie from 1956 counts as "new." Photo by Brett Homenick.

The quality, of course, was top-notch. Rodan has truly never looked better, and I could spot a lot of details that I never could before. I had a lot of fun trying to read the signs and billboards during Rodan's attack, but the scene would usually cut away before I could finish reading them. Yumi Shirakawa was absolutely radiant (when is she not?), I never noticed that Haruo Nakajima was in that much of the movie as an extra, and the ending still packs one heck of a punch. I was moved all over again.

After the showing, I sat in one of the comfy leather chairs that were available to patrons (never seen these before at a Toho Cinemas) and had a blast messing around on Facebook with my buddies. It sure made the mad dash to the movie theater battling the morning rush hour worth it. I'm still kicking myself for not checking out the remastered Mothra (1961) screenings last year, but I'm glad I didn't repeat that mistake with Rodan. 

Can't wait for this one to come out on Blu-ray!

Another Look at Tokusatsu DNA, Part II!

Here's part two for your viewing enjoyment!