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| Shuichi Kokumai. Photo by Brett Homenick. |
Earlier tonight (Sunday, January 7), I attended an event with SFX and VFX specialist Shuichi Kokumai. Kukumai-san was promoting his new film If My Girlfriend Were a Monster Hunter... (2022), which he wrote and directed.
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| Shuichi Kokumai with members of his cast. Photo by Brett Homenick. |
Kokumai-san has worked in practical and digital effects/VFX since the 1980s, working on such Toei TV programs as Kamen Rider Black (1987-88) and Kamen Rider Black RX (1988-89). He also worked in practical effects in such feature films as Rex: A Dinosaur's Story (1993), Kamen Rider ZO (1993), Kamen Rider J (1994), and Mechanical Violator Hakaider (1995).
In more recent years, Kokumai-san has worked in VFX, including Rebirth of Mothra III (1998), Godzilla 2000 (1999), Godzilla against Mechagodzilla (2002), and Godzilla: Final Wars (2004). He has also worked on countless Kamen Rider and Super Sentai projects in VFX, on top of being a director of low-budget movies.
The venue advertised that Eiichi Asada would also be on hand, which he wasn't, so I was pretty disappointed. To be honest, Asada-san was the main reason I came, and, when I realized he wasn't there, I was a bit perplexed as to what I was going to do at the event, especially since so much of it revolved around Kokumai-san's new movie, which I haven't seen. It was still worthwhile to meet a member of the Godzilla series VFX staff whom I'd never met before, but the event could have been much better with Asada-san on hand. Too bad.
