- Koichi Kawakita
nihongo|Koichi Kawakita|川北紘一|Kawakita Kôichi (born in
Tokyo, Japan onDecember 5 ,1942 ) is aspecial effects artist.Biography
In 1962, Koichi Kawakita studied effects techniques under the special effects wizard
Eiji Tsuburaya . Ten years later, he made his FX directorial debut in thesuperhero show, "Ultraman Ace ". He has since directed FX for numerous superhero shows such as "Meteor Man Zone ", "Megaloman " and others. He also worked on movies as well. He was also an assistant toSadamasa Arikawa for theHong Kong /Japan co-production, "The Mighty Peking Man ".In 1983, he directed the FX for the
Toho tokusatsu sci-fi film "Sayonara Jupiter ". The following year, he was an assistant director toTeruyoshi Nakano for "The Return of Godzilla ". Five years later, he directed the FX for "Gunhed (film) " before succeeding Nakano for theGodzilla film series from 1989's "Godzilla Vs. Biollante" to 1995's "Godzilla Vs. Destoroyah", completing the second series of Godzilla films (the Versus Series, AKA: the "Heisei Series"). His work proved a dramatic improvement in the quality of special effects in Japanese films, though the sheer number of projects and effects work in 6 years led to some shortcuts in the last few Godzilla films. Most of the Godzilla films he worked on were characterized by the monsters shooting energy weapons at each other (there was a certain limit on physical fighting at the time, so that the monster fights look more realistic and less like men in rubber suits). There was also an emphasis on military mecha, as mecha was a big specialty of Kawakita's.Aside from directing FX for films and TV, he also did FX work on toy commercials for
Godzilla andGundam forBandai .Aftering retiring from Toho, Kawakita established his own visual effects company, Dream Planet Japan, in January 2003. Since that time, Dream Planet Japan have collaborated with Toho on the TV series SUPER STAR GOD GRANSAZER (Chouseishin Guranseizaa, 2003), THE JUSTIRISERS (Genseishin Jasutiraizaa, 2004) and SUPER STAR FLEET SAZER-X (Chousei Kantai Seizaa Ekkusu, 2005), the movie SUPER STAR FLEET SAZER-X: FIGHT! WARRIORS OF THE STARS (Chousei Kantai Seizaa Ekkusu: Tatakae! Hoshi-no Senshi-tachi, 2005), as well as producing featurettes for the DVD releases of GUNHED (Ganheddo, 1989) and SAMURAI OF THE SKY (Oozora-no Samurai, 1953).
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