#is it TOO MUCH TO ASK for a showa rider to be old and tired after years of fighting but find a spark of hope in a new hero

[cina-full-moon-xanadium]

on one hand i do like that kamen rider as a franchise has an entirely new setting and story and cast of characters year after year so that outside of the occasional fun crossover you can just jump into any series with no prior knowledge as if it's its own franchise but on the other hand is there LITERALLY any reason why for just one time we can't have a season that's a light sequel to a previous show and have a previous rider as a mentor type character and follow up on those themes and have them in conversation with each other

#is it TOO MUCH TO ASK for a showa rider to be old and tired after years of fighting but find a spark of hope in a new hero #is it too much to ask for that hope to be contrasted against said showa rider's knowledge of the fight weighing on the soul #and seeking to protect said new hero while accepting their help #and to confront the ramifications of their legacy and impact and how a new hero would see their own future in that #is it too much to ask for dilf skyrider

[tokupedia]

Japan World Heroes II: Day 1 part 1

After waking up and getting ready, I entered the hall to discover a swarm of autograph hound crazed fans lining up to meet their chosen targets.

Much like last time, Mr. Matt Frank, comic book artist and G-Fan extraordinaire was at his booth. This time with copies of his recent Redman comic as well as art prints and other merch. 

Mr. Kenichi Muraeda was in the building, using his talented artistry to dazzle fans by making drawings of Showa Riders as well as custom request pieces for a healthy $100+ a pop. I saw a few lucky people take home drawings of Kuuga, Dekared with Kamen Rider Blade, and Kamen Rider Brave Taddle Fantasy Form. He then advertised his skill to patrons by making art of Kamen Riders ZX, 1, Riderman, V3, Stronger and X and letting people watch.

He even blessed the Toei prop booth with a drawing of Black RX! 

I timidly approached his booth, wallet in hand. To my surprise, he saw my Kamen Rider art book, told me to put my wallet away and not only signed it, but illustrated it with a drawing of Kamen Rider 1!  

(Yes, I know the date is wrong, but chalk that up to him being tired as an overworked manga artist. I feel so honored and unworthy of such a gift and will treasure it always.)

I felt really bad and wanted to pay him, but he was flattered that someone in America loved his art so much he purchased a book just for the artist who illustrated those drawings to sign it. What a nice guy!

Before the panels, I got in as many signatures as I could. Mr. Kitagawa was happy to have his signature next to Furuya-san in my Godzilla book and I indulged in a photo op and autograph the day before with an Undead Spade King...

Second time standing next to a Heisei Rider actor, never stops being a humbling experience. Yes, that is the shirt I wore, it was comfy and it was a balmy 98 degrees in L.A., light colors and fabrics mean less solar flesh roasting.

First panel I attended was Mr. Kitagawa’s, whom in the photo is doing an out of suit performance of his incarnation of Godzilla. He was a funny and interesting guy, having a career in toku that spans all the way back to the early 1970s with suit acting in Battle Fever J and Shotaro Ishinomori’s Akumaizer 3 as a teenager.  He also talked a bit about working with Kenji Ohba and Sonny Chiba and when asked, he described that his most intense stunt was in Dengeki Sentai Changeman, where he had to do fight choreography on top of a moving car while fighting an enemy monster. Apparently he had to do multiple takes because the director wasn’t satisfied with his performance which stressed him out as he was in real danger of getting hurt. (Back in the day, they didn’t have as many safety devices to protect stuntmen and actors from accidents.) 

He did some examples of martial arts demonstrations and how they work in film and described what it was like to be a kaiju suit actor. Humorously, he said it was something he would never wish on anyone, given that the suits are restrictive, hot and hard to breathe in when he wore them and took 20 minutes to put on and take off. He was King Ghidorah in the Mothra films of the 1990s and revealed it took 20 people to operate the suit, some to move the three heads, some to move the tail and wings and others to operate the animatronics and a wire team to keep Mr. Kitagawa in the air during scenes where King Ghidorah was flying. All of them had to coordinate in time to do a scene properly.

Later, he did poses of Sentai Rangers he portrayed and revealed he now worked in the video game industry as a motion capture suit actor, the industry has recorded so much data on Mr. Kitagawa’s movements they can just program said movements into the coding without calling him into the studio and he still gets paid. He was contractually obligated not to say which games he was in, but stated they were mostly action and ninja games and we may have heard of some of them if he did disclose them, but he won’t. He, much like Kazuo Niibori, is now a mentor for the next generation of suit actors. Mr. Kitagawa is happy now, as he has more freedom than ever before to work how he wishes and is excited for the next generation as they have more than he did as a kid in terms of work opportunities.

The panel was briefly interrupted by one of the convention coordinators, who asked Mr. Kitagawa if he wanted Chicken for lunch. Mr. Kitagawa responded “NO CHICKEN! HAMBURGER PLEASE!”, then confessed he is terrified of chickens as he lived on a farm with his uncle and was traumatized as a child seeing his uncle behead chickens. Some fans in the audience wondered if Mr. Kitagawa was the inspiration for Red Buster’s fear of chickens. Mr. Kitagawa also said he hates turkey for the same reason.

His lifelong dream was to be Ultraman, a dream he never realized, but he did close out by giving the audience a heartfelt speech about never giving up on your dreams, even if they don’t turn out exactly how you want them to. He then surprised us with a Specium Ray pose and a really good cry of “Shuwatch!”, saying he’s still got it even if he’s too old to be Ultraman.

#japan world heroes #convention #power rangers #super sentai #Godzilla #tsutomu kitagawa #kamen rider #kenichi muraeda #tokusatsu #matt frank