Teruyoshi Nakano

Teruyoshi Nakano Born October 1, 1935 Andong, Manchukuo First work The Birth of Japan (1959) Notable work The Return of Godzilla (1984)

Teruyoshi Nakano (中野昭慶,   Nakano Teruyoshi) is a former Japanese special effects director who has worked on several Toho-produced tokusatsu films, including many entries in the Godzilla series.

Career

Nakano worked under his mentor Eiji Tsuburaya for much of the Showa series, before taking the reigns as head director of special effects for the Godzilla series following Tsuburaya's passing. Following the end of the Showa series, Nakano continued serving as director of special effects for other Toho films in the 1970's and 80's, such as The War in Space. Nakano's last work on a Godzilla film was as director of special effects for the 1984 revival of the series, The Return of Godzilla, in which Nakano created an expansive miniature cityscape and a giant "Cybot Godzilla" with the larger budget he was given. One of the special effects staff members working under Nakano for this film was Shinji Higuchi, who would go on to become a well-known special effects director in kaiju films such as the Heisei Gamera trilogy, and eventually a full-fledged director for films such as Attack on Titan the Movie: Part 1 and Part 2 and Shin Godzilla. Nakano finally retired at the age of 42 after directing the special effects for Princess from the Moon in 1987.

Since his retirement, Nakano has continued to be a prominent and active figure in the Godzilla franchise, performing interviews about his work on the series and making public appearances at events like G-Fest.

Kaiju Filmography

• The Birth of Japan (1959) - Assistant director of special effects
• The Secret of the Telegian (1960) - Assistant director of special effects
• Gorath (1962) - Assistant director of special effects
• King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) - Assistant director of special effects
• Matango (1963) - Assistant director of special effects
• Atragon (1963) - Assistant director of special effects
• Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964) - Assistant director of special effects
• Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964) - Assistant director of special effects
• Frankenstein vs. Baragon (1965) - Assistant director of special effects
• Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965) - Assistant director of special effects
• War of the Gargantuas (1966) - Assistant director of special effects
• Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (1966) - Assistant director of special effects
• King Kong Escapes (1967) - Assistant director of special effects
• Son of Godzilla (1967) - Assistant director of special effects
• Destroy All Monsters (1968) - Assistant director of special effects
• Latitude Zero (1969) - Assistant director of special effects
• All Monsters Attack (1969) - Assistant director of special effects
• Space Amoeba (1970) - Assistant director of special effects
• Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971) - Director of special effects
• Godzilla vs. Gigan (1972) - Director of special effects
• Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973) - Director of special effects
• Zone Fighter (TV 1973) - Director of special effects [episodes 1, 2, 5-7, 9, 11, 17, 20, and 21]
• Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974) - Director of special effects
• Prophecies of Nostradamus (1974) - Director of special effects
• Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975) - Director of special effects
• The War in Space (1977) - Director of special effects
• The Return of Godzilla (1984) - Director of special effects
• Princess from the Moon (1987) - Director of special effects

Gallery

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  Teruyoshi Nakano and Yoshimitsu Banno with the SoshingekiGoji on the set of Godzilla vs. Hedorah

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  Teruyoshi Nakano with the MegaroGoji and Mechagodzilla suits on the set of Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla

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  Teruyoshi Nakano with Mechagodzilla 2 on the set of Terror of Mechagodzilla

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  Teruyoshi Nakano with the 84Goji suit on the set of The Return of Godzilla

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  Teruyoshi Nakano, Shinji Higuchi, and Takashi Naganuma pose with the Godzilla statue in front of Toho Studios

External Links

• Interview by David Milner (July 1994)