Akira Inoue

Akira Inoue Born 1929 Tokyo, Japan Died September 30, 2017 Occupation Art director First work The Ice Wall (1959) Notable work Gamera the Giant Monster (1965)

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Akira Inoue (井上 章,   Inoue Akira) was a Japanese art director who worked on four of the eight Showa Gamera films. He is one of the men credited with designing Gamera, alongside suitmaker Masao Yagi, director Noriaki Yuasa, and special effects director Yonesaburo Tsukiji.

Inspired to enter the film business after seeing King Kong (1933) as a child, Inoue joined Daiei in 1953. He served as an art director on several of the studio's films from the 1950s through early 60s, but his big break came when he was chosen to helm the production design for both units of Gamera the Giant Monster (1965). He would continue to work as Yuasa's art director on three more Gamera films: the special effects unit of Gamera vs. Barugon (1966), and the drama units of vs. Gyaos (1967) and vs. Guiron (1969). Inoue was set to work on Gamera vs. the Two-Headed Monster W (1972), but Daiei went bankrupt before it could be made. He returned to the series in 1991 to work on the "Gamera Permanent Preservation Plan" LaserDisc set, for which he designed the monster Garasharp.

Looking back on his career, Inoue was most proud of his work on the Gamera series and named Gamera vs. Guiron as his favorite project. He passed away on September 30, 2017.

Selected filmography

Art director

• Gamera the Giant Monster (1965)
• Gamera vs. Gyaos (1967)
• Gamera vs. Guiron (1969)

Special effects art director

• Gamera the Giant Monster (1965)
• Gamera vs. Barugon (1966) [with Hiroshi Yamaguchi]
• Gamera Super Monster (1980) [stock footage]

Miscellaneous

• Gamera vs. Garasharp (1991) - Illustrator / kaiju designer
• Wanigon vs. Gamaron (2000) - Supervisor

Monsters designed

• Gamera [with Masao Yagi, Noriaki Yuasa, Yonesaburo Tsukiji]
• Barugon
• Gyaos
• Guiron [with Tomohisa Yano]
• "W"
• Garasharp

Gallery

• 

  Inoue (center) with Tomoo Haraguchi (left) and Keizo Murase (right)

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