Ryotaro Kogushi
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Ryotaro Kogushi (小串 遼太郎 Kogushi Ryōtarō) is a Japanese special effects director and visual effects supervisor. Captivated as a child by the Heisei Godzilla and Gamera films, he directed his own kaiju short film, The Lost Kaiju, while studying at the Osaka University of Arts and submitted it to an NHK contest judged by Heisei Gamera special effects director Shinji Higuchi. The short was selected for broadcast on the network and caught the attention of Tokusatsu Kenkyujo (Tokken), which hired him as a part-timer in the art department, and then as a full-time assistant director.[2][3]
Kogushi's first work with the company was the Super Sentai series Juken Sentai Gekiranger (2007–08).[4] He has gone on to become the chief assistant of Sentai and Kamen Rider special effects director Hiroshi Butsuda, working alongside him on virtually all of his projects since his hiring. Other mentors include Higuchi, Minoru Kawasaki, Katsuro Onoue, and Kazuhiro Nakagawa, whose annual Fest Godzilla films he's worked on since 2023. Kogushi's earliest-known assignment as a special effects director in his own right was Kawasaki's 2012 video game commercial "Earth Defense Forces 3: The Commercial"; his first as a dramatic director was the 2019 direct-to-streaming short Kaiju Ward Gallas, which required him to head both of its units.[5]
In 2025, Kogushi directed the special effects for episodes 33 and 34 of No.1 Sentai Gozyuger, his television directorial debut.[4] This cemented him as the first person other than Butsuda to direct effects for the Super Sentai franchise in over 35 years, and only the franchise's fourth special effects director overall, after Tokken founder Nobuo Yajima, Kazuo Sagawa, and Butsuda. He was hired for another Toei TV series shortly after, directing effects for episode 11 of Takashi Miike's Masked Ninja Akakage remake (2026). Kogushi left Tokken in April 2026 to found his own FX company, TSUKIPEN Lab., through which he continues to take contract work for Toei and Tokken (such as for their Project R.E.D. franchise) and will direct for Tsuburaya Productions' Ultraman Teo (TV 2026–).[6][7]
Selected filmography
Assistant director of special effects
- Shin Godzilla (2016)
- What to Do with the Dead Kaiju? (2022)
First assistant director of special effects
- Monster X Strikes Back: Attack the G8 Summit (2008)
- 20th Century Boys 3: Redemption (2009)
- Gatchaman (2013)
- Earth Defense Widow (2014)
- Outer Man (2015)
- Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time (2021)
- Shin Ultraman (2022)
- Shin Kamen Rider (2023)
Director of special effects
- "Earth Defense Forces 3 Portable: The Commercial" (2012)
- Masked Ninja Akakage (TV 2026) [episode 11]
- Ultraman Teo (TV 2026–) [unknown number of episodes][8]
First assistant director
- Fest Godzilla 4: Operation Jet Jaguar (2023)
- Showdown! Cosmic Trailblaze Saga of Heroes (2024)
- Fest Godzilla 5: All Monsters Showdown (2024)
- Shin Kamen Rider: Episodic Format Edition (video 2024)
- Fest Godzilla II: Shinjuku Burning (2025)
Director
- The Lost Kaiju (2006)[9]
- Kaiju Ward Gallas (2019)
- Shin Ultra Fight (web 2022) [episode TI4]
Miscellaneous
- The Lost Kaiju (2006) – Editor[9]
- A Giant Warrior Descends on Tokyo (2012) – Production support
- Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo (2012) – Animation materials
- Shin Ultraman (2022) – Assistant director[a]
- Shin Kamen Rider (2023) – Assistant VFX supervisor
- Shin Kamen Rider: Episodic Format Edition (video 2024) – VFX coordinator
External links
Notes
- ↑ Kogushi was placed in charge of managing the film's physics concepts, for which he worked closely with theoretical physicist Koji Hashimoto.[10]
References
This is a list of references for Ryotaro Kogushi. These citations are used to identify the reliable sources on which this article is based. These references appear inside articles in the form of superscript numbers, which look like this: [1]
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