Shinichi Wakasa
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If Godzilla is king of the monsters, then my friend Shinichi Wakasa is the king's hand.
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Shinichi Wakasa (若狭 新一 is a Wakasa Shin'ichi)Japanese model maker and special effects makeup artist. He worked as a special effects technician and suit sculptor for nearly every Toho-produced Godzilla film from 1993 to 2004, along with several other kaiju films produced by Toho and Daiei. Wakasa is the founder of MONSTERS Inc., a modeling company which created the kaiju suits for the majority of the films on which he worked.
Career
In 1980, at the age of 20, Wakasa founded MONSTERS Inc., his own professional special effects sculpting company. That same year, Wakasa worked on Tsuburaya Productions' series Ultraman 80, for which he sculpted select monster suits. Wakasa's first major film work came in 1991, when he served as the chief makeup artist for Toho's horror film My Soul is Slashed, directed by Shusuke Kaneko. Wakasa would go on to serve as the chief suit maker for Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II, which arguably launched his career as one of Japan's premiere tokusatsu artists. Wakasa performed the same role for the remaining two Godzilla films of the Heisei era, and reunited with Kaneko for Gamera 2: Attack of Legion in 1996. Wakasa continued to work as the chief suit maker for the Rebirth of Mothra trilogy from 1996 to 1998.
For Rebirth of Mothra 3, Wakasa was credited as a "model producer," the first ever individual credited with this position. Wakasa continued to work as chief modeler for every film in the Millennium series, with the exception of GMK. Wakasa had not worked on a kaiju film in nearly two decades until What to Do with the Dead Kaiju?, released by Toei and Shochiku in 2022, though he occasionally worked as a makeup technician on other films. In 2022 and 2023, he helmed the production of crowdfunded replicas of the Showa Gigan and Jet Jaguar suits, which were used in the short films Fest Godzilla 3: Gigan Attacks and Fest Godzilla 4: Operation Jet Jaguar, respectively.
Wakasa has made multiple appearances at G-Fest and Godzilla Fest. In 2017, his book Godzilla - King of Monstermaker was published by Yosensha.
Selected filmography
- Ultraman 80 (TV 1980-1981) - Kaiju modeler [uncredited][1]
- Anime Chan (1984) - Modeler
- Andromelos (TV 1983) - Modeler
- The Cat (1991) - Special propmaker [uncredited][1]
- Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993) - Mechagodzilla, Rodan modeler
- Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994) - SpaceGodzilla, LittleGodzilla modeler
- Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995) - Destoroyah modeler
- Gamera 2: Attack of Legion (1996) - Soldier Legion modeler
- Ultraman Tiga (TV 1996-1997) - Kaiju modeler [uncredited][1]
- Rebirth of Mothra (1996) - Modeler [with Tomoki Kobayashi]
- Ultraman Dyna (TV 1997-1998) - Kaiju modeler [uncredited][1]
- Rebirth of Mothra 2 (1997) - Modeler [with Tomoki Kobayashi]
- Ultraman Gaia (TV 1998-1999) - Kaiju modeler [uncredited][1]
- Rebirth of Mothra 3 (1998) - Model producer
- Godzilla 2000: Millennium (1999) - Modeler
- Pyrokinesis (2000) - Special effects makeup designer
- Sakuya (2000) - Character creator
- Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (2000) - Modeler
- Ultraman Cosmos (TV 2001-2002) - Kaiju modeler [uncredited][1]
- Ultraman Cosmos: The First Contact (2001) - Kaiju modeler [uncredited][1]
- Ultraman Cosmos 2: The Blue Planet (2002) - Kaiju modeler [uncredited][1]
- Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla (2002) - Modeler
- Godzilla: Tokyo SOS (2003) - Modeler
- Godzilla Final Wars (2004) - Modeler
- Reigo: King of the Sea Monsters (2008) - Bone Fish designer
- Daimajin Kanon (TV 2010) - Modeler
- Gantz (2011) - Special effects makeup artist
- Gantz: Perfect Answer (2011) - Special effects makeup artist
- Gatchaman (2013) - Main Gillman, May, and Mike Miller creator
- Godzilla vs. Hedorah (2021) - Modeler[note 1]
- What to Do with the Dead Kaiju? (2022) - Monster modeler[4]
- Fest Godzilla 3: Gigan Attacks (2022) - Modeler
- Fest Godzilla 4: Operation Jet Jaguar (2023) - Modeler[5]
- Brush of the God (2024) - Special modeler
- Fest Godzilla 5: All Monsters Showdown (2024) - Modeler
Interviewee
Bibliography
- Monster Maker: Keizo Murase - Treasured KAIJU Photobook (2015) - Supervisor [with Yuji Nishimura]
- Godzilla - King of Monstermaker (2017) - Author
Modeled monsters
- Rodan, Mechagodzilla (Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II)
- SpaceGodzilla, LittleGodzilla (Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla)
- Destoroyah (Godzilla vs. Destoroyah)
- Soldier Legion (Gamera 2: Attack of Legion)
- Desghidorah (Rebirth of Mothra)
- Dagahra (Rebirth of Mothra 2)
- Mothra Leo, King Ghidorah (Rebirth of Mothra 3)
- Godzilla, Orga (Godzilla 2000: Millennium)
- Godzilla, Megaguirus (Godzilla vs. Megaguirus)
- Godzilla, Kiryu (Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla)
- Godzilla, Kiryu, Mothra (Godzilla: Tokyo SOS)
- Godzilla, Minilla, Mothra, Anguirus, Rodan, Ebirah, Kamacuras, Kumonga, Hedorah, King Caesar, Gigan, Monster X / Keizer Ghidorah (Godzilla Final Wars)
- Godzilla, Hedorah (Godzilla vs. Hedorah) [reused]
- Kibo (What to Do with the Dead Kaiju?)
- Godzilla, Gigan (Fest Godzilla 3: Gigan Attacks)
- Jet Jaguar (Fest Godzilla 4: Operation Jet Jaguar)[5]
Monsters designed
External links
Notes
References
This is a list of references for Shinichi Wakasa. 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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Bibliography
- Wakasa, Shinichi (21 October 2017). Godzilla - King of Monstermaker. Yosensha. ISBN 978-4-8003-1343-0.
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