Akira Kato

Akira Kato

Born

1955
Hokkaido, Japan^[1]

Occupation

(Assistant) director, production manager

First work

Monkey (TV 1978–80)

Notable work

Godzilla Final Wars (2004)

Akira Kato (加藤晃, Katō Akira) is a Japanese retired assistant director and production manager. He joined Toho Eizo (later Toho Eizo Bijutsu) in the late 1970s, at the age of 24. He worked first in the Photography Department but was transferred to the Directorial Department, after which he served as an assistant director on various projects. His first involvement in kaiju eiga did not come until 1998, when he was assigned to Rebirth of Mothra 3 as special effects director Kenji Suzuki's first AD. He went on to serve the same role for Eiichi Asada on the 2003 film Godzilla: Tokyo SOS.

Through the latter collaboration Kato was hired for the following year's Godzilla Final Wars. Due to the sheer amount of special effects called for by the script, he suggested a second SFX unit be formed to support the main one; Asada and producer Shogo Tomiyama agreed Kato should be the unit's director, and he arranged for Yoshikazu Ishii to take his place as Asada's AD. Other than directing, he was responsible for managing schedules for his and Asada's units, discussing with Ryuhei Kitamura's drama unit, and overseeing composite shooting for Asada's and Kitamura's units.^[1]

Selected filmography

Monkey (TV 1978–80) – Assistant director [unknown number of episodes; uncredited]^[1]
Rebirth of Mothra 3 (1998) – First assistant director of special effects
Godzilla: Tokyo SOS (2003) – First assistant director of special effects
Godzilla Final Wars (2004) – Special effects second-unit director

Trivia^[1]

Kato was so busy on Godzilla Final Wars that he sometimes found it easier to sleep the night at the studio than make the commute to and from home. However, out of "personal pride," he made it a point to not keep his crew working late into the night, feeling the alternative would hurt their efficiency.
Legendary Final Wars cast member Akira Takarada visited Kato's unit during filming. Kato extended him the opportunity to call "action," but he felt it was more appropriate for the director.

References

This is a list of references for Akira Kato. 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]

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 ^1.3 Kimura, Manabu, ed. (4 April 2023). "Staff Message: Akira Kato, Special Effects Second Unit Director". Godzilla Final Wars Completion. Hobby Japan. p. 25. ISBN 978-4-7986-3135-6.

Staff members

Directors

Drama directors	Adam Wingard • Daisuke Sato • Ernest Schoedsack • Eugène Lourié • Gareth Edwards • Grant Sputore • Heikichi Tsushima • Hideaki Anno • Hirochika Muraishi • Hiroto Yokokawa • Hiroyasu Sunahara • Hiroyuki Seshita • Ishiro Honda • John Guillermin • Jordan Vogt-Roberts • Jun Fukuda • Kazuhiro Nakagawa • Kazuki Omori • Kensho Yamashita • Kimiyoshi Yasuda • Kiyotaka Taguchi‎‎ • Kobun Shizuno • Koji Hashimoto • Kunio Miyoshi • Masaaki Hisamatsu • Masaaki Tezuka • Samaji Nonagase • Merian C. Cooper • Michael Dougherty • Minoru Kawasaki • Motoyoshi Oda • Noriaki Yuasa • Okihiro Yoneda • Peter Jackson • Roland Emmerich • Ryuhei Kitamura • Ryuichi Ichino • Shinji Higuchi • Shinpei Hayashiya • Shizuo Nakajima • Shusuke Kaneko • Takao Okawara • Takashi Miike • Takashi Yamazaki • Takeshi Yagi • Takuya Uenishi • Tomoo Haraguchi • Tokuzo Tanaka • Willis O'Brien • Yoshikazu Ishii • Yoshimitsu Banno • Yusuke Ishida

Effects directors	Akira Kato • Eiichi Asada • Eiji Tsuburaya • Hiromasa Mitsudome • Hiroshi Butsuda • Isao Kaneko • Junkichi Oki • Katsuro Onoue • Kazuo Sagawa • Kenji Suzuki • Kiyoko Shibuya • Koichi Takano • Koichi Kawakita • Makoto Kamiya • Ryotaro Kogushi • Sadamasa Arikawa • Shinichi Kamisawa • Teruyoshi Nakano • Toru Matoba • Yoichi Manoda • Yonesaburo Tsukiji • Yoshio Tabuchi • Yoshiyuki Kuroda • Yuichi Kikuchi

Assistant directors	Hideki Oka • Ken Sano • Kiyotaka Matsumoto • Koji Kajita • Linto Ueda • Masakatsu Asai • Seiji Tani • Shogo Kiyosu • Takeharu Ikebuchi • Toshifumi Shimizu • Tsunesaburo Nishikawa • Yosuke Nakano

Writers

Screenwriters	David Callaham • Dean Devlin • Ei Ogawa • Gen Urobuchi • Hiroshi Aramata • Hiroshi Kashiwabara • Hiroyasu Yamaura • Junichiro Ashiki • Kaoru Mabuchi • Kazuhiro Inaba • Kazuma Yoneyama • Kazunori Ito • Masahiro Yokotani • Masakazu Migita • Max Borenstein • Nisan Takahashi • Nobuhiko Ishii • Ruth Rose • Ryuzo Nakanishi • Shigeaki Hidaka • Shinichi Sekizawa • Shinichiro Kobayashi • Takeshi Nakazawa • Takeo Murata • Terry Rossio • Tetsuro Yoshida • Tetsuya Yamada • Toshio Yasumi • Wataru Mimura • Yukiko Takayama • Yusuke Watanabe • Zach Shields

Authors	August Ragone • Chiharu Sakazaki • Greg Keyes • Hideo Unagami • Ken Kuronuma • Kohan Kawauchi • Sakyo Komatsu • Satoshi Nakamura • Shigeru Kayama • Steve Ryfle

Producers

Executive producers	Dino De Laurentiis • Eric McLeod • Fumio Tanaka • Henry G. Saperstein • Hidemasa Nagata • Hiro Matsuoka • James H. Nicholson • John Beck • Keiji Ota • Kenji Okuhira • Masaichi Nagata • Minami Ichikawa • Osamu Tanaka • Reuben Bercovitch • Samuel Z. Arkoff • Shogo Tomiyama • Takahide Morichi • Tomoyuki Tanaka • Tsuguhiko Kadokawa • Yoshishige Shimatani

Producers/planners	Alex Garcia • Brian Rogers • Go Miyazaki • J.J. Abrams • Jon Jashni • Kazunari Yamanaka • Kunmei Takahashi • Mary Parent • Ritsuko Suzuki • Takashi Yoshizawa • Thomas Tull • Yonejiro Saito

Camera & lighting

Cinematographers	Hajime Koizumi • Hajime Tsuburaya • Kazufumi Fujii • Keiichi Sakurai • Keizo Suzuki • Kenichi Eguchi • Kenya Mukai • Motoyoshi Tomioka • Satoshi Murakawa • Takeshi Yamamoto • Tokimaro Karasawa • Toshimitsu Oneda • Yuzo Kaneko

Lighting technicians	Kaoru Saito • Kuichiro Kishida

Artists

Production designers	Akihiko Iguchi • Akira Inoue • Akira Sakuragi • Akira Watanabe • Hiromasa Shirai • Hiroshi Komura • Jiro Shirasaki • Owen Paterson • Takeo Kita • Tohl Narita • Toshio Miike • Toshiro Aoki • Yasuyuki Inoue • Yoshio Irie • Yoshio Suzuki

Illustrators	Bob Eggleton • Fuchimu Shimakura • Fumio Hisamatsu • Hideki Oka • James Stokoe • Jeff Zornow • Mahiro Maeda • Mario Larrinaga • Matt Frank • Minoru Yoshida • Noriyoshi Ohrai • Patrick Tatopoulos • Priscilla Tramontano • Oliver Ono • "Hurricane" Ryu Hariken • Shinichiro Kobayashi • Shinji Nishikawa • Sophie Campbell • William Reynold Brown

Propmakers	Akira Yamada • Carlo Rambaldi • Eizo Kaimai • Fumihiko Yagi • Fuminori Ohashi • Fuyuki Shinada • Hidenori Yamaoka • Kakusei Fujiwara • Kanju Yagi and Yasuei Yagi • Keizo Murase • Marcel Delgado • Masao Yagi • Masayuki Kurahashi • Nobuhiro Ekubo • Nobuyuki Yasumaru • Norihiro "Nori" Honda • Rick Baker • Ryosaku Takayama • Shigeaki Ito • Shigeru Kawaguchi • Shinichi Wakasa • Shuichi Murakami • Teizo Toshimitsu • Tomoki Kobayashi • Tsutomu Kobayashi • Yuji Sakai

Musicians

Composers & arrangers	Akira Ifukube • Alexandre Desplat • Bear McCreary • Chumei Watanabe • James Newton Howard • John Barry • Henry Jackman • Ikuma Dan • Keith Emerson • Kenjiro Hirose • Kow Otani • Kunio Miyauchi • Masaru Sato • Michiru Oshima • Naoki Sato • Reijiro Koroku • Riichiro Manabe • Sei Ikeno • Shiro Sagisu • Shunsuke Kikuchi • Takayuki Hattori • Takeo Yamashita • Tom Holkenborg • Yuji Koseki

Singers/performers	Emi Ito and Yumi Ito • Masato Shimon • XAI • Yu Mizushima

Miscellaneous

Sound & editing	Bob Ducsay • Erik Aadahl • Hideyo Sasaki • Hisashi Shimonaga • Jason W. Jennings • Kazuji Taira • Ted Cheesman • Yoshitami Kuroiwa

Effects people	Hiroshi Mukoyama • Jim Rygiel • Kyuzo Yamamoto • Minoru Nakano • Pete Peterson • Ray Harryhausen • Sadao Iizuka • Satoshi Narumi • Shuzaburo Araki • Tadaaki Watanabe • Tetsuo Ohya • Yukio Manoda

Miscellaneous	Kanzo Uni • Norman England • Takashi Nakao • Yasuaki Sakamoto

V • T • E

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Selected filmography

Trivia[1]

References

Comments

Trivia^[1]