Koichi Kawakita

Godzilla effects directors
← Teruyoshi Nakano	Koichi Kawakita	Kenji Suzuki →

Koichi Kawakita Born December 5, 1942 Nihonbashi, Chūō, Tokyo, Japan Died December 5, 2014 (aged 72) Occupation Director of special effects First work Gorath (1962) Notable work Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991)

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Koichi Kawakita (川北 紘一,   Kawakita Kōichi) was a Japanese special effects director best known for creating the effects for every Godzilla film from 1989 to 1995, as well as the first two Rebirth of Mothra films. He also occasionally appeared in cameos in some of Toho's tokusatsu productions. Kawakita was Toho's fourth-ever special effects director, the last of them to have worked under tokusatsu pioneer Eiji Tsuburaya, and the last person to receive the title "director of special effects" on a Godzilla film for over 20 years until Shinji Higuchi on 2016's Shin Godzilla.

Kawakita joined Toho in 1962, getting his start as an assistant cameraman on that year's Gorath. He eventually took up compositing and optical photography before graduating to assistant director. He made his debut as a special effects director not with Toho, however, but on episode 21 of Tsuburaya Productions' 1972 series Ultraman Ace. He directed Godzilla for the first time the following year on Zone Fighter's fourth episode, and received his first directorial assignments for film in 1976: uncredited on Geiensha's The Barren Zone and credited on Toho Pictures' Zero Pilot.

By 1989, Kawakita was chosen to replace Teruyoshi Nakano as special effects director of the Godzilla series, doing so on that year's Godzilla vs. Biollante and five subsequent movies. The first follow-up, 1991's Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, earned he and his staff a Special Technology Award at the 1992 Japanese Academy Awards. Kawakita departed from Toho in 2002, and the next year established his own special effects company, Dream Planet Japan, through which he took contract work for the remainder of his career. This notably included all three shows in the Ultra Star God franchise from 2003 to 2006, their 2005 feature film, and the 2007 puppet/suitmation hybrid series Kawaii! JeNny. Kawakita passed away on December 5, 2014, his 72nd birthday.

Selected filmography

Director of special effects Ultraman Ace (TV 1972–1973) [episodes 21–22, 25–27, 30–31, 36–37, 40–41] Ultraman Story (1984) [stock footage] Zone Fighter (TV 1973) [episodes 3–4, 8, 10, 14–16, 25] Ultraman Taro (TV 1973–1974) [episodes 6–7] Nippon Chinbotsu: Television Series (TV 1974–1975) [episodes 4–5, 10, 14–15, 19–20] The War in Space (1977) [2nd unit] Megaloman (TV 1979) [episode 7] Ultraman 80 (TV 1980–1981) [episodes 10, 13–14] Tokyo Earthquake Magnitude 8.1 (1980) Bye-Bye Jupiter (1984) Nineteen (1987) Don Matsugoro's Big Adventure (1987) Gunhed (1989) Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989) Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991) Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992) Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993) Orochi, the Eight-Headed Dragon (1994) Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994) Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995) Rebirth of Mothra (1996) Rebirth of Mothra 2 (1997) The Gransazers (TV 2003–2004) [all 51 episodes] The Gransazers: Official Super Technique Video (video 2004) [stock footage] The Gransazers: Official Super Mecha Video (video 2004) [stock footage] The Justirisers (TV 2004–2005) [all 51 episodes] The Justirisers: Three Warriors Super Secret DVD (video 2004) Super Fleet Sazer-X (TV 2005–2006) [all 38 episodes] Super Fleet Sazer-X the Movie (2005) Fuhito (2006) [pilot] Director Making of Bye-Bye Jupiter (1985) Making of The Return of Godzilla (1985) Toho Unused Special Effects Complete Collection (1986) Monster Planet of Godzilla (1994) Sebon Godzilla commercial (c. 2001) The Gransazers: Official Super Mecha Video (2004) 2002 Toho Studios: Props Tour (DVD 2007) [general] Kawaii! JeNny (TV 2007) [all 26 episodes] Gunhed 2025 (2013) Fight! Solar Knight Apollo Knight (2013) Supervisor Video Pamphlet: Rebirth of Mothra (VHS 1996) Rebirth of Mothra Special Disc (LD 1997) Thus 11 Samurai Fought! Making Against the Pekingman (DVD 2004) The God of Clay (2011) Actor Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971) as bar patron [uncredited] Nippon Chinbotsu: Television Series (TV 1974–1975) as man listening to prime minister's speech [episode 23; uncredited] Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991) as underground shopping center patron [uncredited] Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993) as Rodan [hand puppet; uncredited] Miraculous Survivals! Narrow Escapes from Death Special (TV 1996–2003) as himself ["Celebrity Special Edition: Godzilla"] Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001) as JSDF officer The Gransazers (TV 2003–2004) as secretary of defense [episode 49; uncredited] The Justirisers (TV 2004–2005) as office worker [episode 1; uncredited] Interviewee Rebirth of Mothra Special Disc (LD 1997) Thus 11 Samurai Fought! Making Against the Pekingman (DVD 2004) 2002 Toho Studios: Props Tour (DVD 2007) The Dawn of Kaiju Eiga (2019)

Special effects assistant camera Gorath (1962) [uncredited] The Great Story of Shim Jeong (1962) [uncredited] King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) [uncredited] Matango (1963) [uncredited] Samurai Pirate (1963) [uncredited] Atragon (1963) [uncredited] Mothra vs. Godzilla (1964) [uncredited] Dogora (1964) [uncredited] Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964) [uncredited] Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (1966) [uncredited] Optical photographer Frankenstein vs. Baragon (1965) [uncredited] Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965) [uncredited] The War of the Gargantuas (1966) [uncredited] Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (1966) [uncredited] King Kong Escapes (1967) [uncredited] Son of Godzilla (1967) [uncredited] Destroy All Monsters (1968) [uncredited] Latitude Zero (1969) [uncredited] All Monsters Attack (1969) [uncredited] Space Amoeba (1970) [uncredited] The Unbalance Zone (TV 1973) [episode 13; with Minoru Nakano] Compositor Frankenstein vs. Baragon (1965) [uncredited] Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965) [uncredited] Ultra Q (TV 1966) [episode 12; uncredited] The War of the Gargantuas (1966) [uncredited] Ebirah, Horror of the Deep (1966) [uncredited] Ultraman (TV 1966–1967) [title sequence; uncredited] First assistant director of special effects Ultraman Ace (TV 1972–1973) [episodes 1–4, 7–8, 11–14, 17–18] Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974) [uncredited] Prophecies of Nostradamus (1974) The Mighty Peking Man (1977) [uncredited] The War in Space (1977) Miscellaneous Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971) - Third assistant director [uncredited] Return of Ultraman (TV 1971–1972) - Assistant director [unknown number of episodes; uncredited] Submersion of Japan (1973) - Assistant director of special effects [uncredited] Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974) - Compositing advisor [uncredited] Making of Bye-Bye Jupiter (1985) - Writer Toho Unused Special Effects Complete Collection (1986) - Writer 2002 Toho Studios: Props Tour (DVD 2007) - Planner [with Kazuhiko Chiba] Kawaii! JeNny (TV 2007) - Planner [all 26 episodes; with Masamichi Fujiwara, Keita Sato]

Selected video games

• Super Godzilla (1993) - Special thanks
• Godzilla Generations (1998) - Supervisor
• Godzilla: Trading Battle (1998) - Supervisor of original monster design
• CR Godzilla 3S-T Battle (2006) - Cutscene director

Selected bibliography

• Encyclopedia of Godzilla (1990) - Editor-in-chief
• Godzilla Magazine #1 (1992) - Interviewee
• Cinema Monstology (1993) - Special thanks
• Special Graphix Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993) - Interviewee
• Godzilla Movie Chronicle 1954-1998: Godzilla Days (1998) - Section author
• Godzilla 1954-1999 Super Complete Works (2000) - Interviewee
• Heisei Godzilla Chronicle (2009) - Planner / supervisor
• The Spirit of Tokusatsu: Toho Special Effects Battle Chronicle (2010) - Author
• "Mr. GODZILLA" Haruo Nakajima (2010) - Special thanks
• Heisei Godzilla Perfection (2012) - Interviewee
• First Godzilla Research Book (2014) - Interviewee
• All Toho Mechanic Pictorial Book (2018) - Interviewee [posthumous]

Gallery

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  Kawakita with the King Ghidorah suit on the set of Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster
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  Kawakita (second from right) and Teruyoshi Nakano inspecting the first Mechagodzilla suit
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  Kawakita (third from left) on the Keihin set of Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla
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  Kawakita instructing Mechagodzilla actor Kazunari Mori
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  Kawakita on the Abashiri set of Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah
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  Kawakita with Tim Burton during the production of Godzilla vs. Mothra
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  Kawakita directing Kenpachiro Satsuma on the Tanzawa set of Godzilla vs. Mothra
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  Kawakita operating the Rodan hand puppet during filming of Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II
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  Kawakita with the suits and models for Fire Rodan, Mothra, BabyGodzilla, Super Mechagodzilla, Godzilla and King Ghidorah
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  Kawakita with LittleGodzilla
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  Kawakita (right) with Tomoyuki Tanaka
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  Kawakita, Roland Emmerich, and Patrick Tatopoulos with the DesuGoji
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  Kawakita's cameo in Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack
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  Kawakita with kaiju figures
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  Kawakita on the set of CR Godzilla 3S-T Battle
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  Kawakita with Godzilla suits and models in a Toho warehouse
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  Kawakita at Great Godzilla Special Effects Kingdom
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  Kawakita with Godzilla and Kiryu suits in 2014
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  Kawakita's wake

Videos

Kawakita playing his younger self in the Godzilla-themed episode of Narrow Escapes from Death Special

Trivia

• Koichi Kawakita's final credit was on the tokusatsu television miniseries Gunbot, which he wrote and directed the effects for. Its fourth and final episode aired on the day of Kawakita's passing.
• Shortly before his death, Kawakita gave an interview for Famitsu in which he was shown the PlayStation 3 Godzilla video game prior to its release.
• On November 28, 2015, the Shin-Bungeiza in Tokyo screened Godzilla vs. Mothra, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II, Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla, and Godzilla vs. Destoroyah in honor of Kawakita.

External links

• Interview by David Milner (December 1994; archived)
• Interview by David Milner (December 1995; archived)

References

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