all images courtesy NTV | click to enlarge
Tokusatsu – it’s a word that invokes big dreams and nostalgic adventures – especially if you grew up watching shows like Ultraman and Kamen Rider. Tokusatsu literally means “special filming” but it implies so much more. Back in the day, if you wanted a monster to flatten a city you had to actually build a miniature city. Then you would set off fireworks as the monster dangled from fishing wire, and capture it all on film. It was an art form, some would say, wholly grounded in the realm of the analog.
And now, thanks to collaborative efforts between Anno Hideaki (creator of the Evangelion series), Toshio Suzuki (Studio Ghibli) and Shinji Higuchi (special effects director of Gamera series), “TOKUSATSU – Special Effects Museum” will open at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo. The pop-up museum will run from July 10 – October 8, 2012, showcasing, in unprecedented scale, the special craftsmanship that bewildered and enchanted generations of children and adults. They even created a special film using the now-defunct technique that will feature Kyoshinhei (the “god warriors” from Nausicaa) invading Tokyo.Yes!
