Koichi Kawakita

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Koichi Kawakita (川北紘一, Kawakita Kôichi^?) (born in Tokyo, Japan on December 5, 1942) is a special effects artist.

[edit] Biography

In 1962, Koichi Kawakita studied effects techniques under the special effects wizard Eiji Tsuburaya. Ten years later, he made his FX directorial debut in the superhero show, Ultraman Ace. He has since directed FX for numerous superhero shows such as Meteor Man Zone, Megaloman and others. He also worked on movies as well. He was also an assistant to Sadamasa Arikawa for the Hong Kong/Japan co-production, The Mighty Peking Man.

In 1983, he directed the FX for the Toho tokusatsu sci-fi film Sayonara Jupiter. The following year, he was an assistant director to Teruyoshi Nakano for The Return of Godzilla. Five years later, he directed the FX for GunHed before succeeding Nakano for the Godzilla film series from 1989's Godzilla Vs. Biollante to 1995's Godzilla Vs. Destoroyah, completing the second series of Godzilla films (the Versus Series, AKA: the "Heisei Series"). His work proved a dramatic improvement in the quality of special effects in Japanese films, though the sheer number of projects and effects work in 6 years led to some shortcuts in the last few Godzilla films. Most of the Godzilla films he worked on were characterized by the monsters shooting energy weapons at each other (there was a certain limit on physical fighting at the time, so that the monster fights look more realistic and less like men in rubber suits). There was also an emphasis on military mecha, as mecha was a big specialty of Kawakita's.

Aside from directing FX for films and TV, he also did FX work on toy commercials for Godzilla and Gundam for Bandai.Aftering retiring from Toho, Kawakita established his own visual effects company, Dream Planet Japan, in January 2003. Since that time, Dream Planet Japan have collaborated with Toho on the TV series SUPER STAR GOD GRANSAZER (Chouseishin Guranseizaa, 2003), THE JUSTIRISERS (Genseishin Jasutiraizaa, 2004) and SUPER STAR FLEET SAZER-X (Chousei Kantai Seizaa Ekkusu, 2005), the movie SUPER STAR FLEET SAZER-X: FIGHT! WARRIORS OF THE STARS (Chousei Kantai Seizaa Ekkusu: Tatakae! Hoshi-no Senshi-tachi, 2005), as well as producing featurettes for the DVD releases of GUNHED (Ganheddo, 1989) and SAMURAI OF THE SKY (Oozora-no Samurai, 1953).