Noriaki Yuasa

Noriaki Yuasa (湯浅 憲明, Yuasa Noriaki) (28 September 1933 – 14 June 2004) was a Japanese director. Yuasa was the main director of the Japanese film series Gamera, about a giant flying turtle that befriends small boys and battles giant monsters; he directed seven of the first eight films in the series while also providing special effects for one of them.[1] The series was created by Daiei Film Studios after the box office success of the Toho Godzilla series.[1]

Noriaki Yuasa
Noriaka Yuasa in 1967
Born(1933-09-28)28 September 1933
Tokyo, Japan
Died14 June 2004(2004-06-14) (aged 70)
Japan
OccupationFilm director

Biography

Noriaki Yuasa was born 28 September 1933 in Tokyo, Japan.[1] Yuasa was the son of a stage actor and began work at a young age as a child actor.[1] After graduating university, he began to seek work on the production of films.[1] Yuasa joined Daiei Studios in 1955 and became director in 1964 with the musical comedy film Shiawasa nara te o tatake (lit. 'If You're Happy, Clap Your Hands').[1]

Yuasa's next project was a film tentatively tiled Dai gunju Nezura (lit. The Great Rat Swarm) which would involve real rats crawling over miniatures of cities.[1] The rats received for the film had fleas, which halted production on Dai gunju Nezura.[1] As the miniatures for the film were already built, Masaichi Nagata had to develop a giant monster to attack the city and had the idea for a giant flying turtle.[1] Yuasa, with his screenwriter Nisan Takahashi, developed the idea into the 1965 film Gamera the Giant Monster.[1]

Yuasa continued work directing films in the series except Gamera vs. Barugon, where he was only the special effects director. Yuasa's personal favourite of his Gamera films was Gamera vs. Viras.[1] Following the collapse of Daiei in 1971, he predominantly directed work for television, including Electroid Zaborger (1974) and Ultraman 80 (1980).[1][2] His last full film was Gamera, Super Monster, which included extensive stock footage from the previous seven Gamera films.[1][2] He later worked on smaller V-Cinema videos such as Kosupure senshi kyūtī naito 2 teikoku-ya no gyakushū (transl. Cosplay Warrior Cutie ・ Night 2 Counterattack of Imperial Shop).[3]

Yuasa died of a stroke in Japan on 14 June 2004.[4]

Select filmography

Film
TitleYearCredited asNotes Ref(s)
DirectorSpecial effects director
Giant Horde Beast Nezura 1964 Editor [5]
Shiawase nara te o tatakō 1964 Yes [1]
Gamera the Giant Monster 1965 Yes [1]
Gamera vs. Barugon 1966 Yes [6]
Gamera vs. Gyaos 1967 Yes [1]
Gamera vs. Viras 1968 Yes [1]
The Snake Girl and the Silver-Haired Witch Yes [7]
Gamera vs. Guiron 1969 Yes [1]
Gamera vs. Jiger 1970 Yes [1]
Gamera vs. Zigra 1971 Yes [1]
Gamera, Super Monster 1980 Yes [1]

Television

V-Cinema
  • Kosupure senshi kyūtī naito 2 teikoku-ya no gyakushū (1996)

Notes
  1. Fischer 2011, p. 657.
  2. Fischer 2011, p. 658.
  3. "コスプレ戦士 キューティー・ナイト２ 帝国屋の逆襲" (in Japanese). Kinenote. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  4. Lentz III 2005, p. 391.
  5. Hirayama, Toru (1998). Kamen Rider Master Retsuden. Fudosha. pp. 1953–1954.
  6. Galbraith IV 1996, p. 433.
  7. Galbraith IV 1996, pp. 360–361.

References
  • Fischer, Dennis (2011). Science Fiction Film Directors, 1895-1998. McFarland. ISBN 978-0786485055.
  • Galbraith IV, Stuart (1996). The Japanese Filmography: 1900 through 1994. McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-0032-3.
  • Lentz III, Harris M. (2005). Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2004. Vol. 11. McFarland. ISBN 0786452099.
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