Interview] Interview with YU-GO, creator of "Godzilla the Humidifier King" and "Godzilla Bank": A life dedicated to sculpting "monsters

Godzilla, the "King of Monsters," is one of the biggest stars of the Japanese movie industry and has made a name for himself all over the world. Since the first Godzilla movie in 1954 was a huge hit, a number of Godzilla series have been produced, and Godzilla has been loved by fans of all ages.

The Godzilla Bank, released by Shine Corporation on November 3, 2015, is another Godzilla-related product. It is a piggy bank with a simple mechanism: place a 500-yen coin or other coin on the plate that resembles the surface of the sea, and Godzilla's face and hands appear from underwater to quickly take the money. The deformed and lovable Godzilla, however, has also been made to look like the monster it is, with all the details and power of the original Godzilla, as well as the "real" theme music (composed by Akira Ifukube) and sound effects used in the Godzilla movies, making it a popular product worldwide.

In 2017, Shine also released the "Humidification King Godzilla" humidifier. This product, which functions as a humidifier to prevent rooms from drying out, was very popular for its brilliant idea of expressing the "heat ray" effect emitted from Godzilla's mouth as a humidifier mist. Like the "Godzilla Bank," the "Godzilla Bank" is deformed in style, but it is also characterized by the strong awareness of Godzilla's original "coolness" and the high-spirited modeling of the figure.

In conjunction with the "Godzilla King of Monsters" produced by Legendary Pictures of the U.S., Bandai's vendor capsule product "HG D+" series will release the first four figures of Godzilla (2019), Shin Godzilla (4th form), King Ghidorah (2019) and Godzilla (1954). released. Godzilla (1989), Biollante (Flower Beast), Hedorah, and Type 3 Koryu (Mechagodzilla) followed as the second series. All of them were sculpted in surprisingly hard detail compared to conventional capsule vendor toys. In addition, the capsules were reassembled to resemble Godzilla's outer skin, and the included effect parts could be placed to create a diorama base, an innovative idea that proved extremely popular with Godzilla fans.

The creator of these ambitious "Godzilla" products is Mr. YU-GO, who has been involved in various works as a molding creator. We conducted a long interview with Mr. YU-GO to learn more about his history, including how he became fascinated with modeling and how he went from an amateur to a professional, the many "connections" he has made as a result of his love of monsters, and the "Godzilla Bank," which has become a huge hit. He also told us about the birth of his hit products "Godzilla Bank," "Godzilla the King of Humidity," and "HG D+ Godzilla Series," all of which are interesting even to tokusatsu fans.

From a boy in Kansai to the professional world with "Gamera

--What was the origin of your "monster experience"?

YU-GO The first monster movie I ever saw in a movie theater was a triple feature of "Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla," "The Great Monster War," and "King Kong vs. Godzilla" (The Complete Godzilla Movie Collection, 1979). I was born and raised in Kyoto, and from around 1978 to 1980, there were frequent reruns of the "Ultraman" series and other special effects films in the Kansai region. The "Gamera" series was repeatedly broadcast on TV every winter vacation evening, and with the help of magazine articles in "Terebikun" (Shogakukan), "TV Magazine" (Kodansha), and "TV Land" (Tokuma Shoten), I was completely hooked on special effects and monsters by the time I entered elementary school.

--When did you first become interested in the field of "modeling"?

YU-GO I was already making Godzilla and King Ghidorah out of paper mache during arts and crafts class in elementary school, so it was pretty early (laughs). (laughs) Eventually, with the movie adaptation of "Mobile Suit Gundam," there was an explosive "Gunpla" boom around 1980, and almost all children in Japan began to make plastic models. In the meantime, Asahi Sonorama's special effects magazine "Spaceship" was launched, and Kodansha's "Comic Bonbon" ran a special feature on Gundam plastic models. I think it was around 1983-1984. It was around 1983-1984, when the number of rental video stores was increasing and tokusatsu fans were getting excited that "Godzilla" might finally make a "comeback". While devouring "Bonbon," I learned that "to make a monster model, you use a kind of "fundo" instead of ordinary paper clay," and I went looking for one at a local art supply store. I had to go to a big shop in Osaka (......) to get it, and I ran all over the place to get it. I still clearly remember the excitement and emotion I felt when I first touched the fund.

--In the early 1980s, following the Gundam boom and the monster garage kit boom, major hobby stores in Kansai attracted the attention of boy fans, didn't they? Kaiyodo" in Kadoma City, Osaka Prefecture, and "General Products" in Momoya, Ikuno Ward, Osaka City, are representative of such stores.

YU-GO I went to "Volks" in Kyoto, because it was relatively close by. The first time I went there was when I was in the first grade of junior high school, so it was around 1984. There was also a maniacal model store in Higashiyama-Sanjo, where I bought a tube of silicone and made a reproduction of a "Zaku" head that I had made myself based on a magazine article, and also made a Godzilla garage kit.

--So you were very "serious" even as a young boy.

YU-GO When I was 14 years old, I was a regular customer of Volks, and I became friends with a prototype modeler who worked on monster garage kits. At that time, I already knew that I wanted to be a prototype maker of garage kits in the future. My master left the molding business to take over his family's temple, so I only knew him for about one year, but he taught me how to use tools such as spatulas (spatulas) and how to understand the shape of a modeling object. Later, I began to exhibit my garage kits at the "Wonder Festival" held in Tokyo, and this led to various manufacturers approaching me, and my friendships expanded.

--When did you move from Kyoto to Tokyo?

YU-GO I moved to Tokyo in 2005, around the time I assisted in the molding of "Gamera" (2006), but even before that, in the 1990s, I visited the set of "Godzilla vs. I got to know Director Koichi Kawakita, the special effects director. After that, Director Kawakita became a good friend of mine and invited me to his annual year-end party. For a while, I spent my days making prototypes for garage kits while working at another job in Kyoto, but I was saving up enough money to do molding work in Tokyo someday.

One day, I had the opportunity to visit the "family home" of Shinji Nishikawa, who designed Biollante in "Godzilla vs. Biollante" (1989) and Mecha King Ghidorah in "Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah" (1991), and before meeting the man himself I had a chance to talk with his parents before meeting Mr. Nishikawa himself, and there he told me, "It is important for young people to pursue their dreams. I was introduced to Mr. Nishikawa by his parents, who told me, "It is important for young people to pursue their dreams, and you can count on my son in Tokyo to help you. I had been working mainly on prototype garage kits until then, and I wanted to be involved in the production of large "stuffed" monsters, so I was very happy to be a staff member of "Small Brave Men: Gamera. I would like to thank Mr. Tomoo Haraguchi and everyone at the Gamera Sculpting Department for their great support.

The Godzilla Bank that we worked on as a husband and wife team

--I understand that YU-GO's wife produced the "Godzilla Bank" by Shine Corporation, which was released in 2015, and that YU-GO produced the prototype. According to what you said, your wife is also a very deep Godzilla and special effects fan.

YU-GO I met my wife in Kyoto. She is from Yokohama, but lived in Kyoto to attend art school. She and I both loved "Ultraman Dyna," and our marriage requirement was that our partner wear the Super GUTS uniform at the wedding (laughs). The first monster movie my wife ever saw was "Godzilla vs. Mothra" (1992), and she has been a fan of Kawakita ever since. She is one of the many "Kawakita children" of her generation (laughs). (Laughs). She and I often visited Kawakita's company, Dream Planet Japan, together, and she took good care of me. Even after she started working for a toy company (Shine), she was always very interested in me.

The wedding took place in April 2015. Director Kawakita passed away the previous year, in December 2014, which was a great pity, but many people in the special effects film industry, including Mr. Nishikawa, came to celebrate with us at the wedding party.

This wedding was the catalyst for the "Godzilla Bank" project. We had made deformed Godzilla and Mothra for the "welcome board" at the wedding, and my wife's boss saw them and said, "Let's make a Godzilla product. My wife had been saying for a long time, "I want to do Godzilla-related products! So the project went smoothly from there. Godzilla Bank" was the first product that my wife produced and I made the prototype for. We had a strong desire to create a product that would please Director Kawakita, so we gave it our all.

--There are two types of garage kits: "realistic models" that faithfully reproduce the monster's costume, and "deformed models" that have a more cute appearance with a smaller head. Which is easier for you to make, a realistic model or a deformed model?

YU-GO: Basically, both require the same amount of energy. When I pursue realism, I analyze the real stuffed animal thoroughly and pursue realism in order to grasp its features. Whether I want to make the character realistic or deformed, I collect a lot of materials on the character, and sometimes I even interview the stuffed animals that were actually used in the filming, and I am very particular about my work.

The "Godzilla Bank" was originally planned as a variation of the "Mischief Bank Series," in which a cat reaches inside a box to take money, but we went to great lengths to ensure that every detail would appeal to Godzilla fans. We decided to use the "Bat-Goji" from "Godzilla vs. Mothra" as the Godzilla motif, and the naval vessels floating on the surface of the sea were also made with miniatures from the movie in mind. The gimmick of Godzilla coming out of the water with its interior glowing red was also created in the image of the "undersea volcano" in the movie (laughs).

The sticker on the BANK itself was illustrated by Shinji Nishikawa. It was the first time I had the opportunity to work with Mr. Nishikawa since I moved to Tokyo. For the sound when Godzilla appears, we also created a specification that plays multiple sound patterns combining Mr. Akira Ifukube's "Godzilla's Theme" and other sound effects such as cries.

--The second Godzilla product from Shine is the "Humidifier King Godzilla. The gimmick of using the humidifier's mist jet as Godzilla's radiant heat ray is an outstanding idea that didn't seem possible until now.

The YU-GO Humidifier King Godzilla is also based on the "Bat-Goji" motif. This time, we tried to create a cute deformed model, but at the same time, we were very conscious of the balance of the whole body and the details that are "Godzilla-like". When I visited the special effects site for "Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla" (1993), I found a "Bat-Goji" suit from "Godzilla vs. Mothra" stored at the edge of the stage and observed its detailed features and coloring. I was very particular about reproducing the Bat-Goji look. In particular, I was particular about the face with its unique "rows of teeth," the way the dorsal fin is attached, and the muscularity of the entire figure, all of which are reminiscent of the toy products that were available in toy stores in the 1990s, when the Heisei Godzilla series was released. I tried to create an atmosphere reminiscent of the toy products that were available in toy stores in the 1990s, when the Heisei Godzilla series was released. Bat-Goji" had a gimmick that made the head of the stuffed animal turn up in order to attack Mothra and Batra flying overhead, so it was easy to synchronize it with the humidifier's spout. We also put a lot of thought into the sound, including recording the "maser march.

Thanks to your support, "Humidifier King Godzilla" won the Japan Character Award "Product Licensee Award" at the Licensing Japan 2018 held in April 2018. We were very happy to think that our aim and commitment were accepted by many people.

--As a new product of Shine, "Burning Godzilla Bank" was released as a "limited edition" in January 2020. This is a variation of the "Godzilla Bank," but the bright red Godzilla is inspired by the "Burning Godzilla" that went into a thermal runaway in "Godzilla vs. Destroyer" (1995), isn't it?

YU-GO: As this is the last in the VS series and the last Godzilla movie Kawakita directed, we have a strong attachment to "Godzilla vs. Destroyia," so there are many points of particular interest in this product as well. The coloring of Godzilla as a whole, the "burning" eyeballs, the illustration by Mr. Nishikawa, and the sound gimmick have all been changed. We were also particular about the packaging, which is a black-and-white box with a gold sticker on it that says "Limited Edition. I think the design is sure to "resonate" with those who understand it.

The latest item in the "HG D+" series

--Please tell us about the Bandai "HG D+" series.

YU-GO The first time I got involved in the HG series was at the invitation of Director Kawakita. As I mentioned earlier, I participated in the year-end party hosted by the director every year, and at that time, there was a rock-paper-scissors-scissors tournament, which is a Kawakita-gumi tradition. I had brought a monster resin kit of my own making as a prize, and by chance my kit won a person from Bandai's collector division. He remembered me and we had the opportunity to meet again at the One Festival booth a few years later. He told me that he had been transferred to the vendor division at that time, and he asked me if I would be interested in working on the Godzilla HG series. I am very grateful for the opportunity, because it was originally through Director Kawakita's year-end party that I was able to make this connection.

I was under a lot of pressure at first because the HG series is a historical series that I have loved and collected, but I wanted to do my best to make it an interesting product. I set out to create a model with harder details and a more realistic feel than ever before.

For the "HG D+" series, we proposed the idea of reassembling the capsule to resemble Godzilla's outer skin to create a base on which the model could stand. The person in charge of the "HG D+" series also has a deep knowledge of Godzilla and other special effects works and is flexible in his ideas, so we discussed with each other to make the product more interesting. Thanks to this, some theaters and stores were sold out before "Godzilla King of Monsters" was released, and we were surprised at the response we received.

I believe that "HG D+" is a series that we will continue to create together with our fans. Since molding materials are now readily available, please enjoy various ways of playing with the models, such as reassembling, modifying, repainting, and diorama building!　I would love to see what you have made in this way!

--What do you always keep in mind when you make models of "monsters"?

YU-GO When creating a prototype of a monster product, I first thoroughly collect data on the target monster, and in some cases, I interview existing stuffed animals. We do not just reproduce the shape of the monster, but we try to create a model that will bring out the "drama" of the character and the "excitement" that we felt when the movie was first released.

--You are involved in a wide range of "monster" modeling, including small precision models, deformed models, and stuffed animals for filming. What are your goals for the future?

YU-GO I have never been involved in a "Godzilla" movie, so I would love to be involved in Godzilla movies as a modeling artist. I would also like to create various monsters and characters, not just Godzilla, so I will continue to give it my all!

(Interview by Hideo Akita)