Shinji Higuchi

As a creator, I have a lot of faith in him.

And Shinji Higuchi, I'm sure, will probably be involved as well.

I have a lot of faith in those guys and coming up with something fun.

So we'll see.

But it was not directed by him.

It was directed by Shinji Higuchi.

And you can 100% tell that the writing, it was a story written by Anno, for better and for worse.

So let's see.

directed by Hideaki Anno.

Yes.

Well, it was co-directed by Shinji Higuchi, too.

And Anno wrote Shin Godzilla.

Segway into what is going on at Toho right now.

There were some cast and crew... classifieds put out a few weeks ago one for a giant monster feature untitled giant monster feature or something and another one put out for untitled science fiction blockbuster maybe it's this untitled blockbuster project or something Untitled Blockbuster is directed by Shinji Higuchi.

Untitled Giant Monster Feature is directed by nobody publicly announced.

Both have very similar shooting dates.

Interesting because when it was just the Giant Monster, for a while people...

We're under the impression these were the same project.

And Shinji Higuchi, okay, that is the long-discussed Shin Godzilla 2.

But now they are saying they are separate projects.

Shiraishi was ultimately hired as the director because of this interest, but due to his ex- inexperience with special effects television, another producer, Shinichiro Shirakura, wanted someone with an eye for tokusatsu to assist with the visual style of the show.

So he brought in to help Kazuya Shiraishi bring Kamen Rider to life this guy known as Shinji Higuchi, who agreed to help with design work and style, but himself also turned around and tapped Kiyotaka Taguchi to serve as the actual effects director for the series.

Now, if you don't know some of these names, that's okay.

The, that's why we're here.

Kazuya Shiraishi is the director and showrunner, and that's kind of all that American viewers would really know him from.

Uh, in Japan he's more of a well-known director of dramas and serious character pieces.

Uh, and his involvement in the show is actually what caused Shinji Higuchi to agree to working on it.

But Higuchi is a high-profile special effects genius, uh, frankly, who's worked on some of the best and most well-known kaiju films and franchises, such as Shin Godzilla and the '90s Gamera trilogy, just to pick a couple.