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Nausicaä's Giant God Warriors Inspire Figma Figure, Statue

Good Smile Company will make a figma of the Giant God Warrior (Kyoshinhei) from "Kyōshinhei Tokyo ni Arawaru" (Giant God Warrior Appears in Tokyo), the live-action tokusatsu (special-effects) short developed by Evangelion director Hideaki Anno and produced by Studio Ghibli. The short itself draws inspiration from the Giant God Warriors from Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind manga and anime film.

The Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo will present the short as part of its "Kanchō Anno Hideaki Tokusatsu Hakubutsukan" (Curator Hideaki Anno's Special Effects Museum) exhibition. The exhibition "will spotlight the special craftsmanship such as seen in 'miniatures,' and will present on an unprecedented scale its entrancing world that is distinct from VFX or CG." The "deputy curator," Shinji Higuchi, is also the director of the new short and the storyboard artist for the Evangelion television series and films.

During the Thursday press conference for the exhibition, Anno emphasized that the short will not use computer graphics, but will rely on traditional filmmaking techniques like miniatures to make the "final tokusatsu work." Higuchi added that the short will be between 5 and 10 minutes long. Anno was a key animator on the Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind film, and he later drew inspiration from the film's Giant God Warriors (and childhood memories of the tokusatsu franchise Ultraman) to create Evangelion.

The exhibition will run from July 10 to October 8. Advance tickets sales began on Thursday, and adult tickets cost 1,300 yen (US$16). Tickets will also be available at the door for 100 yen (US$1.25) more. Good Smile Company will sell its figma figure at the exhibition in July for 3,500 yen (about US$44), and it will then offer the figure online after the exhibition ends on October 8.

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Cinema Today, Eiga.com, Mainchi Shimbun's Mantan Web site, and Oricon have additional images in higher resolution.

Update: Good Smile Company will also make a 50-centimeter-tall (20-inch-tall) polystone replica, while Kaiyodo is collaborating with Good Smile Company on three smaller vignettes. Thanks, Peter Hunt.

Thanks to toru for the news tip.

Source: Oricon via Hachima Kikō

Image © 2012 Nibariki, Ghibli
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© 1968 Toho Co., LTD.
© 1963 Toho Co., LTD.