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Agency: Ghibli Makes Live-Action 'Giant God Warrior' Short
posted on by Jennifer Sherman
Earlier this month, the travel and ticketing agency JTB listed an upcoming museum exhibition that will debut a live-action special-effects (tokusatsu) short from Studio Ghibli. According to JTB's listing for the "Kanchō Anno Hideaki Tokusatsu Hakubutsukan" (Curator Hideaki Anno's Special Effects Museum) exhibition, Ghibli is producing the "Kyōshinhei Tokyo ni Arawaru" (Giant God Warrior Appears in Tokyo) short. The exhibition's page is no longer on JTB's site.
The "Kyōshinhei Tokyo ni Arawaru" title is an apparent homage to the Giant God Warriors from Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind manga and the influential 1956 tokusatsu film Uchūjin Tokyo ni Arawaru (released in English as Warning From Space). According to JTB's expired listing, Evangelion director Hideaki Anno developed the project and Miyazaki designed the Giant God Warrior. Shinji Higuchi, a storyboard artist for the Evangelion television series and films, is directing the short.
According to an expired page on Tokyo International Anime Fair's website, the exhibition will cover the art of filmmaking during the Showa (1926-1989) and Heisei (1989-current) eras, particularly the miniature models used for special effects. According to JTB's expired page, the exhibition will run from July 10 to October 8 at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo. Advance tickets sales will begin on May 10, and adult tickets will cost 1,300 yen (about US$16). Tickets will also be available at the door for 100 yen (US$1.25) more.
Junichi Nishioka, the former public relations head of Studio Ghibli and current public relations head of the Ghibli Museum, had written last September that "Director A" and "Director H" attended a meeting about an exhibition. According to Nishioka, "Director A" is supervising the exhibition for the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo this summer.
Anno was a key animator on Miyazaki's anime film adaptation of his Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind manga. Anno later drew inspiration from Miyazaki's Giant God Warriors and childhood memories of the tokusatsu franchise Ultraman to create Evangelion.
[Via Tsk06]
Image © Nibariki, Tokuma Shoten, Hakuhodo
Update: Anno's page on Khara's website briefly listed the exhibition on Thursday, but the page has since been removed.
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