Noriaki Yuasa

Noriaki Yuasa (湯浅 憲明, Yuasa Noriaki) (28 September 1933 – 14 June 2004) was a Japanese director. Yuasa is the main director of the Japanese film series Gamera, about a giant flying turtle that befriends small boys and battles giant monsters.[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	28 September 1933 Tokyo, Japan
Died	14 June 2004 (aged 70) Japan
Occupation	Film 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

Title	Year	Credited as		Notes	Ref(s)
		Director	Special effects director
Shiawase nara te o tatakō	1964	Yes			[1]
Gamera the Giant Monster	1965	Yes			[1]
Gamera vs. Barugon	1966		Yes		[5]
Gamera vs. Gyaos	1967	Yes			[1]
Gamera vs. Viras	1968	Yes			[1]
The Snake Girl and the Silver-Haired Witch		Yes			[6][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

• Denjin Zaborger (1974)
• Ultraman 80 (1980)

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. Galbraith IV 1996, p. 433.
6. Galbraith IV 1996, p. 360.
7. Galbraith IV 1996, p. 361.

References

• Fischer, Dennis (2011). Science Fiction Film Directors, 1895-1998. McFarland. ISBN 0786485051.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Galbraith IV, Stuart (1996). The Japanese Filmography: 1900 through 1994. McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-0032-3.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Lentz III, Harris M. (2005). Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2004. 11. McFarland. ISBN 0786452099.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

External links

• Noriaki Yuasa at IMDb