Katsuya Kobayashi (小林且弥, Kobayashi Katsuya; born 10 December 1981) is a Japanese actor from Shimonoseki. Even though he…Katsuya Kobayashi (小林且弥, Kobayashi Katsuya; born 10 December 1981) is a Japanese actor from Shimonoseki. Even though he and fellow Kamen Rider Kabuto: God Speed Love-exclusive Rider actor Mitsuki Koga/Kamen Rider Ketaros were only Kamen Riders within the movie, they did make a guest appearance during the final episode of the series as two people affected by the necklaces that transform people into Natives.
Seiichi Tanabe (田辺誠一) is a Japanese actor. He won the award for best actor at the 24th Yokohama Film Festival for Hush!…Seiichi Tanabe (田辺誠一) is a Japanese actor. He won the award for best actor at the 24th Yokohama Film Festival for Hush! and at the 27th Hochi Film Award for Hush! and Harmful Insect.
Hideaki Anno (Japanese: 庵野 秀明, Hepburn: Anno Hideaki; born May 22, 1960) is a Japanese animator, filmmaker, and actor.…Hideaki Anno (Japanese: 庵野 秀明, Hepburn: Anno Hideaki; born May 22, 1960) is a Japanese animator, filmmaker, and actor. His most celebrated creation, the Evangelion franchise, has had a significant influence on the anime television industry and Japanese popular culture. Anno's style is defined by his postmodernist approach and the extensive portrayal of characters' thoughts and emotions. Anno began his career while attending Osaka University of Arts as an animator for the anime series The Super Dimension Fortress Macross (1982–1983), and produced the Daicon III and IV Opening Animations. He did not gain recognition until the release of his work on Hayao Miyazaki's 1984 film Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. Anno went on to become one of the co-founders of Gainax in December 1984. He worked as an animation director for their first feature-length film, Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise (1987), and ultimately became Gainax's premiere anime director, leading the majority of the studio's projects, including Gunbuster (1988) and Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water (1990–1991). Anno's next project was the anime television series Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995–1996). Timing constraints at Gainax also forced Anno to replace the planned ending of Evangelion with two episodes set in the main characters' minds. In 1997, Gainax launched a project to re-adapt Evangelion's scrapped ending into a feature-length film. Budgeting issues left the film unfinished, and the completed 27 minutes of animation were included as the second act of Evangelion: Death and Rebirth. Eventually, the project culminated in The End of Evangelion, a two-act film that served as a finale to Neon Genesis Evangelion. Anno wrote and directed the Rebuild of Evangelion film series from 2007 to 2021, written to be more accessible to non-fans than the original anime series and films were. Anno's other directorial works include Daicon Film's Return of Ultraman (1983), Gunbuster (1988), Kare Kano (1998), Love & Pop (1998), Shiki-Jitsu (2000), Cutie Honey (2004), Re: Cutie Honey (2004), and Shin Godzilla (2016), with the latter film marking the beginning of the Shin trilogy of tokusatsu franchise reboots, followed by Shin Ultraman (2022) and Shin Kamen Rider (2023). Several of Anno's anime have won the Animage Anime Grand Prix award, including Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water in 1990, Neon Genesis Evangelion in 1995 and 1996, and The End of Evangelion in 1997.
Kazuo Hara (Japanese: 原一男, Hepburn: Hara Kazuo; 8 June 1945) is a Japanese documentary film director. After dropping…Kazuo Hara (Japanese: 原一男, Hepburn: Hara Kazuo; 8 June 1945) is a Japanese documentary film director. After dropping out of university to work at a special education school, he made his 1972 debut work Goodbye CP about a group of individuals with cerebral palsy. He won the award for Best Director at the 12th Hochi Film Award and at the 9th Yokohama Film Festival for The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On. That film also earned him the Directors Guild of Japan New Directors Award. In 2017 he released the documentary Sennan Asbestos Disaster which received the 2017 Audience Award at the Tokyo Filmex International Film Festival and the 2017 BIFF Mecenat Award at the Busan International Film Festival. His documentary works often depict people who push against the boundaries of propriety and obedience in Japanese society.
Yoji Yamada (山田 洋次, Yamada Yōji; born 13 September 1931) is a Japanese filmmaker best known for his film series Otoko…Yoji Yamada (山田 洋次, Yamada Yōji; born 13 September 1931) is a Japanese filmmaker best known for his film series Otoko wa Tsurai yo and the Samurai Trilogy (The Twilight Samurai, The Hidden Blade, and Love and Honor). He has directed 91 films, and is well regarded by critics around the world. His Tora-san series holds the Guinness World Record for the longest-running film series starring the same actor.
