FEATURE: Hideaki Anno’s Life-Long Obsession Becomes Reality With Shin Kamen Rider
Image via NHK
It’s often thought that Hideaki Anno’s first directorial work was his Ultraman short he made in university, a homage to the giant hero made with who would go on to form the legendary Studio Gainax. But before that in high school, a young Hideaki Anno made the short film Nakamu Rider on his first 8mm camera — a tribute to his first true love and the series that first sparked his imagination, Kamen Rider.
Now with Shin Kamen Rider officially out in theaters across Japan, Anno has finished his trio of tokusatsu Shin films that began with Shin Godzilla. No director in history can claim they’ve helped produce high-budget films with the three biggest tokusatsu series and helped reimagine the trio for modern audiences – all to critical acclaim.
But for Hideaki Anno, it isn’t about the prestige. It’s about him getting to finally make his mark on franchises he has loved since he was a child watching a black and white TV in his small hometown of Ube, Yamaguchi Prefecture. It’s about him bringing to life the stories he recreated with his action figures.
Hideaki Anno’s Lifelong Kamen Rider Fandom
Anno’s obsession with Kamen Rider started with the first Rider, which premiered when he was in fifth grade. During that time, Anno felt drawn to the darker aspects of the series, aspects found with Kamen Rider No. 1. Unlike most people, Anno never outgrew that love of the series as he got older as if the original series left an imprint on Anno’s soul.
Anno’s obsession with Kamen Rider started with the first Rider, which premiered when he was in fifth grade. During that time, Anno felt drawn to the darker aspects of the series, aspects found with Kamen Rider No. 1. Unlike most people, Anno never outgrew that love of the series as he got older as if the original series left an imprint on Anno’s soul.
Anno as a boy in Ube (Photo: Daryl Harding)
That imprint started bearing fruit while Anno studied at Yamaguchi Prefectural Ube High School where he filmed Nakamu Rider with his classmates, recreating his favorite scenes from the series. Entering university saw him focus more on Ultraman and anime, going on to form DAICON FILM with fellow students, working with Hayao Miyazaki and eventually creating Gainax.
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Through all that, Anno still held Kamen Rider in his heart. As seen in his wife’s semi-autobiographical manga Insufficient Direction, the Anno household is filled to the brim with Kamen Rider merchandise; he changed his eating habits to fit into belts he owned and even made sure the manga had the correct color shading on his Kamen Rider No. 1 costume. Anno even personally re-colored the panel on the official version of the manga that was originally released as part of a doujinshi given out at his wedding with Moyoco Anno, with Anno wearing the Kamen Rider No. 1 costume in place of a suit because he wasn’t able to in real life.
Anno, like many fans, even made a pilgrimage to the now-overgrown original filming studios ahead of the 50th anniversary of Kamen Rider‘s first episode broadcast before the announcement that he was even working on Shin Kamen Rider. The studio, Toei Ikuta Studio, closed in 1978 and was later demolished in 1995.
本日2月7日は『仮面ライダー』第１話撮入50周年です。
写真は、昨年、東映生田スタジオ跡に庵野がお参りした時のものです。????#庵野秀明 pic.twitter.com/OZhkWAAoUw
— (株)カラー 2号機 (@khara_inc2) February 7, 2021
In an interview with the Japanese magazine Pen, Katsuro Onoue — Anno’s right-hand man who has worked with the director on his previous special effects films such as Cutie Honey and Shin Godzilla — said that “Anno-san’s love for Kamen Rider is unmatched.” In an Amazon Prime interview with Hitoshi Matsumoto, Anno said he “loved” Kamen Rider growing up, so much so to want to recreate it.
Shin Kamen Rider’s Obsessive Recreation of a Classic
This passion, love and obsession culminated in Shin Kamen Rider, a near one-to-one recreation and reinterpretation of the original series to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the franchise – just made into something darker than originally told on the TV screen. From the first to last second, Shin Kamen Rider very much feels like the first few episodes through the lens of Hideaki Anno, just with a little more blood.
Onoue explained in the same interview with Pen that every minute detail of Shin Kamen Rider had to be perfect: To the degree that Anno went exploring around mountains for the same type of soil as seen in the original series, making sure those mountains were the same sort of shape and that the slopes were perfect – even going back to the original filming locations for some shots.
As with any director, Hideaki Anno oversaw all aspects of the production, but according to Ikuto Yamashita, the mechanical designer on the film, he had a “strong obsession with the Rider Belts.” This is obvious by Anno’s own words throughout his life and how he’s portrayed in his wife’s manga, likely feeling like a kid in a candy store being able to design his own belt. The team brainstormed ideas for the belt and went directly to Anno for approval at every step to make sure he was completely happy with it.
This classic feeling continues with the music, where composer Taku Iwatsuki discussed in the same Pen interview that Anno told him to “inherit” music from the original series for Shin Kamen Rider but make it his own. Iwatsuki was apprehensive about working with Anno for the first time, saying that there is an atmosphere of pressure surrounding such a man of Japanese cinema. Much like Anno does with the film, Iwatsuki uses modern instruments and techniques on top of the original music to give that remixed feeling while never straying too far from the past.
The Effect of Hideaki Anno’s Obsession With Kamen Rider
Anno wrote in a foreword of his wife’s manga that “otaku [are] very obsessive, self-righteous and cliquey for self-preservation,” referring to himself in that statement. While he obsesses over his own creations in Evangelion, making sure they are to his standard, he’s even more obsessive in getting the details right on the 50th-anniversary project of a series he holds dear.
To Anno’s credit, Shin Kamen Rider feels exactly like the original Kamen Rider, even down to the chaotic fighting scenes that he loves. Much of the same thematic approach to filmmaking can be felt in his Cutie Honey live-action film, of which Shin Kamen Rider could be seen as a spiritual successor if Anno wasn’t already riffing off the original Kamen Rider series in the first place.
Even in the marketing for the film, Anno’s lifelong love of this 50-year-old franchise was played up with a shot of Anno as a young boy looking proud in his Kamen Rider outfit, giving the public a sense that the film is in the hands of someone who has adored the franchise since its inception.
Image via Catsuka
But it is now 2023. A lot of those techniques used in Kamen Rider were to mask early stunt choreography and give a sense of action with limited resources on a tight budget. The first TV series premiered in 1971, six years before Star Wars blew everyone away with its special effects, but after the likes of Godzilla and Ultraman. Kamen Rider pioneered a lot of aspects of filmmaking, building on what came before and should, rightfully so, be commended for that. But that has been superseded today, even in the new Kamen Rider TV series, lacking what makes people fans of the tokusatsu series.
Hideaki Anno’s obsession with Kamen Rider gave him the drive to push forward in his career, which has currently eventuated in Shin Kamen Rider. But without Shinji Higuchi by his side like with Shin Godzilla and Shin Ultraman, Shin Kamen Rider feels less like a reimagining and more like a boy with his iPhone trying to re-flim his favorite scenes with some of Japan’s top talent. But once you hear Anno’s name attached to a project, especially one that is so dear to his heart, you know exactly what kind of ride you’re on.
Daryl Harding is a Senior Japan Correspondent for Crunchyroll News. He also runs a YouTube channel about Japan stuff called TheDoctorDazza, tweets at @DoctorDazza, and posts photos of his travels on Instagram. Looking forward to seeing what else Anno “Shins” next!
