Conversations with Creators in the Tokusatsu Community #1: TAIYAKI

As my series on Independent Tokusatsu films continues, I want to introduce my new, not-so-regular, series Conversations with Creators in the Tokusatsu Community. In each installment, I interview talented individuals who contribute to the tokusatsu world by writing, filmmaking, drawing, animating, blogging, video essays, and more.

Please join me as I kick off this series with an interview with TAIYAKI, the creator of the “Gojira ゴジラ - blender animation.”

I first came across TAIYAKI’s YouTube channel about a year ago, when I watched the “Ultraman vs Pagon (Blender animation).” I was amazed and watched it numerous times. One person did what took Tsuburaya a whole team. Fast forward to a couple of months ago and TAIYAKI released “Gojira ゴジラ - blender animation.”

Not only did the kaiju world take notice, but even the folks at Corridor Crew took notice. Corridor Crew is known for their commentary on visual effects, including their popular "VFX Artists React" series. Their YouTube page, as of writing this, is currently sitting at 6.44 million subscribers.

In the series “VFX Artists React,” the Corridor Crew uses their expertise as visual effects artists to critique the special effects in both current and older movies. When they reviewed TAIYAKI's short film, they were so impressed that they initially thought the footage was genuinely from the 1950s! TAIYAKI’s segment is at the 13:00 minute mark.

Although English is TAIYAKI’s second language, they took the time to answer my questions, allowing me the great opportunity to discuss their inspirations, experiences, and future aspirations.

First off, congrats on Corridor Crew. I usually don’t watch that channel, but someone I know told me to check it out because they had a kaiju film and it was you! How did it feel to see your animation on their channel?

"I've been watching Corridor since I was 11, which is nine years ago. I grew up with their videos. When I found out they reacted to my video, I was happy beyond words. I never thought I'd have the opportunity to interact with them. I couldn't sleep that night." 

That must have been an awesome feeling. What got you into animation and when did you start?

“I started doing 3D animation when I got my laptop in high school. But if we're talking about animation in general, it goes back to when I was doing simple animation in DS's Flipnote Studio. No one around me was doing animation, so I had to do a lot of research before I started Blender and get to a decent level.”

Your 3D journey started in high school, and now you are a university student with several popular animations. Where do you see yourself after graduation? Working in an animation studio? YouTuber? Animated film director?

“I am thinking of working at an animation studio and also doing YouTube. Yes, I would like to become a film director one day.”

I can see you becoming all those things. Do you have a favorite movie? 

“My favorite movie is AKIRA.”

That is a very popular movie here in the States. How do you like studying in America? I hope you have made some friends and found some good food. Is this your first time visiting America?

“I am enjoying studying in America so far. The environment is more diverse than in my country. I had been to America several times and I wasn't new to anything. Which is good as I didn’t struggle to start a new life here.”

That’s great to hear you are well-adjusted. Many of your animations resemble 1950s and 1960s tokusatsu movies and TV shows. Do old tokusatsu shows inspire you? If so, what makes these older shows important to you?

"My parents introduced me to the original Ultraman series, which I loved as a child. However, during middle school, I shifted to American action movies like ‘The Avengers.’ Years later, the release of 'Shin Ultraman' rekindled my love for tokusatsu. This movie brought back pleasant memories, and I started rewatching the original Ultraman and Godzilla movies. I noticed the beautiful filming techniques used in tokusatsu, like placing a recognizable object in the foreground to convey the monster's size. These techniques taught me a lot about composition and other essential elements for a creator."

One of the most fascinating aspects of your work is the approach to recreating old tokusatsu techniques using digital tools, like Blender. Imitating old tokusatsu techniques like suitmation, stop-motion, and puppetry with 3D animation is brilliant. How did you come up with this idea?

“I love the practical effects in any movie. Star Wars, Alien, The Thing, I just love the atmosphere. But trying to do that in real life would cost an enormous amount of money, and that's not possible for me as a student. Then I found Blender, which is completely free. I thought this was the way to do it.”

You are right, I think John Carpenter’s The Thing had a budget of 15 million. That would be way too expensive for almost anyone. It’s amazes me you can do all of that with free tools like Blender.

Before ending the interview, I want to say thank you for your time. Do you have any new projects you want to promote before we end the interview? 

“Thank you for the interview.”

“I am currently working on ‘Muto vs. Godzilla 1965’. I am bringing Monster-Verse kaiju to the Showa-era.”

You can follow TAIYAKI on their YouTube page and/ or X:

TAIYAKI’s journey from basic animations in DS Flipnote Studio to a 3D animator featured on Corridor Crew is a testament to how far hard work and dedication to your craft can take you.

Thank you to TAIYAKI once again and thank you to everyone who is reading. This was my favorite post I’ve written thus far. As always, I hope you learned something new, later!