Hi there
This is Suda51, owner of Cinema51
Hello, this is Sekine
Manager of Cinema51
At night I run a pub called Bar Plastic Model
Thanks for having me
Thanks for coming
How’ve you been? Have you been eating?
I’ve been holding back on sweets
Really?
Yeah
The numbers weren’t very good at my health check
Last year, they said I had a 98% chance of diabetes
Oh wow
I know, right?
It’s almost 100%...
Just 2% more...
So for a year I barely ate any sweets
And this time they told me I was fine
Really?!
Really
The other day someone said they can’t eat Large-size portions anymore
I was actually pretty jealous
You still eat Large portions?
Yeah
You gotta be careful
We had this shoot today
So I thought I’d hold back a bit
I didn’t eat last night
I didn’t want my face bloating
So this morning I got hungry
and ordered an Large lunch meal
Like subconsciously?
Yeah
When I was done, I noticed refills were free
So I got another Large meal
KK Yabukiri
Cinema51 Resurrected Korakuen Viewing Room
So, before we introduce our next film...
Before?!
Yeah, before that...
Last time was our first Cinema51 in awhile
And we said only about 100 people would see it
But we wanted to introduce an awesome movie
But over 100 people actually watched it!
A lot of people watched from overseas
So we added subtitles
We can’t just keep talking about food then
Yeah, we gotta do this right
So today’s movie is...
Iké Boys!
We should explain what kind of movie it is
Iké Boys is an American film
Taking place in 1999
It’s about high school kids in Oklahoma at the end of the century
In the countryside?
Yeah, the countryside
Apparently Oklahoma is way out in the boonies
These two boys are like “subculture otaku”
Really into anime, games, etc.
And these two kids get their hands on this cult anime from 1970s Japan
So with this Japanese exchange student, they watch the anime and the story begins
The director was played by Ryo Iwamatsu!
You’re skipping ahead there
Oh yeah, sorry about that
So the director of the anime they watch is played by Ryo Iwamatsu
He plays a small part but he’s in the beginning a lot
When you see Iwamatsu, you know it’ll be good
Yeah, it gets your expectations up
So there’s that anime, right?
It really felt like specifically “American” animation
Yeah, that definitely wasn’t Japanese
The director is really into anime
So I feel like that was on purpose
He probably wanted to get a Japanese anime studio to do it, but...
We’ve been contacting studios recently
And there’s like a 2~3 year wait!
We’re able to get them to do small segments sometimes
But everyone is booked up right now
The anime industry is really booming recently
So while he wanted to have a Japanese studio do the animation
they ended up having to do it in the US?
I think so, yeah
So the anime in the movie has a hero and kaiju
And a cult that is trying to summon something evil at the turn of the century
And the hero has to fight this kaiju to stop them
Thinking of a Japanese director who’s really into movies and anime
Making a cult movie that was widely unavailable
Reminds me of "Prophecies of Nostradamus"
There’s a Japanese movie about that?!
Yeah, Prophecies of Nostradamus was filmed in the 60s (*Note: 1973)
And it was released in theaters
But it wasn’t released on video?
The uncut full version was never released here in Japan
Really?
Have you seen it?
Nope
Really? Even you haven’t seen it?!
I doubt many people have
Or at least the uncut version
It would almost get released, then get canceled
Isao Tomita did the soundtrack
Tetsuro Tamba is in it, right?
I feel like he was... Yeah, I think he was
I feel like I remember that...
I’m pretty sure he was in it
So this director might have known about that movie, huh?
It would probably be easier to find in the US than in Japan
The movie inside the movie ends partway through
And they explain why later on
But that aspect feels sort of like an homage
What did you think of the movie?
The action scenes were really well-done, really put together nicely
Like how the anime parts kick in when someone gets punched?
It was awesome how they used only animation for those parts
It was pretty inspirational
You could tell the director had a solid image in his head of what he wanted to do
You’re watching the animation at first
And the scene cuts out and you’re like, “What’s gonna happen next?”
The way it’s set it up so you find out what happens next
While also watching the battle scenes was really cool
Yeah, and how it happens in the “real” world
Recently there are all these AAA movies coming out, you know?
And everyone sees all these amazingly done action scenes
Like in the Marvel movies
With really great camerawork and lots of CG
So everyone is doing similar stuff
So it was interesting to see this kind of action, too
I actually liked this part
But there’s the scene with life-sized stuffed animals fighting on the college campus
I think current audiences would think it was really awkward
But there used to be a show called Ultra Fight
I’d like everyone to watch that first
Ultra Fight?
Yeah, watching Ultra Fight and then this movie
I feel it’s clear that the director knew just what he was doing
Like an homage to Ultra Fight?
They don’t get big, though
Yeah, they stay life-sized
The hero and kaiju are both life-sized
Shinji Higuchi made a new Shin Ultraman like that, too
Ultra Fight came out on DVD
Around when Shin Godzilla and Return of Ultraman came out on DVD
and was included in the Hideaki Anno selection of Tsuburaya films
And it was Shinji Higuchi who selected Ultra Fight
Higuchi has a lot of love for Ultra Fight
So he actually did the narration for the anime parts of this movie
Oh, really?! That was him?
Yeah, for the animated movie inside the movie
Wow, so that was Higuchi
There are a lot of connections to that era
So they got the actual guy to narrate it
But there was one thing that bothered me...
You can cut this if you want, but...
There’s an animation production meeting at the beginning, with Ryo Iwamatsu
The director Shusuke Kaneko has a cameo in that scene
Seriously?! From Gamera?
Long ago, in the tokusatsu industry
having Shinji Higuchi and Shusuke Kaneko in the same movie
would’ve been almost scandalous
It would’ve been huge news!
The two Gamera guys!
Have you ever seen the making-of DVD from Gamera 3?
No, I haven't
There’s a making-of video for Gamera 3
And it was directed by Hideaki Anno
It shows the producers just totally breaking down
And you can see Shinji Higuchi and Shusuke Kaneko completely falling out
They filmed that?
I mean, you can tell it’s happening
Now, 30 years later
They’re in the same movie...
They got back together!
Yeah, that was crazy to see
Hardcore tokusatsu fans need to see this
I mean, they’re really small cameos
But it’s the first time in decades that Higuchi and Kaneko appeared together, which is huge
Yeah, that’s huge!
That’s one of the cool parts of Iké Boys
Yeah, that’s a selling point
So Anno shot Return of Ultraman back in the Daicon Film days...
These guys could be like Anno in the future
So you gotta check them out now
If you watch this now,
sometime in the 2030s
you might be like, “Hey, I saw that!”
Yeah, “I remember seeing Kaneko!”
You should watch this movie just for that
Yeah, I agree
It’s an important movie
Yeah, it really is
These three go wild in it
These parts sticking out of the hero
That’s gotta be Victory Gundam, right?
Like a Victory Gundam motif
Victory Gundam?
I thought maybe it was Wing-Man
Oh it could be, yeah
But it could be Victory Gundam, too
Now it looks more like Wing-Man
One more thing – the music
The music?
Were you paying attention to it?
“Guts Da Ze!!”
“Guts Da Ze!!” came out of nowhere
That “Guts Da Ze!!” intro plays...
But it wasn’t Tortoise Matsumoto singing...
Yeah, it was a female vocalist
That was crazy
I felt the same shock as listening to Shonen Knife
I was like “I need this!”
So I looked all over for it, but couldn’t find it
One more important song in the movie...
Oh yeah, it was...
Do you remember?
Gavan!
When the garage-sounding Gavan music plays, with the female singer...
Yeah, and she started singing the Gavan theme song, that was a surprise!
I tried looking for that, too
Did you find it?
Nope
I hope they release the song
It could even make the global charts
It really is a great song
It really is
Even with a different singer
Yeah, Gavan had awesome music
You can tell how the story is gonna unfold as you watch
I think that aspect is another homage of sorts
Oh yeah, I know what you mean
Lots of tokusatsu projects did that
With predictions and stuff
If they’re gonna go that far
I wanted to see some commercials in it, too
Oh yeah, that would be cool
Some toy commercials, or for sausages and stuff
This director has a lot of love for Japanese culture, which is really clear
I wish they’d had someone like that on the marketing team, too
That happens a lot
For example with No More Heroes
We used Takashi Miike, right?
It was awesome for us, and the fans loved it
But the promotional team didn’t use him at all
That was a big disappointment
This stuff gets easily overlooked
KK Yabukiri
Cinema51 Resurrected Korakuen Viewing Room
OK, so for next time...
We have several films selected
But I’d like to do a big movie
Yeah, that’s true
Some big movies don’t do screenings
So I’d like to go see one on opening day
And then shoot this right away
While we’re still running hot
That would be cool
There’s one movie being released in Japan first...
Deadpool & Wolverine
It comes out three days early in Japan
I’m definitely considering doing that one
Yeah, and there are lots of others, too
Also we may have guests from now on
So I’m thinking about who to invite
I actually have one more announcement
Before it was on YouTube,
Cinema51 was originally run in 4gamer
So on top of the video version
They’re going to run a print version in 4gamer, too
Wow, that’s excellent
So please be sure to check out 4gamer after you watch this, everyone!
It’s twice the fun!
OK, it’s time to wrap it up with our special pose
Please look forward to the next installment