The Ultraman series filmed by Marutani Co., Ltd. is very popular nowadays, and the Ultraman series is not the official debut of Marutani, in fact, the first work shot by Marutani since its inception should be "Otter Q" broadcast in 1966, exactly 56 years ago on January 2, which is the time when the first episode of "Otter Q" "Down with Gomes" was broadcast, so today I will briefly talk about this work that affected the history of close-up.
When it comes to monster close-ups, we have to talk about the first generation of "Godzilla" released in Japan in 1954, and the new shooting method of close-ups gave the audience at that time a new visual experience, which triggered the "monster fever" of the 60s.
The founder of Marutani Co., Ltd., Eiji Marutani, was also involved in the production of Godzilla, and won the Best Stunt Award at the 8th Japan Film Technology Awards for its outstanding performance, and in 1963, Eiji Marutani left Toho and established Marutani Corporation.
Eiji Marutani believes that although the monster close-up is hot at that time, the viewing threshold is high, and the audience needs to go to the theater to watch, and Eiji Marutani tries to create a monster close-up series that can be broadcast on TV last week, so that the audience can enjoy the visual experience in the theater without leaving home.
Screened on January 2, 56 years ago, "Down with Gomes" was actually the 12th episode in the production order, but as the first broadcast of "Otter Q", this episode was scripted by Chibuki Kitao (who later created classic characters such as Baltan Starman), supervised by Ichi Marutani, and appeared in two monsters- the ancient monster Gomes and the original strange bird Litra.
Gomes's holster is modified from the classic monster Godzilla's holster, and Lytra's original design is "Godmes's natural enemy" but not too big, because it can win the support of the audience and reflect the feeling of ants defeating elephants.
Subsequently, both Gomez and Litrah became more classic monsters, beginning to appear in the Ultraman series of works, in the "Super Galactic Monster Fight", Both Gomes and Litrah appeared, and Litrah was one of the monsters controlled by the protagonist Ray, appearing very frequently.
The ancient monster Gomes has appeared in four new generation Ultraman series, of which Gomes (18 meters) who appeared in "Zeta Ultraman" is closest to the height of the original Gomes (10 meters)
"Otter Q", as the pioneer of the monster close-up series, provided valuable experience for the subsequent series of heroic close-ups, laying the foundation for the smooth production of "Ultraman", which was personally supervised by Eiji Marutani and brought together a group of close-up producers, including the already famous Akio Shiseiji, Akira Manda, and Toshihiro Iijima, as well as young Koichi Takano and Kiyoshi Suzuki, who later became the pillar-like figures in the Ultraman series.
Looking at this work 56 years later, it is great, it is groundbreaking, and the imagination shown in the work is still amazing, which is undoubtedly a huge spiritual treasure for children 56 years ago.
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