Con Report: G-Fest's 30th Anniversary "Ultraman Takes Over"

Hello Hero-Club, a few weeks ago I attended G-Fest once again, which is held every year, mid-July in Rosemont, Illinois. Interestingly, this year marked the 30th anniversary for the convention dedicated to the King of the Monsters, and other kaiju. Unfortunately, I was only able to attend one day (Saturday), but I managed to witness several events there. Now, one of G-Fest’s biggest draws this year was its collaboration with Tsuburaya Productions called the Ultraman Experience. Here, Starlight Runner Entertainment and Ultraman Connection brought stage suits plus series alumni for fans to meet. For example, the event featured Bin Furuya, who we previously interviewed, actress Hiroko Sakurai, and series director, Kiyotaka Taguchi. Also, in attendance was actor Noboru Kaneko (Gaoranger & Godzilla: Tokyo SOS), our pal Kurt Carley (Godzilla 1998), and many others.

As per usual, the event was hosted at the Hyatt, and more rooms were added to house the event. Additionally, I believe this was the largest space G-Fest had since I have attended prior shows that appeared smaller. However, one major gripe I had throughout all day Saturday was getting into the dealers’ room. Unlike previous years, the dealers’ room was hosted in a small hall that was not able to meet attendance numbers. As a result, congoers often waited to get into the dealers room to avoid exceeding the capacity limits. Thankfully, since many vendors at the event were actual businesses, I could opt to try their online stores for collectibles. Although, not being able to really get into the room, and buy something feels like a knock against the show. Also, despite saying dealers and guests accepted payment via cash apps, it did not specify who might be cash only. For example, G-Fest’s personal merch table was cash only, and the venue’s ATMs were out of order. So, if anyone needed cash they had to go to another building to use its ATM.

Otherwise, the rest of the con was laid out decently, with the Ultraman events and panels having their own rooms. During my day there I was able to attend the interview sessions with Bin Furuya, Noboru Kaneko, and Kurt Carley. Also, I managed to attend the Ultraman Experience panel hosted by Jeff Gomez. For those unaware, this was the same panel where they announced upcoming projects like future home video releases. Specifically, the home video releases for Ultraman: Towards the Future, and Ultraman the Ultimate Hero.

Anyway, like my previous Con Report for G-Fest, the next few sections will be summarizing those interview sessions I attended. So, the first interview was with Bin Furuya, who wore an Ultraman themed suit to the convention. Interestingly, Furuya-san’s interview began discussing his portrayal of Ultraman. Here, he said that his first impression when wearing the suit and seeing the other monsters looked weird. In addition, portraying Ultraman required him to play something not too human, requiring him to invent a unique fighting style. For example, Furuya-san used the knife fight from James Dean’s performance in "Rebel Without A Cause." Additionally, later in the interview, Furuya-san mentioned how James Dean's film helped inspire him to become an actor. Also, Furuya-san took inspiration from karate, and in combination with the religious tones, he made Ultraman’s signature attack pose. Furthermore, he mentioned that the pose is off to the side to see Ultraman’s face, a ‘Furuya Original.’

Currently, Furuya-san sees tokusatsu as the world’s treasure, and he is happy Ultraman was able to introduce the genre globally. Like many others who worked on the show, Furuya-san expressed how he wants children to follow their dreams. In addition, he was overly delighted by how many children were in attendance at G-Fest, and in the audience. Furthermore, he wished to convey to everyone how we need to remain being kind toward one another.

Then as for Shin Ultraman, Furuya-san was delighted when asked to perform the mo-cap for the character. Surprisingly, he claimed to feel very nostalgic when he saw that Shin Ultraman did not have a Color Timer. Especially since when production and fittings began on the original series, the Color Timer was a late addition to the suit. However, Furuya-san found the mo-capping to be exhausting since entering his 70s, as opposed to being 23 when Ultraman premiered.

Besides Ultraman, Furuya-san was asking about his time working with Ishiro Honda and Akira Kurosawa at Toho. He answered that Honda was nice to work with, being a gentle and caring filmmaker. However, Furuya-san found Kurosawa to be a scary or intimidating fellow that was abrupt towards everyone. Additionally, Furuya-san joked that it was due to that attitude as to why Kurosawa probably never made a Godzilla film. Finally, Furuya-san mentioned that he has lived a long life, done many things, and is happy to have been Ultraman. Especially, since it has allowed him to meet a lot of people and fans at events like G-Fest.

Afterwards was Noboru Kaneko’s session which went into his career from starting with Toei and moving towards the present. Surprisingly, Kaneko-san began auditioning at a young age having tried for roles in Kamen Rider Kuuga and Agito. For Kuuga, Kaneko did not pass the first set of auditions, but for Agito he lasted until the final round. However, Toei would go on to offer him the role of Gao Red due to perseverance regarding the past auditions. Yet, Kaneko-san mentioned he has not been able to realize his childhood dream to be a Kamen Rider. Although, Kaneko-san did say that becoming Gao Red was instrumental in shaping his career.

Kaneko-san then went on to discuss how Gaoranger was still produced on film, and how it was expensive. Like multiple takes and possible reshoots would eat up the filming budget while causing delays. As expected, the crew would then get upset with the actors when production did not go smoothly. For example, Kaneko-san said one time when practicing to be thrown by an explosion each take was decent. However, when the time came to film the stunt, Kaneko-san did not hit the trampoline right and it ruined the framing. As a result, they had to redo the entire sequence again just to capture Kaneko-san perfectly in frame. Coincidentally, another issue occurred when Kaneko-san was directed to run through a field of explosive charges. Here, Kaneko-san had to time his mark at each spot to avoid possible injury, but one fuse failed. So, Kaneko-san began to double guess himself on if he should stop, or keep running to avoid ruining the take. 

As expected, Kaneko-san confirmed he took several courses on action/ stunt acting before auditioning at Toei. Although, Kaneko-san mentioned how he learned more from Daisuke Shima (Red Falcon) and Hiroshi Miyauchi (Big One) when filming. Like during the production of Gaoranger vs Super Sentai, they informed him about framing facial expressions. Specifically, how to make Kaneko-san’s face and jaw appear/ move during scenes, so later audio recordings match his mouth flaps. Also, Kaneko-san was asked what it is like to reprise Gao Red versus returning as a new character in BoonBoomger. Interestingly, Kaneko-san stated that he knew in advance he would be returning to the franchise for Gokaiger. So, Kaneko-san tried to act like Gao Red was, but the Gokaiger crew wanted him to be more experienced.

Whereas, for BoonBoomger, Kaneko-san specifically asked for a guest role in that particular series. Normally, he does not want fans to be confused and/ or disappointed that he is not Gao Red. Coincidentally, Kaneko-san has even turned down other guest roles for Toei tokusatsu productions to avoid those issues too. Although, for this unrelated role, Kaneko-san decided to try being a new character that he would not know the characteristics of. Furthermore, Kaneko-san mentioned that he would be in something coming next year, but could not specify yet what it is.

Following the Super Sentai portion, Kaneko-san began discussing his time working on Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. Surprisingly, Kaneko-san explained that he did not audition for his role, and got offered the part from the film’s director. Additionally, Kaneko-san explained that 30-minute episodes usually require a week for filming. However, for a full-length feature like Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S., production spanned roughly three months. Interestingly, the scene where Kaneko-san is inside Kiryu looking up with his hand raised took more than a day to film. Also, after being strapped to a rotating stand for the Kiryu scenes, Kaneko-san said it slowly stopped being fun. Furthermore, Kaneko-san mentioned how he was not told about Kiryu’s final message, “Sayonara Yoshi” nor was it in the script. So, when he saw it during filming, Kaneko-san said the scene was more emotional for him. Afterwards Kaneko-san was asked the differences between working for Toei and Toho. At first, he did not say anything but laughed about it before saying they did not feel too different.

Next Kaneko-san began talking about his non-tokusatsu roles, like romance and comedy films. Coincidentally, those directors would often get mad or scoff at Kaneko-san whenever his tokusatsu acting appeared. For example, in scenes where Kaneko-san was required to run and stop, he would stop preparing to fight. Although, one particularly unnamed director appreciated Kaneko-san style, and praised him for his work. Additionally, Kaneko-san said he admired this director greatly, and wished they could have worked together more. Also, Kaneko-san was asked about his role in Muscle Heat alongside Super Sentai alumni Kane Kosugi. Here, Kaneko-san mentioned how he grew up watching Ninja Sentai Kakuranger and was delighted to work with him. However, Kaneko-san was intimidated by Kane’s physique, and thought he would need to become Gao Red to beat him. Surprisingly, Kaneko-san even discussed working on the live-action adaptation of Cromartie High with other tokusatsu veterans. Like Kaneko-san said it was fun and crazy on set since everyone was roughly in their 30s playing teenagers.

Then for Kaneko-san’s final story, he talked about working with the late Sonny Chiba on New Shadow Warriors. For Kaneko-san, he had seen the original as a child, so he was eager to work on this newer installment. Unfortunately, while filming one particular scene, Chiba apparently injured Kaneko-san’s leg. In addition, while performing Chiba would say his lines in a Shatner-like manner, and Kaneko began emulating it. However, by doing that it annoyed the director, so Kaneko-san got scolded for it and told to act normally.

Now, as stated before I only got to attend Saturday’s festivities, like the Ultraman Experience and the autograph signings. Although I did not participate in all of the signings, I managed to meet Furuya-san, Kaneko-san, and Taguchi-san. Whereas, I notice that G-Fest’s attendance continues to grow every year. As a result, I hope that at some point it might expand into the neighboring Donald E. Stephens Convention Center. Especially since that venue is known for housing widely attended Anime Central in the upper Midwest. Personally, I believe that a joint venture like having the two venues would benefit G-Fest’s growth further. For example, there would be more space for Ultraman collaborations, larger dealers room, and for other events. However, that is merely a suggestion towards G-Fest’s future and further longevity. Nevertheless, with spacing being my only issue, I overall had a lot of fun at G-Fest’s 30th Anniversary.