Over the past 30 years, "S.H.Figuarts (SHINKOCCHOU SEIHOU) GRIDMAN" has been commercialized from "Gridman", a work produced by Tsuburaya Productions daction that was broadcasted in 1993. Tamashii web shop The product is now available for a limited time only at
For the development of this product, Hiroyuki Okano, the suit actor at the time, was in charge of body scans and supervising posing for product images, while Takafumi Kanbuchi, who was involved in suit design, was in charge of supervising the product's design, meaning that these two people who were involved in the work at the time were directly involved in product development.
In this article, titled "A message from the men who created Gridman," we asked the two men to talk about episodes from that time and their impressions of the product.

■Looking back on the filming of "Gridman"

-- First, I'd like to ask you about the series, Mr. Okano. How did you come to star in GRIDMAN? What impressions did you have of it?

Okano:I have a lot of memories. Originally, I was mainly working on events (as a suit actor for hero shows, etc.), and when it was decided that I would be participating in the production of "GRIDMAN" for a little under a year, I thought I would continue to work on events on weekends. However, the director told me, "Don't do any events at all." I thought, "What!?" because I would no longer be able to work on the events I had been doing all this time, but what he meant by "don't go" was that if I continued to work on events, I would develop bad habits, so I should concentrate on action scenes for filming. Until then, I had only been doing events, so during the time I participated, I felt like I was being drilled into the movements for filming.

--I see. So there are differences in how you behave as a video work, separate from a show.

Okano:I learned the importance of careful coordination between the acting and the camerawork, and the difficulty of having to pinpoint specific points within the frame, compared to the narrow field of view that allowed me to focus roughly on certain areas at events.

-Were there any scenes that left an impression on you?

Okano:All of them left an impression on me. In the midst of the difficulty of having to pinpoint the action, I put all my effort into getting the director to give me a good OK, rather than a bad one like "Nah, OK," so most of the cuts left an impression on me.

--Thank you. Was Kanbuchi-san with you during the filming?

澗 淵:I was hardly ever present during filming. I only went to the set to check the suits and handle deliveries, and I was hardly ever there. So, I only had contact with a few people on the set, such as the actor Okano and the assistant director.

■After more than 30 years, GRIDMAN 's sculpture has been recreated using SHINKOCCHOU SEIHOU!

--GRIDMAN is being commercialized in the S.H.Figuarts (SHINKOCCHOU SEIHOU) series after more than 30 years. What was your impression when you first heard about it?

Okano:I honestly thought, "Why now?", but I was happy.

澗 淵:As for me, I had been involved in the Figuarts S.H.Figuarts (Ultraman Series) so far as the prototype person, so I thought it would be nice if GRIDMAN would also come out. So, I finally heard about such a (commercialization) story, but I didn't expect it to be released in SHINKOCCHOU SEIHOU! At first, I thought it was just a regular Figuarts S.H.Figuarts, but GRIDMAN didn't come to it with a bang over the other famous Ultraman characters. Anime (SSSS. GRIDMAN, etc.), but I'm grateful to think that the fact that people who watched "GRIDMAN" as a child at the time are still supporting it led to SHINKOCCHOU SEIHOU.

--Now, let's talk about the product. Please give us your honest impressions after seeing it in person.

Okano:I've seen soft vinyl dolls and plastic moveable toys (since then), but when I see the construction of SHINKOCCHOU SEIHOU, which mimics the human skeleton, I think, "Ah, that's different." The workmanship is so amazing, with all the little details moving and posing, I definitely want one.

--Mr. Okano mentioned the skeleton, but I'd like to ask Mr. Kanbuchi about the details. Actually, GRIDMAN has quite a lot of "drawn details". For example, the slits on the back are not sculpted as details on the actual suit, but are painted on, so we consulted with him about how to reproduce them in the commercialization.

澗 淵:Based on the image of the design drawing, the slit on the back is supposed to be sculpted with a step down, but since that part doesn't affect the video, I just painted a black line to make it look like that... That's how I expressed it. On the other hand, the figure is something that customers will hold in their hands, so those details are also carefully reproduced. In fact, it's a part that makes it look more realistic than the real thing.

--This was the part that we really struggled with as to how to express it in SHINKOCCHOU SEIHOU, and we discussed it together. We expressed it in a three-dimensional form, as it was "the way it should be."
Also, I believe that the initial prototype that you supervised was a statue prototype at the stage where the joints were not yet added, with a suit sculpted onto the shape of a human body based on scanned data. How do you feel about the movable prototype that has been finished using SHINKOCCHOU SEIHOU, compared to that?

澗 淵:Not just for GRIDMAN, but for hero figures, the actual suit of course does not have the details of the movable joints, so I think it is always difficult to add movement without feeling the seams. With GRIDMAN, the upper body is armored, so I think it was relatively easy to process it as a figure, but the waist area. The range of movement will not be wide unless there is a certain amount of clearance at the base of the legs, but if there is too much, there will be a difference when compared to the actual suit. We had a lot of discussions with Bandai about how much to reduce it, saying things like "A little more here" and "Can you do something about this part?" The process was a series of trial and error, but when I saw the finished painted sample, I thought that the results of our hard work were quite clear. The silhouette is also modeled from a scan of the actor Okano, so it reproduces Okano's style from when he was young, and I feel like "Oh, that's the GRIDMAN style I've seen before."
Another distinctive feature of GRIDMAN 's design is that the leg guards reach down to the upper thighs, which is not found on other characters, and this is also difficult to recreate in the style of the suits of that time, but in the painted prototype shown to me today, the range of motion has been properly secured at a level that does not distort the image, so I thought this was also amazing.

Another thing that can be said about this type of figure is the line of the buttocks. GRIDMAN in particular has a high-cut shape with black parts, and the balance between that and the fullness of the buttocks is very well reproduced, so I think you can get the atmosphere of the movie even from the back.

■The secret behind GRIDMAN 's distinctive pose

--When photographing the product, we had Mr. Okano cooperate and actually pose as GRIDMAN for reference. Please tell us if you have any tips on posing.

Okano:When I was first shown the design, the image of a Western knight came to mind, and I proposed an agile fighting pose because it wasn't an Ultraman production, but the director rejected it, and so I ended up with the current pose. I remember being conscious of things like changing the direction of the fist and the position of the arm so that it wouldn't overlap with previous Ultraman.

澗 淵:I wonder if it was Okano who suggested the Grid Beam pose?

Okano:There was a demo toy (acceptor) and the rule was "press this to enter the pose", and then I consulted with Director Kazuo Sagawa (special effects director) on how to press it. In the end, the director had the idea of a ray coming from a vertical arm like the Specium Ray, so to fill the gap, I swung my arm around to connect the two in a series of movements... that's how it was decided. It was a little difficult to do the parts where the movements intersected, but I think I was able to create the image of energy concentrating through this rotation.

澗 淵:When Okano-san posed for the product photoshoot, the way he put his hips in improved. At first, when we were doing it by ourselves, it felt like we weren't putting in enough effort.

--Okano-san's posing instruction has made a huge difference, like breathing new life into the character. Even the way I stand has changed.

澗 淵:As a choreographer, I'm always creating poses for Ultraman.

--Next, I'd like to ask you about GRIDMAN 's weapons.

Okano:I remember it was just heavy. The completed weapon was extremely heavy. The costume is already different from Ultraman, which puts a lot of strain on various parts, and now this is even heavier! That was my first impression. Also, the fighting style was more like "striking" something hard, rather than "cutting" with a blade. It would have been better if it was light like this figure (laughs). I wondered if they could do it with something like that.

澗 淵:The transformation one was pretty solid. It was going to bend. At the time, I wasn't in charge of weapon modeling, so I was shown it for the first time on the set, and I thought, "Wow, this is heavy." I thought this would be pretty tough to act with, but there was nothing I could do about it, so I just said, "Please do your best" (laughs).
Speaking of the product itself, at the time it was available as a toy for children, and it had various transformation mechanisms, could turn into an axe, a sword, a shield, and could all combine to form a large sword, but this time with SHINKOCCHOU SEIHOU, it seems that even at this size, all of the transformations can be performed, and although there are also interchangeable parts, the most distinctive feature, the shield deployment ver. A.N.I.M.E., has been perfectly reproduced, so I was quite surprised when I was shown the first prototype. I think it would only be a matter of attaching fixed weapons to each form, but the inclusion of a proper ver. A.N.I.M.E. made me feel like I was seeing the essence of SHINKOCCHOU SEIHOU. I hope everyone will enjoy playing with it.

--Finally, please give a message to everyone who is looking forward to SHINKOCCHOU SEIHOU.

Okano:Thirty years have passed, and I never thought that something like this would ever see the light of day again, but it has been recreated to this extent. Adults can also reminisce about the past and enjoy it, so I hope everyone will pick it up and play with it. I would be happy if everyone continues to love GRIDMAN as a work of art, just like Ultraman.

澗 淵:Speaking from the perspective of the sculptor, the popularity of "Gridman" products has been rediscovered recently and various companies have released various products, but as far as I can see, this can be called the definitive version at this point. That's how much I'm grateful to the Bandai staff for responding so well to my various opinions, which I also expressed. They've carefully crafted parts that have been omitted from other products up until now, and I think that this figure will allow you to recreate various scenes from the show, so I hope you'll enjoy it.

--Thank you.

©円谷プロ

* The images displayed in the article are of prototypes. They may differ from the actual finished product.