` Ultrama Gaia'' features two Ultraman- Gaia and Agul. Before then, "evil Ultraman" such as Fake Ultraman and EVIL TIGA had been seen here and there, but Aguru was not just a villain. Although Gaia and Agul share the same goal of protecting the Earth, they are at odds over the existence of humanity. Eventually, Agul's "light" becomes an important factor for Gaia to strengthen into V2 and SV (Supreme Version)!!

The 2nd installment of Interview Articles Ultrama Gaia edition will feature ULTRA-ACT Ultrama Gaia ( While looking at the prototype of V2), I was able to recall the time.

■ The ground pops because Ultraman and the Earth are working together.

── Director Muraishi has been involved with Ultraman Series for a long time, but you directed the first episode of "Ultrama Gaia" for the first time, right?

MuraishiFirst time with Gaia. When I was filming for Ultraman Dyna in Osaka (episodes 35 and 36), the production producer said to me, "Next time, thank you very much." That's where my involvement with Gaia comes from. The first episode, "Seize the Light!" Around the same time, another team was filming The Movie of "Ultraman Tiga, Ultraman Dyna & Ultrama Gaia: Great Battle in Super Dimension", but the budget for the first two episodes was about the same as the movie. That's right (bitter smile). Of course, it wasn't a waste of time, and I had a situation where I shot and saved special effects cuts that I could use later.

── Speaking of the first episode, what still appeared in a scene of Gaia. Depiction of ground play at the moment of landing was surprised.

MuraishiTo tell the truth, I was against the scene where the ground pops at first. Ultraman created by the earth must not destroy the earth (laughs). For me, I wanted to go in the direction of Ultraman, which is kind to the earth, but special effects director Sagawa (Kazuo) was aiming for dynamic video expression. So, I tried to interpret that the ground pops because "Ultraman is working with the earth".

How ── shooting of the landing scene as carried out was of you do?

MuraishiThe mechanism itself is surprisingly easy. All you have to do is create a mechanism to blow off the earth and sand in front of Ultraman. All you have to do is put gunpowder under the plywood, lay a mat and pour the soil. These gimmicks are combined with the action of Ultraman jumping down to explode. It is the most difficult to match the timing of landing and the timing of burst, rather than the mechanism itself. The rest is adjusting the amount of gunpowder and the amount of soil. Whichever is too much will not work.

──How did you differentiate yourself from Gaia in terms of the production of another Ultraman, Aguru?

MuraishiThere was an image color called "blue" in Aguru. From there, at night, shadows-when Gaia is the sun, Aguru was associated with a moon-like contrast. I think that the other directors also added characters in that way.

──The appearance scene of Aguru was a fantastic image that Ultraman has never had before.

MuraishiAppeared in a scene of agglutinin is, I know the idea of ​​Shimizu suit actor (Kazuhiko) Mr. (※ 1). The charm of the shadow of the hero gave us beautifully expressed. It is a feeling that went together the camera and lighting to the movement of the Shimizu. But not limited to appearance scene of agglutinin, but the scene in which ingenuity is not only followed later, I'm going to be amplified more and more coolness at other times. In the "Gaia" is a lot is a director with a commitment to the video, it went up more and more mature.

── I Gaia and agglutinin was the fight story (Episode 18) also Muraishi's supervision times in life-size.

MuraishiWe somehow responsible for the life-size of the times from the time of the "Tiga", "Dina" (laughs). It has a set that can be used with the huge hero is limited to building Toka mountains, life-size hero out there is looking forward from freely we can do. Because you can also of course production which was taking advantage of the setting of huge hero. But it is interesting Nante scene life-size of Gaia came out big agglutinin is scaring.

── series middle and later also agglutinin also power up Gaia, but I Gaia (SV) is type had been differentiated.

MuraishiUltraman basically has the same silhouette, so I changed it to a macho figure to make the version up look clearer. After all Gaia (SV) is the strongest Ultraman, so I wanted to show that it is different from the body shape. If it comes out with ULTRA-ACT, I'd be happy if you could reproduce your body shape well.

── Please give us your thoughts on ULTRA-ACT Ultrama Gaia (V2).

MuraishiI was surprised because really work well. Not just move, and each other to be devised in the hip, I am happy landing pose can be taken that straddle the waist.

* 1 Currently Kazuya Shimizu. With a few exceptions, the actor / suit actor who played Ultraman Aguru throughout the series.