Recently I had a chance to interview J.D. Lees, one of the biggest voices in the fan community. Lees is best known for creating the massive G-Con/G-Fest–a yearly convention celebrating Godzilla and tokusatsu–as well as the longest running fanzine of all time, G-Fan (note that I have written a few small articles for that publication, too–including a column called Kaiju Comics Corner… shameless plug). Lees has a long history with the convention circuit, with bringing Japanese celebrities to the USA, with helping to organize theatrical showings of giant monster films, even with putting together tours for fans around Japan. In this interview, we cover all of these topics and more, including his work on The Official Godzilla Compendium book with author Mark Cerasini, his time living in Japan, and his upcoming plans. Please take a read, and I hope you enjoy what you see. (more…)

Interview with the Senior Vice President of Legendary Comics, Robert Napton. In this interview, conducted shortly after SDCC, we cover the upcoming Godzilla vs. Kong vs. Justice League comic book series from DC Comics and Monsterverse Comics from Legendary Comics. Total running time: 36 minutes, 50 seconds. This interview does end abruptly and was edited for flow. Conducted Wednesday July 26th, 2023.

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The following is an exclusive interview with the executive producer Jacob Robinson and director Willis Bulliner of the Skull Island animated show produced by Legendary Entertainment Television. Interview conducted on July 3rd, 2023 at Anime Expo in Los Angeles, California. This interview was edited for flow.

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The following is an exclusive interview with Nicolas Cantu who plays “Charlie” on the “Skull Island” animated show produced by Legendary Entertainment Television. Interview conducted on July 3rd, 2023 at Anime Expo in Los Angeles, California. This interview was edited for flow.

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Chris Mirjahangir and Brian Elston interview marketing director Akos Gyorkei of Zen Studios, the developer responsible for the release of the Godzilla vs. Kong-themed pinball game available on consoles and PC.

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Conducted 30 years ago this month (December 1992) by journalist David Milner for “Cult Movies” magazine, this is what would be the original Godzilla film (and various sequels and other films) director Ishiro Honda’s final interview prior to his death in February 1993. When the interview was originally published in “Cult Movies” magazine in 1993, it was printed as a largely complete interview. Now, for the first time, the interview is being published in its completed form (although lightly edited for flow and no information lost).

In the interview, conducted at his home in Setagaya, Tokyo, Mr. Honda covers a wide range of subjects from the Godzilla series to his work in other films. Coming in at 17 pages long, there’s quite a bit of information to digest. For those of you who have read the old transcriptions of the “Cult Movies” Magazine either found online or have the older issues, there’s a bit of new information here in this new transcription, which has remained unreleased for 30 years. For those of you who have found Godzilla either by the Legendary Pictures films or the Toho films by yourself, via a friend or a loved one, and wanted to know more about Godzilla, I hope you find this interview educational and inspiring!

In addition to the interview text, I’m also adding the audio of the full interview which has never been released. The audio has been digitized from the original cassettes and while it isn’t the BEST quality, the interview is preserved (it does have a few hiccups here and there) and has a total running time of 3 hours 12 minutes and 9 seconds.

This interview is the first of many with other Toho luminaries, most of which will be posted with the original audio alongside each transcription. Because of the workload required, I cannot guarantee a time frame for releases but I will do my very best to post as quickly as possible.

Thank yous:

First off, I’d like to thank David Milner for entrusting me with his full interview archive for sharing on Toho Kingdom and for digitizing the original cassette tapes so the interviews would not be lost to time. I sincerely hope that you not only enjoy them, but find them useful as reference when writing/discussing the Godzilla franchise, and the words of those interviewed continue to inspire and educate for many years to come.

In addition, this re-translation was originally done by Yuuko Honda-Yun (granddaughter of Ishiro) for Steve Ryfle and Ed Godziszewski as part of their research for their book Ishiro Honda: A Life in Film, from Godzilla to Kurosawa. VERY special thanks to Mr. Ryfle and Mr. Godziszewski for sharing this complete translation with Toho Kingdom, and to Miss Honda-Yun for giving permission to share it. Toho Kingdom also wishes to thank the interview’s original translator, Yoshihiko Shibata.

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Recently I had a chance to interview one of my favorite kaiju artists who has really made a splash amongst the fandom and more recently in the professional sphere as well—Dope Pope—sometimes known as d0pep0pe. Dope Pope has been an active artist in the kaiju sphere for many years, dealing mostly with Zbrush art with incredible lifelike renditions of classic kaiju from the East and West—naturally including many Godzilla monsters, both from Toho and from the Monsterverse. As both a personal enthusiast of giant monsters, and as a professional monster designer, Dope Pope continues to provide fresh and astonishing art—and we might be seeing some of his designs in upcoming films and merchandise! Plus, in the course of this interview, I discovered Dope Pope actually designed a certain kaiju in the Monsterverse! Please read on to find out who. (more…)

When it comes to film studies, there’s no shortage of books on Akira Kurosawa. One of the latest is David A. Conrad’s Akira Kurosawa and Modern Japan, which takes the unique approach of using the director’s movies to discuss 20th-century history. Patrick Galvan recently sat down with Conrad to talk about his interests in both Kurosawa and history, and how the two resulted in this latest book. (more…)

Hey everyone! I recently interviewed Storyboard Artist Richard Bennett and Clover Publisher Hank Kanalz about the Godzilla & Kong Storyboard Artbook! Also included are two exclusive pages from the book!

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Hey everyone! I recently sat down with clothing line owner Tony Kim to chat about the company’s line of Godzilla attire! Check it out below!

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