Biography
Shigenori Takatera is a Japanese television drama producer. Born in Taito Ward, Tokyo. He was one of the producers of the Kamen Rider franchise. He is well known for his work as the main producer for Kamen Rider Kuuga (2000) and Kamen Rider Hibiki (2005) (Episodes 1 to 29). He is also known for working on Super Sentai shows. Such as Gekisou Sentai Carranger (1996), Denji Sentai Megaranger (1997), and Seiju Sentai Gingaman (1998).
He also wrote Kamen Rider Kuuga: Odyssey, the S.I.C. Hero Saga story that expanded upon the mythology of Kuuga. During his work on Gekisou Sentai Carranger (1996), it completely parodied the existing Sentai heroes and abolished the narration. Using actresses and nude models, Kamen Rider Kuuga (2000) pioneered the real special effects route, and Kamen Rider Hibiki (2005) abolished transformation belts. I loved making it. It is also characterized by constructing a detailed setting, strictly adhering to it, and thoroughly constructing the series so that the story does not collapse. His stubborn side can be seen in his work. The Super Sentai series, for which he served as chief producer, always depicts power struggles and disturbances of unity in enemy organizations. Sticking to "regularity of names", always set rules for subtitles and monster names (for example, the subtitle "Carranger" always includes traffic safety phrases, monster names, languages, and human beings with detailed settings). There are also aspects such as "Kuuga", which realistically depicts the murder of In response to the dualism of good and evil and the theory of good and punishment that the Tokusatsu heroes had until the mid-1990s, the main character, the hero, was temporarily lowered from the position of a conventional superhuman being to the position of a member of the real world. In addition to trying to construct a hero image as an "ideal human image" in the real world, as seen in "Kuuga" and "Hibiki", it is in line with the modern ethos where the boundary between justice and evil has become ambiguous. There is an attitude of trying to give new meaning, such as depicting enemy groups as beings that are mutually incomprehensible with humans. Like Hoshino in Ultraman," which I watched when I was a child, I became conscious of "creating programs that children can feel were made for them, and in Gingaman and Kuuga, children are actively appearing. In addition, Asagi of the Heisei Gamera series inherited the idea of ''Gamera and a boy interacting'' from the Showa Gamera series, so I respected it, and Hibiki's Asumu was born from that model. During his work in the Kamen Rider franchise, Takadera, who originally liked the style of Tsuburaya Productions' works and did not have a good impression of the style of Toei's work, made various promises to Shozo Uehara at a meeting when he participated in Kamen Rider Black (1987). I asked him not to expand. Most of these were rejected by Susumu Yoshikawa's judgment, but Uehara is said to have told him, ''Don't let Mr. Takadera inspire you.'' Regarding Kamen Rider Black (1987), Takadera said, "Many fans said that it was new, but I felt that the goal setting was just a little higher than the previous Kamen Riders. But it ended up being something like "Space Sheriff Plus Alpha".
For a long time, rumors spread that Kamen Rider Kuuga (2000) used half the budget at the beginning of the program because of the bold gimmick of making and burning a whole church set in the second episode, but Takadera There was a comment by the person himself that it was a hoax, and Nobuhiro Suzumura, who directed "Kuuga", also denied, "Of course it takes time, but it's the same studio as the police station, so it's not as rumored. It is said that Takadera's joke was that Joe Odagiri, the lead actor, said, ''After the second episode, my location dialect became dull.''
Takeyuki Suzuki, who was involved in "Kuuga" in the position of production manager, was concerned about the situation, and Shirakura himself acted as a producer from the middle and as an assistant in the middle. It was decided that Shinichiro would participate.
According to Toshiki Inoue, who joined the script team along with Shirakura, Suzuki planned to remove Takadera from the role of producer and change the direction of Kuuga. However, Inoue supported Takadera and series composer Toshihisa Arakawa, and in terms of direction, "Kuuga" was able to stick to its original intention.
Kamen Rider Hibiki (2005) has become a hot topic for its innovative setting and unprecedented composition and direction as a Kamen Rider, but after the chief producer stepped down at the end of episode 29, the content after leaving the Internet has become a hot topic. A big uproar broke out. The reason for this drop drama is still unknown. Shigenori Takadera, who returned to the field for the first time in four years since "Kamen Rider Kuuga", tried to restore order to the chaotic series by introducing battles between riders after "Kamen Rider Agito". However, contrary to Kuuga, which depicts a stable individual in an unstable world, it takes the approach of depicting an incomplete individual in a stable world. Takadera made Hibiki, the main character, a member of the "Takeshi" organization, which has been responsible for exterminating youkai since ancient times. Next to that, I placed a boy's dream for tomorrow and tried to depict the process of growing into an adult while looking at Hibiki's back. Although there is a hierarchical relationship between the warriors, there is no antagonism or quarrel, and they are all on good terms. Sharing the information he inherited from his predecessor with those around him, he carefully depicts the feeling of living in a comfortable space full of trust.
In addition, the background of the world in the play is not limited to demons and yokai but also incorporates elements of Japanese-style bizarre romance such as Onmyodo and Shugendo, which is also interesting in terms of folklore.
In this style, Tsunehiro Uno reads not the identity anxiety of boys but the anxiety of adult men who are not recognized as paternal. In fact, the first half of "Hibiki" received strong support from older maniacs in their 30s to 50s, but it was not accepted by boys, who are the main viewers, and commercial performance was the lowest in the series. The Heisei Kamen Rider series, not just Hibiki, has included elements for adults, but Hiko and Tanaka, who saw this result, realized that children were not accepting the message that adults were trying to convey. I interpret that children simply no longer care about mixing in elements for adults.
The enemy of this work, the demon monster, is mainly depicted in 3DCG as a monster. According to Oki Mitsuru of Nihon Eizo Creative, who was in charge of the visual effects, Oki and the person in charge of modeling participated in a meeting before the script was completed, and after considering technical aspects such as the allocation of CG and modeling, the script was completed. It is said that it had reached Oki said that it was a really tough series because it was the first time he had used this kind of production method, and he was doing almost impossible things in a television series with time constraints.
Takadera stepped down as a producer after the 29th episode. Although the direct reasons have not been made public, various rumors have been circulating through online postings, such as low viewer ratings, sluggish sales, tight budgets, delays in filming, and conflicts with superiors. Shin'ichirô Inoue highly praises the first half of Kamen Rider Hibiki (2005) as the culmination of Takadera's view of the world, but Tsutomu Kataoka believes that, unlike Kamen Rider Kuuga (2000), Takadera no longer wants to express himself through program production. It is inferred that he could not have a theme that could penetrate the work from the beginning.
There was a rumor that Takadera retired from Toei in May 2006, perhaps because he took responsibility for the series of turmoil in "Hibiki", and it spread on the Internet and caused a big stir, but Takadera's comment According to him, he didn't quit because of the "Hibiki" incident but for personal reasons. In February 2007, Takadera's comment was published in the magazine "NEWTYPE THE LIVE Tokusatsu Newtype", and the title at that time was "Kadokawa Shoten Producer", so the theory that he retired from Toei and changed jobs to Kadokawa Shoten was confirmed. In the magazine, he was involved in a supervisory position under the title Cross-Media Brain".
In 2010, after moving to Kadokawa Shoten, he produced the television remake of Daimajin (1966), Daimajin Kanon (2010).
Even after moving to Kadokawa Daiei Studio, he continues to produce works, and since 2020, he has been producing the 30-second promotional video work "Gacho Theater," produced by Chofu City.
