#hiroki hasegawa

[nihillist-blog]

Shin Godzilla (2016)

[redsamuraiii]

Shogun (2024) / Awaiting Kirin (2020)

There will always be war between good and evil. The evil will forever want to dominate, abuse and exploit others. The good will always want to fight back, demand justice and protect their families.

Akechi Mitsuhide (the man that inspires the character of Mariko's father) used to believe Oda Nobunaga to be the one to unify the warring states and usher an era of peace but Oda got greedy.

Akechi began to plot against Oda after he ordered the killings of monks, peasants, women and children on Mount Hiei, to send a message to his enemies of the consequences of their defiance.

At the time, Akechi was in contact with Tokugawa Ieyasu (Toranaga). When Akechi knew that Tokugawa would be the one to unify Japan, Akechi risk his own life to remove Oda to clear the path for him.

Tokugawa laid low when Akechi overthrew Oda. When Hideyoshi (Taiko) returns to avenge Oda, he kills everyone except Tokugawa who was "neutral" when in fact he was bidding his time to take over.

Which is why in the show, Shogun, Toranaga is close to Mariko (Akechi's daughter) and is growing impatient as he wants to remove the remnants of the Taiko and Oda as quickly as possible.

Lady Ochiba (Taiko's Consort) knows of Toranaga's true intentions, which is why she fully distrust and hate him, that she could not wait any longer and push Ishido and the Council to move quickly.

[You know, it would've been cool if they got Hiroki Hasegawa to play Akechi in Shogun! I've watched several actors playing Akechi, but Hiroki Hasegawa managed to nail the conflicted character nicely!)

[astoundingbeyondbelief]

Shin Godzilla (2016), dir. Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi // Godziban 2x06, "Gigan, Troubled!" (2020), dir. Hideyuki Kobayashi

[boydswan]

この国の空 (2015, 荒井晴彦)

[lammfleisch]

The best thing on Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth is Hasegawa Hiroki. God i love this dude

[randomrichards]

SHIN GODZILLA:

Shapeshifting kaiju

Play by play of Gov response

To bring down the beast

[idleminds]

[katsona-the-katsequel]

At which age did they awaken their Personas?

Not the age they began fighting with them. Just the age of awakening. I'm trying to get an age range here. Shotout to Aigis for being the youngest user to awaken to her Persona, at the amazing age of "pre-installed upon activation".

So, from oldest to youngest:

Unknown. Adult

37 years old

Takashi Hanya

Takuto Maruki

Zenkichi Hasegawa

Junko Kurosu (assuming she had a Reverse Persona like the other admins)

33 years old

Ginji Sasaki

28 years old

Takahisa Kandori

27 years old

Baofu

Tohru Adachi

25 years old

Katsuya Suou

24 years old

Ulala Serizawa

Unknown. Could have been a teen or an adult

Tatsuya Sudou

18 years old

17 years old

Yasuo Inoe

Makoto Niijima

Naoya Toudou

Maki Sonomura

Masao Inaba

Kei Nanjo

Eriko Kirishima

Reiji Kido

Yukino Mayuzumi

Lisa Silverman

Jun Kurosu

Anna Yoshizaka

16 years old

Hiroki Sugimoto

Haru Okumura

Hidehiko Uesugi

Yuka Ayase

Minato Arisato/Kotone Shiomi

Junpei Iori

Yukari Takeba

Fuuka Yamagishi

Yu Narukami

Yosuke Hanamura

Chie Satonaka

Yukiko Amagi

Naoto Shirogane

15 years old

Rise Kujikawa

Akira Kurusu

Ryuji Sakamoto

Ann Takamaki

Yusuke Kitagawa

Unknown. Between Ages 16-18

Kanji Tatsumi

Goro Akechi

Futaba Sakura

Sumire Yoshizawa

Kenta Yokouchi

Tomomi Fujimori

Kumi Hirose

Michiko Matsudaira

Yuriko Yamamoto

Unknown. Could have been a child, a teen, or an adult

Takeda

Unknown. Could have been a child or a teen

Eikichi Mishina

Akihiko Sanada

Shinjiro Aragaki

Unknown. Could have been a child

Mitsuru Kirijo

Takaya Sakaki

Jin Shirato

Chidori Yoshino

13 years old

Maya Amano

Akari Hoshi

11 years old

Ken Amada

9 years old

Randolph Carter

8 years old

Tatsuya Suou

2 years old

Morgana

The moment she was born

Aigis

Koromaru

???

Teddie

Sophia

[your-zipper-is-down]

CAST ANNOUNCEMENT!

Chikara - Ayumu Murase (Hinata from Haikyuu, Kage from Ranking of Kings)

Rip - Kaji Yuuki (Eren from SNK, Todoroki from MHA). And if I already thought he was going to be the fangirl-bait, this just confirmed it hshshshs

Latla - Ikumi Hasegawa (Ikuyo Kita from Bochi)

Feng - Toshiyuki Morikawa (Dante from Devil May Cry)

Creed - Yasumoto Hiroki (Agni from Black Butler, King from OPM)

[demifiendrsa]

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth | Story Trailer

Gameplay Trailer

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth will launch both physically and digitally for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC (Steam, Microsoft Store) on January 26, 2024 worldwide.

Overview

■ About

Two larger-than-life heroes, Ichiban Kasuga and Kazuma Kiryu are brought together by the hand of fate, or perhaps something more sinister… Live it up in Japan and explore all that Hawaii has to offer in an RPG adventure so big it spans the Pacific.

Epic Emotional Drama

Two larger-than-life heroes brought together by the hand of fate, or perhaps something more sinister…

Ichiban Kasuga, an unstoppable underdog who’s no stranger to crawling up from rock bottom, and Kazuma Kiryu, a broken man facing down his last days.

Best-in-Class RPG Action

Experience one-of-a-kind combat with dynamic, fast-paced RPG battles where the battlefield becomes your weapon, and anything goes. Adapt your party’s skills to the situation with outlandish jobs and customizations to strategically subdue enemies with over-the-top moves.

Infinite Adventure

Live it up in Japan and explore all that Hawaii has to offer in an adventure so big it spans the Pacific. Unforgettable moments await at every step of the journey with a unique mix of quests and activities to enjoy at your leisure.

Locations

Explore Yokohama’s Isezaki Ijincho and the series’ first overseas region, Hawaii!

Encounter new faces, create new bonds, and enjoy minigames in these immense and vibrant environments.

Cast

Ichiban Kasuga (portrayed by Kazuhiro Nakaya)

Kazuma Kiryu (portrayed by Takaya Kuroda)

Jo Sawashiro (portrayed by Shinichi Tsutsumi)

Yu Nanba (portrayed by Ken Yasuda)

Eiji Mitamura (portrayed by Ryo Narita)

Eric Tomizawa (portrayed by Satoru Iguchi)

Koichi Adachi (portrayed by Akio Otsuka)

Saeko Mukoda (portrayed by Sumire Uesaka)

Joon-gi Han (portrayed by Yuichi Nakamura)

Tianyou Zhao (portrayed by Nobuhiko Okamoto)

Chitose Fujinomiya (portrayed by Anju Inami)

Seonhee (portrayed by Hana Takeda)

Masumi Arakawa (portrayed by Kiichi Nakai)

Masataka Ebina (portrayed by Hiroki Hasegawa)

Dwight (portrayed by Danny Trejo)

Masataka Ebina (portrayed by Daniel Dae Kim)

■ Game Editions

Standard Edition ($69.99)

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth

Deluxe Edition ($84.99)

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth

Master Vacation Bundle

Ultimate Edition ($109.99)

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth game

Master Vacation Bundle

Assorted Outfit Bundle

Sujimon & Resort Bundle

Yakuza CD Collection Set

■ Pre-Order Bonus Content

Hero’s Booster Pack

This pack allows you to increase your party members’ level and job rank by 1.

Includes:

Leveling Set (Small) x 1

Gearworks Crafting Set (Small) x 1

Job Leveling Set (Small) x 1

* These consumable items grant enough EXP to raise a character’s level by 1 and enough Job EXP to raise the rank of the corresponding job by 1. * Please note that these items only grant as much EXP as needed and are therefore of greatest benefit when characters are their furthest from a level or rank up. * These items cannot be used by characters who have reached their maximum level or job rank.

Special Job Set

This set contains the special jobs of Linebacker and Tennis Ace.

Male Job: Linebacker will be available to all male party members.

Female Job: Tennis Ace will be available to all female party members.

* To unlock the Linebacker job, Kasuga’s Confidence must be level 6 or higher. * To unlock the Tennis Ace job, Kasuga’s Charisma must be level 6 or higher.

[horrormoviemonstermakeout]

MONSTER RATING: Godzilla (Shin Godzilla)

Shin Godzilla is a new spin on Godzilla from Japanese directors Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi, and it fucking rules. Look, I love most of the Godzilla movies, even though it went from a metaphor to the horrors of war and the nuclear bomb to basically just kaiju WWE, Godzilla was meant to be a terrifying monster. Shin Godzilla seeks to rectify it with this new incarnation - a mutilated, radiation-scarred amalgamation of tumorous, charred flesh.

Shin Godzilla follows the members of the Japanese government as they attempt to weave their way through the bureaucratic and social nightmare of a 400 foot tall irradiated monster seeking to destroy one of the most densely populated cities in the world. It’s a fairly interesting concept - it’s less a typical kaiju story and more of someone going “Okay, seriously, what if Godzilla actually existed in real life, what would happen?” I’ve been known to enjoy ridiculous hypotheticals and I, for one, am glad that Shin Godzilla follows through with it and still manages to make it interesting. The wonderful performances really sell that these people are responsible for the lives of several million citizens and that they are utterly aware of how limited their powers are. These are people trying to do the best they can to not let this be the worst humanitarian disaster on the face of the planet.

The movie’s cast is huge, I could swear they have enough actors to replicate the Japanese government one-to-one, which makes it a little difficult to pick out who our main protagonists are. The one we focus on the most is Rando Yaguchi (Hiroki Hasegawa), Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary, our main protagonist with his friend Hideki Akasaka (Yutaka Takenouchi), the Prime Minister's aide, and Kayoco Anne Patterson (Satomi Ishihara), the US President’s envoy. As Godzilla grows more and more dangerous - with mutations that threaten to obliterate Tokyo, if not all of Japan - they must organize as many people as they can muster in order to devise a plan to stop Godzilla in its tracks. All the while attempting to placate the US, who is more than eager to destroy Godzilla, along with all of Tokyo, with nuclear force.

I know political commentary is not usually what people come to Godzilla for, but the “what if”-esque nature of this movie lends itself to it surprisingly well. Godzilla is treated both as a force of nature, much like an earthquake or hurricane, that appears randomly to cause arbitrary death and destruction, and a hostile entity that has to be combatted. It’s shockingly realistic for a disaster movie, we see how the government is stretched thin trying to handle evacuation, military deployment, trying to seek reason in a country with an itchy trigger finger resting on the nuke button - it gets tense watching them despair and panic, doing everything they can to minimize the loss of human life.

No punches are pulled at the expense of America, of course. Our response is immediate military deployment, with little to no regard for collateral damage or civilian casualties. Props to the movie for accuracy, even if attempts to fight Godzilla with raw military power are futile. Gunfire, cannonfire, missiles, everything seems to bounce off its burnt exterior without so much as a scratch. The only thing that manages to pierce its skin are the missiles dropped from American B-52 bombers. In response, Godzilla discharges dozens of laser beams from his back, destroying the bombers and reducing the metropolitan area to a burning, irradiated wasteland. Even if the missiles did succeed, the movie is quick to point out that the carpet bombing would’ve annihilated Tokyo anyways. When conventional weaponry doesn’t work, the US immediately plans to destroy both Godzilla and Tokyo through use of a nuclear bomb. Every character is justifiably horrified at this.

Godzilla in this movie is a being of ultimate violence, absolutely nothing can trump it. When there’s a weapon it can’t shrug off, it evolves to surpass it. More importantly though, he’s basically a wild animal trapped in a corner. Of course it’s going to lash out, you’re provoking the god of violence and he’s scared shitless. He is the ultimate hubris punisher, a being that exists to humble humanity and say “Your violence will only be met with destruction.” The calls for violence against it are noticeable once you pick it up, even in the beginning when it’s a large, unknown, whale-like creature in the Tokyo bay, the government officials are already calling for its extermination. The only way he is defeated is through scientific research and understanding, a blood coagulant that is developed only through study of its molecular structure and behavior. The movie’s big message is “Violence will only ever beget greater violence, it’s only through cooperation and understanding that humanity can survive,” and it’s using the American proclivity towards violence as the cudgel for this metaphor, which is great.

We talked a lot about what he represents, but let's get literal for a moment. Let's talk about the big man himself.

- MONSTER RATING - GODZILLA -

CREEPINESS: 7/10 - Classically, Godzilla is just one big dinosaur, and like, conceptually it’s pretty terrifying. He’s a giant monster that’s almost impossible to fight and can kill thousands of people pretty easily, though a lot of the older movies have added a bit of narm to him. For a lot of people, Godzilla is more a goofy rubber monster than something horrifying.

Shin Godzilla is horrifying. His design makes it look like he’s one-half dead, useless flesh and the other half painful, tumorous overgrowth, with the exterior of thick, folded over, burnt skin and dull red light faintly glowing from where it’s thinnest. Raw, exposed flesh that’s visible from the parts that aren’t covered in charred skin. The shriveled, contorted arms that seemed to have lost functionality. The several overlapping teeth that seem to just grow randomly from in and around its mouth. This beast is a product of radiation and every single part of it seems to yearn for a swift release. Existence for Shin Godzilla seems to be one of endless pain, as its tumor-ridden body continues to survive despite it threatening to fall apart.

Though what makes him even scarier than his design is that the movie portrays him like the personification of natural disaster. It cannot be reasoned with, it cannot be stopped, and the more you try to stop him, the more death and destruction he will cause. Even then, nothing humanity can do can actually stop it, it’s more powerful than any weapon on Earth, and its existence only signifies inevitable annihilation. Humans are no longer on top, and they’re no longer safe either. 

The ONLY thing that stops Godzilla from being truly terrifying is - and I’m sorry to say this - the eyes. Big, googly-eyed peepers that don’t suggest any form of brain activity in that skull. A lot of people seem to think it’s first appearance in the film, when it’s younger and less developed, is actually pretty cute in an ugly pug sort of way. The googly eyes carry on even to hid final form, which makes him look unfortunately goofy with his beady little eyes. I understand the movie is trying to go with the glassy, dead-eyed fish appearance to make it look even more like a walking corpse, but it doesn’t really stick. Otherwise, the design is phenomenal.

WETNESS: 6/10 - Surprisingly not as wet as you'D think for a giant fish. His final form makes him look like he survived an hour in the incinerator. The dry, black, cracked skin with a faint red glowing underneath conveying the unbridled nuclear heat stored inside. Though he loses his wetness as he evolves, his first appearance is wet as HELL.

Godzilla is a fish that’s become irradiated, and you can certainly tell that when he first appears. His skin is still green and not yet covered in burnt flesh, though with some parts that are just exposed musculature, as if its rapid growth is literally ripping him apart. As he crawls through the streets of Tokyo, blood spills out of his gills with every breath. This is the midpoint between what it once was and what it will become and it looks utterly painful. If his final form is nuclear incineration, his first form is nuclear disintegration. His cells are just barely holding together as he’s forcefully evolved into a being of destruction.

DATEABILITY: 8/10 - Let me give you a quote from the director of the 1954 Godzilla film, Ishir⁠ō Honda:

“Monsters are tragic beings. They are born too tall, too strong, too heavy. They are not evil by choice. That is their tragedy. They do not attack people because they want to, but because of their size and strength, mankind has no other choice but to defend himself.”

You’re a fish in the ocean, and by happenstance you accidentally find yourself in a nuclear waste dumping ground. The radiation mutates you. Slowly, painfully, you grow larger. Your fins are replaced with distortions of limbs, blood spills out of your gills, and you have no idea what is causing the pain you feel. Soon enough, you start surpassing buildings in size, and in a blind, pained stupor you find yourself in a city. Your body is too huge and unwieldy, as you move the infrastructure around you turns to rubble, and hundreds die in your wake. In response, humans have no choice but to try and kill you. You never chose this, you never even realized what was happening, but now you’ve become a god of death, the only thing you will ever cause is misery and disaster. You are utterly alone, because you’ve become built for violence, and violence will be the only thing you’ll know for the rest of your life.

Godzilla is all alone in this world, and no one can possibly understand them. He might be a terrifying destructive god on the outside but on the inside they’re angry and terrified. Can you imagine suddenly mutating into a gigantic monster, whose existence can only destroy? How alienating it must be that you cannot coexist with the life around you, that the only thing that can follow you is unmitigated death. No one will try to understand you, let alone sympathize with you, because you will only ever be a threat and nothing more. It’s fascinating that the song that plays when Godzilla unleashes his nuclear beams, “Who Will Know,” is one that’s sympathetic to him.

“If I die in this world / Who will know something of me? / I am lost, no one knows / There’s no trace of my yearning.”

Godzilla in this movie, despite his city-destroying size and power, is still the scared little guppy he once was. He doesn’t know any better, he doesn’t even know why this is happening to him in the first place. What he needs most of all is someone next to him, to see him for what he is, and to love and care for him despite his irradiated and monstrous appearance. Someone to quell the fiery radioactive fear in his heart, and show him the love he needs in a world that only seeks his death.

FINAL RATING: A GIANT TUMOR WORTH LOVING / 10

[fanofspooky]

Shin Godzilla

2016 • 120 Mins • Not Rated

Directed By Hideaki Anno

Hiroki Hasegawa • Yutaka Takenouchi • Satomi Ishihara • Ren Ôsugi

[redsamuraiii]

The Best Shin "Trilogy"

Watched them all twice in the cinema! Hideaki Anno is like the Japanese Christopher Nolan. The story, cinematography, dialogue and soundtrack is just awesome! He's able to retain the original vibes and spirit while adding a modern twist and a badass feel.

[astoundingbeyondbelief]

This is the same character in the same movie; credit for his transformation goes to his pet turtle who becomes an adorable kaiju by way of The Actual Santa Claus. Please watch Love & Peace.

[meltorights]

WAIT KEIICHI HASEGAWA AND HIROKI UCHIDA ARE GOTCHARD'S WRITERS??????????

[lammfleisch]

I need to watch every movie and show with Hasegawa Hiroki, too. Loved his Performance in Shin Godzilla. The way he moves looks so aesthetical pleasing 🙈

The scenes of him just reacting and talking to his Team are gorgeous. I love how he plays with his face and Anno trying to make him look like an Anime Protag with his direction is amazing too.