, born 15 August 1958, is a Japanese filmmaker, best known for low-budget parody films featuring surreal humour and traditional practical effects. Kawasaki began his career with mostly self-financed work, including the ''Den-Ace'' short films, featuring a parody of kyodai-style Japanese superheroes, before working on Tsuburaya Production's ''

Ultraman Tiga is a Japanese tokusatsu TV drama and the twelfth show in the Ultra Series. Produced by Tsuburaya Productions, ''Ultraman Tiga'' had aired at 6:00pm and aired between September 7, 1996 to August 30, 1997, with a total of 52 episodes with five mo ...

'' (1996-1997). He had his first hit with ''

The Calamari Wrestler is a 2004 Japanese film by director Minoru Kawasaki, starring Kana Ishida and Osamu Nishimura. Plot The plot revolves around a professional wrestler who, after developing a terminal illness, becomes a giant squid-like creature (Osamu Nishimura) ...

'' (2004), about a wrestler who inexplicably becomes a

giant squid The giant squid (''Architeuthis dux'') is a species of deep-ocean dwelling squid in the family Architeuthidae. It can grow to a tremendous size, offering an example of abyssal gigantism: recent estimates put the maximum size at around Trace ...

. He followed this up with ''Executive Koala'' (2005), about an

anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...

koala The koala or, inaccurately, koala bear (''Phascolarctos cinereus''), is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia. It is the only extant representative of the family Phascolarctidae and its closest living relatives are the womb ...

salaryman who may or may not have murdered his wife, and ''

Kabuto-O Beetle translated as ''Beetle, the Horn King'' is a 2005 Japanese film directed by Minoru Kawasaki. The film, from an original story by Go Nagai and a screenplay by Takao Nakano is a Japanese film director, screenwriter and actor who has worked in ...

'' (also 2005), another wrestling-themed movie, this time with a giant

stag beetle Stag beetles are a family of about 1,200 species of beetles in the family Lucanidae, currently classified in four subfamilies.Smith, A.B.T. (2006). A review of the family-group names for the superfamily Scarabaeoidea (Coleoptera) with corrections ...

. In 2006, he released ''

The World Sinks Except Japan is a 2006 Japanese black comedy film directed by Minoru Kawasaki, as a parody of the 2006 film ''Sinking of Japan''. It is based on the 1973 short story of the same name by Yasutaka Tsutsui (a parody of the novel ''Japan Sinks'', released the s ...

'', a spoof of

Shinji Higuchi is a Japanese filmmaker and storyboard artist. He is one of the most successful Japanese filmmakers and the top ''tokusatsu'' film director. Higuchi became known for his work on '' Gamera: Guardian of the Universe'', for which he won the Specia ...

remake A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the same ...

of '' Japan Sinks'', and ''Crab Goalkeeper'' (also 2006), a film Kawasaki describes as being his ''

Forrest Gump ''Forrest Gump'' is a 1994 American comedy-drama film directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by Eric Roth. It is based on the 1986 novel of the same name by Winston Groom and stars Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Gary Sinise, Mykelti Williamson and ...

'' (1994). Kawasaki has also directed 2008's '' Monster X Strikes Back: Attack the G8 Summit'', a sequel to the 1967

Shochiku () is a Japanese film and kabuki production and distribution company. It also produces and distributes anime films, in particular those produced by Bandai Namco Filmworks (which has a long-time partnership—the company released most, if not all ...

kaiju is a Japanese media genre that focuses on stories involving giant monsters. The word ''kaiju'' can also refer to the giant monsters themselves, which are usually depicted attacking major cities and battling either the military or other monster ...

film ''

The X from Outer Space is a 1967 Japanese science fiction '' kaiju'' film that was directed by Kazui Nihonmatsu and stars Eiji Okada and Toshiya Wazaki. Guilala returned in a 2008 Shochiku sequel of sorts called '' Monster X Strikes Back: Attack the G8 Summit''. Plot ...

''. While the original, made during the height of Japan's "Kaiju Boom" (1966-1967), is played straight, the sequel is another parody. He has since directed two more kaiju films: ''Kaiju Mono'' (2016) and ''

Monster Seafood Wars is a 2020 Japanese ''kaiju'' film directed by Minoru Kawasaki. The film is loosely based on an unmade film featuring a giant octopus proposed by Eiji Tsuburaya prior to production of the original 1954 ''Godzilla'' film. Plot Yuta Tanuma, a f ...

'' (2020).

Filmography

As director

* ''

'' (2004) * ''

'' (2005) * ''Executive Koala'' (2005) * ''Crab Goalkeeper'' (2006) * ''

(2006)'' * ''The Rug Cop'' (2006) * '' Monster X Strikes Back: Attack the G8 Summit (2008)'' * (2008) * ''Outer Man'' (2015) * ''

Kaiju Mono is a 2016 Japanese ''kaiju'' film directed by Minoru Kawasaki. Plot A giant monster appears from the ground, after the eruption of Mt. Myojin. In the meantime, Japanese government asks help from the scientist Dr. Saigo and his daughter Miwa ...

'' (2016) * ''

'' (2020) *''

Planet Prince 2021 is a 2021 Japanese tokusatsu science fiction superhero film directed by Minoru Kawasaki. It is a reboot of Toei's ''Planet Prince'' franchise and the second theatrical film adaptation of the series. Premise 200 years after his spaceship crash ...

'' (2021)

References

Nipponconnection.de 2006: Minoru KawasakiFilm Threat: Fantasia marches into its final week
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kawasaki, Minoru 1958 births Living people Japanese film directors