[Sunred]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guyver Spawn

It depends on the experience for the show was for me. I remember a few KR actors admit that they didn't like working on the show that they work on. I recall Joe Odagiri hated working on Kuuga.

Regarding Odagiri, from what I have gathered that whole "I hate toku, suck it" part was taken out of context somewhat. One thing about Odagiri is that in the late 90s he was going through a "drama/theater hipster" phase and hated mainstream acting and a children's show where folks change from casual clothes to a skintight bodysuit and fiber-reinforced plastic mask to fight ugly monsters while screeching "I will kick your ass for justice!" so casually probably will not float his boat circa late 1990s. Apparently the Kuuga staff(and probably/primarily Chief Producer Takatera who previously worked on Carranger and later went on to produce the first half of Kamen Rider Hibiki and Daimajin Kanon) noticed this during auditions and convinced him that they are also trying to break the mold with Kuuga, which was music to young padawan Odagiri's ears.

So thanks to a supportive environment he had the liberty to play the role of a superhero who was not the gung ho male toku lead that bellows "YOSHI, IKUZO!" every time and also allowed him to give his personal suggestions and opinions during filming which is pretty rare for a rookie actor that just got his/her first lead role I bet.

From the looks of it he enjoyed Kuuga despite still being a weekly 30-minute toy commercial + mainstream media at the time because he had a chance to grow as an actor while being part of a project that tried to do things differently for a rather formulaic series. Heck, he is still buddies with most of the actors and staff to the point where he attends private reunions, and if you see Daimajin Kanon which Takatera worked on, Odagiri cameos in it which is because he is still friends with Takatera.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Switchblade

Several of the actors from Hibiki were very vocal about their displeasure with the production staff shake-up. It was a pretty big deal since it was rare for actors to go public with those kinds of negative feelings.

Yep, I believe most toku fans were angry at the time. Also having the entire production team replaced mid-season is not a common sight so there's that too. My theory for the whole switcheroo is that Takatera's auteur tendencies reached its limit(remember, this was the man who was in charge of the show that engulfed a chapel in flames for the most badass debut of Kuuga Mighty Form) and Toei and Bandai probably was worried that they would go broke if they let him continue, so they kicked him out and replaced him with Shirakura who despite the hate and venom is known for bringing in profit in most of the stuff he works on.

Oh yeah, speaking of that burning chapel...