[Sunred]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Switchblade

As I've heard it, Joe Odagiri basically did Kuuga as a favor for a friend. He's more of a serious movie actor now and he considers his tokusatsu work to be kind of an embarrassment

Nah, the deal with Odagiri seems to be he just doesnt have an affinity for the genre as much. He is not ashamed of filming Kuuga though, and he keeps in touch with the cast and staff whenever he has the chance. And the friend you mentioned is the producer of Kuuga and first-half of Hibiki Takatera who he respects and was one of the motivations to star in Kuuga since Takatera assured Odagiri this will not be the usual hero stuff at the time. Odagiri isnt a huge fan of toku, yes, but he does not hate being part of Kuuga.
As for toku alumni who have gone to be big shots not returning a part of it seems to be the agency's decision and also they cost too much to hire because of their status and resume so it can be hard for Toei to make it happen even if an agency says lets do this unless they allocate their budget based on said actor and work around that probably.