RIP Masanari Nihei

 
RIP Masanari Nihei 
 
Last night I found out that Masanari Nihei had passed away. Nihei was best known for playing Mitsuhiro Ide on Ultraman. I've only seen the first 17 episodes of Ultraman so far but Ide is by far my favorite character and I doubt that will change. His comedy work on the show is unmatched. I call him a master of making silly faces. It didn't matter if he was playing scared or having a good time. He could make a funny face. Two episodes of Ultraman standout to me from what I have seen so far that showoff how good Nihei was at playing Ide. I really like episode 2 where he's pretty much playing a cowardly goof the whole episode. He's making all sorts of scared faces when the Baltan attacks. Episode 13 is another good one when Ide feels he has failed the SSSP by accidentally causing the destruction of an oil refinery by a monster. The world lost a good one in Masanari Nihei. Rest in peace. 

-Toku Tom Fool



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Ultraman Episode 25 - The Mysterious Comet Tsuifon

Image
  Ultraman Episode 25 The Mysterious Comet Tsuifon Original Air Date: January 1st, 1967 Directed by: Toshihiro Iijima Screenplay by: Bunzo Wakatsuki Review by: Toku Tom Fool I'm going to come out from the top and say that I love this episode. There's no complex storytelling but instead we get about ten minutes of giant monsters fighting which is all you need sometimes. The plot of the episode begins with a comet called Tsuifon heading to Earth. Professor Iwamoto says it has an 83% chance of hitting the Earth and if it does it will probably wipe everyone out. Well, that is until they recalculate and realize it's going to miss. The technology wasn't as good back then at calculating these comets or asteroids. The comet will fly right by Earth really close so the SSSP has to be on the lookout for anything weird happening.  It's a nervous situation at the SSSP HQ. It's so bad that Fuji accidentally puts salt in the coffee which leads to humorous reactions of everyon...
Read more

Review: Ultraman Episode 4 - Five Seconds Before Explosion

Image
  Ultraman Episode #4 Five Seconds Before Explosion Original Air Date: August 7th, 1966 Directed by: Samaji Nonagase Screenplay by: Ryu Minamikawa Review by: Toku Tom Fool Episode 4 of Ultraman starts with the news that six atom bombs were being sent to Jupiter to help develop it. I'm not quite sure how that works. Were they trying to terraform Jupiter? I don't think an atom bomb would do that. The whole plan seemed destined to fail and it did before the atom bombs even got to Jupiter. The missile carrying the bombs malfunctions and the six bombs fall back to Earth. One of them detonated in the water while four of the other five were recovered before catastrophe struck.  The SSSP are doing their best to locate the final bomb except for some reason Fuji is sent on vacation. There is a nuke on the loose and we are giving people vacations? Fuji seems excited for her vacation though since she hasn't taken one since she started working at the SSSP. Hoshino is going with her thou...
Read more

Review: Ultraman Episode 3 - Science Patrol, Move Out

Image
      Ultraman Episode #3    Science Patrol, Move Out   Original Air Date: July 31st, 1966   Directed by: Toshihiro Iijima   Screenplay by: Masahiro Yamada   Review by: Toku Tom Fool   Well, this episode starts with....a well. Our resident female character, Akiko Fuji, is investigating strange noises at this well with our resident child character, Hoshino. I haven't really mentioned Hoshino up to this point but he was in the first two episodes. He hangs around with our other SSSP characters, yet I'm not quite sure if he works there or if he's a sibling of someone. I could google these things but I like to let the show do the explaining for me. Hoshino finds the source of the noises when he spots a giant eye staring back at him.      Hoshino names the monster Neronga based on an old legend of a monster living in the well. Neronga is a transparent monster that can only become visible by taking electrical power from nearby po...
Read more