Koichi Kawakita (川北紘一,   Kawakita Kōichi^?), born December 5, 1942, was a Japanese optical technician, special effects director, and director best known for his work on most of the Heisei era Godzilla films and the first two Rebirth of Mothra films. He also occasionally appeared in cameos in some of Toho's tokusastu productions.

Filmography[]

• Gorath (1962) - Assistant Optical Technician
• King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) - Assistant Special Effects Cameraman
• Zero Fighter (Special Effects Optical Assistant)
• The Return of Ultraman - Assistant Director of Special Effects
• Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971) - Assistant Director of Special Effects
• Zone Fighter - Director of Special Effects
• Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974) - Assistant Director of Special Effects
• Ultraman Leo - Special Effects Supervisor
• Prophecies of Nostradamus (1974) - Assistant Director of Special Effects
• Conflagaration - Assistant Director of Special Effects
• The Human Revolution Continues - Assistant Director of Special Effects
• Zero Pilot - Director of Special Effects
• Goliathon -Assistant Director of Special Effects
• Monkey - Director of Special Effects
• Tokyo Daijishin Magnitude 8.1 - Special Effects Supervisor
• Ultraman 80 - Special Effects Supervisor
• Saraba Kaitei Kûbo I 401 Maboroshi no Panama Unga Daibakugeki! - Special Effects Supervisor
• The War in Space (1977) - Assistant Director of Special Effects
• Megaloman - Director of Special Effects
• Bye-Bye Jupiter (1984) - Director of Special Effects
• Zero - Director of Special Effects
• Love: Take Off - Director of Special Effects
• 19 - Special Effects Supervisor
• Bureau of D Agency - Director of Special Effects
• Gunhed (1989) - Director of Special Effects
• Godzilla vs. Biollante (1989) - Director of Special Effects
• Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah (1991) - Director of Special Effects
• Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992) - Director of Special Effects
• Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993) - Director of Special Effects, Rodan (Hand Puppet)
• Yamato Takeru (1994) - Director of Special Effects
• Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994) - Director of Special Effects
• Godzilla vs. Destoroyah (1995) - Director of Special Effects
• Rebirth of Mothra (1996) - Director of Special Effects
• Rebirth of Mothra II (1997) - Director of Special Effects
• Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001) - SDF Officer (Cameo)
• Super Star God GranSazer - Director of Special Effects, SDF Officer (Cameo)
• Phantom Star God Justirisers - Director of Special Effects, Businessman (Cameo)
• Super Star Fleet Sazer-X - Director of Special Effects, Businessman (Cameo)
• Super Fleet Sazer-X the Movie: Fight! Star Soldiers (2005) - Director of Special Effects
• CR Godzilla 3S-T Battle - Director of Special Effects (Live Action Scenes)
• Kawaii! JeNny - Director

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

• Just before his death in December 2014, Koichi Kawakita acted as a consultant for the 2014 Godzilla video game.
• On November 28, 2015, a special festival was held in Tokyo in honor of Koichi Kawakita. The films Godzilla vs. Mothra, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II, Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla, and Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, for all of which Kawakita acted as the director of special effects, were screened at the festival.

v • eStaff
Showa era	Directors: Ishiro Honda • Eiji TsuburayaSFX director • Motoyoshi Oda • Koji Hashimoto • Koichi KawakitaAssistant SFX director • Jun Fukuda • Yoshimitsu Banno • Mikio Naruse Producers: Tomoyuki Tanaka Writers: Shinichi Sekizawa • Takeo Murata • Takeshi Kimura Composers: Akira Ifukube • Masaru Sato Actors and actresses: Akira Takarada • Akihiko Hirata • Momoko Kochi • Takashi Shimura • Fuyuki Murakami • Raymond Burr • Hiroshi Koizumi • Tadao Takashima • Hideyo Amamoto • Kumi Mizuno • Susumu Kurobe • Seiji Ōnaka • Koji Furuhata • Don MessickTGPH Suit actors: Haruo Nakajima • Katsumi Tezuka • Hiroshi Sekita • Kōji Sora • Satoshi Furuya • Koetsu Omiya • Shinji Takagi • Hideto Odachi • Isao Zushi • Tadakki Watanabe • Toru Kawai
Heisei era	Directors: Kazuki Omori • Takao OkawaraWriters: Kazuki Omori Composers: Reijiro Koroku • Kouichi Sugiyama • Takayuki Hattori Actors and actresses: Megumi Odaka • Masahiro Takashima • Jirō Dan • Mayumi Ōkuwa • Kaori Aizawa • Kenichirō Shimamura Suit actors: Wataru Fukuda • Ryō Haritani • Kenpachiro Satsuma • Hurricane Ryu Hariken • Tsutomu Kitagawa • Mizuho Yoshida • Akira Ohashi • Toshinori Sasaki Printed media: Noriyoshi Ohrai • Hurricane Ryu Hariken
Millennium series	Directors: Takao Okawara • Masaaki Tezuka • Shusuke Kaneko • Hirofumi Ishigaki • Ryuhei Kitamura Producers: Shogo Tomiyama Writers: Wataru Mimura Composers: Michiru Oshima • Kow Otani Actors and actresses:Natalia D. AdamsOrga vocalizations Suit actors: Rie Ota • Toshinori Sasaki • Hirofumi Ishigaki • Kazuhiro Yoshida
TriStar Pictures	Directors: Roland Emmerich Producers: Dean Devlin Writers: Dean Devlin Actors and actresses: Frank WelkerGodzilla vocalizations Suit actors: Kurt Carley
MonsterVerse	Directors: Gareth Edwards • Jordan Vogt-Roberts Producers: Thomas Tull • Jon Jashni • Mary Parent • Brian Rogers • Yoshimitsu Banno Writers: Max Borenstein Composers: Alexandre Desplat • Henry Jackman Actors and actresses: Aaron Taylor-Johnson • Ken Watanabe • Elizabeth Olsen • Juliette Binoche • Sally Hawkins • David Strathairn • Bryan Cranston • Carson Bolde • CJ Adams • Al Sapienza • Tom Hiddleston • Samuel L. Jackson • John Goodman • Brie Larson • Jing Tian • Toby Kebbell • John Ortiz • Corey Hawkins • Jason Mitchell • Shea Whigham • Thomas Mann • John C. Reilly • Millie Bobby Brown • Kyle Chandler • Vera Farmiga • O'Shea Jackson Jr. • Aisha Hinds • Anthony Ramos • Charles Dance • Randell Havens • Thomas Middleditch • Bradley Whitford • Zhang Ziyi Suit actors: T.J. Storm
Reiwa era	Directors: Hideaki Anno • Shinji Higuchi • Kobun Shizuno • Hiroyuki Seshita Writers: Hideaki Anno Composers: Shiro Sagisu • Takayuki Hattori Actors and actresses: Ren Matsuzawa • Miwa Sasaki • Hiroki Hasegawa • Yutaka Takenouchi • Satomi Ishihara • Mamoru Miyano • Takahiro Sakurai • Kana Hanazawa • Tomokazu Sugita • Yuuki Kaji • Junichi Suwabe Suit actors: Mansai Nomura
Miscellaneous	Directors: Willis O'Brien IDW Publishing: Chris Mowry • Matt Frank • Jeff Zornow • Priscilla Tramontano