Yuka Iguchi (Theatrical animation part: Beniko / Live-action part: Girl )
In 2002, at the age of 14, she passed a voice acting audition hosted by Gamers, and made her debut as Peridot in “Gamers Guardian Fairies (GGF).” Another alumna of GGF is Goto Saori (who also formed a unit called “airyth”, but later disbanded). She often plays young girls and adult women. She has played a variety of roles, including innocent, cheerful, lively, taciturn, and tomboyish. She is currently in the spotlight for her role as Index in “A Certain Magical Index: The Miracle of Endymion”, due for release in 2013.
[Anime] “Chousoku Henkei Gyrozetter” (Inaba Rinne), “Hayate the Combat Butler! CAN’T TAKE MY EYES OFF YOU” (Tsugumi Ruri), “To Love-Ru” (To Love-Ru) Darkness” (Kurosaki Mea) / “Senran Kagura” (Hibari) / “Girls und Panzer” (Reizei Asako) / “A Certain Magical Index” series (Index) / “Chibi Devil!” (Sawada Honoka) / “Sankarea” (Furuya Moeru) / “Nisemonogatari” (Araragi Tsukihi) / “Mayo Chiki!” (Konoe Subaru) / “Ro-Kyu-Bu!” (Misawa Maho) / “Haganai” (Takayama Maria) / “Fractale” (Enri) / “Tamayura” (Okazaki Norie) / “Otome Yokai Zakuro” (Sakura) / “Mayoi Neko Overrun!” (Umenomori Chise) / “Mitsudomoe” (Ito Shiori) / “Nyan Koi!” (Mizuno Kaede) / “FAIRY TAIL” (Sherry Blendy) / “Shangri-La” (Ishida Karin) / “Masked Maid Guy” (Fujiwara Naeka) / “True Tears” (Ando Aiko) / “The Familiar of Zero: Rondo of the Three Beautiful Princesses” (Irukuku) / “THE IDOLM@STER XENOGLOSSIA” (Amami Haruka) / “Bakugan Battle Brawlers” (Oberon) / “Bokura no” (Nakama) / “Kissdom -ENGAGE planet-” (Vaile) / “Di Gi Charat Nyo” (Usada Akari)
Terada Nori (Theatrical animation part: role of Enjiru)
He was the eldest son of Western-style painter Masaaki Terada. He graduated from Tokyo Metropolitan Shimura High School and dropped out of Waseda University’s School of Political Science and Economics. In 1961 , he enrolled in the first class of the Bungakuza Theater Institute. His classmates included Mori Kishida, Daigo Kusano, Isao Hashizume, Kirin Kiki, Mayumi Ogawa, and Soichiro Kitamura. In 1965 , he made his film debut in director Heinosuke Gosho’s “The Woman of Mount Osore” (Shochiku). That same year, he appeared as Tachibana Kimio in “What is Youth?”, the first installment of Nippon Television’s “Youth Academy” series, gaining popularity as a promising young actor. In 1968 , he was selected for the lead role in director Kihachi Okamoto’s “Nikudan,” co-starring opposite Naoko Otani, and won the Best Actor Award at the Mainichi Film Awards, solidifying his status as an actor. Since then, he has been a regular in the works of directors Akio Jissoji, Shinji Somai, and Takashi Ishii, demonstrating solid acting in a wide range of genres, from dramas to special effects. He has also appeared in numerous historical dramas. In addition to his work as an actor, he is also active as a film director and narrator, and is best known for his voice acting role as Colonel Muska in Studio Ghibli’s animated film “Castle in the Sky.” In “Burning Buddha Man,” he plays the same villain as Muska. He readily agreed to appear in this film as it is an homage to director Akio Jissoji.
[Movies] ” Nikudan ” / ” Akage ” / ” Tsugaru Jongara Bushi ” / ” Winter Flower ” / ” Station ” / ” Love Hotel ” / ” Sailor Suit and Machine Gun” / ” Satomi Hakkenden ” / ” Urehakashi Monogatari ” / ” School 3 ” / ” Music Box ” / ” Modern Ninkyoden ” / ” D Hill Murder Case ” / ” Pride – The Moment of Destiny ” / ” Dragon Head ” / ” The Tree of Translucence ” / ” The Secret Garden ” / ” Everything But Japan Sinks ” / ” Island Times ” / ” Unfair ” / ” I’m Going to Die for You ” / ” Dog in a Sidecar ” / ” The Truth About Nanjing ” / ” Everything Around Us ” / ” Kamen Rider x Kamen Rider W & Decade Movie War 2010 ”
Hara Chisako (Theatrical animation part: Benira )
Her real name is Jissoji Chisako, and her husband is the film director Jissoji Akio. In 1955, during her second year of university, she passed Shintoho’s “4th Generation Starlet” audition (her contemporaries included Kitazawa Noriko, Mitsuya Utako, Mari Masayo, and Asakura Ayako), dropped out of university to join the company, and made her debut as an actress the following year. In 1959, she moved to Toho. Since then, she has appeared in numerous films and television dramas, mainly in supporting roles. In the “Red Series” (produced by Daiei Television) starring Yamaguchi Momoe, she played a bully. She readily agreed to appear in this film as it was an homage to director Jissoji Akio.
[Movies] “The Dirty Flesh Saint” / “Black Art Book: The Testimony of a Salaryman” / “Autumn Has Come” / “A Night of Women Only” / “The Crimson Man” / “There Was a Woman in That Place” / “Dried Flowers” / “The Wife of Hanaoka Seishu” / “The Female Gambler’s Tactics” / “Bonds of Love” / “Coming of Age Ceremony at Seventeen” / “Asaki Yumemishi” / “Preparing for the Festival” / “The Devil Comes and Plays the Flute” / “The Tower of Himeyuri” / “Distant Sunset” / “The Fishing Fool’s Diary 8” / “The Murder on D Hill” / “Ah, Spring” / “Lily Festival” / “Summer of the Ubume” / “Silver Mask”
Kitaoka Tatsuyuki (Theatrical animation part: as Enji / Live-action part: as the butler)
He began his entertainment career in 1990 under the name Kitaoka Hisataka. After numerous film appearances, he changed his name to Kitaoka Ryuuki in 2005. He has also appeared in numerous international films, including American, Hong Kong, Chinese, Philippine, and Taiwanese films. After working for Sky Corporation, he is now a freelancer.
[Movies] “Nanase Futatabi” / “DEATH KAPPA” / “THE CODE” / “ICHI” / “Vexille” / “Dororo” / “Sukeban Deka Codename: Asamiya Saki”
[Foreign movies] “Shinjuku Incident” (Hong Kong movie) / “Tokyo Raiders” (Hong Kong movie) / “Para Para Sakura” (Hong Kong movie) / “Twin Effect” (Hong Kong movie) / “Wu Qing Yuan” (Chinese movie) / “Rose of Creation” (Philippine movie) / “The Last Samurai” (American movie) / Chinese movie “The Golden Coup” / Taiwanese movie “Seediq Bale”
Labor Sato (Gekimation part: Anishi)
is an impersonator and highly acclaimed for his impersonations of various monsters and sci-fi characters. He is also an avid Star Trek fan, and his level of knowledge and love goes beyond the average fan. He is highly active in Star Trek education activities and even pays his own way to attend Star Trek: The Experience at the Las Vegas Hilton. He often acts as a host at Star Trek events under the name Voyager Sato. He is also a regular in director Kawasaki Minoru’s films. In 2012, he changed his name from Raper Sato to Labor Sato.
Watanabe Hirokazu (Gekimation part: C.G. )
is a comedian affiliated with Shochiku Entertainment (Cinderella Express). He has received high praise as a comedian, winning awards such as the Outstanding Fighting Spirit Award at the 19th NHK Kamigata Manzai Contest in 1989, the Special Jury Award at the 11th ABC Comedy Newcomer Grand Prix in 1990, victory in the Comedy Gold Rush (hosted by Takada Fumio) in Tokyo, and the Encouragement Award at the 44th Kamigata Manzai Grand Prix in 2009. He is known to all comedy fans. He is active on stage, television, and radio, focusing on manzai. The group celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2008. Watanabe is a member of the Japan Academy Prize Association and has also worked as a film critic.
Director: Ujicha (Debut Film)
This unprecedented work is the debut of Kyoto-based newcomer Ujicha. Born in Kyoto Prefecture in 1986, he graduated from the Department of Tourism Design at Kyoto Saga University of Arts. He currently resides in Uji City. While attending university, he became interested in the visual expression known as gekimation and began creating his own films. Initially, he handled everything from direction, scriptwriting, cinematography, animation, editing, music, and dubbing. After graduating, he was invited by university alumnus Leo Anzai to begin professional filmmaking. His independent films “Space Monster War” and “The Revenge of the Silver Screen” (only the gekimation portion) were highly acclaimed, leading to the production of this film. The ability to create everything from animation to filming in his studio is a testament to advances in digital equipment. He loves a wide variety of films, including horror, action, science fiction, and even spaghetti westerns, and enjoys works by directors such as John Carpenter, Lucio Fulci, Sergio Leone, Peter Jackson, and Steven Spielberg, as well as the special effects of Ray Harryhausen. He is a particular fan of manga by Kazuo Umezu and Daijiro Morohoshi, and the influence of these works can be seen in many places in “Burning Buddha Man.”
*Works: “RETNEPRAC2” and “Space Monster War.” Recently, I’ve been creating things like iPhone home screens and lock screens.
*Favorite book: Childhood’s End
* Favorite manga: Kazuo Umezu, works by Daijiro Morohoshi
* Favorite movie: Bad Taste
* Favorite anime: Azuki-chan, Doraemon, The Simpsons
* Motivation for creating gekimation: For my graduation project at university, I wanted to create animation because I wanted to draw and create videos. However, I was worried that I couldn’t capture the details in regular animation. Then, I saw the music videos for “Yokai Den Nekome Kozo” and Denki Groove’s “Mononoke Dance” and thought, “This is it!”
* Attention to detail in this film: By drawing and cutting out images that appear three-dimensional without outlines on thin paper and shooting them with a shallow depth of field, I wanted to create images never before seen in manga or anime. Everything on the screen is handmade.
* Why Uji tea?: Because I’ve been drawing four-panel manga under the pen name Uji tea since university.