Showa, Heisei, Reiwa…The third generation debuts as a Masked Rider scriptwriter!　Legendary Inoue Family’s “Tale of Three Generations of Tokusatsu

The Brilliant “Special Effects Scriptwriter Family

On January 21, there was a very hot topic among tokusatsu fans.

It was the 19th episode of “Masked Rider Gatchard” (TV Asahi, every Sunday from 9:00 a.m.), which is currently airing, “Rinne’s Dawn! Transformation Majeed! was written by Akiko Inoue.

This is because Akiko Inoue’s grandfather is Masaru Inoue, who has participated in many “Masked Rider” scripts, and her father is a scriptwriter who has worked on many works including “Masked Rider 555 (Phaze)” and “Goutarou Sentai Don Brothers” and is known among special effects fans as “Inoue O-sensei Toshiki Inoue, known to tokusatsu fans as “Grand Master Inoue,” is a member of the “splendid family of tokusatsu scriptwriters” that has been involved in the Showa, Heisei, and Reiwa eras for three generations.

We interviewed the remarkable “third generation” Akiko Inoue (hereafter, Akiko). We asked her about her thoughts on her debut as a scriptwriter for the Masked Rider series, her involvement with special effects, the Inoue family, and more.

When I received the offer, I thought to myself, “This is a bit presumptuous of me, but it has finally arrived. Writing a script for a tokusatsu series had been on my list of things I needed to accomplish in my life for some time, so I was very enthusiastic.

(Akiko Inoue, same as above.) After writing “Novel: Masked Rider Decade: The World of Kadoyashi – Hakoniwa in the Lens” (Kodansha Character Bunko/’13) under the name of Aki Kanehiro, Akiko went on to write “Magical Pretty Cure! (Kodansha Character Bunko/’13) and “HUGt! Pretty Cure” (’18) and “Gegege no Kitaro” (6th film/’18-’20). In fact, she has previously revealed that she is Toshiki Inoue’s daughter, but “it wasn’t really talked about that much in the anime community,” she laughs.

On SNS, voices such as “As expected of the Inoue family” and “I can feel the Inoue verse”…

Episode 19 of “Masked Rider Gachado,” the debut episode of the Masked Rider series, depicted Rinne (Reiyo Matsumoto), a female rider, torn between her promise to her father, Kazemasa (Kanji Ishimaru), who has been called a traitor, and the code she has kept, and how she transforms after a struggle.

In addition, the episode was filled with scenes reminiscent of Toshiki’s works, such as “many meal scenes” and “food stalls,” and the ability to organize and structure information by picking up elements from previous episodes and including a lot of information to depict the growth of the characters in one episode. The social networking sites were filled with comments such as “As expected of the Inoue family” and “I can feel the Inoue verse”. ……

We had decided from the beginning that the vertical axis of episode 19 would be the story of Rinne’s transformation. I then began by carefully reading the scenarios up to episode 18 to understand the characterization of each of the characters.

I think that the scriptwriter who joins a show from the middle of the season inevitably creates an image that is somewhat different from the previous episodes, and this is something that would be very confusing to me as a viewer, so I tried to keep in mind how the characters had been feeling up to that point.

In the midst of all this, Akiko said that her image of Rinne, the main character in episode 19, was that she was very cheerful, laughing hysterically at the haunted house, but at the same time, she gave the impression that she had not yet broken out of her shell.

If that was the case, I thought Rinne should be able to break out of her shell. If that is the case, Rinne transforms of her own volition when she is able to break out of her shell, and I wondered what that would mean for Rinne, and I thought that it would mean “obeying the rules,” which was presented to her from the beginning of the story.

Rinne, because of her earnestness, had taken Kazemasa’s teaching of “following the rules” as a by-the-book rule, but in fact, the rules were not for others to decide, but for her. I thought that only in a crisis could I understand the true teachings of Fuuga and come out of my shell.

I am not a very social person myself, and I had the impression that Rinne had always had a wall between her and other people, so I felt I could relate to her.

The much-discussed “meal scenes”…

Incidentally, Daigo Matsuura, Toei’s producer, commented on the reason why he was in charge of the story centering on the relationship between Rinne and her father.

It was simply a matter of timing.

Actually, when I first wanted to contact Akiko, the only person I had in common with her was (Toshiki) Inoue, so I asked him for his contact information directly (laughs).

He agreed on the spot and we made contact, but that was quite some time ago. I had to delay my participation due to the year-end and New Year’s holidays. So we did not intend to make a mockery of the father-daughter relationship between Rinne and Kazemasa and their fathers, Toshiki and Akiko,” explained producer Daigo Matsuura.

Daigo Matsuura, producer of the film, explains.

Viewers were also upset by the appearance of a food stall that was fresh in their minds from “Don Brothers,” but ……

The director and producer Minato (Yosuke) added that part, not the script. It was Tazaki (Ryuta), the director of “The Don Brothers. But maybe they thought it would make the fans happy (laughs).” Matsuura P says, and Akiko laughs, “I was surprised that there was such a strong reaction to the meal scene.

I was also surprised that there were so many meal scenes.

I had heard that there were many meal scenes in my father’s scenarios, but I was surprised that the composition of ‘meal scenes = Toshiki’ was so strong in the special effects world. I myself have written many meal scenes in other works such as Pretty Cure, but I have never heard anyone say, “I included the meal scene because she is Toshiki’s daughter.

This time, too, Houtarou’s (the main character) family is a set menu restaurant, and he has the attribute of making interesting and creative dishes, so it just happened to be a composition in which I included several meal scenes. It is gratifying to have people enjoy the film by referring to my father, as if to say, “That’s just like a father and son,” but some people said, “He’s intentionally trying to make it look like Toshiki.

If you are going to go to the trouble of writing a script that sounds like Toshiki, why not have your father write it, since he is still working?

Immediately, P. Matsuura added, “First of all, Toshiki wouldn’t look so cute (laughs). (Laughs.) Besides, there aren’t many meal scenes in hero shows to begin with.

Akiko adds, “Maybe it’s subconscious. I don’t have a strong preference for meal scenes, but I think they are convenient.

When two people are eating side by side, even if they are having a casual conversation, they seem to be getting along well. I just think that meal scenes are a convenient way to show the relationship between two people.

By the way, what are meals like in the Inoue household?

My father has always been a gourmet, and I have had many delicious meals since I was a child (laughs).

For some reason, the Inoue family has a custom of eating gyoza (dumplings) every New Year’s. When I was a child, I helped my father eat gyoza. When I was a child, I used to help out, but of course my father never helped out, and now I go to my parents’ house with a strong determination to “never do anything except for New Year’s Day,” so I don’t help out (laughs). We don’t even join hands and say ‘Itadakimasu’ together (laughs).

(Laughs.) But my father does say it at restaurants. But my father does say it at restaurants. Thank you, God! (laughs). But I don’t say it to my mother’s cooking (laughs).

How did he become a screenwriter?

When she was a child, Akiko aspired to be a novelist, and even considered working for a publishing company when she was in college, but what led her to become a screenwriter?

I wanted to work in the field of writing, so I sent out my resume to a publishing company, but when I went to a job fair, I was shocked to see how ‘mature’ the job hunters around me were.

I had a strong desire to stay a child forever, so I went to the information session as a student and wanted to secretly laugh with the job hunters sitting next to me at the stories told by the adults in suits, but none of them were that excited.

Then I thought, ‘I am a social misfit,’ and I stepped into the same path as my father, who also smelled like a social misfit.

Akiko, who felt uncomfortable in her job search, showed Toshiki her own work, which was well received and led to her involvement in the novel version of “Masked Rider Decade.

I think my father said to me, ‘There are many people who write what is trendy and what will sell nowadays, but it is good to have something that is uniquely you’ (laughs).

Incidentally, the first time I showed my work to my father was when I was in the early grades of elementary school. I showed various stories to my parents until I became embarrassed in my upper grades. I would write stories on 200-character manuscript paper my father gave me, cover them with white paper, punch holes in them with a punch, and even bind them myself. At the time, I was writing stories about magic and fantasy for girls.

He also told us a funny story.

When I was in elementary school, there was a book of essays written by the whole class, and one of the essays was written by a very mature student. But my father said I was very happy when he said, ‘No, Akiko was the best. Looking back, I think my father only read my essays (laughs).

My father taught me… ‘Eat sushi as soon as it’s served’ (laughs).”

Did your grandfather or father ever teach you to be gifted?

No, not at all. I don’t think he had any intention of making me a screenwriter, and in fact, I myself had no strange choice but to become a screenwriter.

Besides, screenwriters don’t go to work, they stay at home in their pajamas all the time. When I was a child, I worried a lot, wondering why my father was hanging around in his pajamas all day while the fathers of other families went to work.

When I was in junior high school, my classmates would often ask me, “Dad, do you write Kamen Rider? But that didn’t stop me from asking them to get my autograph.

Surprisingly, rather than “educating the gifted,” he said, “I never watched Sentai or Rider. I have never watched Sentai or Rider, and I am just now learning about the past Riders,” says Akiko.

In episode 19, the lines “My father taught me” and “I make my own rules! What are some of the things you learned from Toshiki and what are some of your own rules?

My father taught me …… ‘Eat sushi as soon as it’s served’ (laughs). My rule is, first of all, ‘Don’t lose sleep. My rule is not to be shy about throwing away my childish feelings, but to secretly keep them.

Incidentally, Akiko will return to the show in the 22nd episode, which will air on February 11. It is a must-see for “O-sensei” fans, tokusatsu fans, and Pretty Cure fans alike.