Authority control databases
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
Keiichi Hasegawa | |
|---|---|
| Native name | 長谷川 圭一 |
| Born | February 1, 1962[1] Atami, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan |
| Occupation | Screenwriter |
| Language | Japanese |
| Period | 1997–present |
| Genre | |
| Notable works | |
Keiichi Hasegawa (長谷川 圭一, Hasegawa Keiichi, born February 1, 1962) is a Japanese screenwriter from Atami, Japan.[2]
After graduating from Nihon University's Art Department with a degree in film studies, Hasegawa made his debut as an assistant director with the unreleased film Kuchita Teoshiguruma. After participating in the later half of the series Taiyō ni Hoero!, he moved to the art department to work on props and decorations, and participated in many films, including Gamera: Guardian of the Universe and Gamera 2: Attack of Legion.
Hasegawa began writing for television in the 1990s and has been a writer for almost every Ultraman series produced since Tiga up to the first season of Ginga. Since first beginning his work on the Ultraman franchise with the 1996 series Ultraman Tiga, Hasegawa has gone on to write more material for the franchise than any other writer. He has been directly involved with the creation of every title Ultraman character up to Mebius as well as having had a major role in selecting actors for the roles.
Hasegawa has been lauded in the field of tokusatsu writing for his dramatic shifts in tone regarding the content of scripts. A 2004 issue of Hyper Hobby has credited him as the creator of the Tokusatsu Drama craze in where the narratives are portrayed in a style similar to J-Drama rather than traditional tokusatsu stories, which were called by the editor of the magazine as "shallow and unproductive" by the early 90s. In many interviews, Hasegawa has stated that he feels tokusatsu heroes should be somewhat tormented and have to rise above adversity. He feels this was portrayed in a very thin sense during the 70s and 80s and wanted to take that aspect of tokusatsu and make it a main attraction, rather than the action the tokusatsu is known for.
For Ultraman Nexus, which Hasegawa calls the project he has always wanted to do, he wanted to show the spirit of a grand being who has the ability to lift people out of the mundane aspects of life and even save certain characters from despair. Hasegawa has said that tokusatsu heroes can be just as important to adults as they are to children if written correctly.
