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Visual Effects Society Names Godzilla, Ultraman's Eiji Tsuburaya to Hall of Fame

The Visual Effects Society announced on Wednesday that it will posthumously induct Japanese filmmaker and special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya into its Hall of Fame.

The VES will also posthumously add Glenn Campbell and Mabel Normand into its Hall of Fame.

The 2025 VES Honors Celebration will take place at Sony Pictures Imageworks' Los Angeles facility on November 7.

Tsuburaya is known as the "Father of Tokusatsu" in Japan, pioneering the distinct style and visual language of special effects in Japanese cinema. He worked on a number of films as assistant cinematographer and special effects director since he was 18 years old. He joined TOHO in 1937, and there worked on propaganda films for the Imperial Japanese government and military. After the war, he was briefly removed from TOHO for two years by the occupying Allied powers due to his work on propaganda films, during which he worked on Daiei Films productions such as The Invisible Man Appears.

Tsuburaya returned to TOHO in 1950, and worked on the special effects for Ishirō Honda's iconic Godzilla film in 1954, and thereafter worked on many of TOHO's kaiju films, including Rodan, Mothra, The Last War, and King Kong vs. Godzilla.

Tsuburaya founded the Tsuburaya Productions company in 1963, which is best known for producing the Ultraman tokusatsu franchise, and is still producing new shows and films for the franchise to this day. Eiji Tsuburaya died on January 25, 1970.

Sources: Visual Effects Society, Cartoon Brew (Jamie Lang)