Kadokawa Pictures Revolutionized Japanese Movies
On October 16, 1976, a film was released. That film opens with a family surrounding an elderly man lying on a sickbed in a room at the back of a dark mansion. They are waiting with bated breath, not for the old man’s condition, but for a will to be issued that will indicate the whereabouts of his vast inheritance. However, the family is surprised to hear that the will is in the custody of the family lawyer. The doctor’s words, “He’s dead,” are followed by “The Ballad of Love,” composed by Yuji Ohno, and the movie title is shown in horrifying white typeface on a black background.
The title is followed by the words “Produced by Haruki Kadokawa” in a distinctive white mincho font and typography that runs horizontally and vertically. This man is Haruki Kadokawa, the general manager of “Kadokawa Pictures,” which dominated the world from the 1970s to the 1990s. This film is The Inugami Family, the first film by Kadokawa Haruki’s office.
Haruki Kadokawa, who was born in 1942, believed that the stagnant state of the Japanese film industry would not be broken unless his generation…
