Thread:Coolot1/@comment-4327179-20200523233851/@comment-4327179-20200524015148

Now here's info about the development of Sanda's character:

Following Frankenstein vs. Baragon, Toho began work on a direct sequel. Takeshi Kimura turned in the first draft of the script in January of 1966, titled The Frankenstein Brothers. Originally, Sanda was the white-haired "Mountain Frankenstein." Ishiro Honda, who directed both films and had a rare screenwriting credit on The War of the Gargantuas, felt that the new story would stand better on its own, so the connections to Frankenstein vs. Baragon are diminished in the finished film.

Gaira and Sanda were designed by artist Tohl Narita, known most prominently for his work as art director on the Ultra Series.

Teizo Toshimitsu prototyped and modeled the heads of the Gargantua suits, while the Yagi brothers Kanju and Yasuei, along with Eizo Kaimai, were responsible for their bodies. Kaimai stated that the suits did not use wetsuits as their cores, despite the film's extensive water scenes, as he believed the rubber material would be too restrictive to act in. Instead, they were based around boilersuit-esque garments with skin and fur directly applied. Both Gargantua suits also featured football shoulder pads to emphasize their agility and strength.

To play Sanda, special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya first asked Shoichi Hirose, who had already played opposite Haruo Nakajima as King Kong in King Kong vs. Godzilla and King Ghidorah in Invasion of Astro-Monster. Hirose declined, favoring a part he had been offered in another film where he would actually get to show his face. Hiroshi Sekita took his place, in the first of his many kaiju roles at Toho. Like Nakajima, his mask was a lifecast of his own face. The juvenile Sanda, who briefly appears in flashback, was portrayed by child actor Yasuhiro Komiya who wore an appropriately-sized mask and fur suit.

Toho reused the Sanda and Gaira suits for ''[https://wikizilla.org/wiki/Go!_Godman Go! Godman] and [https://wikizilla.org/wiki/Go!_Greenman Go! Greenman]'', though each featured a new headpiece.