Miki Saegusa

Miki Saegusa (三枝 未希, Saegusa Miki), played by Megumi Odaka, is a recurring fictional character from the Heisei (1984-1995) series of Godzilla films. She's a psychic who uses her powers to communicate with and, in some instances, control the mutant dinosaur Godzilla, and is credited for being the most frequently recurring human character in any Kaiju (Japanese giant monster) series.

Concept and casting

The outline of Saegusa's character was present in Shinichiro Kobayashi's winning entry in the competition for a possible sequel story for The Return of Godzilla which would eventually become Godzilla vs. Biollante, though the character was originally portrayed as a journalist. It was ultimately director Kazuki Ōmori's decision to change her into a psychic.

Prior to assuming the role, Megumi Odaka had never seen a Godzilla film, and was initially scared of the Godzilla suit until she befriended suit performer Kenpachiro Satsuma.

Character biography

Saegusa made her debut in Godzilla vs. Biollante. As well as being an instructor of an institution for psychic children, she also served as an assistant to Doctor Shiragami, a Saradian born scientist studying the psychic energy of roses. Unbeknownst to Saegusa, Shiragami combines the DNA of one of his roses with genetic material taken from his late daughter Erika and the mutant dinosaur Godzilla. The resulting monster, named Biollante, escapes from the laboratory and takes residence in Lake Ashino. For the duration of the creatures passivity, Saegusa sensed that it was in fact possessed by Erika's spirit. After Godzilla defeats Biollante for the first time, he heads toward a nuclear power plant, intent on absorbing its energy. Saegusa confronts Godzilla and nearly puts herself into a coma by bending Godzilla's will into leaving the area.

Megumi Odaka

Megumi Odaka (小高恵美, Odaka Megumi, born May 9, 1972 in Kanagawa, Japan), is a former Japanese idol, actress and singer.

Biography

After winning the "TOHO Cinderella" beauty contest in 1987, where she took place with 1984 winner Yasuko Sawaguchi, she made her film debut as the blind girl Akeno in the movie "Taketori Monogatari" aka "Princess from the Moon". The following year she won a Japanese Academy Award for "Rookie of the year" for her performance in this movie, amongst others.

In 1988 she starred in the TV series Hana no Asuka-gumi as Asuka Kuraku along with Natsuki Ozawa and Hikari Ishida, based on a manga series about a 14-year-old delinquent girl.

After playing roles in a number of TV series, she landed the role of Miki Saegusa in Godzilla vs. Biollante in 1989( although her characters back story was first introduced in the manga adaption of 1984 reboot). At this time she was a second year high school student and was first afraid of the Godzilla costume. But she quickly befriended suit-actor Kenpachiro Satsuma. TOHO was impressed with her acting skills and she ended up playing Miki Saegusa in the following installment and the rest of the Heisei Series.

Case Closed

Case Closed, also known as Detective Conan (名探偵コナン, Meitantei Conan), is a Japanese detective manga series written and illustrated by Gosho Aoyama. The series is serialized in Shogakukan's Weekly Shōnen Sunday since January 19, 1994, and has been collected into 88 tankōbon volumes. Due to legal considerations with the name Detective Conan, the English language release was renamed to Case Closed. The story follows Kudo Shinichi, an amateur detective who transformed into a child while investigating the Black Organization.

The series received an anime adaptation by Yomiuri Telecasting Corporation and TMS Entertainment. The anime resulted in animated feature films, original video animations, video games, audio disc releases, and live action episodes. In 2009, a television special titled Lupin the 3rd vs. Detective Conan was aired featuring characters from Lupin III.

Funimation licensed the anime series for North American broadcast in 2003 under the name Case Closed with the characters given Americanized names. The anime premiered on Cartoon Network as part of their Adult Swim programming block and was discontinued due to low ratings. On March 2013, Funimation began streaming their licensed episodes of Case Closed and was simulcasted by Crunchyroll in 2014. Funimation has also localized the first six Case Closed films, while Discotek Media localized the Lupin III crossover special and its film sequel. Meanwhile, the manga was localized by Viz Media, who used Funimation's renamed title and cast. The anime also aired in the Philippines and had high ratings success.