; was the pen-name of a novelist, science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 writer, and mystery writer in Showa period

Showa period

The , or Shōwa era, is the period of Japanese history corresponding to the reign of the Shōwa Emperor, Hirohito, from December 25, 1926 through January 7, 1989.The Shōwa period was longer than the reign of any previous Japanese emperor...

 Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. His real name was Soda Michio (左右田道雄). His father, Soda Kiichiro (左右田喜一郎), was an economist and a banker.

Kuronuma was the writer of the Kaiju

Kaiju

is a Japanese word that means "strange beast," but often translated in English as "monster". Specifically, it is used to refer to a genre of tokusatsu entertainment....

 classic Giant Monster of the Sky: Rodan

Rodan

is a fictional Japanese mutated pterosaur introduced in Rodan, a 1956 release from Toho Studios, the company responsible for the Godzilla series. Like Godzilla and Anguirus, he is designed after a type of prehistoric reptile...

(known in Japan as ), a 1956 tokusatsu

Tokusatsu

is a Japanese term that applies to any live-action film or television drama that usually features superheroes and makes considerable use of special effects ....

film

Film

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

 produced by Tōhō Studios

Toho

is a Japanese film, theater production, and distribution company. It is headquartered in Yūrakuchō, Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group...

. The film followed in the footsteps of Godzilla

Godzilla

is a daikaijū, a Japanese movie monster, first appearing in Ishirō Honda's 1954 film Godzilla. Since then, Godzilla has gone on to become a worldwide pop culture icon starring in 28 films produced by Toho Co., Ltd. The monster has appeared in numerous other media incarnations including video games,...

 and was also popular in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

He followed on the tremendous success of Rodan with Varan the Unbelievable

Varan

is a kaiju that first appeared in Varan the Unbelievable . Physically, Varan resembles a giant reptile with skin membranes between his arms and legs, allowing him to glide much like a flying dragon or flying squirrel; he also has a horned head....

in 1958. It proved to be one of the least popular of the Tōhō movies of all time, and nearly destroyed his career.

Kuronuma turned his attention to television drama, writing the scripts for one of Japan's first science fiction series, , which ran for 26 episodes from 3 January 1960 to 28 June 1960. In addition to writing the scripts for the series, he also helped to compose the music.

See also

• List of Japanese authors