On August 15, the manga artist Kazuhiko Shimamoto hosted a special screening of Shin Godzilla that allowed shouting, cosplay, and light sticks at the Shinjuku Wald 9 theater in Tokyo, and Hideaki Anno, the director of the film, made a surprise appearance.

At the event, the movie was started on Shimamoto's signal, as he led the audience in the chant, "Please show us the true ability of Hideaki Anno!"

The audience cheered for each main character as they appeared on screen, even yelling out some of their lines, and cheered for Godzilla during his first appearance and at several other points in the film. When the ending credits rolled, they yelled out, "Anno!" every time his name was listed.

After the end of the film, Shimamoto said, "We have all been rolled around in the palm of Anno's hand. We have all been defeated by Anno. Since we were defeated here, we gave Anno our energy, and now he has to make a 2nd and 3rd Godzilla film for us!"

Then, Hideaki Anno made his surprise appearance. Shimamoto hadn't been told that Anno would be coming, so when he first saw him, he was so shocked that he fell to his knees.

Shimamoto fired off several rapid questions for Anno, asking, "Can you still make good films? Will you still make them? Ones that feel as good as the one we just watched?"

Anno calmly replied, "I'm decisively neutral." He then said to Shimamoto, "You haven't been defeated...That's a very soulless thing to say (laughs)," and then shook his hand.

Finally, Shimamoto yelled out in front of the crowd, "Anno! It's my loss!" and a commemorative photo was taken of him, Anno, and Mafia Kajita, a well-known video game developer who was also in attendance.

Tweet text: "At the end, a commemorative photo was taken of Anno, who was the director, Shimamoto-sensei, and Mafia Kajita with the guests at the event location. Thank you for a fun event! In the middle of everyone doing a Godzilla pose, only Anno is doing an Ultraman pose."

Tweet text: "What a fantastic feeling this photo gives. 'We have been defeated by Anno!" screams Kazuhiko Shimamoto at the screening. Anno also appears on the platform. -Eiga Natalie-"

The special screening of Shin Godzilla was first suggested by Shimamoto, who posted on Twitter on July 29 about how he wished such a thing could happen. Upon seeing this, Anno spoke with Toho and the idea was approved, "in order to fulfill Kazuhiko Shimamoto's wishes."

Shimamoto was a classmate and rival of Anno's at the Osaka University of Arts, where they were both enrolled in the art program, and he wrote about their experiences there in his autobiographical manga Aoi Honō, which was later adapted into a live-action television show.

Shimamoto sold a Shin Godzilla dōjinshi titled "Anno Vs. Honō" at the recent Comiket 90, which was held from August 12-14, and it was apparently much more popular than he predicted, selling out completely. Shimamoto was perplexed, saying that the book, "was supposed to be ridiculous," and tweeted on the 14th that he was considering doing a re-release.

Source: Natalie