Kankuro Kudo
Mmmmmm. So not just one theatrical Iron Dog but two.
Kankuro Kudo is a scriptwriter/actor/director as well as Group Tamashii guitarist and he wrote Maiko Haaaan!!! and quite alot of other films and TV shows. I remember devikun mentioning him a while back.
Seems to be something of a "golden boy" of Japanese cinema in fact:
http://www.midnighteye.com/interviews/kankuro_kudo.shtml
Curiouser and curiouser! :D