
Acting
Ayumu Saito
Born
1964-12-20 (61)
Place of birth
Kushiro, Hokkaido, Japan
Known for
Acting
Credits
53 titles
Known for
7.5Detective Ukyo Sugishita confronts crime on the basis of his own convictions. He has a partner that works for him in the Special Task Unit. For the first 7 seasons, Ukyo’s first partner is Kaoru Kameyama. He is a good-natured, hot-tempered, straightforward and somewhat scattered detective. Beginning in Season 8, Takeru Kanbe replaces Kameyama. Contrary to his predecessor, Takeru is a lanky, cool, conceited and confident detective. From Season 11 to Season 13, Ukyo’s partner is a young detective Toru Kai. Toru is a son of Deputy Director-General of The National Police Agency. But he became a detective by his own effort. And starting with Season 14, Ukyo’s current partner is Wataru Kaburagi, an elite bureaucrat who came to the Metropolitan Police Department on temporary assignment. As the first partner without any career of a police officer, he will face challenging cases together with Ukyo.
AIBOU: Tokyo Detective Duo
2002
7.8Izumi Sakuragi is a new police sergeant with the Special Investigations Office, which was set up within the Metropolitan Police in November last year. The new investigation team uses DNA analysis and the latest in forensics science to investigate cold cases as well as cases suspected to involve missing persons.
Absolute Zero
2010
7.2Satoshi Itomura is an assistant police investigator who belongs to the Metropolitan Police Department’s Scientific Investigation Team. Reenactments, fingerprint and voice data collections, profiling... His team collects scientific evidence and pieces together fragments of information in order to help build evidences. However, Itomura often does not care about the scientific approach and instead pays a great deal of attention to the things that the victims always carried with them or treasured. And he focuses on these things because they usually carry the victim’s dying wishes, understanding that last message not only helps solve the cases but also brings closure to the depressed family of victims.
CSI: Crime Scene Talks
2011
7.5Teenage math whiz Kenji Koiso agrees to take a summer job at the Nagano hometown of his crush, Natsuki. When he arrives, he finds that her family have reunited to celebrate the 90th birthday of their matriarch. His job: pretend to be Natsuki's fiancé. Meanwhile, his attempt to solve a mathematical equation causes a parallel world's collision with Earth.
Summer Wars
2009
7.2A tale of revenge, honor and disgrace, centering on a poverty-stricken samurai who discovers the fate of his ronin son-in-law, setting in motion a tense showdown of vengeance against the house of a feudal lord.
Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai
2011
6.8Ichi is a blind entertainer that travels the countryside with her traditional Japanese guitar and walking stick. She’s in search for the kind man that brought her up as a child, but because of her beauty she encounters problems every step of the way. Fortunately for Ichi, she is also a gifted swordswoman and carries a lethal blade within her walking stick.
ICHI
2008
Film credits
2010s · 17 titles
7.2A tale of revenge, honor and disgrace, centering on a poverty-stricken samurai who discovers the fate of his ronin son-in-law, setting in motion a tense showdown of vengeance against the house of a feudal lord.
Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai
2011
7.0As the police launch a full-scale crackdown on organized crime, it ignites a national yakuza struggle between the Sanno of the East and Hanabishi of the West. What started as an internal strife in Outrage has now become a nationwide war in Outrage Beyond.
Beyond Outrage
2012
6.7A pawn shop owner in Osaka is murdered, but due to a lack of conclusive evidence the police lists the man's death as a suicide. Detective Sasagaki, who investigated the case, can't forget the dark eyes of the main suspect's daughter Yukiho and the pawn shop owner's son Ryouji. As time goes by, more mysterious deaths surround Yukiho & Ryouji. Detective Sasagaki still unable to let go of the pawn shop owner case discovers startling details about Yukiho and Ryouji ...
Into the White Night
2011
6.4Starting in 1970s Hokkaido, the film charts the moral descent of Detective Moroboshi over three decades, the young cop quickly gets a bit too cozy with the other side of the law when his senior colleague Murai teaches him the ropes and ruts of the police business. Soon, he swaggers and rants through the streets of Sapporo a lean, mean, sex‐crazy bully, indistinguishable from a yakuza.
Twisted Justice
2016
7.0A woman was killed by a truck wheel, which flew off while the vehicle was in motion. As the freight company which owns the truck becomes the target of the public and the media’s wrath, Tokuro Akamatsu, the president of the freight company, realizes that a structural defect within the truck itself may have been to blame. A conspiracy of the wheel manufacturer's attempts to cover up a defective product is uncovered.
Recall
2018
7.7Dr Toma, a skilled surgeon, starts work at a regional hospital in Japan. After performing an operation to remove a patient’s liver cancer, something that normally would not be done at this hospital, he quickly gains a very good reputation amongst the town’s people. Some of his colleagues become so jealous they are resentful and waiting patiently for the perfect opportunity to crucify him. Soon they get their chance as Dr Toma considers performing a controversial operation…
A Lone Scalpel
2010
6.1Based primarily on the first game in the series, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, the film focuses on rookie defense attorney Phoenix Wright, as he strives to protect his clients in various murder trials, including the death of his mentor, Mia Fey, and the accusation of rival prosecutor, Miles Edgeworth. Phoenix's greatest ally is Mia's younger sister Maya, a spirit medium whose body is possessed by Mia to communicate with him.
Ace Attorney
2012
7.0In order to find a missing university student, a detective and his buddy get involved with the owner of a modeling agency.
The Last Shot in the Bar
2017
NRAyami Kawaguchi is a 17-year-old high school student. Her family runs a tofu shop where the tofu is made with local spring water. She is a member of her high school's kyudo club, but she doesn't do well there. One day, Ayami delivers tofu to a local sake brewery. There, she finds the owner of the sake brewery, Shozo Sugita, collapsed and he is sent to hospital. Afterwards, Ayami Kawaguchi gets involved in a dispute over the water source succession.
Seventeen, Hokuto Summer
2017
NRDetective Ryoko Kozuki receives a demotion after having an affair with a superior. She succeeds in arresting a rapist in an undercover operation that puts her at risk. Her achievement immediately becomes the talk of the precinct, but no one approaches her because of her past. Ryoko is determined to bring criminals to justice. She takes on “The Prime Ministerial Candidate Snipe Case” which took place 15 years earlier.
Sniper
2016
5.5Katagiri, a highly ambitious young detective, teams up with older detective Takiguchi, who is about to retire, to investigate a murder that took place by Sumida River. Katagiri is annoyed by Takiguchi's pushiness, but is surprised to hear that the victim was a suspect in the 300 million yen robbery.
300 Million
2010
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Half End
2018
4.5Takeshiro Matsuura was a Japanese explorer who was the first person to document the inner reaches of what is now known as Hokkaido. He explored the area extensively during the mid 19th century and created a map of the island that included parts which had been ignored by earlier cartographers. He visited Ainu communities and compiled records of the large numbers of the population who had been conscripted for forced labor far from their homes. Matsuura suggested the name Hokkaido for the area
Eien no Nispa
2019
6.3After the death of his grandfather, Koen Shirakawa (Atsushi Ito) quits his job at a bookstore and goes to a temple to become a monk.
I am a Monk
2015
NR2018 original video.
Odd Final
2018
A girl unable to speak, a man unable to write a poem, a crisis line manager unable to help might find in the gloomiest of all places what they have been longing for - Hope and courage.
Snowchild
2014
5.0No synopsis available yet.
39 settoudan
2012
2000s · 28 titles
7.5Teenage math whiz Kenji Koiso agrees to take a summer job at the Nagano hometown of his crush, Natsuki. When he arrives, he finds that her family have reunited to celebrate the 90th birthday of their matriarch. His job: pretend to be Natsuki's fiancé. Meanwhile, his attempt to solve a mathematical equation causes a parallel world's collision with Earth.
Summer Wars
2009
6.8Ichi is a blind entertainer that travels the countryside with her traditional Japanese guitar and walking stick. She’s in search for the kind man that brought her up as a child, but because of her beauty she encounters problems every step of the way. Fortunately for Ichi, she is also a gifted swordswoman and carries a lethal blade within her walking stick.
ICHI
2008
6.5When the cast and crew of a paranormal TV reality program decide to shoot in the house of the original Saeki hauntings, a series of strange events unfold at the location.
Ju-on: The Grudge 2
2003
7.2A lonely university student develops a romance with a beautiful interesting woman, who turns out to be a cyborg from the future.
Cyborg She
2008
7.2A 21-year-old girl is released from prison, only to deal with the neighborhood gossip about her and family conflicts. She decides to save one million yen, move to where no one knows her and keep repeating the process.
One Million Yen Girl
2008
7.4Kanichiro Yoshimura is a samurai and family man who can no longer support his wife and children on the low pay he receives from his small-town clan. He is forced by his love for his family to leave for the city in search of higher pay to support them.
When the Last Sword Is Drawn
2003
6.1Gan and his girlfriend Ai are mild-mannered toy shop owners by day but, when evil lurks, they transform into superheroes Yatterman 1 & 2. With the help of a dog-shaped robot, Yatterwoof, they take on the Doronbow gang, lead by the sexy Lady Doronjo. Together, they must stop the evil gang from finding the four magical skull pieces that will allow them to control the world!
Yatterman
2009
5.9Kenta, a young pianist who has just lost his job, is drowning his woes at a bar, when he meets a man in a Hawaiian shirt named Yamaki. He invites Kenta to work with him, and the next thing he knows, Kenta wakes up to find himself in a room he has never been in before. It is a strange room that seems to have no connection to life. He descends a staircase to find many shelves of books.
Heaven's Bookstore
2004
6.0A fear-obsessed freelance cameraman investigates an urban legend involving mysterious spirits that haunt the subways of Tokyo.
Marebito
2004
6.5The film follows a young aspiring art university student, who falls in love with the older sister of his girlfriend. The heartrending longing and the true love that the three characters pursue, is pure, but almost painful. Is the person who stands next to you, is the person that gives you true comfort and love? Can you say that you love him/her from the bottom of your heart?
Angel's Egg
2006
8.4A precarious loner sneaks into a blind woman's home and begins living there without her noticing. Meanwhile, the woman mourns her recently deceased father and struggles to remain connected to the world.
Waiting in the Dark
2006
6.8Fuki who lives with her grandfather Shoei in Taketomi Island, Okinawa, dreams of becoming a photographer. In her childhood, her mother Masami left Fuki to live in Tokyo. Although Masami has not come back, Fuki receives birthday cards from Masami every year on her birthday. On Fuki's fourteenth birthday, Masami promises to confess everything when Fuki becomes 20 years old. After her graduation from high school, Fuki moves to Tokyo to work as a camera assistant. Fuki starts off her hectic life in Tokyo, and soon, her nineteenth birthday comes. As usual, she receives a birthday card from Masami. A year later...
Letters from Nirai Kanai
2005
4.2Yoko is an ordinary housewife living in an ordinary apartment block. She has no real complaints as she goes about her tedious days, although her husband, Shinichi, is rather predictable in bed. They have one son, Junichi, and Yoko feels at a loss regarding his recently-acquired adolescent interest in sex and his secret stash of erotic magazines. Junichi is about to write his junior high school entrance exams, so he’s heading off to cram school camp for New Year’s. Before going, he makes a surprising suggestion, “Why don’t you guys go somewhere for New Year’s?” Yoko and Shinichi are suddenly faced with the prospect of New Year’s apart from their son. How will this couple, who’ve already lived half of their lives, change their behavior when it’s just the two of them?
Diary of Beloved Wife: Naive
2006
5.6A man serving a sentence in a minimum-security prison. Life in the jail is rigid and organized, eventually leading all of the cell-mates to abandon their individuality.
Doing Time
2002
7.3Twelve year old Sei has hit puberty and is quickly becoming sexually aware, sometimes not as privately as he'd like; erections in school and other inopportune times plague him. He talks about it with his school friends, Kinta and Nyanko, in between their feuding over the affections of classmate Yumi, but can't figure out what to do about it.
Sorry
2002
4.9In her brother's apartment where he died, Yuki finds a vacuum cleaner with its cord still hooked up to the outlet. She discovers that the circumstances surrounding her brother's supposed suicide are sketchy at best, yet no one has any answers. When she starts having hallucinations involving his ghost, however, she seeks some psychological help, eventually uncovering some things that she may have wished she'd left covered.
Concent
2002
7.3No synopsis available yet.
Torihada: yofukashi no anata ni zotto suru hanashi wo
2007
NRThe second half of the true story of Masahisa Takenaka, 4th kumicho of the Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan’s largest yakuza gang
True Record: The Life of Masahisa Takenaka Raging Lion Second Part
2003
Detective Mimura was living peacefully with his loving wife and son when the latter two were killed in an explosion caused by a 14-year-old boy, Yuya. Four years later, when Yuya is released from juvenile detention centre, Mimura's feelings towards the boy have evolved from grief to outright hatred, and he must cope with the pain. Meanwhile, Yuya's father quits his job as a teacher and dedicates himself to compensate the victims and to take care of his son. While the adults are trying to come to terms with their disrupted lives, Yuya is about to test the law again...
[Is A.]
2004
6.0Suzuki Sora is a cheerful country girl from the small town of Bie. She made a promise to her father, and following this promise applies and is accepted for a magic intership in Tokyo, where she will face the life in a big city. While training to get better with her magic, she meets a mysterious boy also practicing to become a mage. While he can not use magic that well and he seems distant and cold at first, Sora’s fate intertwines with his and the two are thrown together, learning a lot of new things about life and each other.
Someday's Dreamers
2008
2.0No Pants Girls is a 3 segment film directed by Sono Sion, Shô Tsukikawa and Reiko Saito. They deal with girls discovering sexuality, through their innocent eyes. The actors and actresses are the same in the three films.
No-Pants Girls: Movie Box-ing2
2004
7.2Shangri-La follows the lives of a group of homeless people in Japan who run into a man who nearly commits suicide and decide to help him out of his financial troubles. Using their various ingenious resources they embark on a complex scheme to blackmail a crooked businessman, whose bankruptcy claim has put people out of work. It’s a fun romp as these seemingly homeless people manage to outsmart the very people who cast them from society.
Shangri-La
2002
5.7The Man Behind the Scissors centers around two serial killers: mastermind Yasunaga and helper Chinatsu. The two risk being found out when the police question them as witnesses to a gruesome murder they themselves may have committed. A quirky and perplexing police thriller centered around two murderers who thrive on slicing up schoolgirls. Calculated serial psycho Yasunaga (Tokokawa) and Chinatsu (Aso), his sweet female sidekick, find themselves being questioned as witnesses to a murder when their next potential victim turns up dead...with their M.O.
The Man Behind the Scissors
2005
6.1Eight school friends innocently join together to play a game that, if played well, promised to make their greatest dreams come true. But, they soon discover that mistakes may cost them more than even their dreams could tell.
Vanished
2006
5.6Betrayed and disgraced, big-city reporter Kazuya Mizuno is banished to a desk at Kaname's boring little town newspaper. But Kaname isn't as boring as it seems on the surface. Not with characters around like Shimeko, a girl genius with a childlike lack of propriety, and her ace fisherman/folk-singer dad. Or the overbearing and unpleasant local Shinto priest, a former Christian cultist. Or Endo, Kazuya's new colleague, a bitter drunk after his son's suicide. Or Kin, a former terrorist, now a hermit on his boat engaging in secret "research." Or perhaps most importantly Teruko, the hypnotically beautiful bar owner, the focus of all manner of innuendo and intrigue. Something mysterious, even mystical, is going on Kaname, and hapless Kazuya is about to be thrown into the middle of it.
The Most Beautiful Night In The World
2008
10.0A rookie taxi driver, who happened to walk into a barbershop in the downtown area, ends up telling a special boast story. It was a story about a driver who got caught up in a lovers' quarrel between a young woman he picked up on the job...
Nejirin bou
2004
NRAfter Ami and her stepbrother Hiroshi share a night together, the phone rings with devastating news: their parents have died. A year later, Ami lives with Hiroshi and his wife, Mariko. On the surface, the couple appears happy, but tension simmers between Ami and Mariko. One day, Mariko lashes out at Ami for constantly intruding into their bedroom uninvited. Losing her composure, Ami blurts out her the secret of her history with Hiroshi.
Costume Players
2006
3.5When a young woman witnesses a suicide she is so overwhelmed with sexual excitement that she masturbates, unaware that she is being observed by a strange man. Later he invites her home where she is wined and dined. Soon she wakes up to find herself locked in a cage. Of course their twisted and sadomasochistic relationship will end in a sadistically explicit bloodbath.
All Night Long: Initial O
2003
Series credits
7.5Detective Ukyo Sugishita confronts crime on the basis of his own convictions. He has a partner that works for him in the Special Task Unit. For the first 7 seasons, Ukyo’s first partner is Kaoru Kameyama. He is a good-natured, hot-tempered, straightforward and somewhat scattered detective. Beginning in Season 8, Takeru Kanbe replaces Kameyama. Contrary to his predecessor, Takeru is a lanky, cool, conceited and confident detective. From Season 11 to Season 13, Ukyo’s partner is a young detective Toru Kai. Toru is a son of Deputy Director-General of The National Police Agency. But he became a detective by his own effort. And starting with Season 14, Ukyo’s current partner is Wataru Kaburagi, an elite bureaucrat who came to the Metropolitan Police Department on temporary assignment. As the first partner without any career of a police officer, he will face challenging cases together with Ukyo.
AIBOU: Tokyo Detective Duo
2002
7.8Izumi Sakuragi is a new police sergeant with the Special Investigations Office, which was set up within the Metropolitan Police in November last year. The new investigation team uses DNA analysis and the latest in forensics science to investigate cold cases as well as cases suspected to involve missing persons.
Absolute Zero
2010
7.2Satoshi Itomura is an assistant police investigator who belongs to the Metropolitan Police Department’s Scientific Investigation Team. Reenactments, fingerprint and voice data collections, profiling... His team collects scientific evidence and pieces together fragments of information in order to help build evidences. However, Itomura often does not care about the scientific approach and instead pays a great deal of attention to the things that the victims always carried with them or treasured. And he focuses on these things because they usually carry the victim’s dying wishes, understanding that last message not only helps solve the cases but also brings closure to the depressed family of victims.
CSI: Crime Scene Talks
2011
NRNo synopsis available yet.
竜馬がゆく
2004
4.0The Hayashidas were a typical happy family of father, mother, two boys and two girls. Until it all changed suddenly with the untimely death of the father, Shinpei. While still mourning his passing, the children are hit by another bit of shocking news from their mother “Truth is… I'm pregnant.” The news of their mother's pregnancy at 51 sets into motion a new series of challenges for the four children, particularly for the eldest sister, Manami, who now becomes the family patriarch, forced to struggle with the pressures and responsibilities of “child rearing” and “family ties”, not to mention greater philosophical questions about the meaning of life. A moving, life-sized human drama..
Being Born.
2011
7.5She's the most unlikely candidate to ever stumble into the role of a reporter, and she’s keeping everyone on their toes with her eccentric ways.
Stay Tuned!
2019
7.0With the strong yen, global financial crisis and competition from developing nations, the Japanese manufacturing industry is in a precarious situation. A large electronics maker is on the brink of bankruptcy and can support itself for only 3 more months. Three men at the company, who work in sales, finance and production respectively, secretly form a reconstruction team and they work feverishly to revive the company.
Made in Japan
2013

