
Directing
Akio Jissoji
Born 1937-03-29 · Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
Akio Jissoji was a Japanese television and film director best known outside Japan for the 1960s TV series Ultraman and Ultra Seven, as well as for his auteur erotic ATG-produced Buddhist trilogy Mujō (無常), Mandala (曼陀羅), and Uta (哥). He was also known for his film adaptations of Japanese horror author Rampo Edogawa. Jissoji possessed a very distinctive visual style that was notable even in Japanese cinema which is known internationally for its visual style. Every project he directed, from children's action shows to the most disturbing adult films had an uncompromising approach to cinematic story telling. His episodes of the Ultraman TV shows are unique and quite unusual for children's television. His career is also unusual in that he went back and forth from children's television to film projects that were sexually provocative in some way or another. It is perhaps this aspect of his work that has prevented wider distribution of his films. Sadomasochistic and non-consensual sexual practices are featured in many of his film works with women receiving the brunt of the abuse. Another recurring theme was to pull the camera back and reveal the set his actors were working on.
Acting credits
NRDirect-to-video documentary special focusing on the Ultraman Series, spotlighting the heroines who appeared from Ultra Q to Ultraman Gaia. The program features insights from the original production staff, who provide introductions to these characters. The documentary notably highlights three actresses: Hiroko Sakurai, Mitsuko Hoshi, and Takami Yoshimoto, sharing behind-the-scenes stories from their time working on the series.
Ultra Heroine Legend: Contest of Goddesses
2005
NRDirect-to-video documentary special about the 1967 series Ultraseven, mainly focusing on the series' heroine, Anne Yuri, and her actress Yuriko Hishimi, as she and staff and cast members share behind-the-scenes stories from the series.
Ultra Heroine Legend: From Anne to Seven
2004
NRMaking of documentary for 'Rampo Noir'
Cross the Lens
2006
Behind the camera
5.7An anthology film consisting of four segments based on literary works by Edogawa Ranpo.
Rampo Noir
2005
6.5Nagare, a painter who wanted to commit a lover’s suicide with Mizue, the wife of his friend and patron Takigawa. Growing afraid at the last moment, he doesn’t go through with it – but Mizue sinks to the bottom of Blue Lake. Some time later, Nagare follows an invitation by Takigawa, who claims to have forgiven everything. To Nagare’s shock, Takigawa’s new wife, Ameko, looks exactly like Mizue. While staying as Takigawa’s guest, Nagare becomes haunted by Mizue’s ghost, who wants to be reunited with him at the bottom of Blue Lake.
Blue Lake Girl
1986
4.6A decadent count in 1920′s Japan becomes obsessed with the life and works of the Marquis de Sade. He creates a theatre to show plays adapted from the notorious writer’s novels and recruits thieves, prostitutes and low lives to act out his fantasies on stage for the delectation of his rich, jaded friends. In search of new sensations the nobleman orders one of the actors, on pain of death, to make love to the nobleman’s wife while he watches. Unfortunately, this incursion of real life into his fantasy world will have dire consequences for the count and his divinely decadent coterie.
Marquis de Sade’s Prosperities of Vice
1988
5.6Utamaro was an artist who lived in Edo (which was later to become modern-day Tokyo) in the late 18th century. This film, which has a complex and wide-ranging storyline, recreates the world of that time, as it appeared in Utamaro's paintings.
Utamaro's World
1977
5.9Two university students from Kyoto decide to swap partners and spend the night in an isolated motel. However, one of the couples is attacked. Desperate for answers, they search for the attackers and come across a cult that promotes sexual freedom.
Mandala
1971
8.0Akio Jissoji's Ultraman is a 1979 Japanese tokusatsu kaiju film directed by Akio Jissoji. It is a compilation film made up of scenes from Jissoji's episodes of the original Ultraman TV series.
Akio Jissoji's Ultraman
1979
3.8A rape incident has occurred. The victim was a woman named Yumiko Kawamura, a dental hygienist. However, the statements of the victim Yumiko and the suspect Saburo Kubo were completely incompatible. Adachi, a national lawyer who took on the defense of the suspect, will begin a personal investigation of Yumiko to find out the truth of the case.
La Valse
1990
3.8A rape incident has occurred. The victim was a woman named Yumiko Kawamura, a dental hygienist. However, the statements of the victim Yumiko and the suspect Saburo Kubo were completely incompatible. Adachi, a national lawyer who took on the defense of the suspect, will begin a personal investigation of Yumiko to find out the truth of the case.
La Valse
1990
NRBuddhist statues are disappearing from temples in Kyoto. Maki pays a visit to Professor Fujimori, an archaeological authority, and encounters his assistant Miyako. At night in a disco hall, Miyako hands out flyers with the words “Please sell me Kyoto”. Made for "Operation: Mystery".
I Want to Buy Kyoto
1969
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Akio Jissoji's Wonder Museum 1
1992
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Akio Jissoji's Wonder Museum 1
1992
4.8Tokyo 1923, one of the residents of a boarding house discovers a way to spy on the other tenants, leading to dramatic consequences.
A Watcher in the Attic
1994
7.0Detective Kogoro Akechi is faced with a peculiar murder case involving forgeries of classic pornographic artworks.
Murder on D Street
1998
6.4Bored by the emptiness of everyday life, four students gather to play dangerous games in an apartment.
When Twilight Draws Near
1969
6.3Based on renowned Japanese writer Natsume Soseki's same-titled short story collection, Ten Nights of Dreams brings ten fantastical dream sequences to film with great visual and psychological panache. Representing the combined efforts of eleven directors, this outstanding anthology delves into the surreal subconscious with ten madly imaginative, reality-subverting visions that range from wonderfully wacky to nightmarishly unsettling.
Ten Nights of Dreams
2007
6.2A demonic reincarnation of a Japanese general from the 10th century appears in the early 20th century Tokyo with a mission to destroy the blooming city.
Tokyo: The Last Megalopolis
1988
6.2A demonic reincarnation of a Japanese general from the 10th century appears in the early 20th century Tokyo with a mission to destroy the blooming city.
Tokyo: The Last Megalopolis
1988
7.4Kyogokudo is a used book seller who doubles as an onmyouji, or Heian style occultist. His friend Sekiguchi brings him the story of a woman who has been pregnant for twenty months. Sekiguchi investigates further with the help of his friend Enokizu, a detective with the unusual ability to see people's memories. They are hired by the impossibly pregnant woman's sister to find the woman's missing husband and lay this whole matter to rest. In the end, they need the help of Kyogokudo to exorcise the family curse.
Summer of Ubume
2005
5.8The story of a Japanese man who as a 16-year-old went to Maui to work in the sugar cane fields in order to support his family back in Japan. Now 89 and still living in Hawaii he is visited by his granddaughter who brings him a letter from his disinherited and recently dead son. This brings back memories of his life with his wife and family following the attack on Pearl Harbor, in particular of his son who had gone off to join the war for the Americans.
Lanterns on Blue Waters
1983
Anthology of three stories adapted from the manga "The Rapeman". Akio Jissoji directed the second story.
The Rapeman: Nerawareta Onna-tachi
1987
7.4Near a remote Buddhist monastery, a young man falls in love with his sister and gets her pregnant. After a monk finds out, the young man becomes an assistant to a master sculptor, only to proceed to complicate matters with his affairs.
This Transient Life
1970
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Akio Jissoji's Mystery File 3
1997
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Akio Jissoji's Mystery File 2
1997
8.0A series of serial murders occurred in a historic ruins where a TV crew is shooting a documentary.
Ultra Q The Movie: Legend of the Stars
1990
