Toshio Masuda

Directing

Toshio Masuda

Born — Died

1927-10-05 — 2026-08-26

Place of birth

Kobe, Hyōgo, Japan

Known for

Directing

Credits

41 titles

Toshio Masuda (born October 5, 1927 in Kobe, Hyōgo, Japan) is a Japanese film director. He developed a reputation as a consistent box office hit-maker. Over the course of five decades, 16 of his films made the yearly top ten lists at the Japanese box office—a second place record in the industry. Between 1958 and 1968 he directed 52 films for the Nikkatsu Company. He was their top director of action films and worked with the company's top stars, including Yujiro Ishihara with whom he made 25 films. After the breakdown of the studio system, he moved on to a succession of big-budget movies including the American-Japanese co-production Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970) and the science fiction epic Catast…

Known for

Tora! Tora! Tora! poster
7.2

In the summer of 1941, the United States and Japan seem on the brink of war after constant embargos and failed diplomacy come to no end. "Tora! Tora! Tora!", named after the code words used by the lead Japanese pilot to indicate they had surprised the Americans, covers the days leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor, which plunged America into the Second World War.

Tora! Tora! Tora!

1970

Future War 198X poster
5.9

An American scientist constructs a laser satellite with hopes of preventing any nuclear conflicts from occurring. However, after a fatal error from both the US and the USSR governments, war breaks out and humanity faces a new bloodshed.

Future War 198X

1982

Port Arthur poster
7.4

Depicts the bloody siege of the fortress of Port Arthur, one of the most strongly fortified positions in the world, during the Russo-Japanese War of (1904 - 1905). In the story dominated the character Lt Takeshi Kogyo (Teruhiko Aoi), teachers, and a reserve officer who became commander of the platoon and later company. At the same time monitors the conduct of the army commander general Nogi (Tatsuya Nakadai), which was commissioned of the emperor Matsuhito (Toshirô Mifune) to the conquest of the fort.

Port Arthur

1980

Space Battleship Yamato poster
7.8

When vile aliens known as the Gamilons wreak nuclear havoc on Earth, a group of survivors refit the Japanese battleship Yamato for intergalactic travel and set off on a mission to retrieve a neutralizer that will eradicate the radiation from Earth's atmosphere.

Space Battleship Yamato

1977

Prophecies of Nostradamus poster
5.7

Professor Nishiyama, after studying and interpreting the prophecies of Nostradamus, realizes that the end of the world is at hand. Unfortunately, nobody listens to him until it is too late. As the effects of mankind's tampering of the earth - radioactive smog clouds, hideously mutated animals, destruction of the ozone layer - rage out of control, the world leaders hurtle blindly toward the final confrontation. The film sparked controversy in Japan and was subsequently pulled out of circulation, with no official video release of the uncut film.

Prophecies of Nostradamus

1974

Love: Starting on a Journey poster
4.7

A girl suffering from an incurable disease get in a coma, while her boyfriend visit her to the hospital, she visits the beyond.

Love: Starting on a Journey

1985

Film credits

Behind the camera

Tora! Tora! Tora! poster
7.2

In the summer of 1941, the United States and Japan seem on the brink of war after constant embargos and failed diplomacy come to no end. "Tora! Tora! Tora!", named after the code words used by the lead Japanese pilot to indicate they had surprised the Americans, covers the days leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor, which plunged America into the Second World War.

Tora! Tora! Tora!

1970

Future War 198X poster
5.9

An American scientist constructs a laser satellite with hopes of preventing any nuclear conflicts from occurring. However, after a fatal error from both the US and the USSR governments, war breaks out and humanity faces a new bloodshed.

Future War 198X

1982

Port Arthur poster
7.4

Depicts the bloody siege of the fortress of Port Arthur, one of the most strongly fortified positions in the world, during the Russo-Japanese War of (1904 - 1905). In the story dominated the character Lt Takeshi Kogyo (Teruhiko Aoi), teachers, and a reserve officer who became commander of the platoon and later company. At the same time monitors the conduct of the army commander general Nogi (Tatsuya Nakadai), which was commissioned of the emperor Matsuhito (Toshirô Mifune) to the conquest of the fort.

Port Arthur

1980

Space Battleship Yamato poster
7.8

When vile aliens known as the Gamilons wreak nuclear havoc on Earth, a group of survivors refit the Japanese battleship Yamato for intergalactic travel and set off on a mission to retrieve a neutralizer that will eradicate the radiation from Earth's atmosphere.

Space Battleship Yamato

1977

Prophecies of Nostradamus poster
5.7

Professor Nishiyama, after studying and interpreting the prophecies of Nostradamus, realizes that the end of the world is at hand. Unfortunately, nobody listens to him until it is too late. As the effects of mankind's tampering of the earth - radioactive smog clouds, hideously mutated animals, destruction of the ozone layer - rage out of control, the world leaders hurtle blindly toward the final confrontation. The film sparked controversy in Japan and was subsequently pulled out of circulation, with no official video release of the uncut film.

Prophecies of Nostradamus

1974

Prophecies of Nostradamus poster
5.7

Professor Nishiyama, after studying and interpreting the prophecies of Nostradamus, realizes that the end of the world is at hand. Unfortunately, nobody listens to him until it is too late. As the effects of mankind's tampering of the earth - radioactive smog clouds, hideously mutated animals, destruction of the ozone layer - rage out of control, the world leaders hurtle blindly toward the final confrontation. The film sparked controversy in Japan and was subsequently pulled out of circulation, with no official video release of the uncut film.

Prophecies of Nostradamus

1974

Love: Starting on a Journey poster
4.7

A girl suffering from an incurable disease get in a coma, while her boyfriend visit her to the hospital, she visits the beyond.

Love: Starting on a Journey

1985

Love: Starting on a Journey poster
4.7

A girl suffering from an incurable disease get in a coma, while her boyfriend visit her to the hospital, she visits the beyond.

Love: Starting on a Journey

1985

Final Yamato poster
6.8

The Galman Empire is destroyed but the planet Galmania is not, by a chance collision of galaxies. The Bolar Federation worlds including Planet Bolar are destroyed. The Yamato, back under the command of Captain Okita, encounters the planet Denguil too late to save its humanoid civilization from being flooded by the water planet Aquarius. The surviving Denguil, a warrior race who believe only the strong should survive, plan to use Aquarius to flood Earth and destroy humanity, in order to create a new home for their race.

Final Yamato

1983

Conflagration poster
7.0

Global South guerrillas hijack the Japanese oil tanker Arabian Light, threatening to blow it up in Tokyo Bay, unless the Cabinet complies with an economically devastating ultimatum.

Conflagration

1975

Battle Anthem poster
7.7

The story of Japan's victory in the battle of Tsushima Strait.

Battle Anthem

1983

Be Forever Yamato poster
7.5

The Black Nebula Empire attacks Earth and threatens to blow up the planet with a bomb they placed on Earth if counter attacked. Earths hopes rest on the Yamato crew as they go to the Black Nebula Planet and try to find a way to difuse the bomb before it's too late.

Be Forever Yamato

1980

Be Forever Yamato poster
7.5

The Black Nebula Empire attacks Earth and threatens to blow up the planet with a bomb they placed on Earth if counter attacked. Earths hopes rest on the Yamato crew as they go to the Black Nebula Planet and try to find a way to difuse the bomb before it's too late.

Be Forever Yamato

1980

The Human Revolution poster
7.0

No synopsis available yet.

The Human Revolution

1973

Company Executives poster
6.6

A fierce succession battle ignites at a newspaper company when the president passes away.

Company Executives

1989

Shadow Hunters poster
7.2

Set during the declining years of the Tokugawa shogunate, Shadow Hunters details the questionably noble exploits of three ronin who act as "Shadow Hunters". These three ronin are not your normal ornery ruffians who are looking for a drink, a broad and someone to jab a sword into, but are in fact former samurai who, rather than follow their destroyed fiefs and murdered masters into death via seppuku, have dedicated their combined sword prowess to stopping the government from raping its daimyos for valuable resources.

Shadow Hunters

1972

High Seas Hijack poster
10.0

Terrorists hijack an oil tanker and threaten to blow it up unless Japan meets their demands.

High Seas Hijack

1977

Tokyo Blackout poster
6.2

Tokyo is suddenly covered by a dome-shaped electromagnetic cloud for an unknown reason and is totally blocked and isolated from other parts of the world. The temperature inside the cloud is slowly increasing. The Soviet Pacific fleet is getting closer. The U.S. is forcing Japan to form a new government. Scientists and research workers outside Tokyo have to race against time to find out how to get through the cloud in order to rescue the 12,000,000+ lives in Tokyo and the fate of the country.

Tokyo Blackout

1987

Tokyo Blackout poster
6.2

Tokyo is suddenly covered by a dome-shaped electromagnetic cloud for an unknown reason and is totally blocked and isolated from other parts of the world. The temperature inside the cloud is slowly increasing. The Soviet Pacific fleet is getting closer. The U.S. is forcing Japan to form a new government. Scientists and research workers outside Tokyo have to race against time to find out how to get through the cloud in order to rescue the 12,000,000+ lives in Tokyo and the fate of the country.

Tokyo Blackout

1987

Farewell to Space Battleship Yamato poster
7.7

The Yamato and her crew face the onslaught of the Comet Empire, a civilization from the Andromeda Galaxy who seek to conquer Earth, led by Prince Zordar. They have harnessed a comet and is using its terrible power to unleash destruction upon its rivals and inferiors... which are in fact everyone. The Space Battleship Yamato heads back into action. But this time, it shall not return, and much of the Yamato crew have signed on for their last voyage.

Farewell to Space Battleship Yamato

1978

Farewell to Space Battleship Yamato poster
7.7

The Yamato and her crew face the onslaught of the Comet Empire, a civilization from the Andromeda Galaxy who seek to conquer Earth, led by Prince Zordar. They have harnessed a comet and is using its terrible power to unleash destruction upon its rivals and inferiors... which are in fact everyone. The Space Battleship Yamato heads back into action. But this time, it shall not return, and much of the Yamato crew have signed on for their last voyage.

Farewell to Space Battleship Yamato

1978

Shadow Hunters 2: Echo of Destiny poster
7.7

The great Daimyo enlists the aid of the three Shadow Hunters in ensuring the delivery of an illegal cannon in this sequel to Toshio Masuda's bloody adaptation of the manga by Takao Saito. Despite the Shadow Hunters's remarkable skill, this mission is no walk in the park, and in order to survive they must face a relentless army of ninjas and female warriors willing to sacrifice their lives to disrupt the delivery and claim the cannon for themselves.

Shadow Hunters 2: Echo of Destiny

1972

The Great Shogunate Battle poster
6.8

The early days of the Tokugawa shogunate are brought to light in this exciting historical tale of broken vows and violent swordplay. In an ambush the heir to the shogun’s seat is brutally cut down by those who hope to install the emperor’s 5th son as military leader of the nation.

The Great Shogunate Battle

1991

Odin: Starlight Mutiny poster
4.8

Odin centers around the novice crew of the laser sailing space schooner Starlight as they embark on an historic interstellar test flight. They are intercepted by what seems to be a wrecked spaceship only to find that it contains a lone survivor; a young woman named Sara Cyanbaker. Unknown to the crew at this time, a mechanized space fleet approaches Earth and a scout vessel from that fleet was responsible for the destruction of Sara's ship.

Odin: Starlight Mutiny

1985

The Last Days of Planet Earth poster
NR

Dr. Nishiyama has to combat increasingly bizarre events on which seem all too familiar to the French prophet Nostradamus's predictions.

The Last Days of Planet Earth

1981

The Last Days of Planet Earth poster
NR

Dr. Nishiyama has to combat increasingly bizarre events on which seem all too familiar to the French prophet Nostradamus's predictions.

The Last Days of Planet Earth

1981

The Imperial Japanese Empire poster
5.5

Story of three people, a barber, a Christian and a graduate of the Tokyo Military Academy during the 2nd World War.

The Imperial Japanese Empire

1982

Red Pier poster
6.5

Shortly after arriving in Kobe, "Jiro the Lefty", a killer with a natural talent, witnesses a man die in a crane accident which turns out to be a cover-up for a murder. Jiro soon finds himself on the run, tailed by a determined cop.

Red Pier

1958

Red Pier poster
6.5

Shortly after arriving in Kobe, "Jiro the Lefty", a killer with a natural talent, witnesses a man die in a crane accident which turns out to be a cover-up for a murder. Jiro soon finds himself on the run, tailed by a determined cop.

Red Pier

1958

Tokugawa Ieyasu: The Conqueror of Japan poster
NR

The life story of Japan’s greatest leader, Tokugawa Ieyasu, whose shogunate ruled the nation for almost 300 years has never been told like this before. From the early days as a supporter of Imagawa Yoshimoto, then on to his days with Oda Nobunaga, leading to his wars against and ultimate victory over the Toyotomi to become shogun is a fascinating tale of his military genius coupled with a native intelligence that allowed him to become the last of the great warlords and ultimately the leader of the nation. With great performances from an all-star cast featuring names like Kitaoji Kinya and Takahashi Hideki this is history come to life on the screen.

Tokugawa Ieyasu: The Conqueror of Japan

1992

Space Battleship Yamato: The New Voyage poster
6.5

Time to ease up ... not! Although the Yamato's crew has witnessed the end of the long, hard-fought Comet Empire War, a peaceful future will have to wait. While Dessler gathers together the shattered remnants of his Gamilus Empire, new forces are at work in the universe that could augur in another conflict. Seems the Black Star Empire has invaded Dessler's homeworld and is decimating it, all the while gathering power for its war machine.

Space Battleship Yamato: The New Voyage

1979

Space Battleship Yamato: The New Voyage poster
6.5

Time to ease up ... not! Although the Yamato's crew has witnessed the end of the long, hard-fought Comet Empire War, a peaceful future will have to wait. While Dessler gathers together the shattered remnants of his Gamilus Empire, new forces are at work in the universe that could augur in another conflict. Seems the Black Star Empire has invaded Dessler's homeworld and is decimating it, all the while gathering power for its war machine.

Space Battleship Yamato: The New Voyage

1979

The Champion poster
6.7

Eikichi Yamashiro, who is a former contender for the boxing title, works as a manager at a Club Champion owned by his fiancé Natsuko’s father. He lost a title match five years ago as he was besotted by Natsuko, but Eikichi actually cannot give up the dream of the championship. One day, he meets Shuntaro Fuma, who is a punk kid but a promising boxer, and realizes the dream that he himself could never fulfill. Then, they together start to train with the aim of the title. Mari Shiraki is an up-and-coming ballerina under the patronage of Eikichi as well. Eikichi forbids Shuntaro and Mari to be romantically involved with someone during their training, however, they start to go on a date.

The Champion

1957

Lunar Eclipse poster
NR

A unique and controversial film directed by Umeji Inoue, based on the original story by Shintaro Ishihara, which depicts the image of a group of young people in the agony of mistrust, love and hate with a powerful touch.

Lunar Eclipse

1956

Fujisawa Shuhei's Sparkling Sword: Puppeteer in the Shadows poster
NR

Made-for-TV movie based on the novel “The Puppeteer in the Shadows” by master storyteller Fujisawa Shuhei, this tale of swordsmanship, heroism, and romance in the highest chambers of power in the Tokugawa shogunate. Caught up in deadly intrigue at Edo Castle after fulfilling a dying man wish. Now forced to rely on his mastery of swordsmanship. Tsurumi, who walked away from his samurai status to practice calligraphy is caught between opposing forces leading to fierce battles among samurai and ninja!

Fujisawa Shuhei's Sparkling Sword: Puppeteer in the Shadows

1997

This Story of Love poster
8.0

Life and love stories of stunt men and women.

This Story of Love

1987

Zero poster
6.1

Two young men are recruited into the Japanese air force just before outbreak of WW2 by the test pilot of Japans new super fighter - the Zero. The movie is told in reverse from the point of one of the young men who don't qualify for the pilot training and instead joins the ground crew. It chronicles the entire history of the famous fighter from the first prototype test flights all through the war.

Zero

1984

Outlaw: Gangster VIP poster
6.7

Goro had grown up in the yakuza world. As an active member of the Mizuhara family crime syndicate, he expressed his loyalty by always putting himself in the forefront of every battle. Violence never bothered him. However, after being sentenced to three years in prison for stabbing a rival gang’s hit man, he becomes disenchanted with the Yakuza life style. Goro is determined to start anew, but karma catches up. His two closest friends are murdered by his ex-boss. He is left with two options: to kill or be killed.

Outlaw: Gangster VIP

1968

零戦黒雲一家 poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

零戦黒雲一家

1962

零戦黒雲一家 poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

零戦黒雲一家

1962