Acting

Akira Sera

Born

1912-10-14 (114)

Place of birth

Kurashiki City, Okayama Prefecture, Japan

Known for

Acting

Credits

61 titles

Known for

Ikiru poster
8.3

Kanji Watanabe is a middle-aged man who has worked in the same monotonous bureaucratic position for decades. Learning he has cancer, he starts to look for the meaning of his life.

Ikiru

1952

Shōgun poster
7.6

An English navigator becomes both a player and pawn in complex political games in feudal Japan.

Shōgun

1980

The Castle of Sand poster
7.3

Two detectives are tasked to investigate the murder of an old man, found bludgeoned to death in a Tokyo rail yard.

The Castle of Sand

1974

Floating Clouds poster
7.7

A married Japanese forester during WWII is sent to Indochina to manage forests. He meets a young Japanese typist and promises to leave his wife. He doesn't and after the war, she turns up and the affair resumes.

Floating Clouds

1955

Varan the Unbelievable poster
4.5

In an effort to find an economic means of purifying salt water, a joint U.S.-Japanese military command is set up on an isolated Japanese island where an unusual salt water lake is situated. However, their purifying experiments arouse the prehistoric monster Obaki from hibernation at the lake's bottom, and it proceeds to attack Japan. Although made by a U.S. independent film company, this film was based on a Japanese Toho monster film of 1958, "Daikaiju Varan", from which all of the monster effects scenes and a few incidental dramatic shots were edited into it.

Varan the Unbelievable

1962

When a Woman Ascends the Stairs poster
8.0

Keiko, whom everyone calls Mama, narrates her story: she's a hostess on the Ginza, 30, a widow. She describes life's vicious cycle: acting cheerful around drunks, dressing and living well to convey confidence, needing money for these expenses and for her demanding mother and brother, and knowing she's growing older.

When a Woman Ascends the Stairs

1960

Film credits

1980s · 2 titles

1970s · 3 titles

1960s · 11 titles

Varan the Unbelievable poster
4.5

In an effort to find an economic means of purifying salt water, a joint U.S.-Japanese military command is set up on an isolated Japanese island where an unusual salt water lake is situated. However, their purifying experiments arouse the prehistoric monster Obaki from hibernation at the lake's bottom, and it proceeds to attack Japan. Although made by a U.S. independent film company, this film was based on a Japanese Toho monster film of 1958, "Daikaiju Varan", from which all of the monster effects scenes and a few incidental dramatic shots were edited into it.

Varan the Unbelievable

1962

When a Woman Ascends the Stairs poster
8.0

Keiko, whom everyone calls Mama, narrates her story: she's a hostess on the Ginza, 30, a widow. She describes life's vicious cycle: acting cheerful around drunks, dressing and living well to convey confidence, needing money for these expenses and for her demanding mother and brother, and knowing she's growing older.

When a Woman Ascends the Stairs

1960

The Secret of the Telegian poster
6.5

Men are being murdered by a killer who uses a matter-transmitting device to locate his victims.

The Secret of the Telegian

1960

The Last Gunfight poster
6.2

Japanese police detective Saburo Fujioka is suspected of corruption, demoted, and sent to the city of Kojin. Kojin is the scene of fierce fighting between rival gangs. Fujioka is assigned to investigate the death of the wife of gangster Tetsuo Maruyama of the Kozuka gang, probably at the hands of one of the Oka gang. During a gang gunfight, Maruyama is rescued by Detective Fujioka and the two become friends. But Maruyama insists on avenging his wife's murder, even if it means conflict with his new friend.

The Last Gunfight

1960

The Twilight Story poster
8.5

In this Japanese drama, a village girl goes to Tokyo and becomes a sex worker to support her ailing mother. While there she meets a teacher and falls in love.

The Twilight Story

1960

Get 'em All poster
7.0

Gang of robbers quarrel about the loot, but when one of them gets killed, his younger brother seeks them out to ice them one by one.

Get 'em All

1960

Code Between Brothers 6 poster
6.8

Sixth film in the "Kyodai Jingi" series. Three gangsters challenge an underworld group in northern Japan.

Code Between Brothers 6

1967

Hito mo arukeba poster
9.0

A drummer falls for a pawnbroker's daughter.

Hito mo arukeba

1960

Sex and Life poster
10.0

Dr. Mikami is an elderly somewhat clumsy, very popular therapist, his patients turn to him with all possible and impossible questions. Because Dr. Mikami's specialty is sexual clarification... The world's best-selling sex literature was filmed here in a manner close to the original. And the openness of the image shows the shocking conflicts of young people in scenes that were never filmed. Shocking documents about sex life from the doctor's office.

Sex and Life

1969

The Happicoat Comedian poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

The Happicoat Comedian

1960

Onna no issho poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Onna no issho

1967

1950s · 43 titles

Ikiru poster
8.3

Kanji Watanabe is a middle-aged man who has worked in the same monotonous bureaucratic position for decades. Learning he has cancer, he starts to look for the meaning of his life.

Ikiru

1952

Floating Clouds poster
7.7

A married Japanese forester during WWII is sent to Indochina to manage forests. He meets a young Japanese typist and promises to leave his wife. He doesn't and after the war, she turns up and the affair resumes.

Floating Clouds

1955

The H-Man poster
5.8

When a narcotics deal goes sour and a suspect disappears, leaving only his clothes, Tokyo police question his wife and stake out the nightclub where she works.

The H-Man

1958

Varan poster
5.8

When a rare species of butterfly is found in a mysterious valley in Japan, a pair of entomologists go to investigate and find more. They discover Varan, a giant monster, who decides to leave the valley and head straight for Tokyo.

Varan

1958

Beast Man Snow Man poster
4.9

Three competing parties all race against time to track down an elusive creature known only as the Snowman.

Beast Man Snow Man

1955

Affair Trip poster
NR

Based on the story "Uwaki no tabi" ("Affair Journey") by Keita Genji.

Affair Trip

1956

Faraway Man poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Faraway Man

1957

Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto poster
7.2

Struggling to elevate himself from his low caste in 17th century Japan, Miyamoto trains to become a mighty samurai warrior.

Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto

1954

The Three Treasures poster
5.5

The legend of the birth of Shintoism. In Fourth Century Japan, the Emperor's son Ouso expects to succeed his father on the throne, but Otomo, the Emperor's vassal, prefers Ouso's stepbrother, and conspires to have Ouso die on a dangerous mission he has contrived. But Ouso prevails in the mission and returns to his father's castle under a new name, Prince Yamato Takeru. Otomo plots to have the Prince sent into even greater danger, but Otomo is unaware that the gods have favored the Prince and the outcome is far from what any of them expected.

The Three Treasures

1959

The Beast Shall Die poster
6.2

A promising post-graduate literature student is transformed into a psychotic killer following the suicide of his father and a sleazy affair by his mother with a younger man.

The Beast Shall Die

1959

All About Marriage poster
10.0

Ultra-perky model likes single freedom but feels ryosai kenbo ("good wife, wise mother") pressure, exemplified by her bored-to-tears sister.

All About Marriage

1958

Desperado Outpost poster
6.3

When Sergeant Okubo's brother is murdered at a Japanese outpost in Northern China during the Second World War, Okubo poses as a war correspondent and seeks out his brother's killer.

Desperado Outpost

1959

Yu no machi jōwa poster
NR

A tragic love story set in a hot-spring town.

Yu no machi jōwa

1951

Beyond The Stars poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Beyond The Stars

1956

The Eagle of the Pacific poster
7.8

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, a brilliant tactician, is a loyal subject of the emperor, despite his grave misgivings about leading Japan's navy into war with the United States. He opposes the attack on Pearl Harbor, but, overruled, he leads his forces to the best of his ability.

The Eagle of the Pacific

1953

Mr. Pu poster
6.5

A math teacher loses his job while falling in love with a local girl.

Mr. Pu

1953

The Big Boss poster
6.5

Ryuta and Mineo Komatsu are brothers, both yakuza (gangsters). Mineo, although complicit in crime, even murder, wants out of the gangster life, hoping to become a successful singer instead. Ryuta loves his brother, but Mineo's possible defection presents problems for the gang, and Ryuta realizes he must kill his brother if he wants to survive.

The Big Boss

1959

Samurai Saga poster
6.9

Edmund Rostand's play Cyrano de Bergerac, transplanted to Japan. A poet-warrior with an oversized nose (matched only by his great heart) loves a lady. But she sees him only as a friend, so he helps another man to woo her by giving him the poetry of his own heart.

Samurai Saga

1959

Don't Make a Mistake! poster
NR

Based on the novel "Kyokatsu" ("Blackmail") by Ichiro Kashiwara.

Don't Make a Mistake!

1958

So Young, So Bright poster
7.8

Two high school girls, Ruri and Yumi, go to Kyoto on a school trip, here they get acquainted with Hinagiku, there are many adventures ahead of the three of them. A musical starring 3 Japanese pop music and TV stars.

So Young, So Bright

1955

Elephant from "Zoo Story" poster
NR

The fifth film in the Toho Diamond series, following "The Hateful Thing." Based on the true story of "Zoo Story" by author Fukuda Saburo. During the Tokyo air raids of World War II, Zen-san, an elephant keeper at Ueno Zoo, is faced with the heartbreaking task of euthanizing Tonki, a beloved elephant, due to food shortages and wartime pressures. Unable to carry out the order, Zen-san secretly feeds Tonki, but the elephant is ultimately shot by the military police. The film poignantly captures Zen-san’s despair and the devastation of war, as he reflects on his powerlessness amid the chaos.

Elephant from "Zoo Story"

1957

All is Well poster
10.0

No synopsis available yet.

All is Well

1955

The Man Who Came to Port poster
10.0

An Ishiro Honda film.

The Man Who Came to Port

1952

I Saw the Killer poster
NR

A man running a small radio repair shop becomes a key witness in a murder case.

I Saw the Killer

1956

A Wife's Heart poster
6.9

A young woman tries to raise money to open her own coffee shop. She arranges a loan when her rigid family won't help and then her husband becomes jealous of the loan officer.

A Wife's Heart

1956

Brilliant! The First Detective: Zenigata Heiji in His Youth poster
7.0

No synopsis available yet.

Brilliant! The First Detective: Zenigata Heiji in His Youth

1953

Invisible Man poster
6.7

When an invisible man is run down by a car it’s up to an eager young reporter and a strange clown to bring a dangerous gang to justice.

Invisible Man

1954

A Man Among Men poster
8.0

Gangsters Ken and Maki are rivals in the ticket-scalping game. They make an uneasy truce, but Ken wrecks the truce by agreeing to fix a boxing match in which Maki has an interest in one of the fighters. After a terrible brawl, the two gangsters discover that they have both been played for suckers by their bosses. They join forces to turn the tables on the bosses.

A Man Among Men

1955

Funny Fellows poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Funny Fellows

1956

Zoku Ôban: Fûun hen poster
9.0

Ushinosuke returns broke to his hometown, where everyone believes he's rich and successful. Part two (of four) of the film adaptation of Bunroku Shishi's novel, Oban.

Zoku Ôban: Fûun hen

1957

Echo Mountain poster
9.0

A bus driver and a female conductor on a route deep in the mountains are embroiled in a love affair that is depicted in great detail in this light-hearted romantic drama.

Echo Mountain

1959

Love on Rainbow Island poster
8.0

Sankichi Matsutani, a poor young fisherman, falls in love with Kikue, the only daughter of fisher Shiimbei. As the star-crossed lovers come from different religious backgrounds, they soon meet fierce opposition from their communities.

Love on Rainbow Island

1956

No artwork available
6.5

Historical drama about a sleepy-eyed ronin.

The Spell of the Hidden Gold

1958

A Woman's Heart poster
NR

Married for almost a decade, a couple with a son have their life thrown for a loop when the wife Isoko comes across a photo of her university professor husband Asakichi with a younger woman named Terue, alongside a gift and a letter. When the husband is confronted he admits to merely loving his wife non-romantically, prompting her to take her son and leave the house. While she returns to her previous job and is staying at the company's dormitory, her husband is being visited by the other woman, who wants to tend to him, and his students.

A Woman's Heart

1959

Utae! Seishun Harikiri Musume poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Utae! Seishun Harikiri Musume

1955

Aishu no machi ni kiri ga furu poster
7.0

No synopsis available yet.

Aishu no machi ni kiri ga furu

1956

No artwork available
6.0

Historical drama about a sleepy-eyed ronin.

The Lonely Swordsman (Part 1)

1956

Seagull of the Night poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Seagull of the Night

1957

The Doom of Night poster
NR

Story of an ex-sailor, caught up in a murder mystery involving gold dust buried in Manchuria, while romancing a woman whose father may be the center of the intrigue.

The Doom of Night

1959

This Love Costs 50 Million Yen poster
NR

Chōsokabe Kyutaro, notorious as a master swindler, abandons Tokyo and flees to Watakano Island near the Shima Peninsula. Upon hearing that the Tawarado family, the island’s wealthiest clan, was desperately searching for their missing heir, Kyutaro, he immediately disguises himself as Kyutaro and makes his way there.

This Love Costs 50 Million Yen

1954

Bot-chan poster
10.0

1953 Toho adaptation of Natsume's novel.

Bot-chan

1953

Ôban poster
9.0

A young country boy leaves his village for Tokyo, where he begins to work as a stock trader. First part (of four) of the film adaptation of Bunroku Shishi's novel, Oban.

Ôban

1957

Who Is the Informer? poster
NR

After killing a detective in a botched robbery, Keiichi (Natsuki) is on the run as police stake out the homes of his sisters, mother, and girlfriend.

Who Is the Informer?

1958

Series credits