Akio Jissoji
DirectingAkio 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.
Known For
Filmography — Acting
Filmography — Crew
Rampo Noir
Director
Ten Nights of Dreams
Director
Tokyo: The Last Megalopolis
Director
Murder on D Street
Director
Utamaro's World
Director
Mandala
Director
Summer of Ubume
Director
This Transient Life
Director
A Watcher in the Attic
Director
Silver Mask
Director
Poem
Director
It Was a Faint Dream
Director
Blue Lake Girl
Director
Akio Jissoji's Ultraman
Director
Twenty-Four Eyes
Director
Ultra Q The Movie: Legend of the Stars
Director
Dialogue
Director
Marquis de Sade’s Prosperities of Vice
Director
Tokyo Decameron
Writer
La Valse
Director
Lanterns on Blue Waters
Director
The Birth of Ultraman
Director
When Twilight Draws Near
Director
Arietta
Director
Lullaby of Death
Director
Akio Jissoji's Museum of Wonders - Volume of the Unknown
Director
Arthouse Ultraman
Director
I Want to Buy Kyoto
Director
Tokyo Illusion
Director
The Accursed Urns
Director
Akio Jissoji's Mystery File 3
Producer
Akio Jissoji's Museum of Wonders - Volume of Discourse
Director
Horror Telephone
Director
Akio Jissoji's Mystery File 2
Producer
The Father of Ultra Q
Director
Longing for Spring
Director
Akio Jissoji's Wonder Museum 1
Director
Akio Jissoji's Mystery File 1
Producer