Akio Jissoji

Biography

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.

Directed

1. Ultraseven (1967) — Director
2. Ultraman Tiga (1996) — Director
3. Ultraman (1966) — Director
4. This Transient Life (1970) — Director
5. Rampo Noir (2005) — Director
6. Mandala (1971) — Director
7. Tokyo: The Last Megalopolis (1988) — Director
8. Poem (1972) — Director
9. Ultraman Dyna (1997) — Director
10. Ten Nights of Dreams (2007) — Director
11. Summer of Ubume (2005) — Director
12. Ultraman Max (2005) — Director
13. Utamaro's World (1977) — Director
14. Marquis de Sade’s Prosperities of Vice (1988) — Director
15. A Watcher in the Attic (1994) — Director
16. It Was a Faint Dream (1974) — Director
17. Operation: Mystery (1968) — Director
18. Murder on D Street (1998) — Director
19. Akio Jissoji's Ultraman (1979) — Director
20. Ultra Q The Movie: Legend of the Stars (1990) — Director
21. When Twilight Draws Near (1969) — Director
22. La Valse (1990) — Director
23. Arietta (1989) — Director
24. Blue Lake Girl (1986) — Director
25. Lanterns on Blue Waters (1983) — Director
26. Dialogue (1992) — Director
27. Ultra Q: Dark Fantasy (2004) — Director
28. Silver Kamen (1971) — Director
29. Silver Mask (2006) — Director
30. Akio Jissoji's Museum of Wonders - Volume of the Unknown (1992) — Director
31. Akio Jissoji's Museum of Wonders - Volume of Discourse (1992) — Director
32. The Birth of Ultraman (1966) — Director
33. Mizuki Mari: Honban rankô (1993) — Director
34. Akio Jissoji's Wonder Museum 1 (1992) — Director
35. Twenty-Four Eyes (1980) — Director
36. The Father of Ultra Q (1966) — Director
37. Arthouse Ultraman (2005) — Director
38. Longing for Spring (1984) — Director
39. Tokyo Illusion (1986) — Director
40. I Want to Buy Kyoto (1969) — Director

Also appeared in

1. Cross the Lens (2006) — Self
2. Ultra Heroine Legend: From Anne to Seven (2004) — Self
3. Ultra Heroine Legend: Contest of Goddesses (2005) — Self