Tarō Araki

Last updated • 3 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia
Tarō Araki
Born (1961-02-16) February 16, 1961 (age 63) [1]
Tokyo, Japan
Occupation(s) Film director
screenwriter
actor
Years active 1981 –

Tarō Araki (荒木太郎, Araki Tarō, born February 16, 1961) is a Japanese film director, screenwriter, and actor. Including Yutaka Ikejima, Yumi Yoshiyuki and Minoru Kunizawa, Araki is one of the four top pink film directors of Ōkura Productions (OP) at the turn of the millennium. [2]

Contents

Life and career

Tarō Araki first entered the film industry as an extra in 1981. [1] He began his behind-the-camera work through Kokuei studio in 1985. There he worked as assistant director on such films as Yukio Kitazawa's Wet Virgin: Obscene Assault (1985) and Kazuhiro Sano's first film as director, Capturing: Dirty Foreplay (監禁　ワイセツな前戯, Kankin: waisetsuna zengi) aka Last Bullet. [3] Araki often appears as an actor in his films as well as in films by other directors. His performance in Parade (パレード) (1995) earned Araki a Best Actor, 2nd Place award at the Pink Grand Prix. [4]

Araki's directorial debut was with 異常露出・見せたがり in 1996. [5] His approach to the pink film is different from that of many of the more prominent directors of the last two decades such as the groups known as the "Four Heavenly Kings of Pink" (ピンク四天王, pinku shitenno) and "Seven Lucky Gods of Pink" (ピンク七福神, shichifukujin). Araki has a more populist impulse to his filmmaking, and is a vocal opponent of making a film to please one's self rather than the audience. He intentionally tries to please the traditional theatrical pink film audience, particularly those outside the large cities, rather than the more intellectual critics and fans who are represented by P*G magazine and the Pink Grand Prix ceremony. [3] Nevertheless, Araki has proven himself a successful director at the Pink Grand Prix. Besides the acting and Best New Director awards, Araki's film Sad and Painful Search: Office Lady Essay (2000) was chosen as Best Film, [6] and his Sister-in-Law's Wet Thighs (2001) earned Araki an award for Best Director. [7] Additionally, he has had numerous films on the Pink Grand Prix's yearly Top-Ten list.

Partial filmography

Pink Grand Prix

Pinky Ribbon Awards

Bibliography

English

Japanese

Related Research Articles

<i>Frog Song</i> 2005 Japanese film

Frog Song originally released as Paid Companionship Story: Girls Who Want to Do It is a 2005 Japanese Pink film directed by Shinji Imaoka. It was chosen as Best Film of the year at the Pink Grand Prix ceremony. According to author Jasper Sharp, the title, "Frog Song" is a pun referring both to a full-sized frog costume found outside a train station and worn by one of the characters, and to the Japanese verb kaeru "to go home". The translation of the title of the film could thus also be "Going Home Song".

<i>Adultery Diary: One More Time While Im Still Wet</i> 1996 Japanese film

Adultery Diary: One More Time While I'm Still Wet is a 1996 Japanese Pink film directed by Toshiki Satō. It was chosen as Best Film of the year at the Pink Grand Prix ceremony. The film was released on video as My Wife is a Ghost: One More Time While I'm Still Wet.

Yutaka Ikejima is a Japanese film director, actor, and producer. Considered the most successful filmmaker in the pink film genre in the 2000s, his films are popular with traditional pink film audiences, fans of cinema, and with critics. Because of his prolific contributions to the pink film he has earned the nickname "Mr. Pink".

Yumi Yoshiyuki is a Japanese film director, actress, and screenwriter best known for her work in the pink film genre.

Yūji Tajiri is a Japanese film director, screenwriter, and actor. He is one of the group of pink film directors collectively known as the "Seven Lucky Gods of Pink", a group which also includes Toshiya Ueno, Mitsuru Meike, Shinji Imaoka, Yoshitaka Kamata, Toshirō Enomoto and Rei Sakamoto.

Minoru Kunizawa a.k.a. Shūsaku Niki is a Japanese film director, screenwriter, and actor best known for his work in the pink film genre. Including Yutaka Ikejima, Yumi Yoshiyuki and Tarō Araki, Kunizawa is one of the four top directors of Ōkura Productions (OP) at the turn of the millennium, and the only one of the four who did not start out as an actor. Instead, Kunizawa joined the film industry as an assistant director to pink film pioneer Satoru Kobayashi. He made his directorial debut with Kyonyū: hasande kuwaeru (1995). Kunizawa's films have been very popular with pink film fans, and he has had more than one film in the Top Ten at the Pink Grand Prix for multiple years. He has also won the Best Director prize twice. Irresistable Angel: Suck It All Up (2003), for which he won Best Director, is an erotic variation on the X-Men story.

Shinji Imaoka a.k.a. 羅門ナカ is a Japanese film director, screenwriter, and actor. He is one of a group of pink film directors of the 2000s known collectively as the "Seven Lucky Gods of Pink", which besides Imaoka, also includes Toshiya Ueno, Mitsuru Meike, Yūji Tajiri, Yoshitaka Kamata, Toshirō Enomoto and Rei Sakamoto.

Mitsuru Meike is a Japanese film director, screenwriter, and actor. He is one of the group of prominent pink film directors known collectively as the "Seven Lucky Gods of Pink" which comprises Meike, Toshiya Ueno, Yūji Tajiri, Shinji Imaoka, Yoshitaka Kamata, Toshirō Enomoto and Rei Sakamoto.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tetsuya Takehora</span> Japanese film director

Tetsuya Takehora is a Japanese film director and screenwriter.

Rinako Hirasawa is a Japanese AV idol and pink film actress. She has appeared in award-winning pink films, and was given a "Best Actress" award for her work in this genre in 2007.

Kiyomi Itō is a Japanese actress best known for her performances in pink films. She was given Best Actress awards at the Pink Grand Prix for her work in this genre in 1990, 1992 and 1994.

<i>Anarchy in Japansuke</i> 1999 Japanese film

Anarchy in Japansukeoriginal titleAnarchy in Japansuke: The Woman Who Comes When Watched is a 1999 Japanese pink film directed by Takahisa Zeze. It won the Silver Prize at the Pink Grand Prix ceremony.

Lemon Hanazawa, a.k.a. Remon Hanazawa, is a Japanese pink film actress who has also performed in adult videos (AV). She has appeared in award-winning pink films such as Lunch Box (2004) and Molester's Train: Sensitive Fingers (2007). She was named "Best New Actress" for her work in this genre in 2004, and "Best Actress" second place in 2005 at the Pink Grand Prix. The Kansai region Pinky Ribbon Awards chose Hanazawa for Best Supporting Actress in 2005, and Outstanding Performance by an Actress in 2007.

Megumi Makihara is a Japanese actress known for her appearances in the pink film genre. She has appeared in award-winning pink films, and was herself given a "Best Actress" award for her work in 1997.

Mayu Asada is a Japanese actress best known for her appearances in pink films. She has appeared in award-winning pink films, and was given a "Best Actress" award for her work in this genre of theatrical softcore pornography in 2004.

<i>Irresistible Angel: Suck It All Up</i> 2003 Japanese film

Irresistible Angel: Suck It All UpakaSex * Beast * Battle * Front is a 2003 Japanese action-adventure, science-fiction-themed pink film directed by Minoru Kunizawa. It was chosen as the fourth best pink film release of the year at the Pink Grand Prix. Other awards won by the film at the ceremony include Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actress 3rd Place, and Best Cinematography. The story serves as a satire of the U.S. Marvel Comics superhero team, X-Men.

Kōichi Saitō is a Japanese cinematographer. At the beginning of his career, he often worked with "Four Heavenly Kings of Pink" pink film directors Takahisa Zeze and Hisayasu Satō. Saitō also worked with all nearly every director of the post-Heavenly King generation at Kokuei studio. Now working mostly in mainstream film, he still often teams up with Zeze.

<i>Lolita: Vibrator Torture</i> 1987 Japanese film

Lolita: Vibrator Torture is a 1987 Japanese pink film directed by Hisayasu Satō. It was produced by producer-director Kan Mukai's Shishi Productions. It was released by Nikkatsu and shown as the third feature of a triple-bill with two films in their Roman Porno series. The film includes the first screen role for Takeshi Itō, who would go on to be one of the most popular pink film actors of his era. Takeshi Itō won the first Best Actor award at the Pink Grand Prix for his performance in Toshiya Ueno's Keep on Masturbating: Non-Stop Pleasure, and lead actress of Lolita: Vibrator Torture, Kiyomi Itō was awarded Best Actress at the same ceremony for Hisayasu Satō's Dirty Wife Getting Wet.

OP Eiga (オーピー映画), also known as Ōkura Eiga (大蔵映画) or Okura Pictures, is the largest and one of the oldest independent Japanese studios which produce and distribute pink films. It was founded in 1961 by Mitsuru Ōkura, former president of film studio Shintōhō. Along with Shintōhō Eiga, Kantō, Million Film, and Kōji Wakamatsu's production studio, Ōkura was one of the most influential studios on the pink film genre. Among the many notable pink films released by the studio are Satoru Kobayashi's Flesh Market (1962), the first film in the pink film genre.

Molester's Train is a Japanese pink film series. Academy Award–winning director Yōjirō Takita started the series in 1982. By 1997, there had been 25 films made in the series. In their pioneering English-language work on Japanese erotic cinema, the Weissers write that "most of the episodes are reminiscent of early American nudie-cuties, especially the voyeuristic titty-flicks like Russ Meyer's Eve and the Handyman and Immoral Mr Teas, or Herschell Gordon Lewis' Adventures Of Lucky Pierre." The 1993 installment Nasty Behavior, which was directed by Hisayasu Satō and featured Yumika Hayashi, had an austere tone that was in direct contrast to the light, comic tone of the previous films in the series.

References

  1. 1 2 "荒木太郎". Director's Guild of Japan. Archived from the original on 2007-06-19. Retrieved 2009-06-21.
  2. ↑ Sharp, Jasper (2008). Behind the Pink Curtain: The Complete History of Japanese Sex Cinema. Guildford: FAB Press. p. 334. ISBN   978-1-903254-54-7.
  3. 1 2 Sharp, Jasper (2008). Behind the Pink Curtain: The Complete History of Japanese Sex Cinema. Guildford: FAB Press. pp. 334–35. ISBN   978-1-903254-54-7.
  4. ↑ "Best Ten of 1995 (１９９５年度ベストテン)" (in Japanese). P.G. Web Site. Archived from the original on August 6, 2012. Retrieved January 18, 2009.
  5. ↑ "Pink Films History" (in Japanese). P.G. Web Site. Archived from the original on May 21, 2002. Retrieved 2009-06-21.
  6. ↑ "Best Ten of 2000 (２０００年度ベストテン)" (in Japanese). P.G. Web Site. Retrieved January 18, 2009.
  7. ↑ "Best Ten of 2001 (２００１年度ベストテン)" (in Japanese). P.G. Web Site. Archived from the original on August 5, 2012. Retrieved January 18, 2009.
Awards and achievements
Pink Grand Prix
Preceded by Pink Grand Prix for Best Director
Tarō Araki
2001
for Sister-in-Law's Wet Thighs		Succeeded by
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.