, also

romanised Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and ...

as ''Akiko Ohku'', is a Japanese

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...

. Ōku was born in

Yokohama, Kanagawa is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...

. In high school, she joined a

rakugo is a form of ''yose'', which is itself a form of Japanese verbal entertainment. The lone sits on a raised platform, a . Using only a and a as props, and without standing up from the seiza sitting position, the rakugo artist depicts a long ...

group. While studying Politics and Economics at

Meiji University , abbreviated as Meiji (明治) or Meidai (明大'')'', is a private research university located in Chiyoda City, the heart of Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1881 as Meiji Law School (明治法律学校, ''Meiji Hōritsu Gakkō'') by three Meiji-er ...

, she was part of a student theatre troupe. After graduating, Ōku briefly had an office job at a subsidiary of the Ministry of Labour. She then entered a comedy acting school for one year and performed as stand-up comedian, and afterwards, at age 27, she entered Eigabi School, a film school where director

Kiyoshi Kurosawa is a Japanese film director, screenwriter, film critic and a professor at Tokyo University of the Arts. Although he has worked in a variety of genres, Kurosawa is best known for his many contributions to the Japanese horror genre, his honorific ...

taught, among others.

''Igaito shinanai''

While still at film school, Ōku won a screenwriting contest with a script that would become her theatrical feature film debut as director, (''Igaito shinanai'', literally "don't die unexpectedly"). The film was released in 1999. It is about an elementary school teacher troubled by pupils, parents, colleagues and a stalker.

''Lost After School''

''Lost After School'' (original title ''Hōkago rosuto'') is an anthology film released in 2014 consisting of three episodes about high school girls. The film is based on the

shōjo manga is an editorial category of Japanese comics targeting an audience of adolescent females and young adult women. It is, along with manga (targeting adolescent boys), manga (targeting young adult and adult men), and manga (targeting adul ...

''World Gaze Clips'' by Ran Igarashi. Each episode was directed by a different female director, the other directors besides Ōku being Chihiro Amano and Ai Nagura. Ōku's segment is titled (''baion'', literally "overtones").

''Fantastic Girls''

''Fantastic Girls'' (original title ''Dērē gāruzu'') was released in 2015. It is adapted from the novel of the same title by Maha Harada. The word ''dērē'' in the title is

Okayama is the capital city of Okayama Prefecture in the Chūgoku region of Japan. The city was founded on June 1, 1889. , the city has an estimated population of 720,841 and a population density of 910 persons per km2. The total area is . The city is ...

dialect and means "very". The story is about two high-school friends in 1980 who reunite 30 years later.

''Tremble All You Want''

(''Katte ni furuetero'') is a romantic comedy released in 2017. It won the Audience Award at the 30th

Tokyo International Film Festival The is a film festival established in 1985. The event was held biennially from 1985 to 1991 and annually thereafter. Along with the Shanghai International Film Festival, it is one of Asia's competitive film festivals, and is considered to be the ...

, and its leading actress

Mayu Matsuoka is a Japanese actress. She has been awarded the Tama best Emerging Actress Award and Fumiko Yamaji Freshman Actress Award in 2016. She gained international attention as an ambassador of the Tokyo International Film Festival for 2017 and her rol ...

was nominated for a

Japan Academy Film Prize The , often called the Japan Academy Prize, the Japan Academy Awards, and the Japanese Academy Awards, is a series of awards given annually since 1978 by the Japan Academy Film Prize Association (日本アカデミー賞協会, ''Nippon Akademii- ...

Later films

Further films by Ōku include ''Bijin ga konkatsu shite mitara'' / ''Marriage Hunting Beauty'' (2019, based on the manga by Arako Toaru) and ''Watashi wo kuitomete'' / ''Hold Me Back'' (2020, based on the novel by

Risa Wataya is a female Japanese novelist from Kyoto. Her short novel ''Keritai senaka'' won the Akutagawa Prize and has sold more than a million copies. Wataya has also won the Bungei Prize and the Kenzaburo Oe Prize. Her work has been translated into Ge ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Oku, Akiko 1968 births Living people Japanese women film directors Japanese women screenwriters