a.k.a. 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 ...

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

, and actor. He is one of a group of ''

pink film in its broadest sense includes almost any Japanese theatrical film that includes nudity (hence 'pink') or deals with sexual content. This encompasses everything from dramas to action thrillers and exploitation film features. The Western equiv ...

'' directors of the 2000s known collectively as the , which besides Imaoka, also includes Toshiya Ueno,

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 which comprises Meike, Toshiya Ueno, Yūji Tajiri, Shinji Imaoka, Yoshitaka Kamata, Toshirō Enomo ...

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

Yoshitaka Kamata Yoshitaka is a masculine Japanese given name and a Japanese surname. Possible writings Yoshitaka can be written using many different combinations of kanji characters. Here are some examples: *義孝, "justice, filial piety" *義隆, "justice, no ...

, Toshirō Enomoto and

Rei Sakamoto Rei or REI may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Rei, a story arc of the anime ''Higurashi When They Cry'' *Rei, a shapeshifting godlike dragon in the Australian webcomic series ''Vainglorious'' *Rei I, II and III, List of Neon Genesis Evangelion ...

Life and career

Shinji Imaoka was born in Osaka in 1965. He attended

Yokohama City University is a public university, in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. As of 2013, YCU has two faculties with a total of around 4,850 students, 111 of whom are foreign. YCU also has four campuses (Kanazawa-Hakkei, Fukuura, Maioka and Tsurumi) and two ...

, but dropped out in 1990 in order to pursue a film career. He entered the film industry as an assistant director at ''

'' pioneer Satoru Kobayashi's Shishi Productions. There he worked principally under

Hisayasu Satō is a Japanese exploitation film director. He has worked prolifically in the genre of '' pinku eiga'' films, which refers to Japanese films that prominently feature nudity or sexual content. His best-known works are the 1992 pink film ''The Bedr ...

, and also with such directors at

Takahisa Zeze is a Japanese film director and screenwriter first known for his soft-core pornographic '' pink films'' of the 1990s. Along with fellow directors, Kazuhiro Sano, Toshiki Satō, and Hisayasu Sato, he is known as one of the . In recent years, he h ...

and

Mototsugu Watanabe Mototsugu (written: or ) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese samurai *, Japanese ''kugyō'' *, Japanese professional wrestler {{given name Japanese masculine given names ...

. In December 1994 he worked as assistant director to the esteemed

Nikkatsu is a Japanese entertainment company known for its film and television productions. It is Japan's oldest major movie studio, founded in 1912 during the silent film era. The name ''Nikkatsu'' amalgamates the words Nippon Katsudō Shashin, literally ...

Roman Porno in its broadest sense includes almost any Japanese theatrical film that includes nudity (hence 'pink') or deals with sexual content. This encompasses everything from dramas to action thrillers and exploitation film features. The Western equiv ...

director

Tatsumi Kumashiro was a Japanese film director known for his critically acclaimed, award-winning ''Roman Porno'' films, such as ''Ichijo's Wet Lust'' (1972) and ''The Woman with Red Hair'' (1979). He was the most highly acclaimed director of the early Nikkatsu Ro ...

on his last film, . Imaoka's directorial debut film was a.k.a. ''Waiting for the Comet'' (1995). In his ''Behind the Pink Curtain: The Complete History of Japanese Sex Cinema'', Jasper Sharp writes that Imaoka's style is quite different from that of his mentor, Hisayasu Satō, and that his approach to the ''pink film'' is much closer to

Toshiki Satō a.k.a. , , ''and'' is a Japanese film director and screenwriter best known for his '' pink films'' of the 1990s. Along with fellow directors, Takahisa Zeze, Kazuhiro Sano and Hisayasu Satō, he is known as one of the . Life and career Toshiki S ...

. Like Toshiki Satō, Imaoka's sex scenes are often sparser than the norm for a ''pink film'', and not given much emphasis. According to Sharp, " maoka'sfilms possess the same deadpan comic touch that masks a painfully honest emotional core, although Imaoka's peculiar brand of pathos is less wry and more sentimental." Further, he writes, "Imaoka's particular strength is his understated depiction of characters trapped in a rut, desperately reaching out for something they secretly know they can't have."Sharp, p. 324. While Imaoka's approach to the sex scenes has not won him favor with the traditional ''pink film'' audience and theater owners, his films have been praised by critics. He has been awarded Best Director at the

Pink Grand Prix The or is an annual Japanese film award ceremony which recognizes excellence in the pink film genre. Referred to by Miho Toda as the "Academy Awards of the Pink Film", the ceremony attracts a diverse audience of industry personnel, film scholar ...

, and two of his films have been voted the Best Film of the year at the ceremony. In 2000, the Tokyo Athénée Français gave Imaoka a career retrospective tribute which broke the institution's record for attendance.

Partial filmography

Top-ten films, Pink Grand Prix

* 1996 Honorable Mention: * 1999 Honorable Mention: * 1999 1st place: * 2005 1st place: * 2005 8th place: a.k.a.

Pinky Ribbon Awards

* 2006 Silver Prize: a.k.a.

Bibliography

English

* * *

Japanese

* * * * * * * * * * **

References

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, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Imaoka, Shinji 1965 births Japanese male bloggers Japanese male film actors Japanese film directors Pink film directors Japanese screenwriters Living people People from Sakai, Osaka 21st-century screenwriters