is a Japanese

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

, and

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

. Including Yutaka Ikejima, Yumi Yoshiyuki and Minoru Kunizawa, Araki is one of the four top ''

pink film refers in Japan to movies produced by independent studios that includes nudity (hence 'pink') or deals with sexual content. This encompasses everything from dramas to action thrillers and exploitation film features. Many pink films would be a ...

'' directors of Ōkura Productions (OP) at the turn of the millennium.

Life and career

Tarō Araki first entered the film industry as an extra in 1981. 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 is a Japanese film director, screenwriter and actor best known for his '' pink films'' of the 1990s. Along with fellow directors, Takahisa Zeze, Toshiki Satō and Hisayasu Sato, he is known as one of the . Sano's films differ from those of ot ...

's first film as director, aka ''Last Bullet''. Araki often appears as an actor in his films as well as in films by other directors. His performance in (1995) earned Araki a Best Actor, 2nd Place award at the Pink Grand Prix. Araki's directorial debut was with in 1996. 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 and . 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. 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, and his ''Sister-in-Law's Wet Thighs'' (2001) earned Araki an award for Best Director. Additionally, he has had numerous films on the Pink Grand Prix's yearly Top-Ten list.

Partial filmography

Pink Grand Prix

* 2000 1st place: * 2001 4th place: * 2001 Honorable mention: * 2002 7th place: * 2002 10th place: * 2003 6th place: * 2003 8th place: * 2004 2nd place: * 2008 7th place:

Pinky Ribbon Awards

* 2004 Gold prize: * 2004 Pearl prize: * 2005 Silver prize:

Bibliography

English

* * *

Japanese

* * *

References

, - ! colspan="3" style="background: #DAA520;" , Pink Grand Prix , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Araki, Taro Japanese male film actors Pink film actors Japanese film directors Pink film directors Japanese screenwriters 1961 births Living people