Akira Kobayashi
The company made a few samurai films and historical dramas but by 1960 had decided to devote its resources to the production of urban youth dramas, comedy, action and gangster films. From the late 1950s to the start of the 1970s, they were renowned for their "borderless action" ("mukokuseki akushun") movies, designed for the youth market, whose directors included Suzuki, Toshio Masuda, and Takashi Nomura. The studio also employed such stars as Yujiro Ishihara, Akira Kobayashi, Joe Shishido, Tetsuya Watari, Ruriko Asaoka, Chieko Matsubara and, later, Meiko Kaji and Tatsuya Fuji. Director Shōhei Imamura began his career there and between 1958 and 1966 made for them such notable films as "Pigs and Battleships" (1961), "The Insect Woman" (1963) and "The Pornographers" (1966).