Toshiaki Toyoda

• Name — Toshiaki Toyoda • Born — 10 March 1969 • Birthplace — Osaka Prefecture, Japan • Occupation — * Film director • screenwriter • Years Active — 1991-present

Toshiaki Toyoda was born in Osaka Prefecture. As a child he was a prodigy in the game of shogi. He attended the Japan Shogi Association's apprenticeship (Shōreikai) from age 9 with the aim of eventually becoming a professional player. When he was 17 years old he had to choose between either pursuing a career as a professional shogi player or follow his newfound dream of filmmaking. After this he stopped playing in a professional capacity.

Toyoda moved to Tokyo as a teenager, taking with him only two guitars and 20,000 yen. He began working with producer Genjirō Arato and director Junji Sakamoto, assisting the latter on the shogi-related film Ōte (1991), for which he helped pen the script.

Toyoda released his debut feature film Pornostar (ポルノスター) in 1998, which earned him the Directors Guild of Japan New Directors Award that same year. The 1990s marked a fascination with juvenile criminals and violence in Japan. Films such as 2000's Battle Royale, 2001's Ichi the Killer and Suicide Club are examples of that and have been put into a bracket with Pornostar. The film follows Arano (Chihara Junia), a young man who is on a mission to kill yakuza. The Japanese band Dip provided the grundgy stoner rock soundtrack for the movie. Toyoda's sophomore feature Blue Spring (青い春) was released in 2001 and quickly garnered a cult following. It is an adaptation of an autobiographical anthology manga series by Taiyō Matsumoto. The movie is set in a derelict high school and follows a group of delinquent students and their violent exploits. The group's new leader, Kujo (Ryuhei Matsuda), quickly gets bored with his position of power. 2001 also saw the release of Unchain (アンチェイン), a documentary following a failed professional boxer named Kaji and his friends. Kaji had to give up boxing because of nerve damage and struggles to hold a job. As of 2017, Toyoda is still in touch with Kaji and his friends. In 2003 Toyoda's third feature film Nine Souls (ナイン・ソウルズ), the story of nine prison inmates breaking out of jail and searching for a hidden treasure, released to the public. Even after the group of men (including Ryuhei Matsuda, Jun Kunimura and Yoshio Harada among others) escape they are faced with a bleak reality: Being guilty in the eyes of society makes the whole world their prison. In a 2012 interview Toyoda has said that the movie was inspired by an American case of prison escape a few years prior to the film's release. Toyoda's career prospects were looking bright, judging by the international success of Nine Souls, but he suffered a setback when he was arrested on drug charges just before his next film Hanging Garden (空中庭園), an adaptation of Mitsuyo Kakuta's 2003 novel of the same name, was released in 2005. Toyoda was arrested for possession of a controlled substance (marijuana) on August 23, 2005, weeks before Hanging Garden was getting a theatrical release. He has since described his subsequent treatment as being blacklisted from the Japanese film industry.

Additionally to films, Toyoda has directed multiple music videos over the span of his career. Comparing the two mediums he has said the following: "[Making music videos is] creating pictures for music. [...] When you create films you are adding music to a picture."

Feature films • Year — Title — Director — Writer — Producer — Ref(s). Reference(s) • 1998 — Pornostar (ポルノスター, Porunosutā) • 2001 — Blue Spring (青い春, Aoi haru) • 2003 — 9 Souls (ナイン・ソウルズ, Nainu sōruzu) • 2005 — Hanging Garden (空中庭園, Kūchū teien) • 2009 — The Blood of Rebirth (蘇りの血, Yomigaeri no chi) • 2011 — Monsters Club (モンスターズクラブ, Monsutāzu kurabu) • 2012 — I'm Flash! • 2014 — Crows Explode (クローズ EXPLODE, Kurōzu Explode) • 2018 — The Miracle of Crybaby Shottan (泣き虫しょったんの奇跡, Nakimushi shotta n no kiseki) • 2020 — The Day of Destruction (破壊の日, Hakai no Hi) • 2021 — Shiver (戦慄せしめよ, Senritsu seshimeyo) • 2025 — Transcending Dimensions (次元を超える, Jigen o koeru) Short films • Year — Title — Director — Writer — Producer — Ref(s). Reference(s) • 2019 — Wolf's Calling (狼煙が呼ぶ, Noroshi ga Yobu) • 2021 — Go Seppuku Yourselves (全員切腹, Zen'in seppuku) • 2022 — Alive. (生きている。, Ikiteiru.) • 2023 — I'm Here (ここにいる。, Koko ni iru.) • 2024 — I'm Coming (すぐにゆく。, Sugu ni yuku.) Documentaries • Year — Title — Ref(s). Reference(s) • 2001 — Unchain (アンチェイン) • 2018 — Planetist (プラネティスト) Music videos • "Kimi to Iu Hana" (Asian Kung-Fu Generation) • "Siren" (Asian Kung-Fu Generation) • "Ato 10 Byō de"(Art-School) • "Lost in the Air" (Art-School) • "Hakkō" (Rosso) • "Sangatsu" (Does)

In a 2012 interview Toyoda named Bruce Lee as his favorite director. Toyoda has said that he focuses on making the dialogue in his films "simple [and] punchy". On the surreal elements in his movies, Toyoda says "The collision of reality and the supernatural is the natural way of the world, as I see and feel it." Many of Toyoda's films feature misfits who struggle to fit into societal norms. Other themes in his work include rebirth, death, spirituality, isolation and violence. The theme of spirituality has become even more pronounced in Toyoda's modern output. In a 2025 interview he admitted to being interested in various forms of spiritual and religious practice such as meditation since he was a teenager. He also shared that he is in the midst of ascetic training.

Writing in 2019 for Asian Movie Pulse, Panos Kotzathanasis calls Blue Spring "a cult film" and "the guerilla/punk film [...] apogee." He especially compliments the movie's presentation and credits cinematographer Norimichi Kasamatsu, editor Mototaka Kusakabe as well as the soundtrack contributed by garage rock band Thee Michelle Gun Elephant. Toyoda's informal Resurrection Trilogy has garnered positive praise for its political themes and timeliness, while other writers have voiced their disappointment. Brooke Heinz calls the first two entries "admirable" but writes that "despite some nice visuals and excellent sound design and music, neither of the resulting films are as challenging as the events which surround them", referencing Toyoda's arrest, the 2020 Summer Olympics and the COVID-19 pandemic, all of which served as inspiration and fuel for the resulting movies. In a piece written for Another Magazine in 2021, James Balmont compares Toyoda's career trajectory with those of some of his more successful contemporaries in Japan such as Takashi Miike, Sion Sono, Hirokazu Kore-eda and Kiyoshi Kurosawa. Balmont notes that while these directors also started as rebel filmmakers they have each become internationally acclaimed names. He attributes this difference to the "infamy" around Toyoda caused by the two scandals (2005 arrest and 2019 arrest) he has gone through.