Conscripted into the army during the Asia-Pacific War, Okamoto underwent the harrowing experience of seeing his comrades blown up before his very eyes. After the war, he joined Toho, where in addition to making comedies and gangster films he was also given the opportunity to try his hand at war movies, resulting in The Human Bullet (Nikudan, 1968) and Battle of Okinawa (Gekido no Showa-shi: Okinawa kessen, 1971), among others. In Desperado Outpost (Dokuritsu gurentai, 1959) in particular, he interwove humor to expose the folly of war while simultaneously breaking the staid mold of the conventional Japanese war film. Possessed of an insatiable curiosity, he continued to direct films across a wide range of genres well into the latter half of his career, from science-fiction work Blue Christmas (Buru kurisumasu, 1978) to eccentric jidaigeki (period drama) Jazz Daimyo (Jazu daimyo, 1986). Okamoto's films' appeal lies in their lively tempo, which he achieved through the brisk layering of shots, and their garrulous narration. So profound was Okamoto's influence on ANNO Hideaki, director of TV animation series Neon Genesis Evangelion (Shinseiki Evangerion, 1995-96), that Anno used a photo of the late director as a stand-in to portray a significant missing character in his 2016 film Shin Godzilla (Shin Gojira).

(Written by MIYAMOTO Noriaki / Translated by Adam Sutherland)