Nikkatsu was the leading studio in Japan, enjoying box office mega-hits with its action films starring Ishihara ("Crazed Fruit"), teenage love stories starring Yoshinaga ("Cupola, Where the Furnaces Grow"), and "Branded to Kill" starring Joe Shishido, works with a continuing international appeal to this day - the films were so successful that Ishihara and Yoshinaga are still regarded as icons of the Showa period.
