Career
Saitō also worked with all nearly every director of the post-Heavenly King generation at Kokuei studio. In his Behind the Pink Curtain: The Complete History of Japanese Sex Cinema, Jasper Sharp writes that Saitō is probably the best cinematographer currently working in the pink film genre. He is most closely associated with the work of Takahisa Zeze, and Sharp credits Saitō with helping the director bridge the gap between pink and mainstream film.
Foreign his work in Zeze"s Upcoming Scenery (赫い情事, Akai Jōji, 1996), Saitō was given a special award for Best Cinematographer at the Pink Grand Prix.
In their review of Zeze"s Crevice of Skin (肌の隙間, Hada no Sukima, 2004), cinematopics.com notes that the beautiful imagery captured by the cinematography of Zeze"s "partner", Saitō, adds to the power of the work. Bashing, a film Saitō photographed, was shown in the competition at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival.
