A fan of Super Sentai and Jackie Chan movies, Sakamoto got his start as a suit actor for Blue Mask in stage shows for Hikari Sentai Maskman before doing stunts for Sakai in Guyver: Dark Hero. After forming Alpha Stunts Production, he became a unit director for Saban Entertainment’s VR Troopers. From there, he and his team would move on to stunt coordinating for the Power Rangers franchise starting with the third season of Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, with Sakamoto himself soon becoming a producer for the franchise and even completing the storyboards for both parts of "Countdown to Destruction", the finale of Power Rangers in Space and the Zordon Era. Sakamoto was one of the few original crew members of MMPR Productions to stick with the series when it was acquired by Disney and filming moved to New Zealand, though primarily as an executive producer without any directing or fight choreography responsibilities, remaining up until the end of Power Rangers RPM.
The Signature Style of his work has some well known thumbprints, including heavy use of pyrotechnics, Wire Fu, fast action that takes inspiration from Jackie Chan films and other Hong Kong martial arts movies, and training the actors to do their own fight scenes out of suit. Another Author Appeal of his is giving prominent Leg Focus to any Kick Chick he gets to film.
- Guyver: Dark Hero (stunt coordinator, fight choreographer, stunt actor for Sakai)
- VR Troopers (second unit director)
- Power Rangers (action choreographer, director from Zeo to Ninja Storm, producer from Lost Galaxy to Wild Force, executive producer from Ninja Storm to RPM)
- Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers (2nd unit director)
- Power Rangers Zeo (2 episodesnote , also has a Creator Cameo in said episodes as Tritor dubbed over by Paul St. Peter, both Uncredited Roles)
- Power Rangers Turbo (1 episodenote )
- Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie (stunt coordinator, second unit director in Los Angeles)
- Power Rangers in Space (5 episodesnote )
- Power Rangers Lost Galaxy (6 episodesnote )
- Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue (7 episodesnote )
- Power Rangers Time Force (18 episodes)
- Power Rangers Wild Force (19 episodes)
- Power Rangers Ninja Storm (3 episodesnote )
- Power Rangers: Dino Thunder
- Power Rangers S.P.D.
- Power Rangers Mystic Force
- Power Rangers Operation Overdrive
- Power Rangers Jungle Fury
- Power Rangers RPM
- Power Rangers Samurai (action director)
- Power Rangers Megaforce (directed a quarry fight scene with Veteran Rangers in the Legendary Battle finale for Super Megaforce)
- Kamen Rider (director)
- Kamen Rider Dragon Knight (second unit director for the pilot and first three episodes)
- Kamen Rider Double (6 episodes)
- Kamen Rider W FOREVER: A to Z/The Gaia Memories of Fate
- Kamen Rider Double Returns
- Kamen Rider Fourze (12 episodes)
- Kamen Rider Ghost (5 episodes)
- Kamen Rider Ex-Aid (2 episodes)
- Kamen Rider Zi-O (2 episodes)
- KAMEN RIDER: memory of heroez
- Kamen Rider Saber (7 episodes)
- Kamen Rider Saber Spin-off: Sword of Logos Saga
- Kamen Rider Saber Spin-off: Swordsman Chronicles
- Kamen Rider Saber × Ghost
- Kamen Rider Specter × Blades
- Kamen Rider Revice (5 episodes)
- Kamen Rider Geats (7 episodes)
- Kamen Rider Gotchard (2 episodes)
- Super Sentai (director)
- Hikari Sentai Maskman stage shows (suit actor for Blue Mask)
- Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger (4 episodes)
- Hikonin Sentai Akibaranger (acting role as George Spielburton)
- Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger (13 episodes)
- Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger: Gaburincho of Music
- Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger vs. Go-Busters: The Great Dinosaur Battle! Farewell, Our Eternal Friends
- Power Rangers Dino Force Brave (every episode)
- Uchu Sentai Kyuranger: Episode of Stinger
- Four Week Continuous Super Sentai Strongest Battle (every episode)
- Kishiryu Sentai Ryusoulger (10 episodes)
- Mashin Sentai Kiramager (4 episodes)
- Mashin Sentai Kiramager Spin-Off: Yodonna
- Mashin Sentai Kiramager Spin-Off: Yodonna 2
- Mashin Sentai Kiramager Spin-Off: Yodonna 3: Yodonna’s Valentine
- Mashin Sentai Kiramager Spin-Off: Yodonna THE FINAL
- Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger (2 episodes)
- Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger vs. Kyoryuger
- Ninja Sentai Kakuranger Act 3: The Middle-Aged Struggles
- Metal Heroes (director)
- Space Squad (director)
- Ultra Series (director)
- GARO (second unit director)
- GARO: Makai Senki
- GARO: The One Who Shines in the Darkness
- Dracula 2000 (stunt coordinator, second unit director)
- Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior (action choreographer)
- Wizards of Waverly Place (stunt coordinator)
- Aaron Stone (action supervisor)
- Jonas (trained The Jonas Brothers for a week and a half in preparation for filming)
- Hurricane Polymar (director for the Live-Action Adaptation movie)
- Bungo Stray Dogs The Movie: Beast
- Mob Psycho 100 (director for the Live-Action Adaptation)
- Good Morning, Sleeping Lion
- Good Morning, Sleeping Lion 2
Tropes & trivia associated with his work include:
- Car Fu: Stunts involving bikes and cars are a staple of his work.
- Everybody Was Kung-Fu Fighting: Power Rangers was already a big proponent of this before he joined, and it seems he took the concept with him to his other works. Often, characters who aren’t normally fighters or whose backgrounds give them no reason to be accomplished martial artists will inexplicably demonstrate sudden athleticism and acrobatic movement during fight scenes without even needing to transform first.
- Jitter Cam: Shaky camera angles pop up with varying degrees of frequency in his direction. Some examples do it more extensively than others, such as the Kamen Rider W Returns: Kamen Rider Accel V-Cinema.
- Leg Focus: If an Action Girl gets a fight scene, you know the camera is going to give us a good look at her legs.
- Male Gaze: The man is quite eager to film at angles that put emphasis on women’s chests and legs, and often has the actresses coated in oil to give them an erotic shine. That’s not to say that the well built men don’t get their fair share of Shirtless Scenes too though.
- No Stunt Double: Allegedly, Sakamoto is rumored to have a boot camp that he puts the actors he directs into for a week or so of his personal stunt training in order to pull off the frequent out-of-suit action scenes. Everybody Was Kung-Fu Fighting is in full effect when he is at the helm, and characters you don’t normally see in combat will suddenly Take a Level in Badass to make it happen.
- Romance on the Set: He met his first wife while working on Guyver: Dark Hero (she was the unit production manager), and then his second wife is a stuntwoman he worked with on Wicked Game and Power Rangers.
- Stuff Blowing Up: Explosions are a staple of tokusatsu, and Sakamoto is especially fond of making them big, frequent, and extravagant. Fans Mis-blamed then-showrunner Bruce Kalish, calling them "Kalishplosions," though he said Sakamoto constructed them. Sakamoto said at a convention that he used the pyrotechnics first to convey violent hits without running afoul of ABC's standards and practices, and second because the permits to use them were understandably way easier to get in Auckland than in Los Angeles.
- Theme Music Power-Up: A trope Sakamoto seems particularly fond of, the most climactic scenes (especially big battle scenes) tend to have the opening theme song of the season play as an insert theme. This is especially prominent in crossover movies where you get to hear the theme songs of multiple seasons play in close proximity to each other when the characters of those seasons are fighting, sometimes even in consecutive fight scenes.
- Wire Fu: Sakamoto’s love of Wuxia has heavily influenced his style, and the abundance of Hong Kong-style fights where at least one person is suspended in the air with wires is one example of this in his directorial credits.