Earlier genre films directed by Hasebe include Black Tight Killers (1966) and the Alleycat Rock series (1970).

The studio gave him considerable freedom in the direction of the first film, Alleycat Rock: Female Boss (1970), and, under the pseudonym "Takashi Fujii", Hasebe co-wrote the story as well.

Though mainly known for his later "violent pink" films, some call this series Hasebe's best work, "ultra-chic, yet surprisingly grim.

[6] He returned to Nikkatsu to make Naked Seven (1974), a financially and critically successful parody of Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, and an informal sequel to the Alleycat Rock series.

Though well-regarded today, this film was a major financial failure at the time, and damaged Hasebe's reputation for a couple of years.

[8] When Nikkatsu offered him a chance to leave TV and create a new genre of pink film in 1976, Hasebe was at first reluctant.

Not interested in directing typical sex films, Hasebe instead conceived of the "Violent pink" genre.

Nikkatsu, desperate at the time for a new direction for their Roman porno films, agreed to give him creative freedom.

[10] Though "highly controversial and recommended with some obvious reservations", most critics judge Hasebe's "violent pink" films the best of his career.

"[12] Nikkatsu, fearful of governmental action if Hasebe continued becoming more extreme in his films, assigned producer Ryoji Ito to watch him on the set.

"[13] Some contemporary critics interpreted these films as commentaries and satires on the state of film-making in Japan at the time.

13th Hour had been a box-office hit, Nikkatsu decided to curtail the ultra-violence in their Roman porno films after its release.

Kōyū Ohara's Zoom Up: Rape Site (1980) would later begin another wave of "Violent pink" Nikkatsu Roman porno films.