The Toei Pinky Violence thread

[HungFist]

Stray Cat Rock: Machine Animal (Nora neko rokku: Machine Animal) (1970)

The fourth and best Stray Cat Rock film deals with drugs and freedom. Two Japanese men help a Vietnam war runaway to flee from Japan. Their plan is to sell LSD pills to finance their trip to Sweden, but as word spreads different gangs become interested in gaining possession of the drugs, preferably without paying. Director Hasebe’s previous film Sex Hunter strongly criticized racism in Japan. Machine Animal also deals with foreign people in Japan, but this time the approach is almost entirely positive. When the American runaway (played by Japanese actor Toshiya Yamano) arrives Yokohama he’s immediately welcomed and taken to bowling alley to have fun. Even the villains treat him as human being rather than gaijin garbage. This same positive spirit applies to the entire film. The soundtrack is perhaps the best in the series – or at least most even. Zoo Nee Voo’s Hitori no kanashimi – on which Ozaki Kiyohiko’s beloved classic Until We Meet Again (Mata au hi made) was based on – is featured in one of the film’s numerous, psychedelic club scenes. The main star Meiko Kaji also gets to do a little bit of singing, but her main task is to look endlessly cool (or silly, depending on your taste) wearing a white dress and black hat. The supporting roles star Bunjaku Han as the Dragon Gang leader, Eiji Go as evil motorcycle villain, and Tatsuya Fuji as a quiet, spectacled good guy – an exact opposite from his vicious bad guy role in Sex Hunter. Rival studio Toei followed Nikkatsu’s example some months later; their Delinquent Girl Boss: Ballad of Yokohama Hoods (1971) borrows heavily from Machine Animal. Although Toei ultimately won the girl gang battle, they were still a step behind Nikkatsu in 1970 when it came to youthful action films.

[HungFist]

Stray Cat Rock: Beat ’71 (Nora neko rokku: Bôsô shudan '71) (1971)

Toshiya Fujita brings the five film Stray Cat Rock series to a highly enjoyable end. Like his previous instalment, Wild Jumbo, Beat ’71 is an easy going youth drama that does not follow Yasuharu Hasebe’s wild gang film path. Instead Fujita deals with social issues. The film follows a hippie community lead by Yoshitaro (Yoshio Harada). They decide to leave their trailer in Shinjuku and travel to countryside by bicycle to save their friend Furiko (Meiko Kaji) who has been falsely accused for murder. The real killer – although it was mainly self defense – is Furiko’s boyfried Takaaki (Takeo Chii) who is being controlled by his politician father. Takaaki would rather live free as a hippie, but his father is forcing him to become a businessman. When Furiko’s friends arrive the small town the concervative villagers try to run them away. They only get sympathy from a traveling rock band (The Mops). The conflict eventually takes them to an old mine that has been turned into a Wild West theme park. A fitting and symbolic conclusion to a sries of films that was one of Nikkatsu’s last iconic products before their financial crash and transition from youthful action films to pink cinema.

[HungFist]

Nikkatsu released the whole series on dvd in 2007. The films are available individually as well as in a 6 disc box set. The bonus disc features one and half hours of interviews with Yasuharu Hasebe, Tatsuya Fuji and Yoshio Harada. The cover arts are also reversible, with original posters on the reverse side. The individual releases do not feature reversible cover art. Extras are similar on each disc; stills gallery (10 pics), biographies and original trailer (Beat ’71 also features teaser)



Picture quality varies a little bit. The first three film look good especially in daylight scenes, but not quite crystal clear during some of the night scenes. Nevertheless, compared to HVE’s R1 Sex Hunter dvd these all look far better. The last two films fare best and look very good throughout. No real problems with audio although sometimes I felt the music could’ve had a bit more punch. But overall good work from Nikkatsu.



Great series for anyone interested in early 70’s Japanese pop culture. Exploitation fans should be warned, though, that these are very light on sex, and the violence isn’t especially graphic either. Sex Hunter is the most violent of the films. While Hasebe’s movies can be considered pinky violence (if you want to extend the term to cover non-Toei movies), Fujita’s films really can not. There was some talk about R1 releases by a mystery company years ago, but it seems like the rumours are dead now. Sex Hunter is available from HVE, though, and compared here.

Girl Boss


Wild Jumbo


Sex Hunter


Machine Animal


Beat '71

[HungFist]

The Delinquent Girl Boss series (1970-1971)

I have reviewed two of the films before but now that the whole series is finally available on dvd I wanted to revisit them and review them in a bunch. Caps for the previously reviewed films are the same as before, but the text is new and (only) slighly more knowledgable. Delinquent Girl Boss made its dvd debut back in 2005 when Panik House released Worthless to Confess (part 4) in their four film Pinky Violence Box set. Their colourful, sharp and edge enhancement free transfer was close to perfection, and there was also more extras (Chris D commentary, trailer, bios, stills, text info) than on Toei dvds. The dvd has remained exclusive to the box set despite some other films in the collection being released separately afterwards



Next in line was Blossoming Night Dreams (part 1) that received a R1 release by Exploitation Digital in 2007. The transfer was soft but otherwise quite alright. Stills and a horrible new trailer was included as extras. Parts 2 and 3 only came available in August 2008 when Toei put the whole series on dvd. I only bought the two films I was missing, but judging by the transfer quality, there probably isn’t need to upgrade with 1 (unless you want the original trailer that is missing from the R1) and especially 4 (as Panik House’s dvd is pretty unbeatable). More specific comments about Toei at the end of Tokyo Drifters review.

[HungFist]

Delinquent Girl Boss: Blossoming Night Dreams (Zubeko bancho: Yume wa yoro hirakua) (1970)

The Delinquent Girl Boss series was most likely intended as Toei’s answer to Nikkatsu’s popular Stray Cat Rock movies (1970-1971) as well as sister series to Toei's own Furyo Bancho series. The girl gang films were pop, but not yet too down and dirty. Music, fashion and energetic performances by the female leads mattered more than sex and nudity. Action was not forgotten either. The four film series was helmed by Kazuhiko Yamaguchi, who later gained worldwide popularity with his karate flicks (Karate Bull Fighter, Which is Stronger: Karate or the Tiger etc) and female oriented action films like Sister Streetfighter and Wandering Ginza Butterfly.

Blossoming Night Dreams is about a young delinquent girl (Reiko Oshida) who’s tired of being mistreated due to her criminal past. She quits her job in a laundry shop and starts working as a waitress in a Shinjuku bar. It turns out all the girls working there, including the owner (Junko Miyazono), a have their roots in Akagi girls reform school. They’re now trying honest living, but a greedy yakuza boss (Nobuo Kaneko with the silliest moustache) is after the bar and making thing difficult. More problems are caused by a local girl gang who think they own the streets as they have the yakuza backing them up.

Although the opening makes you expect something slightly more exploitative the film is generally very bright and easy going. This despite there being a few darker turns like an off screen rape and drug addiction theme. These scenes however are clearly in the minority. The amount of humour rather high, even if it’s not always of the most intelligent type. The club scenes work well, too, and there’s a nice music performance by singer Keiko Fuji. The film’s last third is a bit weaker than what comes before but it doesn’t take away much from the overall enjoyment.

Action scenes are included but there aren’t too many of them. There’s a knife fight between Oshida and the leader of the other gang (you can find a similar scene in most girl gang films, including Stray Cat Rock). Some smaller brawls come along the way but the biggest fight is saved till the end. It’s not really bad but clearly first time director Yamaguchi was not yet at the top of his game. The scene benefits from the charismatic performers, but the action choreography itself is nothing to get excited about. All of the Delinquent Girl Boss sequels feature notably better ending fights.

One of the factors behind the success of the series was its leading lady, Reiko Oshida. She was already a familiar face to Toei fans due to her suppoting roles in films such as Quick Draw Okatsu and a couple of Furyo bancho instalments. Her acting style was a combination of overflowing energy and positive delinquent girl attitude. Plus she was both pretty and had a voice nice enough make it as a singer (she releases a couple of records in the early 70's). Unlike many of her colleagues she didn’t have to take her clothes off to attract viewers.

Like Oshida, many of the supporting actors went to star in all or most of the sequels. Masumi Tachibana and Tonpei Hidari usually appeared as a couple, with Hidari’s lovable loser character always getting bullied by the girls. Yukie Kagawa, probably familiar to most viewers from Teruo Ishii films, had a couple of different roles but she plays Mari in most of the movies. Hayato Tani appears as Oshida’s childhood friend in parts one and three. Junko Miyazano and Tatsuo Umemiya, both giving solid performances here, didn’t return to the series after this film.

[HungFist]

Delinquent Girl Boss: Tokyo Drifters (Zubeko bancho: Tokyo nagaremono) (1970)

The second part in the series feels a bit like a quick cash in on the success of the original... although that’s not to say it’s a bad movie. It’s quite an enjoyable film actually, if you’re a genre fan that is. The main problem is that it’s missing a proper storyline. Between the awesome reform school opening and stylish action finale there isn’t a whole lot happening. Director Yamaguchi relies a bit too much on humour and general ’hanging out with the characters’. Almost all darker content has been dropped from the film, and the exploitation elements, that were already brief in the previous film, have been further toned down; the violence is mostly bloodless, and there is only brief nudity, always in comical context.

The film would also benefit from having more music, although there’s a couple of more memorable tunes and one decent on screen performance. Thankfully the cast compensates enough to bring the weaker parts to the positive side. Reiko Oshida is endlessly adorable, a real delight among Toei’s other, sluttier female action stars. Most of the supporting actors are familiar from the first film, but there’s also a couple of first timers like Akira Oizumi in a very small but funny supporting role. Tsunehiko Watase deserves a mention as well. His character is a obvious Ken Takakura clone, but he pulls it off so well that it’s a pleasure to watch him on screen.

The Toei dvd continues their new tradition of soft transfers. The image shows its age, but hasn’t been digitally worsened with things like edge enhancement. Compared to Exploitation Digital’s Blossoming Night Dreams this is about the same, but nowhere near Panik House’s Worthless to Confess dvd. It’s also a notch below Toei’s transfer for part 3. Extras are the usual ones with stills gallery and original trailer. The trailer is valuable for fans as it comes with a good amount of promo shots and clips from deleted scenes (like an extra scene with the pervert doctor doing a medical check up).











Original trailer

[HungFist]

Delinquent Girl Boss: Ballad of Yokohama Hoods (Zubeko bancho: Hamagure kazoe uta) (1971)

As the title suggests, and appart from the usual reform school intro, the third film takes place in Yokohama. The harbour town comes a fresh change from the usual Tokyo City views. Similarly to the other films in the series, Yokohama Hoods begins with Rika (Reiko Oshida) looking for work after being released by the the freedom stealing authorities that always seem to catch her sometime between the end of the previous film and the beginning of the next. And, as usual, she soon finds a new home under an ex-yakuza and tries honest living. But things are bound to go wrong.

Director Yamaguchi stumbled a bit with the second film, but now he returns the series to top form. The storyline is better written, there’s more music and characters are more interesting. Veteran baddie Asao Koike gives his usual solid villain performance, with some nice bits in the end, but it’s Yukie Kagawa who really steals the show. Unlike in the rest of the films here she plays Oshida’s opponent. And it’s a complete success. Kagawa, as a leader of a girl biker gang, dressed in black leather and always carrying a whip with her, is quite a sight.

Reiko Oshida is her usual self in the lead role; charming in other words. There are no strong male characters in the film (both Tsunehiko Watase and Tatsuo Umemiya are having their week off) although Hayato Tani and Tonpei Hidari return in suporting roles. A bit amusingly Hidari (the film’s comic relief) has been coupled with pinky violence bad mama Yoko Mihara, who somehow manages to keep her clothes on throughout the film (although her dress is constantly one inch from falling down). Speaking of which, there’s no nudity in the film; the concept is strong enough to work without added eye candy.

Ballad of Yokohama Hoods reminds a bit of Nikkatsu’s late 1970 Stray Cat Rock entry Machine Animal (released just 4 months prior to this film). Both films share the seaside setting, biker gangs, musical performances, and also themes of foreign people in Japan. Just like Meiko Kaji’s gang in Machine Animal, Oshida with her friends here ends up helping a US army deserter. The similarities however are not overly striking and by no means hurt the film. The Stray Cat Rock films were also slightly more serious in dealing with these issues, while Yokohama Hoods aims purely at entertainment values and doesn’t attempt to make any social points.

Yokohama Hoods holds up throughout, but the real bomb comes right at the end. The big action finale, packed with motorcycles, machine guns and samurai swords, is the most satisfying ending in the series. Worthless to Confess comes as a close second, although all things considered it’s a slightly better movie. Another area where Yokohama Hoods has the edge over Worthless to Confess is the theme song; it’s by Reiko Oshida herself. It may not be one of her best songs, but it’s always nice to have the leading lady perform the theme, especially when it’s someone like Oshida who can actually sing.

[HungFist]

Delinquent Girl Boss: Worthless to Confess (Zubeko bancho: zange no neuchi mo nai) (1971)

The final and best film in the series. Just like the previous three, it opens with a reform school intro. Rika and the girls are watching Abashiri Prison and cheering for Ken Takakura (this was a cleaver reference as most of the Delinquent Girl Boss films featured a heroic male character heavily influenced by Takakura). One year later they are all out but of course soon run into each other by chance. Rika finds work from a car repair shop run by Murakami (Junzaburo Ban). His daughter (Yumiko Katayama making her debut in the series) is in trouble with a yakuza gang lead by Nobuo Kaneko.

Mari, played by Yukie Kagawa, is back after one film break. Kagawa appears in all four films, but she played a different character in Ballad of Yokohama Hoods. Here her character is a poor wife, forced to work as a cheap nude model to make a living. She later finds better work from a hostess club thanks to her friends. The club scenes introduce us to even more familiar actors; Masumi Tachibana as a hostess and Tonpei Hidari, once again in comedy mode, as her boyfriend. The gang is finally completed when the Yôko Ichiji makes a rather random appearance and hooks up with rest of the girls.

Worthless to Confess doesn’t differ greatly from the other films in the series, but here the elements works to the fullest. The music is great, often tightly attached to club scenes presenting some charming 70’s fashion, and the storyline is probably the best in the series. Characters are good and especially the scenes between Oshida and Tsunehiko Watase (this time playing a slightly more rough edged character) have spark. Yumiko Katayama is a nice addition to the team, even if one of the motives behind her casting may have been that she was willing to provide the series with some extra nudity.

The film ends with a grande finale that should please any genre fan. The action, although not gory, is nicely choreographed and well captured on film. Some of the fighting is shot through a glass floor, a trick made famous by Seijun Suzuki in the late 60’s. But even better than the big sword fight is the preceding scene that builds up the tension. There is one weakness though, and admittedly a notable one. Another film in the series already featured a very similar ending before. Here, however, Yamaguchi hadles it so well that he’s actually capable of getting away with it.

[HungFist]

Those who liked the soundtracks in Delinquent Girl Boss films might be interested in Hotwax’s Zubeko bancho cd. Unfortunately I don’t have it myself and can’t provide much info on it.


http://www.ultra-vybe.co.jp/hotwax/zubekoubanchou/

Then there’s this, crazy looking 7 disc release that seem to feature music from The Delinquent Gir Boss films, Furyo Bancho films, Sukeban films, Akira Kobayashi films and others. I don’t have this either. You can find track list at amazon.


http://www.ultra-vybe.co.jp/hotwax/specialbox/

Something I do have is the Essential Best Reiko Oshida cd by Sony Music. Since I’m not much of a music critic I’ll put it simple: this cd is great. 15 tracks (from 1971-1973), none bad, more than half very good. Song no. 6 was also sung by Reiko Ike on her Koukotsu no sekai album, but Oshida does it better. However, I have heard some people saying that this cd is missing some important songs but not being familiar with Oshida's discography I can't comment on this myself. Also note that this affordable cd (approx 1500 yen) was a limited time release, officially available 12/2007 – 3/2008. But you should still be able to track it down from some retailers.


Track list
01 同棲時代－その１－ (3'08 )
02 朝顔日記－同棲時代　その２－ (4'28 )
03 愛のくらし－同棲時代－ (4'23)
04 今日子と次郎 (2'30)
05 あなたが欲しい (2'40)
06 女はそれをがまんできない (2'57)
07 ノックは無用 (3'04)
08 女の学校 (2'27)
09 何がどうしてこうなった (3'27)
10 嵐を呼ぶ女 (3'24)
11 あの愛をもう一度 (2'46)
12 潮騒 (3'05)
13 愛にそむいて (2'26)
14 この街をはなれて (3'01)
15 お別れしましょう (2'40)

[HungFist]

A quick look at pinky violence movies still waiting to be released on dvd: Part 4 – Teruo Ishii’s Strange Love

残酷異常虐待物語　元禄女系図 (Zankoku ijô gyakutai monogatari: Genroku onna keizu) (1969)

http://www.walkerplus.com/movie/kinejun ... h&id=22606
http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/1969/cs000030.htm

Aka Orgies of Edo. Starring Asao Koike, Teruo Yoshida, Masumi Tachibana, Yukie Kagawa and Tatsumi Hijikata

Coming from HK Video in Coffret L’enfer des tortures vol.1
http://wildgrounds.com/index.php/2008/0 ... -fin-2008/

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http://www.asia-diffusion.com/new/dvd.php?id_dvd=4635
http://wildgrounds.com/index.php/2008/1 ... shii-vol1/

[HungFist]

Wild Side news in English
http://wildgrounds.com/index.php/2008/0 ... sept-2008/

Some older, most likely related information
http://forum.dvdtalk.com/archive/index. ... 08008.html

Some US company is also in negitiations for a big Nikkatsu batch
http://outcastcinema.blogspot.com/2008/ ... pdate.html

Synapse’s Wandering Ginza Butterfy dvds coming in the first half of 2009. But with no Meiko Kaji interviews as she holds a grudge against Toei
http://outcastcinema.blogspot.com/2008/ ... art-1.html

Did you ever feel like wanting to own a Miki Sugimoto t-shirt? And get a cd as a bonus (well, actually I think it’s the other way round but anyway)?



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I’ll try to get those Sukeban films reviewed at some point, but meanwhile a brief news update:

Assault! Jack the Ripper R1 review:
http://www.avmaniacs.com/review.php?id=432

Watcher in the Attic R1 review:
http://www.avmaniacs.com/review.php?id=385

Studio S Sex & Fury updated info and specs:
http://www.studiosentertainment.se/film-sexfury.html

Studio S Journey to Japan updated info and specs:
http://www.studiosentertainment.se/film ... japan.html

[HungFist]

Original Posters

Girl Boss Blues: Queen Bee’s Counter Attack (left)
Girl Boss Blues: Queen Bee’s Challenge (right)

[HungFist]

Girl Boss Blues: Queen Bee’s Counter Attack (Sukeban Blues: Mesubachi no gyakushu) (1971)

Toei’s girl gang evolution continues. The easy going but enormously entertaining Delinquent Girl Boss series came to its end in early 1971. Norifumi Suzuki picks up and takes the genre to the next, or should I say lower, level in Girl Boss Blues: Queen Bee’s Counter Attack. The Sukeban series ran a total of seven instalments between 1971 and 1974, with the first four being helmed by Suzuki. The remaining three went to Sadao Nakajima (5) and Ikuo Sekimoto (6 and 7).

Reiko Ike, who made her silver screen debut earlier in 1971 under Suzuki’s direction in Hot Springs Mimizu Geisha, stars as novice girl boss who gained her position when the previous leader (Yukie Kagawa) was caught by the officials. She now has set her own rules, and when the old boss is returns, a conflict is unavoidable. At the same time the local yakuza (with Toru Abe as the main evil) is causing problems. Also caught in the mix is a reckless motorcycle gang whose leader (Shinsuke Taki) developes warm feelings for the girls.

Suzuki’s talent in combining action, humour and lightweight drama is clearly visible here. Queen Bee’s Counter Attack is hardly a serious film, but it does have its more dramatic moments (often related to Shigeru Amachi’s retired hitman character). By no means does the director consider these elements as important as, say, Reiko Ike’s blue bikini top, but they are there to bring some minor substance to the mix, do it succesfully enough.

For the most part, however, the tongue is more or less in the cheek. When Midori Yamada opens her mouth to sing a farewell song, not does only her voice drastically change but an invisible orchestra accompanies her singing. A classic scene is the infamous sex on motorcycle – first one to come loses race. Action scenes include the usual knife fights as well as some boat action and a couple of car chases toward the end of the film.

As expected, more or less every girl in the film gets nude at some point, if not otherwise then in middle of a fight. Still, despite this obvious attempt to please the male audience it wouldn’t be completely fair to consider Suzuki’s direction sovinistic. In the end, it’s always the male characters that are the real dubasses. They get fucked over back and forth by the girls because of their incapability to think of anything but sex. At worst, it leads to their untimely death.

[HungFist]

Girl Boss Blues: Queen Bee’s Challenge (Sukeban Blues: Mesubachi no chosen) (1972)

Queen Bee’s Challenge’s continues the Girl Boss series with only a few changes and in slightly smaller scale. Fans have should be pleased, despite this not being a prime example of the genre. The storyline follows Reiko Ike’s girl gang who runs into a rivalry group lead by Chiyoko Kazama. Soon, however, it becomes obvious that the true enemy is formed by king of the block Asao Koike and his trusted men. An important role is also played by a small time yakuza (Hiroshi Miyauchi) who’s befriends with both girl bosses and dreams of making it as a race driver.

There are three elements in the film that stand out. The first is Toru Yuri’s appearance. Yuri was typically casted in the same role time after time, which was the comic relief. He was, however, so good at it that audiences never got tired of seeing him as a silly old pervert getting conned by the girls. Yuri (and colleague Akira Oizumi) was the perfect tool for Suzuki to exercise his usual mockery of authorities and male sex. Another great cast visist is Tatsuo Umemiya as Furyo Bancho himself. It should be noted, though, that despite making it to the film’s theatrical poster his role is merely a cameo. He does get to punch a couple of people in the face during his limited screentime, though.

Perhaps most memorable about the film is the torture scenes. While these scenes are hardly anything new in the girl boss genre, the beatings in Queen Bee’s Challenge are more graphic that what you see in most Toei films of the era. Some of the competing studios, such as Nikkatsu, would be willing to go notably further in the following years, but they never aimed at such wide audiences as Toei did. Toei’s pinky violence, with a few exceptions, remained relatively mainstream within its own genre. Their movies were also usually coupled with a so-called A-film, which could for be example a Ken Takakura yakuza vehicle.

Despite having an impressive cast many of the actors are not given as much room as fans might wish. The rivalry between Ike and Kazama doesn’t last very long as Asao Koike – in a routine villain role - interrupts the game. Yayoi Watanabe’s main fuction seems to be to look pretty. Miki Sugimoto, similarly to the previous film, has a couple of great moments, but is kept on the background most of the time. Her payback came some six month later when she was made the new star of the series after Reiko Ike’s temporary unwillingness to continue in pink films had caused re-arrangements in the casting.

After several disappointing transfers (mainly problems with softness) Toei strikes again. Both films feature excellent transfers. The image is sharp and perfectly natural. As usual with Toei, you don’t have to fear edge enhancement or specs. The audio is also clean and free of problems. Extras are limited to stills galleries and original trailers (no teasers. Original poster arts are used in the dvd covers.











You know the glasses


You know the mark


And you know he ain't gonna get along with Asao Koike

[HungFist]

Sukeban Blues 1 & 2 stills from the Toei dvds.

[HungFist]

A quick look at pinky violence movies still waiting to be released on dvd: Part 4 – Teruo Ishii’s Strange Love

異常性愛記録　ハレンチ (Ijo seai kiroku, harenchi) (1969)

http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/1969/cs000540.htm
http://www.walkerplus.com/movie/kinejun ... h&id=22624

You can drop this from the list as God is doing his work. January 21 is a TERUO ISHII DAY

Check the Japanese Cult Cinema Thread for full listing of upcoming Ishii titles.

[HungFist]

God is doing his work.

Repeat that five times and do a girl gang greeting. February.

女番長ゲリラ (Sukeban guerilla) (Girl Boss Guerilla) (1972)


女番長 (Sukeban) (Girl Boss Revenge) (1973)


女番長 感化院脱走 (Sukeban - Kankain dasso) Escape From Reform School (1973)


女番長 タイマン勝負 (Sukeban - Taiman shobu) (Diamond Showdown) (1974)


女番長 玉突き遊び (Sukeban – Tamatsuki asobi) (Crazy Ball Game) (1974)


It seems like Toei has censored the original artworks a bit but no big deal.

For comparison

[EvaUnit02]

source= rightstuf.com mailer

*** INTERVIEW WITH ADV'S CHRIS OARR AND LICENSE ANNOUNCEMENTS ***

ICv2 has posted a duo of articles on ADV's new distribution deal with
Switchblade Pictures. One is an interview with Chris Oarr, going into some
details about the live-action releases, and the second contains a
schedule for
the first 12 films to be released under the deal.

The titles are: Attack Girls Swim Team vs. the Undead; Chain Gang Girls;
Cruel Restaurant; Death Row Girls; Female Prisoner Sigma;
Gluttonous; Killer Bees;
Maid's Secret; Maid's Secret - Welcome Home; New Manager of the Sumo Club;
Ninjaken - The Naked Sword; and Twin Blades of the Ninja

Read the interview:
http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/13612.html

Read the release schedule:
http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/13613.html

[HungFist]

Queen of Japanese Movie

Printed Hotwax goodness. 164 pages worth of information and colour pictures from Nikkatsu and Toei bad girl action films. The first 43 pages are dedicated to the Stray Cat Rock Series, starring Meiko Kaji. Junko Natsu’s Girl’s Junior High School films and Bad Girl Mako are discussed in the next 17 pages. Last comes Toei’s Sukeban and Terrifying Girls’ High School films, Sex & Fury, Female Yakuza Tale and Zero Woman: Red Handcuffs (96 pages in total)

Although the book is in Japanese, all of the cast and crew information and film titles are listed in English. Maybe half of the synopsis and all biographies (Meiko Kaji, Reiko Ike and Miki Sugimoto) are also in English... or rather Engrish. The very bad grammar is quite amusing at times, but hardly a distraction. ”It was wonderful view to see Miki’s wild action with her big breasts” (no, that doesn’t mean what you’re thinking. It means ”It was wonderful to see the big breasted Miki Sugimoto in a wild action movie”). There’s some humour too (how intentional, I’m not sure) like ”Miki’s character as quiet and cool was very smart because Miki was not so good at speak the line”.

Despite the less than perfect (uhm...) English you should be able to understand everything... at least if you’ve been using ocn and other internet translators with the Japanese web sites for the past few years, desperately trying to get some information of these wonderful genre films. And if you haven’t, then why are you even interested in this release? Go back to reading your Roger Ebert autobiography!

The information value of Queen of Japanese Movie isn’t huge if you've done your internet research on the subject. There should, however, be at least a few facts you didn’t know from before, and of course lots of useful information such as extensive cast and crew listings. Nevertheless, the main attraction for most people is probably be the pictures. Almost every page features images (with some feature only images), including A4 size poster pics for each film. The book comes with a Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter soundtrack (25 tracks), which is unfortunately missing some songs (probably due to licensing issues)

[HungFist]

太陽の恋人　アグネス・ラム (1976). This is something I ran into. It’s only briefly mentioned in the Sugisaku / Uechi book and jmdb is half empty, however listing a running time of 25 minutes! Directed by Atsushi Mihori (Criminal Woman) and starring the Chinese-American singer-actress Agnes Lum. This sounds almost like a gravure idol video from the 70’s!

If I understood correctly, it can be found in a special collectors Agnes Lum set. This honey was limited to 500 copies and originally sold for 32 000 yen. Right now someone is trying part with his copy at yahoo for 95 000. There’s also another copy going for notably cheaper.

[HungFist]

Orgies sadiques l’ere Edo and the other films from HK Video's Teruo Ishii set Vol. 1 now reviewed

https://www.bulletsnbabesdvd.com/forums/ ... php?t=4948



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Plus a bit of this and that.

Toei's February bad girl trailers:
http://www.toei-video.co.jp/trailer/

10k bullets reviewed Female Prisoner: Caged!:
http://10kbullets.com/reviews/f/female-prisoner-caged/

Pink Eiga's S&M Hunter films actually looks quite fun. Girl gangs, nazis, nunchukus...
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y297/S ... nt_lrg.jpg

Pink Eiga's website has a trailer available.
http://www.pinkeiga.com/HTML/SMHunter.html

There's a review at dvdtimes.
http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content/id/69 ... unter.html

And the second film S&M Hunter Begins (which actually may be the first, if the dates are correct) is coming soon, too.
http://www.pinkeiga.com/HTML/smb.html

[HungFist]

Ijo seai kiroku, harenchi (1969)

Teruo Ishii’s erotic psycho-drama opens like an Italian giallo – with extreme close-ups of a madman’s eyes, quick shots of blood splattered on white feathers, and animal roaring serving as the soundtrack. Cut to upbeat 60’s romance imagery with Teruo Yoshida and Masumi Tachibana kissing at sunset and the perfect contrast is ready. Unfortunately, this project seems to have been a routine effort for Ishii – the same patterns are repeated too many times during the films course, and the screenplay is too thin, falling somewhere between a 30 min episode and a 90 minute feature film. But unlike most of Ishii’s late 60’s films, this is a single storyline without episodic structure. It's clumsy at times, effective at others, and features an enjoyable if not entirely convincing leading performance by Eiji Wakasuki as a stalker who won't let one of his girlfriends go. Fans of the director will find enough satisfaction to warrant a viewing or two, but others can move on to Ishii’s more accomplished – and far gorier – pinky violence works.

[HungFist]

Toei is God

American god responds


# Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1
# Mono
# Audio Commentary by Japanese Film Expert Chris D.
# New Video Interview With Director Kazuhiko Yamaguchi
# Cast/Crew Info.
# Stills Gallery
# Trailers
# Reversible Cover With Japanese Poster Artwork
# Newly Restored


# Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1
# Mono
# New Video Interview With Director Kazuhiko Yamaguchi
# Interview With Pinky Violence Film Expert J-Taro Sugisaku
# Cast/Crew Info.
# Stills Gallery
# Trailers
# Reversible Cover With Japanese Poster Artwork
# Newly Restored

Both coming May 19th

[HungFist]

Sukeban: Escape From Reform School (Sukeban: Kankai dasso) (1973)

The fith Sukeban film changes some the key players; Norifumi Suzuki is gone for good, replaced by Sadao Nakajima, and Reiko Ike is taking her first day off from the series. In the opening scene Miki Sugimoto tries to run from the officials, but is captured and thrown into a dark cell with her hands tied and shirt removed (of course). After some 30 minutes of passable women in reform school entertainment the film really kicks off when the girls escape. Sugimoto meets a man running from the law (Tsunehiko Watase), while the other girls have their own adventures. Escape From Reform School isn’t a classic film, however, it’s an enjoyable representative of a classic genre. A bit surprisingly Nakajima - best known for his yakuza films (although not a complete stranger to Toei pink) - gives even more room to erotic content than his predecessor, and does quite successfully. There isn’t too much violence, but the action packed ending is very satisfying. The soundtrack is pretty good, too.

[HungFist]

Sukeban: Diamond Showdown (Sukeban:Taiman shobu ) (1974)

Ikuo Sekimoto grabs the director’s wheel in the sixth girl boss film. Reiko Ike is back, but Miki Sugimoto didn’t return to the series anymore. Tsunehiko Watase (antihero with sunglasses) and Toru Abe (slimy villain, as usual) play the primary male roles. Sekimoto later helmed some miserable pinky dramas but this film is solid girl gang fun with catfights every 15 minutes and Ike’s girls putting holes into the male yakuzas. There’s one rather strong torture scene but the overall tone is easy going... especially when the bad girls go for a picnic with Funky Monkey Baby by Carol rocking the soundtrack.