Retro Cinemas and Cult Films in Japan

[HungFist]

New Year, Old Films – Part 1/2

January 2026. It’s been snowing like crazy. The neighbouring city got 112 centimetres in one day. Airport trains couldn’t run. I only made it to my flight thanks to my wife, who gave me a ride. The first Tokyo trip of the year could have started better.

I was in a hurry to Laputa Asagaya. They had kicked off the new year strong. Morning Show was still playing Kyu Sakamoto films. Main Program had launched a 36 film Ninkyo Yakuza Film retrospective, which was a follow up program to an earlier ninkyo program in 2023. Late Show dedicated to Toei's b-film director Yukio Noda.



My day started with Game of Chance 3 (出世子守唄) (1967). This series is notable not only for being Sonny Chiba’s only ninkyo series, but also co-starring six year old Hiroyuki Sanada in his first movie roles. Chiba and Sanada play father and son: a yakuza gambler on the run with his little son. Curiously each entry in the series belongs to a different sub-genre of yakuza films. In the 1st movie Chiba is a gambler (bakuto), in the 2nd one he becomes a street vendor (tekiya), and in the 3rd he’s a lumberjack (an unnamed genre of yakuza films featuring yakuza in physical labour such as fishery, coal mines, or railways construction).

The series is very even in quality, but there’s a catch regarding this final entry. While the first two films were a continuous story, this 3rd one is a reboot / remake that just forgets to inform the viewer of the fact. It seems to follow the 2nd film and even matches its timeline... until someone killed in the 1st movie show's up alive and the plot from the original is repeated in a new setting. That doesn’t make this a lesser of a film, however. The storyline is solid with Chiba helping poor lumberjacks fend off against greedy yakuza, the lush mountain scenery looks breathtaking (on pristine 35mm!), and there’s cinematic magic to the Chiba & Sanada tag team. The film's biggest asset however is vengeful Tetsuro Tamba seeking justice for his brother, whom our hero killed in a fair duel. This sub-plot is the epitome of ninkyo films: two honourable men pit againts each other by fate, both having justification for their actions, and both having to re-evaluate their views and loyalties in the process.



My 2nd film of the day was Osaka Chivalry: Courage of Slain Seven (浪花侠客　度胸七人斬り) (1967). Koji Tsuruta stars as a temperamental yakuza serving righteous oyabun Takashi Shimura, whose position is threatened by conspirators inside the clan. I don't have much to say about this one. It's a functional but routine ninkyo tale. Visuals stand out the most: rain, snow and dusk are all beautifully captured on film. More interesting than the film, however, is its theatrical poster. It lists several big profile supporting actors like Tomisaburo Wakayama, Shingo Yamashiro and Kyosuke Machida... none of whom are in the film! I assume there was a last moment casting change that wasn't communicated to the advertising department on time. You have to remember these Toei programmers often went from screenwriting table to theatres in less than two months...



[Another similar case is Kinji Fukasaku's Bloodstained Clan Honor (血染の代紋) (1970). There are two posters available for it, one of which credits Junko Fuji despite her not being in the film, and omits Junko Miyazono who does appear in the movie]

The day's third ninkyo film was Norifumi Suzuki's gangster comedy Chivalrous Ishimatsu of the Fish Market (任侠魚河岸の石松) (1967). This stars enka singer / actor Saburo Kitajima, whose Honor Among Brothers series (1966-1971) is actually one of the most overlooked yakuza film series from the 60s. Suzuki directed one of those, and wrote several others. Sadly this fish market yakuza comedy is a lot lighter affair. Kitajima is fun to watch and there are some highlights such as a bar brawl shot with a very long and impressive take... but the film's merits are modest. Not so much a bad movie as one that just isn't very special. I would only recommend this to Suzuki, Kitajima and ninkyo completist.



The day's last film was Yakuza Deka (やくざ刑事) (1970) in the Yukio Noda Late Show. I think it’s wonderful that in Laputa even b-film directors like Noda are granted their own retrospectives. The 10 film program included a couple of his Delinquent Boss films, the two Yakuza Deka films he directed, Zero Woman: Red Handcuffs, G-String Geisha, all three The Karate films, and perhaps most interestingly the notorious Seishun toruko nikki, which was made in 1973 but not released until 1975 due to a controversy regarding the lead actress’ age.

The Yakuza Deka series was basically spun off from the TV show Key Hunter (1967-1972), which had made Sonny Chiba a big star in Japan and led him to establish JAC. In the process he ended up modernizing Japanese action entertainment with stunt heavy action unseen in Japan until then. It was his work in films and shows like Kamikaze Man, Key Hunter, Yakuza Deka, Jail Breakers, G.I. Samurai and Roaring Fire that I consider Chiba’s most groundbreaking contribution to Japanese cinema. These films also won him a fan called Jackie Chan, who’d go meet his idol in Japan and do similar stunts in his 80s films!

That being said, the 1st Yakuza Deka film is probably the worst place to start regarding Chiba’s Modern Action output. It was clearly a rushed production, probably filmed between Key Hunter episodes without enough time devoted to the action scenes. Yet, it has a certain sense of fun that makes it more enjoyable that it objectively should be. We get Chiba goofing around as a reckless undercover narc, frequently clashing with brotherly nemesis Ryuhei Uchida. There’s jokes, there's action, there's grindhouse cinema aesthetics, and Chiba even sings! I had a fairly good time watching this in 35mm in my favourite movie theater. It should be noted that of the sequels the 2nd and 3rd film are a little better, while the 4th movie is by far the best in the series and features the wildest stunts!

All of the day’s four movies screened from very good 35mm prints that looked better than these films ever have on digital. Game of Chance 3 was the best looking of the bunch, followed by the other two ninkyo films. Yakuza Deka fared a little worse with a slightly more muted print, though it still looked fine and much better than the 2K digital remaster that airs on TV. I was also glad to see a very healthy audience attendance for all four films, despite it being a weekday afternoon / evening. Game of Chance 3 in particular attracted a lot of audience, though it may have been more due to Sanada than Chiba…

Poster for Delinquent Boss: First to Fight, another film in the Yukio Noda late show.


Yukio Noda program chirashi

[HungFist]

New Year, Old Films – Part 2/2

Day 2

I intended to see Let’s Have a Dream (九ちゃんのでっかい夢) (1967) in Laputa’s Kyu Sakamoto Morning Show, but I decided to grant myself some extra sleep instead. That way I could feel more energetic when heading to Asakusa for the New Year program Kurenai. The show was themed around the color red. As usual for New Year programs, it was a special show that ran a full month and was packed with extra program from silly rakugo videos with the dancers to Minami Mayu’s singing debut, which I sadly missed. This was also Suo Ai’s final Asakusa performance as she retired later this spring.



The program kicked off with the traditional New Year Sanbaso dance (scene zero) with Minami Mayu, Suo Ai and Sara before the main performances. After that, it was time for Suo Ai to lead her final Asakusa performance. It was themed around fireworks and set to Japanese rock songs such as MIYAVI’s ‘Into the Red’ and B’z’s ‘Red’. It’s a shame seeing Suo quit as she always seemed like a very a likeable person.

Up next was Tsukigata Haruhi as a geisha apprentice. This was fairly low key as no. 2 performances tend to be. The 1st half was choreographed to Ennio Morricone’s Nuovo Cinema Paradiso theme, while the last part used Cocco’s ‘Raining’, which was featured in Anno Hideaki’s brilliant Ritual (1998)! Took me a while to realize where I knew it from.

And then it happened! The whole theater exploded when Shitarori Swan and YUME entered the stage as Yaji and Kita, the legendary samurai travellers whose journeys have been documented in countless films. I watched Nikkatsu’s Yaji and Kita’s Travelling Diary (弥次喜多道中記) (1938) and the post-modern gay samurai road movie biker comedy Yaji & Kita: The Midnight Pilgrims (真夜中の弥次さん喜多さん) (2005) as preparation. The latter film was the main inspiration for the performance.



This was one of the maddest live performances ever. First we get Shiratori and YUME in matatabi travel hats, lip syncing to the film’s dialogue, all being set to ‘Born to be Wild’. A very funny comedy bit where Shiratori has lost all her clothes and is hiding behind her straw hat follows. Soon the hat is gone as well. What followed was one of the craziest pieces of stage entertainment I’ve ever seen. At first she's sitting, the speakers are blasting Liliac’s ‘Crazy Train’ cover of the Ozzy Osbourne song, and she does some incredible fast motion leg moves choreographed to the song’s "heavy metal part". By the time the vocals kicked in she was back on her feet practically went airborne with a crazy combination of ballet and Ninja Gaiden type video game action. She did somersaults, horizontal 360 spins in the air, and more, as if gravity didn’t apply to her. It was like watching an under cranked 90s wire-fu nude fighting CAT III Hong Kong film!

One reason why I loved this performance so much is that it was executed as a pure dance number from start to end. This is something few dancers aside Shiratori and Hanai regularly do. The standard format of a strip performance is a dance part followed by an artistic nude part that kind of resembles what bodybuilders do to show off their bodies. But it’s a lot more fun when they got at full steam in dance mode till the end. It was also funny how this performance completely skipped the undressing part: Shiratori went from being clothed to wearing nothing in a blink of an eye. And finally, it was cool to have Shiratori and YUME together in one performance. They often get assigned to the same roles in different seasons (“Heartbeat” in The Play 1st and 2nd; “An Actor’s Revenge / Lady Snowblood” in Hagakure 1st and 2nd). Oh and a shout out to 3rd wheel Kuroki Rei as a super cute Shiba Inu.

YUME got no time to rest as she was up next. She’s a great performer who’s consistently assigned to interesting performances. In An Actor’s Revenge she was playing a man pretending to be a woman. This time she wasn’t even playing a human, but a burning flame. This was a visually striking performance full of fun little oddities like a mini fire engine running through the stage, Sara popping up as a fireman, and a scene that was almost like the tap dance in Kitano’s Zatoichi. YUME’s costume was great as well, and she literally broke a sweat (sweat running down her body has become her trademark since The Play). Music included Kodo's 'Burning', Barns Courtney's 'Fire' and Sakuramen's 'Kurenai'.



Following the break was Kuroki Rei in a cool and oddball mix of Zenigata Heiji and blaxploitation vibes. Kuroki plays the classic Japanese samurai detective armed with jitte and copper coins (which she threw into the audience), though she’s also wearing sunglasses, smoking tobacco and acting like a 70s New York pimp. I watched Toei’s Zenigata Heiji film (1967) (I didn’t have time to watch the TV show, which ran nearly 900 episodes) and Super Fly (1972) in preparation for the performance. This was a perfect fit for Kuroki, who stands out for her cool personality (blonde hair, facial piercings, hangs out with Tsubaki Rinne). The only thing that bothered me was the song Super Fly, which appears to be AI music. I wish they'd have used Curtis Mayfield's real Super Fly soundtrack instead.



Sara went on stage 6th, in a very classy geisha performance that demonstrated her graceful moves (my wife once said that every move Sara does is sheer perfection). This was a low-key mood performance that would probably be impossible for some of the younger girls to pull off successfully. Well chosen music (including Falling Petals from Rental Family soundtrack) and costumes: the sparkling black dress in particular looked incredible. Not among the most memorable performances I’ve seen from Sara, but solid nevertheless.

Up last was Minami Mayu in a visually striking performance that painted the stage in red. The Edo era set performance centred around Bikuni nuns, who while dressed in nun's robes were also said to have sometimes worked as prostitutes. Minami said she wanted to portray these women as goddesses who helped people attain enlightenment. The light work, colour design and sets stood out here, including the big Avalokiteshvara (Buddha with a thousand hands) statue that was place in the background. Interesting atmosphere too, partly thanks to the music (A Concise Praise of the Tārā), Tales of the Sand), although a little more basic than Minami’s mind blowing performance in Hagakure last year.

Overall this was a good show that I enjoyed better than last year’s Swinger. This was worth seeing for Shiratori’s absolutely nuts, all time classic performance alone! I watched the show twice, and had a friend join me from the 2nd. I hadn’t seen him since January 2025 when we watched “Wa” together when he last visited Japan.



After the show I had to rush to Laputa Asagaya’s Ninkyo Retrospective for Gangster VIP... or that’s what I thought I’d be seeing. It wasn’t until the opening credits rolled that I realized I’m watching Gangster VIP 2! My bad, but in my defence the 1st film is called “Burai yori: Daikanbu” and the 2nd is “Daikanbu: Burai”. I think anyone would be forgiven for getting these two mixed up... It wasn’t a big mistake considering I would’ve gone see Gangster VIP 2 (大幹部 無頼) (1968) anyway... The film is solid Nikkatsu Action, but I recall enjoying the first movie and some of the later films better. The 35mm print was good but uneven: some reels were near pristine, while others were clearly damaged, had too high contrast, some vertical lines and a bit of teal tint.

There was no poster on display for Gangster V.I.P. 2, but here's art for some other films in the program.

The Chivalrous Life (侠骨一代) (1967)


Gambler: Ceremony of Disbanding (博徒解散式) (1968), not to be confused with Ceremony of Disbanding (解散式) (1967), both by Kinji Fukasaku


Three Rogues (三匹の悪党) (1968), Modern Yakuza: Outlaw's Code (現代やくざ 与太者の掟 ) (1969), Gambling Den Assassins (必殺博奕打ち) (1968)


and the program chirashi






That was the end of my first, but not last, Tokyo adventure of 2026. Stay tuned for more ninkyo... and Ai Uehara!

[HungFist]

My reports are (still) running four months late...

Ninkyo in Laputa, Dolls in Asakusa (and the only AI you should ever support!) – Part 1/2

I wasn’t going to travel to Tokyo in February, but curiosity got the better of me. Asakusa was doing a special one month show called DOLLS, with Uehara Ai returning to stage for the first time in four years. For those of you who were born yesterday, Uehara is a legendary retired AV actress and a generational icon in Asia (she also an influencer, the owner of seven companies, and a character in the Yakuza video game series). A whole generation of Asian men grew up with her output, and she remains popular with both sexes. She debuted in Asakusa in 2016, and then made her 2nd appearance in 2022. That show used to be known as “Uehara Ai Legendary Last Show” and has been credited for introducing countless newcomers to the art of strip, as well as generating an all time attendance record in Asakusa.

And my God, does she remain popular. I’m standing in line outside the theater, at 12:43 (the show that starts at 14:00) and there are more than 100 people in front of me. By the time the doors opened at 13:00 (30 min earlier than usual, because Uehara), there were another 50 people behind me. The line literally went around the block. And this was on a Tuesday afternoon. The entire stairway to the 2nd floor was decorated with dozens of flower bouquets donated by more organisations than I could count. There was even a Uehara merchandise corner with Chinese speaking staff as – despite the political tensions – massive amounts of Chinese fans were expected to fly to Japan to see Uehara.

The admission price had been hiked up from the usual 6,000 to 10,000 (because Uehara)




My impression, though, was that there were more Japanese people than usual in the audience. There were lots of young people, lots of young women, and many industry guests apparently invited by Uehara with the back seats behind me reserved for VIPs. And yes, by some miracle I managed to get a fairly good seat. Although the show was 130% full it wasn’t actually quite as over-packed as some shows I attended last year. But that was apparently because it was mid season / Tuesday. On its final day on Feb. 28 people were reporting a 70 person line at 8 A.M., and people who arrived after 11 a.m. couldn’t get in into the 1st show (some were apparently still standing outside at 6 p.m. hoping to get into the 3rd or 4th show). In total, 91 of the 112 shows were sold outs (and this was with the tickets costing 10,000 yen instead of the usual 6,000).

The show was quite good indeed. It started with the best opening performance in a long time, with Hara Miori as a bunraku puppet controlled by puppeteer Hashimoto Mako (standing behind her), set to Rin's "Void". That was quite in interesting idea, and Miori was great as the doll that eventually came alive and scared the shit out of Hashimoto. Her doll-like moves, frozen smile, and gyonsi-like jumps (the vampires from Hong Kong films) were awesome, the back-dancers were playing drums, and then when Yakushimaru Hiroko’s theme song from Tragedy of W (1984) started playing my tear ducts exploded. How embarrassing...



Yakushimaru Hiroko Tragedy of W (1984), directed by Sawai Shinichiro and written by Arai Haruhiko. After a string of Kadokawa idol hits, this is the film where Yakushimaru matured into a fine actress. A fascinating psychological character study about a young actress whole life begins to increasingly resemble the play in which she's trying to get the lead role at any cost, until she cannot tell reality apart from fiction. My favourite line: "Don't hit me in the face! I'm an actress!"


Komiyama Serina was up next in Doll House, playing a good old fashioned housewife who eventually tells her proud husband (Mito Kana), who can’t even fix a broken light bulp, that “I’m Not Your Barbie Girl” and flies away free like a bird, set to “Fight Song”. Komiyama’s aerial show was done with a pole hanging from the roof and was once again state of the art. The moment the pole comes down from the ceiling is when you know you’re about to see something amazing, and its incredible how gently she goes in the air, like a fairy. Mito was fantastic too as the useless, bourgeois Man husband. And when Komiyama comes down temporarily to get more speed to swing over the audience perfectly synchronised to the music... too good!

The third performance marked the return of Asakusa’s idol unit Yuki no Melty Secret, composed of Higuchi Mitsuha, Nagasawa Yukino, and Hara Miori, first seen in the 2025 New Year Performance "Wa". Many were quick to point out that they’re cuter than most real idols, and indeed I was amused by just how much Higuchi is every teenage boy’s daydream come true. They were dancing to Perfume’s Spring of Life. Speaking of Perfume, I went to their concert last year with my wife. It was all thanks to Asakusa. I was telling her about Nagase Karen’s performance in 2024’s Re, where she danced to Perfume’s Laser Beam, and then my wife was like “I was thinking about going to Perfume live, but I didn’t think you’d be interested... would you?”. Well, yes, I was!



The last performance before the break was Hashimoto Mako and the back-dancers as shikigami – sort of creatures of the night and “sevant gods” – summoned by onmyoji Uehara Ai. It’s taken me some time to warm up to Hashimoto, but consider me a fan after The Play, Hagakure and DOLLS. She’s perfect for these dark, gothic fantasies, and she has the kind of charisma that her (literally) smaller sisters don’t have. I was surprised she’s only 165cm, but then I checked and everyone else in DOLLs is actually shorter, starting from 150 cm semi-hobbits like Hara. She looked amazing when the wind was blowing her hair. Good production design and fitting music with A Song of Storm and Fire, Tenku e no tabi, and more.



Half time show! And this was actually a show! Uehara, Hashimoto and a magician came to the stage. Uehara is placed inside a big iron box with six small removable windows. We can see her sitting there as Hashimoto closes them one by one. The she opens the middle left one and we can see Uehara’s head. She closes the window again, then opens all the windows and Uehara is gone. Hashimoto walks through the empty box several times to show it’s really empty. Then closes the windows, opens them again and Uehara is sitting there again. WTF!?



The 5th performance was Mito Kana and others in Nutcracker. Mito is a circus clown who seems to be morphing from one character to another (or perhaps just playing all the roles of the clown). At times she’s pulling the strings, at other being pulled, and every now and then she suddenly becomes aware of being in front of an audience. Reminded me of Kon Satoshi’s Paprika. And Mito is great despite some limitations as a dancer! I was prejudiced against her before I ever saw her on stage, being a bit put off by some of the AV stuff that came up in basic search, but she’s actually super sympathetic on stage. Furthermore she seems to be always going for something peculiar: in Fantasy League she was the devil being reincarnated, and in the super-odd silent movie Ririka no hoshi she played dual roles as mother and daughter. I also caught her on TV in the recent pink drama 漁村に嫁いだ女 不倫の誘惑 where she’s super likeable as a fisherman’s abused and neglected wife.

Up next was Nagasawa Yukino and Komiyama Serina in a follow-up performance Become Human (January 2025). The 2025 performance was a cyber-punk masterpiece with a scientist assembling an android and teaching her humanity, but as decades pass the scientist dies and the android is left alone without maintenance and breaks apart. The 2026 follow-up was something of a reversal: Nagasawa returns as the android, but this time she saves the life of a suicidal human (Komiyama) holding a gun on her head (there’s a cool bit where Nagasawa grabs the gun disassembles it). It’s genuinely touching as they walk together holding hands, set to “Sacred Play, Secret Place”. But it’s all for nothing, as a stray bullet hits Komiyama in the head. The setting is apocalyptic future, perhaps during WWIII. The music cuts to “Sustain++” from Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2045. There’s also a fair bit of Blade Runner 2049 vibe going on. And the ending song is Yoko Kanno & Scott Matthew’s Be Human, repeated from the 2025 performance, as Nagasawa does her stunning robotic moves. Yeah, this was another cyber punk masterpiece performance!

This is seconds before a stray bullet hits Komiyama (right) in the head




Saved for last was Uehara Ai, whom most non-regulars probably came to see. This was only her third – and supposedly last – time on stage, following the 2016 and 2021 appearances. Though long retired from strip and AV, she felt she had to come back one last time as her now-legendary previous appearance was during the COVID era when it was impossible for overseas fans to attend. She said this would be the last time she loses her clothes off in front of a crowd. The performance was a visually striking edo courtesan piece where she entered the stage set to Wagakki Band's "Yoshiwara Lament". She pulled it off without any mishaps, though naturally the main appeal here was merely seeing Uehara in person. She later mentioned she was delighted about the positive reception and especially of the “this was totally different from what I expected” and “I never thought a strip performance could be so beautiful” comments. She had actually invited many acquaintances; especially those who she thought might be prejudiced against the art, to come see the show.



This was quite a good show indeed... the more I think about it, the more grateful I am I got to see it (two times in a row, to be precise).

P.S. I was a little surprised there was no performance based on Kitano Takeshi's film Dolls, considering the title AND the fact Kitano was close friends with the former head of Asakusa, Saito Chieko. She ran the theatre for decades (the current present is her son) and was known as the mama of Asakusa (she died in 1997). But she wasn't just a legendary former dancer running a strip theatre. She also made Kitano's Zatoichi (2003) happen after she had personally acquired rights to Zatoichi and persuaded Kitano to direct it (Miike Takashi was also briefly considered). Her history with Zatoichi actually goes back much further: back in the 70s Saito was providing financial support to Katsu Shintaro and Wakayama Tomisaburo back when the Zatoichi TV show was being made. When Katsu Productions was about to go bankrupt, Saito paid all the debts. Katsu was so grateful that he visited Saito every new year for the rest of his life (and when Katsu was on his death bed, Saito was sitting next to him). After Katsu and his company were gone, Saito acquired the rights to Zatoichi. Besides Katsu and Wakayama, Chiba Shinichi and Yamashiro Shingo were regular visitors at Saito's house. Kitano had known her since his early days as a comedian performing in Asakusa France-za. When Zatoichi was screened at Venice film fest, Kitano took Saito with him to Italy. Kitano came back with a best director award; Saito with a photo of herself with Martin Scorsese! Despite all, she never took much credit for the film, saying she merely set things in motion.

Saito & Kitano. Her name is in the poster directly below Kitano's directorial credit.


Next I had to rush to Laputa Asagaya for the Yukio Noda Late Show, which had progressed to Zero Woman: Red Handcuffs. It’s a film I own on the old French DVD as well as the new US BD, have the original theatrical poster hanging on my wall, and had seen twice before in 35mm (Jimbocho Theater in 2015, Shin Bungeiza in 2018). It’s now tied with Wolfguy: Enraged Lycanthrope, 13 Steps of Maki, Inferno of Torture and Akira as my 2nd most viewed Japanese film in 35mm, just behind Horrors of Malformed Men which I have seen four times in theatre!

I don’t think much needs to be said about the film. It’s an angry, unbelievably violent action thriller with undercover cop Miki Sugimoto infiltrating a sadistic killer / rapist gang who have kidnapped a politician’s daughter, all set against the backdrop and social trauma of US military bases in Japan. Much of the film can be hard to stomach for the more sensitive viewers, but the ending is an absolute riot with one of the best, sleaziest, goriest car chases ever filmed, followed by some of the most violent and cathartic action ever as Sugimoto annihilates the evil gang. Based on a manga by Tooru Shinohara (Female Prisoner Scorpion), whose works seem to make good material for angsty, anti-government films. To quote my friend, this is the “Almost Human of Pinky Violence films”. Essential viewing, and one of the most hard-edged films in the genre.



The 35mm print, which I think was the same I’ve seen twice before, was slightly uneven with some parts looking excellent, others being slightly faded with a bit of sunset tint or red push from ageing. The clean parts have perfectly neutral color timing – which is true to almost any Japanese film from 60s and 70s (despite all the modern revisionist remasters you see on home video) (except of course for scenes where specific color filters are used). I haven't watched my BD yet, but just by a quick look it seems solid for home viewing.

[HungFist]

Ninkyo in Laputa, Dolls in Asakusa (and the only AI you should ever support!) – Part 2/2

One of my favourite things to do in Tokyo is going to see a film I know almost nothing about. It’s a good way to kill time when you’ve got a few hours free in your schedule. Often you end up discovering little treasures that you'd otherwise have never watched.



Such was the case today. With nothing scheduled for the morning, I headed to Laputa Asagaya's Morning Show, which was dedicated to actress Sonomi Nakajima. This week they were screening the Toho comedy 3 Dolls Go to Hong Kong (お姐ちゃん罷り通る) (1959). I knew nothing about the film other than it being the 3rd in a series and having been shot on location in Hong Kong.

I knew I had made the right choice as soon as the film opened, in glorious color widescreen, with a scene featuring a gangster and his woman firing a Tommy gun at the police against the silhouette of a big city. This turns out be a scene in a theatre play, with our heroines being a musical actress and her friends. They get an offer to go on a world tour which stars from Hong Kong. A few familiar actors come across in the city, including Ryo Ikebe as Chinese / Japanese businessman, and a load of Shaw Brothers actors from Yiu Kwang-Chao to Paul Chang Chung and Pat Ting Hung. The characters speak in their native tongues, with lots of Chinese dialogue for the Chinese cast (and some for Ikebe). Better yet, there’s loads great footage filmed on the streets of Hong Kong in 1959. It’s an all around funny, energetic comedy with a musical touch. And I never cease to be amazed by how stunningly colourful and stylish many of these old films look: it’s not just the sunsets and night clubs, but even apartments look visually more stylish than anything in recent best cinematography Oscar winning movies!

The film was screened from a fairly well preserved 35mm print. A lot of it looked near pristine, although with a bit of sunset tint, though some scenes had developed a semi strong green hue over the decades.

There was no poster on display, but here are some promotional stills:






The next three films were part of the Ninkyo Yakuza Retrospective (I already visited once on my previous trip).

Always a great feeling to be holding one of Laputa's tickets in your hand. They are numbered, and you will be admitted in in purchase order.


The first one was Masahiro Makino’s Nikkatsu film Peonies and Dragons (牡丹と竜) (1970), which is a remake of his own Tales of Japanese Chivalry: Attack (日本侠客伝　斬り込み) (1967) at Toei. This Nikkatsu version has quite a different flavour, trading chivalrous Ken Takakura for a more temperamental Hideki Takahashi, who plays a single father yakuza trying to make an honest living with an honourable tekiya group. They are being harassed by Toru Abe’s scumbag yakuza who want their share of the market. This is a refreshing change from the usual stoic, low-key ninkyo hero narratives (the premise and tone here somewhat resemble Sonny Chiba’s Game of Chance trilogy at Toei, also a bit of an outlier in the genre). A particular highlight is Akira Kobayashi as a flamboyant comrade. He also sings the film’s theme song, which (typical to Kobayashi) sounds more like a youthful pop song than the kind of old fashioned enka tune usually heard in the genre, and gives an interesting twist to the film’s ninkyo march scene at the end. That being said, this film still follows the repressed ninkyo hero formula, and is even sparser on action than most films of its kind. Director Makino often seemed more interested in period and human drama than action. This one works quite well regardless, with a bit of a new flavour to the usual recipe.

Peonies and Dragons screened from a faily good 35mm print. It started out quite soft, which gave me a scare, but the quality improved after a minute or two. It was a bit murky compared to some more colourful films, but I presume that’s how this was shot.



Peonies and Dragons was followed by Shigehiro Ozawa’s Toei film House of Gamblers (博徒一家) (1970). This film has recently been finding a lot of new fans and it’s not impossible to see why. It’s an all star epic running 116 minutes (unsually long for a ninkyo film) and featuring just about every notable Toei yakuza film actor (Ken Takakura, Koji Tsuruta, Tomisaburo Wakayama, Minoru Oki, Junko Fuji, Takashi Shimura and so on). At its core, it’s a grand melodrama about yakuza brothers turning against each other after clan successor Takakura ends up in jail (nagurikomi at the start) and easily corrupted Oki inherits the leadership much to the displeasure of Wakayama. Sadly, I think this runs 30 minutes too long with a rather meandering plot. It’s a typical film by Ozawa, who has been championed as a neglected genre master by many, but sometimes fails to impress me He’s made some fine films, as well as many passable entertainments such as this, but he rarely had the vision or finesse of genre masters Yamashita or Kato.

The film print here was a bit more beaten and faded than usual. There was a fair amount of scratches and lines, and the colors had lost their best lush. Not distracting, but a better print could perhaps be found some day.



My last film for the day was Kosaku Yamashita’s under-seen Gambling Den: Drifter (博奕打ち　流れ者) (1970). This is the 8th and one of the best films in the long running series. Koji Tsuruta is a wandering yakuza searching for a young woman who had cut her ties with her yakuza father and doesn't even know he's been dead for years. There is a very poignant scene right at the start where a benevolent older comrade dies in Tsuruta's arms. Tsuruta tells younger gang mate "this is how we, the wandering yakuza, end up". As outlaws and outcasts, the honourable yakuza would try hard to live by the code and never exploit the innocent; yet they'd end up dying on a cold alley stabbed by a faceless enemy henchman. That's the tragedy and romanticism of the ninkyo way in a nutshell. Director Kosaku Yamashita's ninkyo films were almost always lyrical, elegant and well written. This film is no exception, although it does slow down around the middle before coming to a beautiful climax once Tomisaburo Wakayama joins the cast during the final 30 minutes.

As good as the film was, the print was a disappointment. The print had developed a seasick green tint over the decades, which is something Laputa also warned the viewers about with a note in the lobby. Here’s hoping a new print can be struck: this film deserves one.

The poster is gorgeous (and I own a copy)


More films in the program


I did not have time to stay for the evening’s final ninkyo film, Shigehiro Ozawa’s Biography of a Chivalrous Man (遊侠列伝) (1970), as I had to rush to the airport for an evening flight back home. I’ve seen the film before, however, and recall it being quite enjoyable. I would have loved to stay for it, but with another Tokyo trip booked for next month I needed to save money where I could.

[HungFist]

Now my reports are running 5 months late...

The Greatest – Part 1/3

Rainy day in Tokyo. My first stop is Asakusa. They were back to normal after February’s Uehara Ai special show, with ticket prices back to 6.000 yen. I got there 30 min before the doors opened, but the damn line was even longer than in February! Not only that, there was an old man in orange jacket harassing customers! “It’s no use standing here, you can’t get in even if you line up! It’s better give up now! Stop lining up, you idiots. Don’t stand here! Inbecils!” He looked and sounded like Kitano Takeshi. And when the doors opened, he orderly guided everyone inside! Like, what? And oh yeah, and everyone fit. Only the people who arrived after the doors had opened had to stand.



The new show was called The Greatest, and it was a re-run of selected performances from the past. I wonder if this had something to do with their light director of 10 years quitting (except he later reversed his decision and is still working there). Oh and a curious observation: there were many visitors from Hong Kong. The Cantonese caught my ear, as opposed to the Mandarin you hear more commonly.

The show started with the usual theatre manners announcements with Ozzy’s All the Young Dudes as background music. First up on stage was newcomer Minase Miya in her dance debut. I heard she was so nervous on her 1st day that people were worried if she’d be able to pull it off, but she was doing just fine by now. She was dressed in black, as the leader of a female chain gang consisting of herself, Tsubaki Rinne, Kasagi Ichika, and the four back dancers, in a stylishly lit, heavy on purple performance loosely based on the opera Aida, set to Rihanna’s Where Have You Been, Muse’s Enigma, Havasi’s The Duel (watch that concert clip, it's incredible), and Sia’s Alive. Well done, Miya-chan!

The 2nd performance was the sexiest piece I have seen in Asakusa, with Hirose Aimi going solo with a chair, set to Kylie Minogue’s Sexercize, Janet Jackson’s Would You Mind, and others. She spends half of the time essentially touching herself. One viewer standing behind me literally dropped on the floor and had to be helped out! The performance ended with the sound of an alarm clock as it turned out to be a dream. Not my type of performance, but Hirose did it with confidence, and that damn Minogue song that I don’t even like has now made a nest between my ears.

Up third was perhaps the cutest girl in Asakusa’s payroll, Kasagi Ichika (Higuchi Mitsuha is a serious challenger) with Oku Mio (another stunning beauty) and Igarashi Kyoka... in a hula dance type of easy breezy piece. I prefer more emotional or epic performances, but this was surely service for cuteness fans.

Up fourth was Hanai Shizuku as a yakuza gambling den card dealer. The gamblers and their bodyguards (Hirose, Minase, back dancers x 4) get into an argument, a Mexican stand off follows, and all six of them shoot each other dead, with only Hanai left alive. Hanai then does the bed show dressed in black and holding a pistol. This was a hard rock performance that started with music snatched from Guy Ritchie’s Snatch, followed by Rockstar from Burnout Paradise as they start arguing, Billie Eilish’s You Should See Me in a Crown once the gangsters have dropped dead, and finally Kick It Out by Boom Boom Satellites. Except for Hanai, everyone is dressed up as host club type of men. It was quite a cool piece and Hanai does some cool moves (her flexibility is out of this world, and she has an amazing skill to tie moves/poses together to create a natural flow) though storywise this felt a little simplistic and relied too much on cool posing.



The 5th performance was a nostalgia explosion! I saw this performance almost exactly two years ago in Breath, and it was the craziest thing I had ever seen by then! And it still holds up. It’s a batshit insane 80s gym workout piece set to Michael Jackson’s Beat It and Broken Peach ’s Bad and Ghostbusters, with Oku Mio and the girls first training at a gym, then the curtains close for a moment, and once they open again everyone are in ultra cool 80s disco outfits and wearing sunglasses! Later the others leave, and Oku drops her disco outfit and proceeds to do some more work-out alone. When I first saw this in 2024, it done by Omi Haruka who instantly became a massive favourite of mine. Oku was fun to watch as well.

A couple of old photos from 2024 with Omi doing the same performance.


The 6th performance turned out to be my favourite of the bunch, a heartbreaking Guillermo del Toro esque fairy tale about a young boy (Tsubaki Rinne) who meets a fairy (Igarashi) in a forest. This launches a transformation process with veil-like wings growing to the boy’s arms as he transforms into something not human. The performance’s first half is playful, but once Kokia’s Everlasting kicks in (especially the bass at 0:28) and Tsubaki acts the boy’s confusion, fear and ultimate acceptance of his fate the audience was in tears!

(the left photo is actually Shirahashi on season 2, the right one is Tsubaki on season 1)


The 7th performance was another old favourite that I had seen two years ago in Breath. It featured Igarashi Kiyoka meeting a handsome love in a Victorian dress party, set to David Garrett’s stunning Viva La Vida violin cover. Another Garrett song, Ma dove Sei, closed the performance. It was a cool ending to fairly good show. Although most performances were not as narrative driven as I’d like them to be, I enjoyed most of them and was completely floored by the 6th performance. There was no lack of audience either: while the day’s 1st show was only a little over-full, the 2nd show went way over seat capacity with more than 100 people standing on the aisles.

After two rounds of The Greatest I was facing a slight dilemma. Should I head to Ikebukuro for Chase That Man (Toshio Masuda, 1972) in Shin Bungeiza's Shochiku series, or Asagaya for The Karate 3 in Laputa's Yukio Noda Late Show. The meagre reviews for the former convinced me to choose the latter, which was also more convenient for a yakitori izakaya meet up with an old friend of mine who recently became a father.

Chase That Man aka The Long Chase. I later managed to watch this at home. Despite the dynamite cast, it's just okay. Not bad, but a bit mediocre.


The Karate 3 (ザ・カラテ3 電光石火) (1975) is the least awesome film in the rather delightful series. It still packs a punch, however. The first 20 min was actually such dynamite with fantastic action, hilarious Shingo Yamashiro comedy, and all around grooviness that I though I might have under-evaluated this before. The rest is less dynamic and more inconsistent, including Yamashita's hilarious fake American accent that comes and goes depending on the scene (and confused the hell out of my friend who had not seen parts 1 and 2). It's still got red suits, outrageous acting, good action and of course Tadashi Yamashita, the unholy cross-breeding of Goofy, Bruce Lee and Charles Bronson. The 35mm print was state of the art: it looked fantastic throughout and heavenly in parts.



To be continued...

[HungFist]

The Greatest – Part 2/3

I had such good time last time in Tokyo watching 3 Dolls Go to Hong Kong in Laputa’s Sonomi Nakajima Morning Show, that I made it a priority to catch another 3 Dolls film on this trip. 3 Dolls and Baby Gang (ベビーギャングとお姐ちゃん) (1961) wasn't quite as much fun, but still a pleasant way to spend the morning at the cinema. The movie is a cross-over between the 3 Dolls series and the Baby Gang aka Acchan series, being the 7th in the former and the 3rd in the latter. The three sister run into the badly behaving “baby gang” (lead by the 6 year old 18th generation Kanzaburo Nakamura of the legendary kabuki actor family dating back to the 16th century!) and fall in love with a handsome university student. Many of the jokes were actually pretty lame, but the film is still somehow sympathetic and looked just damn gorgeous. The print had some scratches and a bit of sunset tint, and wasn’t quite the sharpest I’ve seen, but still served the film well.



After the film I was hoping to get to Kawasaki as fast as possible, but luck was not on my side. Someone had fallen on the tracks (or more likely, committed suicide) a few stations down the line, resulting in trains running late. I reached my destination later than planned and entered during the 4th performance of the 1st round (1.4). The venue was full, but I managed to get a seat after standing for about one hour when the 2nd round started (2.1). I took a quick look at the audience and at first thought it was an all male crowd, though I eventually did spot one woman and saw two more arriving later.

This week marked Nagawasa Yukino’s 4th anniversary. Joining her were Amase Meruka, Mamiya Nagi, Suzumiya Mashiro, Hanai Shizuku, and Hara Miori. I should mention that Nagasawa, Hanai, and Mamiya are all friends dating back to before their dancer days (Shiratori Swan is also part of the gang). They all debuted four years ago, most of them only months apart from each other, and whenever one is celebrating an anniversary you can expect to see a few more of them in the line-up.

To no one’s surprise I enjoyed Hanai’s performances best. She did two performances, a Disney esque spring fairy piece called Primavera, with a cute caterpillar prop, and Hanazakari, her 3rd anniversary performance which I already saw last year and was delighted to see again. As I wrote last time Hanazakari has a massive Sakuran vibe and uses the Shiina Ringo song Jinsei wa yumedarake. There was a bit where she accidentally almost kicked herself in the face – she’s so flexible she’s dangerous to herself!

The other dancers were putting up a good show as well. Nagasawa was her usual rock n roll girl full of energy, Miori was doing a tokusatsu superhero piece, Suzumiya can really move, Amase did a goth loli / Tim Burton esque piece that seemed to be about a doll coming alive, and Mamiya’s performance in a blue wig and tight rubber outfit had a Blade Runner 2049 vibe to it.

After the show I spent some time wandering in Asagaya and looking for a mean...


... and found myself a bowl at Miso Ramen Factory ReNge


My last stop for the day was Laputa Asagaya for their Yukio Noda Late Show, which had advanced to its last and rarest title. Seishun Toruko nikki: Shojo suberi (青春トルコ日記 処女すべり) (1975) is a movie that will probably never be released on video or aired on TV. Filmed in 1973, the release got delayed after Toei’s advertising campaign proved a little too successful for its own good. The concern was the underage actress Reika Yamakawa, whom Toei advertised as the “the youngest eros star ever”. While there wasn’t anything particularly unusual about it in the 70s (when magazines and films were full of underage nude models and actresses, and not just in Asia but Europe as well), the ad slogan and Yamakawa stripping on TV to promote the film nevertheless sparked discussion about film industry morals just when rival Nikkatsu was in court accused of distributing obscene films (the Roman Porno trial). The production ended up getting halted when principal photography was approx. 80% done. Toei then waited two years for the dust to settle, applied a bit of creative editing to complete the film, and released it theatrically – with the same ad slogan.

The controversy and what happened in the production is really a quite shame, as what we have here is a rather exceptional coming of age tale that turns into a mad Scarface gangster tragedy by its end. This is easily one of mediocre director Yukio Noda’s most inspired films. The first 25 minutes is incredible: a breezy musical ballad narrated with pop and folk songs by Taiji Nakamura and Mimi Araki, depicting the main character’s path from a small village to Tokyo, intercut with gritty documentary footage of the Vietnam War, violent student protest, and Yukio Mishima’s attempted coup d'etat. It foreshadows the film that follows, which opens bright and comedic, but ends up a dark tale of obsession and dead fathers. Yamakawa stars as a naïve countryside girl Hanako, who goes from factory worker to hostess and eventually Turkish Bath employee once she learns women in the latter business earn in one day what hostesses make in 10 days. A string of comedic sex scenes follows, by the end of which she secures a sugar daddy (Taiji Tonoyama) to lend her money open her own bathhouse business.

Among her employees is a small time gangster (Gajiro Sato), who brings in a new recruit: a young woman (Mimi Araki) suffering from a memory loss, found lying half-dead on a street. This leads to a great hippie sub plot with the gangster, the girl and a broke hippie conman (Soichiro Maeno in a Stray Cat Rock esque role) starting to live together and trying to solve the mystery of her past. Another new recruit is a female police officer (Natsuko Okada), who says she’s done with law enforcement and just wants to become a Turkish Bath girl – though in reality she’s on a personal vendetta after our heroine had driven her father to suicide. Meanwhile Hanako befriends a yakuza boss to finance her business expansions. It all leads to a bizarre demolition derby car chase death match climax, filmed through distorted lenses. It’s not every day you see a youth pink film where they crash cars into a gas station and the whole gas station blows up sky high! Oddly enough the characters all seem to be on drugs, despite nothing in the film explaining it – perhaps this is the missing footage effect from the principal photography never having been 100% completed.

By the time the film ends, all you can think is how the hell did this get from that breezy coming of age tale opening to this mad gangster action ending? It goes from funny to melancholic, socio-political to low-brow, all in a brisk 83 minutes. It’s a genuinely heartfelt youth film, and at the same time a clear prelude to the director’s later Zero Woman: Red Handcuffs (1974). It’s even manages to be a documentation of bathhouse business practices (as pointed out by some viewers, the sets appear well above the film’s budget class, perhaps built with an intention to use them in other films as well). It’s also an uneven and obviously problematic product of its own time, which will likely keep it out of wider circulation. But there’s no denying much of the film making here beside that is genuinely inspired; some of the best that director Noda ever put on screen.

As for lead Yamakawa, she’s quite solid in the lead. Unless you read about it, you probably wouldn’t realise she was underage. She had a short and mysterious career. A politically active youth, she had reportedly been kicked out of school for student activism and arrested multiple times before joining Toei at the request of her parents. She can be seen in small supporting roles in Sex and Fury and Lynch Law Classroom under the name Takako Yamakawa. This was her final film appearance. In 1974 she was cast as the female lead in The Assassination of Ryoma, but replaced by Rie Nakagawa mid production, possibly due to her problems with alcoholism. In 1976 she reportedly packed her bags and headed to France. The rest is unknown.

Laputa Asagaya screened the film from a very good 35mm print, which was produced by Cinema Vera back in 2008 for another retrospective, and screened again in 2013 to a rapturous reception (you can find quite a few Twitter comments describing the film as a “hidden masterpiece”, “a coming of age Turkish Bath musical action film” “brimming with bizarre energy”, packed with “dirty folk songs that will leave you stunned”, lead by “immortal women”, “going at full speed from the start” until eventually “going off the rails with a” “car chase ending that will blow your mind”). The film likely hasn’t been seen since then, which is perhaps why Laputa’s programming director was sitting behind me in the 1st screening. She’s a common sight in the back row – I also spotted her there enjoying Gambling Den: Drifter last month. The screening wasn’t full, but fairly packed with curious cinephiles from young women to old men and everything in between.

[HungFist]

The Greatest – Part 3/3

Sunday morning started with something that would've been unthinkable for me a few years ago. I was heading to the National Film Archive to see the 1953 MGM musical The Band Wagon. I had never seen a Fred Astaire film. The truth is, I had been avoiding musicals for decades ever since I was traumatised by The Sound of Music. I was a 9 years old kid who wanted to watch Jaws, Indiana Jones, Clint Eastwood films... and then our elementary school teacher forced us to watch Julie Andrews singing on the fields for three hours. That’s not what I wanted to see, and not how I wanted my less educated classmates to be introduced to classic cinema. I held a grudge for musicals for decades.



Fast forward 30 years and I'm ecstatic to see a classic musical in 35mm. It's thanks to the dancers in Asakusa, who made me discover the fun of dancing and singing. Now I'd eat a good musical for breakfast... and I was very hungry! The only problem was, the damn screening had seemingly sold out! I had forgotten the Film Archive now have online ticket sales. But it was also suggested a small number of tickets would be sold only at the counter, so I headed to the archive to line up before it opened. I was maybe the 15th person in line, and got one of the last remaining tickets! Two dozen people behind me were less lucky.

The movie was great. It’s tale about a washed out musical actor attempting a comeback. The film starts out good, gets better, and finishes spectacular with a long, delightful film noir musical sequent. The movie even got a rare big applause from the audience after it ended; this is the first time I've seen this happen since Top Gun: Maverick in 2022. And now I finally know where the song ‘This is Entertainment’ (to which Shiratori danced last year in Asakusa's NINE) comes from!

The Band Wagon screened in the Archive's Introduction to American Cinema series, which also included 35mm screenings of films such as Rebecca, Carrie, and The Stunt Man. The Band Wagon screened from the Archive's slightly rough and grainy, but still good looking and fairly colorful 35mm print. In terms of color, it looked about the same as the Warner HD master which I later watched on Amazon Prime with my wife.



Still high on musical vibes, I decided to stroll my way to Asakusa next. It was a nice 5km / 3 mile walk. The spring was early in Tokyo this year, with the first cherry trees already blossoming on the city streets. I made it to my destination in about 60 min.



The Greatest had progressed to its 2nd season, with a new cast taking over. 1st up was Omi Haruka, who was just insanely cool in the opening performance Aida. She has an incredible sense of pacing: she knows exactly when to slow it down, and when to explode to the music ( Where Have You Been, Enigma, The Duel, Alive). She’s also one of the best ones at creating bed shows as she refuses to rely on just nudity. Her gravity defying time freeze poses are legendary. Prior to the start of the season I had anticipated (*) Omi would do the 5th performance, but I was happy she ended up with opening number as she really elevated it and made it tons of fun.

* Cast forecasting is a game played by regulars on Twitter. Asakusa always announces the cast in advance, however, who'll do which performance won't be made public until the opening day. Fans who saw an earlier season of a show will try to guess who'll be assigned to which performance. I got 5/7 correct (Omi and Nakagawa were reversed).





The 2nd performance was Suzuki Mint having a wet dream with a chair. She looked cuter with glasses on than her predecessor Hirose Aimi, though the latter may have been sexier.

The 3rd performance saw Nagase Karen taking over from Kasagi Ichika. Nagase is a solid performer, and frankly speaking an incredible beauty. Seeing her final pose against Asakusa’s state of art lights somehow brought ancient Greek nude sculptures to my mind.

The 4th performance featured YUME as the yakuza gambling den card dealer. She shared a very cool introduction to the performance online: “I play a mysterious woman who acts as a card dealer for two rival gangs. From the moment she whispers a single word, everything spirals out of control. I play the role of a devilish woman who drives people to their deaths without ever lifting a finger herself. I hope you can sense the look of sheer ecstasy on her face at the sight of death, as well as her psychopathic aura.”



The 5th performance was the delightfully insane 80s Michael Jackson gym workout... which I expected Omi Haruka to do, however, Asakusa cast Nakagawa Sora in it this time. She did it with a nice sense of humour and cute expressions, and Haruka was still on board in the supporting cast.

I should also mention that although I didn’t see season 3, photos suggest Ando Moa went all the way with her Michael Jackson cosplay including a tribute to the classic outfit. Pretty cool! And this was months before the new Michael biopic opened in Japan.


I was happy to see one my favourite dancers Shirahashi Riho take over the 6th performance. She’s the most talented of the post 2022 newcomers, and it’s almost a shame she’s so busty and baby-faced that people get distracted and fail to give her the credit she deserves. The Guillermo del Toro esque fairy tale of a young boy encountering a fairy and transforming into one himself was the 1st time Riho had been entrusted with the 6th performance (usually the most artistically ambitious piece). She did an incredible job acting out the boy’s confusion, fear, acceptance and loneliness, creating one of the most beautiful and hearth-breaking bed stages I have ever seen. Again, I couldn’t hold back my tears when she discovers veil-like wings have grown to her arms and Kokia’s Everlasting starts playing. I’d love to bring a prejudiced person to see this performance and watch them cry their eyes out! Riho has gone from an ex-AV actress to one of the most artistically ambitious and versatile stage performers with a talent for comedy, tragedy, horror, fantasy and cyber-punk.



The Greatest concluded with the show’s main star: Minami Mayu. Once again I was reminded of her stage charisma. She looked great in white dress, with Asakusa’s huge mirror ball (said to be the biggest in Asia) behind her. I also picked up her debut CD, produced by the theater, with some pretty catchy pop songs. It’s a shame I couldn’t see her sing live (which she did during the weekend). Her music video and its making of video are on YouTube. The video was shot, of course, in the theater.

My last stop of the day was Laputa Asagaya... to see Seishun toruko nikki: Shojo suberi (青春トルコ日記 処女すべり) (1975) again. I figured this may be the only (two) time(s) I’ll ever get to see the film, so I should watch it twice and have no regrets. It was the right choice. On my way back to the hotel I noticed the popular Duck Ramen restaurant I had always been curious about, but never tried because there were always so many people standing in line you’d think Ai Uehara was inside, had only four people waiting to enter, so I seized my chance and enjoyed a very tasty bowl at midnight.



Day 4... sort of

I was supposed to fly back to work at 8:00 in the morning... except I got a message from Jetstar that they’ve overbooked and can’t fit me in. They got me a new seat on a 15:10 flight instead. I had no choice but to call to work that I won’t be able to come today... and head to Laputa to watch Irresponsible Age of Japan (ニッポン無責任時代) (1961) in the Sonomi Nakajima Morning Show! More than a Nakajima film, though, it was a Crazy Cats film, my first one featuring the popular Japanese jazz band and comedy group, but perhaps not the best place to start (I later watched Vegas Free for All and Mexican Free for All at home, which I enjoyed better). The film was okay, but I found it’s depiction of Japanese salaryman life a little too depressing (You Can Succeed, Too is a much more delightful salaryman musical comedy). The 35mm print was a little faded in terms of colors, and had slightly blown out whites, but was generally fairly crisp and good enough. I’m glad I got to see it... before heading to the airport.



The end.

[HungFist]

You’ll Believe a Girl Can Fly – Part 1/2

It's May and I’m back in Tokyo, comfortably seated in one of favourite theatres when John William’s Superman theme starts playing! It's almost a full house, with many wearing fan t-shirts. But I’m not in a movie theatre, nor am I watching the new Supergirl film. I’m in Asakusa where the new program HEROIC is about to unleash seven heroes on stage.

Any fears that this would be a mere superhero program were shaken off as soon as I got a hold of the performance list. Kick-Ass, Harriet Tubbman, Panty and Stocking, Lord of the Flies, Gatchaman, Otani Yoshitsugu, and Mulan. That’s my type of heroes! I studied the topics in advance by watching half-dozen films and reading a whole bunch of Wikipedia pages. I was so short on time that I only finished watching the last film, the 1990s Lord of the Flies adaptation, on my tablet while standing outside in line for the day’s first performance!

First on stage was Fujikawa Nao in Kick-Ass. This was a loose spiritual adaptation, more “inspired by” than “based on” the film. Fujikawa stars as a shy otaku boy bullied by villains in Kato masks... until (s)he realizes her own strength and kicks & punches the villains to the floor, set to “Hero” by Capsule. What a fun start! Nao changes to a green hero costume while Ellie Goulding’s "My Blood" plays, and then... a ring attached to a rope comes down from the ceiling, Nao grabs it and goes airborne! MIKA vs. RedOne’s “Kick Ass (We Are Young)” is playing while Nao performs choreographies in the air, including a bit where she’s climbing the rope up while she's upside down! By the time she came down to get more speed for a big swing and "Flying Home" started playing I was in tears. And when she did the sweetest ever battle cry while in the air, I think about 100 hearts were pierced simultaneously in the audience! This was a perfect match for Nao, who in an old interview admitted she doesn’t really identify with the traditional genders. She said she found safe haven in strip theatres, where she’s free to be whoever she wants.



Next was the notoriously difficult low key no. 2 performance, with Sakuraba Urea (the first performer I ever saw in Asakusa, back in 2023) tacking African American human rights fighter and escaped slave Harriet Tubbman. I had my concerns how such an important figure would transform into a strip performance, but those fears were unfounded. With Sakuraba as a black dressed, shotgun wielding former slave helping others escape to freedom, action set to “Stand Up” and “Goodbye Song” (both from the 2019 Harriet film), and finally Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song” and Phil Collins’ “The Times They Are A-Changin'”, this was class act and a genuine tribute to an important person.

The third performance was anime fun with Panty & Stocking, which I didn’t have time to familiarize myself with other than learning it’s about two heroines, addicted to sex and sweets, fighting villains and saving the world. This was lead by Maeda Ako, whom I saw for the first time (she’s a veteran, but hasn’t been to Asakusa for years). She was cute and energetic, with a couple of those wonderful pace chance / fast motion moves that remind me of the slow-mo effect in Karate Warriors, Shogun’s Ninja, and 300. Naopi had a supporting role as a bullied boy (again), and Hashimoto Mako almost stole the show as a sexy red devil. Music included "PoW!" by FEMMm, Peacock by Katy Perry, and "Fallen Angel" and "Angels and Demons" from Panty & Stocking soundtrack.

The day’s masterpiece was the 4th performance: an amazingly powerful re-arrangement of themes and elements from Lord of the Flies. Nagasawa Yukino plays the only survivor of a shipwreck on an island where she’s greeted by the death himself and a group of spear wielding primitives. At first death has her in his grip (in a cool puppeteer / marionette type of bit), but then she breaks free, beats the tribesmen, and grabs a spear with a bloody pig head at its tip. A violent storm breaks out with Nagasawa performing some amazing avant-garde movements full of anguish and struggle as she transforms into a warrior. Now, this performance was very open to interpretation, but I felt it was depicting the metaphorical battle of a person at death’s door, and her eventual gaining of strength and survival. Or perhaps it could be interpreted more literally as a new character shipwrecking on the Lord of the Flies island where the boys have turned into primitives and their leader has become the “monster” (death). The soundtrack was fantastic: Hassak’s “Turik Kagan” at the start, “kami no kanmuri wo kudake” from the Honkai: Star Rail video game in the pig head part, and Joseph William Morgan’s “The Warrior” at the end. My God, what a performance!



I watched the British 1963 and the American 1990 film versions as preparation. They’re both fairly good. I think the 60s film is more uncompromising in characterization, but the setting is visually a bit dull. The 90s film feels more Hollywood, but is also visually more interesting with a genuine Jurassic Park island (minus the dinosaurs) as its locale.



The 5th performance was loosely based on Science Ninja Team Gatchaman. I watched the 1978 anime compilation film and the miserable 2013 Nikkatsu live action film as preparation. Izumida Shiori was leading the ninja team whose costumes struck a fun balance between being different from the source material and still being somewhat recognizable. This was lightweight fun probably intended to lighten up the atmosphere, and very much a nostalgia / cosplay performance. I couldn’t discern much plot behind it. I didn’t care for most of the music (“In the name of Love”, “Music Goes On” and “Gatchaman Make My Day” from the 2013 Gatchaman Crowds series), but “Kokoro wa tamago” from Toei’s early 90s tokusatsu show Chojin Sentai Jetman was cool. I'm sure more than a few people in the audience heard their childhood knocking when this song started playing!

Yazawa Yoko was next as the dying warrior Otani Yoshitsugu. The real Otani met his fate in the battle of Sekigahara in the year 1600, where he fought a losing battle on Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s side against the troops of Tokugawa Ieyasu. This battle was a turning point in Japan’s history and lead to the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate who’d rule Japan for centuries. By the time of the battle Otani was nearly blind and had to be carried to the battlefield as he couldn’t walk – and he still took part in the fight. Yazawa paid a beautiful tribute to the samurai who could barely stand on his feet by performing a number of solo sword choreographies that served as a spiritual swan song (set to Westlife’s “Desperado”, “Canción Mixteca” from Wim Wenders’ Paris Texas, and Barry Manilow’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water” cover of the Simon & Garfunkel original). The use of strong white light at approaching demise was also impressive.

For my study, I watched Masato Harada's Sekigahara (2017), in which Otani is featured as a supporting character. The movie is fairly good for a recent Japanese production, a bit like jidaigeki Battles without Honor and Humanity, though not easy to follow with dozens and dozens and dozens of notable characters and constant name dropping. The Japanese BD comes with English subs.



Up last was Hashimoto Makoto in Mulan. I watched the 1998 animated film to prepare for the show (I must be the only person in the world who's introduced to Disney films through strip shows). This was quite differentiated from the film, or the Chinese folk heroine that the film was based on, with Hashimoto as a sword wielding princess. The opening group dance with red dressed servants was visually the most impressive part and was well supported by Pax Japonica Groove’s “Symphony”. Hashimoto looked great in all her dresses. I had trouble figuring out what the familiar sounding 2nd song was until I realized it was “opening theme / Hero Overture” from the Jet Li film Hero (2002)! Whoever is in charge of the music knows their cinema better than most film buffs do!



After seven performances and a finale (which kicked off with more John Williams / Superman tunes before switching to Ryokuoushoku Shakai’s “Mela!”) all I could think was, “this show was such a power boost”. I ended up watching the show twice, after which I gave up my seat and watched Fujikawa’s opening performance one more time standing in the back, before heading to Asagaya for the night’s movie.

Laputa Asagaya was running a new Late Show dedicated to Shochiku director Shigeyuki Yamane. The director made a career in youth and idol films, helming mainly movies based on comics and hit songs. Though not typical material for Late Show, some of his films have interesting genre movie elements. The best example is the 2nd Ai to Makoto film, which is often seen as a turning point for girl boss films, which would transform from an exploitation / porno sub-genre in the early 70s to idol entertainment by the 80s (Sukeban Deka etc.).



Tonight’s movie was the criminally under-seen youth film / murder mystery / disco dance flick mash up Yoko of the Port: Yokohama to Yokosuka (港のヨーコ・ヨコハマ・ヨコスカ) (1975), based on one of the coolest rock songs of the 70s by the Down Town Boogie Woogie Band. This plays out like a Japanese Saturday Night Fever with a murder suspect plot. The film follows a teenage girl (16 year old Ai Saotome, who shot this film during her summer vacation from school) working part time jobs in Yokohama in hopes to tracking down her runaway sister. After being fired from multiple jobs for poor attitude, she lands a job at a night club hosting a dance till you drop go-go dance competition, which she takes part in. Meanwhile two friendly men (Hayato Tani and Takeo Chii), both with hidden agendas, help her in trying to find the missing sister. She also befriends a Stray Cat Rock style youth / biker group, from which she gets kicked out after driving one of their bikes into the sea!

Though a bit sloppy in parts, this film is strangely fascinating and features a terrific use of the Down Town Boogie Woogie Band title song, especially in the insane opening segment. The band members, including Ryudo Uzaki, are also featured in the film (they also cameo’ed in Truck Yaro in the same year), as are loads of rising female talent from Mieko Harada to Keiko Matsuzaka, Yumi Takigawa and even future Nikkatsu star Erina Miyai.

I had seen this film about a decade ago in a J. Taro Sugisaku all night film program in Shin bungeiza, and absolutely had to take this opportunity to see it again! This movie has never been released on video, so you can only see it in 35mm. I got a bit scared when the print opened with a faded-to-pink Shochiku logo – this is not how I recalled the print looking! However, it was only the first few seconds that were affected. The rest of the film looked good and colourful, albeit slightly brownish / sunset tinted as a result of slight print degradation. I didn’t actually mind – it gave the film quite a pleasing warm and old look.

Laputa had no poster on display, so I’ll post my old photo from Shin bungeiza instead.


I did not have chance to visit the Main Program, which was screening some incredibly obscure independent films from 70s, 80s and 90s.


I also found time for a bowl of ramen in Asakusa before the film

[HungFist]

You’ll Believe a Girl Can Fly – Part 2/2

My 2nd day started with Junya Sato’s The Bullet Train (1975) in Shin bungeiza. It had been 12 years since I last saw this movie in 35mm in Cinema Vera’s Sonny Chiba retrospective. It has screened several times since then, in fact, some time ago Shin bungeiza even screened a French theatrical version of the film in 35mm (in French with Japanese subtitles). This time they were screening the standard Japanese version from a good, if slightly damaged print. It looked generally very solid and natural, but in some scenes the colors were a little faded or leaned slightly towards blue or green.

Just as I remembered, this is an excellent nail biting thriller that pre-dates Speed by two decades. The premise is simple: a bunch of criminals have placed a bomb in a bullet train, and it will explode if they try to slow down. While the cast is almost ridiculously star studded to the smallest supporting role (big name actors like Etsuko Shihomi, Yumiko Katayama and Koichi Iwaki appearing in bit parts), it’s Ken Takakura’s terrific, sympathetic villain performance that makes the film. Sonny Chiba has a good role as the train driver. I was a little amused at the end when we see two bullet trains riding side by side, and the 2nd train's driver is Sonny's brother Jiro Chiba! Despite the 2.5 hour running time there isn’t a dull moment, and the funky soundtrack is pretty awesome though possibly alienating to some viewers.

Other films in the program included A Fugitive from the Past and Profound Desires of the Gods


The Bullet Train was as a double feature with Manhunt, which I skipped since it was a digital screening.


After The Bullet Train I took the Express Train to Kawasaki to enjoy performing arts. The show was pretty idol heavy (I have a theory that many dancers dreamed of becoming idols, and are now living that dream on strip stages) which doesn’t really align with my preferences (but probably does with those of many others. I have another theory that since idols are confined to angel-like purity and chastity, that creates a demand for “underground idols” who don't have the same restrictions). There was no shortage of talent, but I’d rather see Tsubaki Rinne do her Chucky / Child’s Play act than the Power Puff Girls performance she did this day.

That doesn’t mean I wasn’t having good time, though. Fujikawa Nao had managed to retain her energy even though she went straight from 20 days in Asakusa to another 10 days in Kawasaki, rock n roll girl Nagasawa Yukino did the same, and Momose Oto was cute as ever. The stand outs for me were Hanai Shizuku, who was celebrating her 4th anniversary, and Yazawa Yoko (also straight from Asakusa), who gave the day’s stand out performance. As soon as the music started playing from tape, I was like “is it... oh My God, it is! She’s doing the closing performance from the movie Dancing in Her Dreams!” It was the same costume, the same choreography, the same music. That movie was shot in Hiroshima dai ichi, a legendary small strip theater that closed down in 2021. When the theatre closed, Yazawa was the closing act, and also did this same performance. And now I got to see it live!

Oh and the rumours about Kawasaki’s open show renewal were true. Following Toyo Show’s example, the dancers were now wearing pants during the post dance “open show”. This appears to be a precaution to avoid a SWAT team charging in and arresting all the women for “obscenity”, which is what happened in Toyo last year. It’s no big loss in my opinion (Asakusa doesn’t even have an open show), and it does not affect the dance performances where there’s no restrictions on nudity, but just out of principle it hurts to see this kind of self-censorship imposed, but it’s maybe the only way to protect the dancers from the police.

After Kawasaki, it was time for the 2nd season of Heroic in Asakusa. It was the 1st day for the new cast, but the show already looked very polished.



First one on stage was Tsukigata Haruhi, who had the daunting task of following Fujikawa Nao’s aerials in Kick Ass. Since only a few dancers who can do aerials, they re-do the choreography for the next dancer in these cases. The 1st half remained the same, and was loads of fun seeing Harupi kicks ass and beats the villains in Kato masks, while the 2nd half was new. She did some shadow boxing and lots of nude super hero posing that didn’t really make sense, but what saved the performance was the utterly ridiculous ending! Harupi is wearing a superhero cape, Flying Home is playing, she puts on aviator’s glasses and then the wind machine is dialled up to 11, blowing back both her cape and hair. The sight was so ridiculous / awesome / ridiculously awesome that I couldn’t get the smile out of my face before the next performance begun.

Harupi in otaku mode, and later, superhero mode


Next up on stage was YUME in Harriet Tubbman. Paying tribute to a real life human rights activist via a strip performance is no easy task. Even in the preceding Kick Ass there were parts where the strip didn’t make sense in the story context, and that was a comic book performance. And yet, somehow, YUME performed absolute miracles here with a soulful, beautiful tribute that seemed to bare the human soul and celebrate the essence of life and freedom. This was absolutely sublime, about as far as you could get from what any first timer stepping into a trip theatre would expect. I later read that both this and my other favourite, Lord of the Flies, were created by the same choreographer.

The 3rd performance was something completely different, with Mamiya Nagi doing Panty & Stocking with Amase Meruka. She’s fun, the performance was fun, and Irita Maaya almost stole the show as the devil.

The 4th performance was Lord of the Flies, with Shiratori Swan. This was my favourite on season 1, and it was even more mind blowing with Shiratori who can perform moves you wouldn’t think human body is capable of. The content was essentially the same with small differences: no spear this time, the severed pig head stood out even more (especially as Shiratori threw the head to backstage), and she scared the shit out of people with her manic laugher at the end. While the sync with the devil (Fujisaki Marika) was still a bit off as expected on opening day, Shiratori’s ability to move her body is out of this world.

While I didn’t get to see the 3rd season of Heroic, I need to share this story. Hanai Shizuku took over Lord of the Flies and was reportedly amazing in the role… until on day 15 she injured herself during the performance and had to be taken to hospital to receive stitches on her head. What happened next was pretty legendary. Her friend and fellow dancer Shiratori Swan just happened to be there on that day watching the show cheering for her friends. As Hanai went down, Shiratori took her place impromptu and performed for the rest of the day. She could do it since she had played the same role on season 2. Still, to be there as an audience member on your day off, and then suddenly end up on stage is quite something. Thanks to her, the 4th performance did not need to be cancelled as would usually be the case when a performer gets injured or sick. Hanai got doctor’s permission to get back on stage from the next day, with stitches intact until the end of the season.

Hanai in Lord of the Flies


What I also find very cool is that the “three sisters”, Nagasawa, Shiratori and Hanai, who are all friends and debuted around the same time in 2022, all played the same role on different seasons of Heroic. They are kind of like the Jackie Chan, Yuen Biao and Sammo Hung of strip theatres, except none of them are fat. Back in 2023 they all appeared in the same show together, producing a photo that later made a book cover. Briefly after the 3rd season of Heroic they headed to a spa trip together.



Starting from the 5th performance something a bit unfortunate happened. One of the stage lights kept reflecting from the giant mirror ball straight into my eye, effectively blinding me half of the time. This had happen to me once before when I was sitting in one of the middle seats, but never before on my regular right side seats. As far as I could see, the 5th and 6th performances were much like their season 1 counterparts. Amase Meruka was leading the Gatchaman science ninja team, and Fujisaki Marika paid tribute to the dying warrior Otani Yoshitsugu.

My favourite of the show’s 2nd half however was Irita Maaya in Mulan. She played the sword wielding heroine with a big dose of self irony and intentional clumsiness, which was missing from season 1 but what is exactly how the character was portrayed in the Disney animation. She was also loads of fun during the after show greetings where she took the lead with tons of energy but no clear plan (“alright everybody, repeat after me... wait, how does this go? Oh right... I say HERO, you say GO"!), which made everyone hilariously confused. Beside strip and AV, she’s also active in pink films. I’ve caught a few of them on late night TV, and she’s always fun and ultra-energetic in them even if the movies are forgettable.

A little bit of accidental comical relief... Broken English is alive and well in Japan!

(It should say YOU CAN FLY!)

Speaking of dancers moonlighting in movies, here’s a brief review round up.

Dancing in Her Dreams (女は夢で踊る) (2020)
A surprisingly touching and timely love letter to Japan’s few surviving strip theatres. The film blends fiction and reality by setting its otherwise fictional story in Hiroshima’s famed strip theatre Hiroshima Daiichi in its last days and modelling its main character after its real owner. Utilizing two timelines, it’s a love story between the owner and a dancer in the past, and a bittersweet tribute to the art in the present, occasionally a bit clumsy but ultimately quite moving. The film does passable job at introducing newcomers to the often misunderstood art, but one can’t help but to wish the film had focused on the dancers rather than the venue owner. A larger cast and more performance scenes would’ve been welcome, as the film only features up and coming actress Okamura Izumi and dancer legend Yazawa Yoko on stage. Fittingly, when the real Hiroshima Daiichi closed down a year after this film’s release, Yazawa was the final performer just like in the film.



Matagari tenshi: Hoteri no togenkyô (股がり天使 火照りの桃源郷) (2022)
Only in Japan do they make romantic movies about a girl finding happiness in brothel. Shirahashi Riho stars as a soap land employee enjoying her work and getting along with colleagues, who are all nice people, even her boss. And outside the premises, there’s a shy virgin boy love interest, and an inspirational street singer cheering people up. I rarely bother with modern pink productions, but I watched this for Shirahashi (here credited as Takahashi Riho, her former name before agency switch). Though pedestrian in technical execution, this movie's got its heart in the right place (or completely wrong, some would argue). Its depiction of the sex industry is the polar opposite of what you see in most non-Japanese movies. As for Shirahashi, she’s fun to watch as she’s clearly trying to channel Hana and Alice era Aoi Yu. There’s more spirit than acting skill on display, but the ambitions are evident and she’d become a much better actress in the future. Obviously this is a biased view, but for the curious Riho fan who’s fallen in love with her increasingly funny and impressive stage performances there are things to enjoy here.

Nugi-nugi panic: Nugitai onna (ヌギヌギパニック 脱ぎたい女) (2023)
A lovelorn security guard catches a trespassing homeless busty beauty (Kokona Asakura). Soon they are in love, only she turns out to be an exhibitionist with a capital E. This is basically a naughty anime premise played out straight in live action, with some tedious attempts at social commentary. It's watchable, but not very good. Rockza dancer Nagasawa Yukino appears briefly as a woman who’s into swapping. I probably laughed harder than I should have when she slapped our misbehaving hero in the face and called him a bloody pervert. The Japanese title of this movie is quite funny, roughly translated “Strip Down Panic! The Woman Who Wants to Take off Her Clothes”.

Yûwaku mama-san: Rettsura seishun! (誘惑ママさん レッツラ性春！) (2023)
What would you do if your mother accidentally drank love potion developed by a horny scientist and then stole your boyfriend? And that were on the same day when you already walked in on your dad cheating on your mom. This zany family drama / comedy manages to be quite passable despite all the usual pitfalls of cheap, digitally shot pink productions. It looks rough and is horny as hell, but there’s some genuine amusement and melancholy to the increasingly absurd situation where our poor heroine is betrayed by everyone she loves. Finally she’s lost everyone close to her, except her mom’s old classmate who is still in love with the mom. Rockza dancer Tsukigata Haruhi is unexpectedly good in the lead role. She never particularly struck me as an aspiring actress, but she’s surprisingly funny and sympathetic throughout the film – more so than anyone else of the cast.

Konkatsu nikki: Real Love (婚活日記 Real Love) (2024)
"The world is cruel to unmarried women in their thirties” goes popular Japanese saying. That's when single women start getting asked “why aren't you married yet?” That's also the premise for this pink comedy about a desperate 35 year old OL (Irita Maaya) trying to find a suitable husband. She's got a 5% chance of success at her age, according to statistics. She wastes no time with candidates, which include a student kid, an old company president, and others. This is a rather fun movie with the usual caveats of modern pink movies: it feels and looks a bit cheap. What the movie's got is "walking power spot" Irita who is funny and carries the film with her energy, despite the amateurishness of her acting. She’s very much the star – so much that no other actress shed their clothes, which is rare in a pink movie. The socially aware screenplay isn't too bad either, for a pink comedy affair like this. Oh and extra chuckles for the protagonist spending a third of the film in the office but never doing one bit of actual work.



Ririka of the Star (りりかの星) ( 2024)
Sometimes it pays off being a film critic and film festival programming director, as Shiota Tokitoshi would surely agree. His directorial debut, a 28 minute silent movie about a single father who discovers his daughter (Mito Kana) wants to become a strip dancer, co-stars Hiroki Ryuichi (yes, the director), Miike Takashi (yes, the director), and features audio narration by Tsukamoto Shinya (yes, the director) in its trailer. “No matter how many times I see this, I think it’s a really strange picture” was the director’s own evaluation of his movie. It is an unusual picture for sure; not only for being completely silent until music kicks in in Mito’s dance scene, but also for its mix of ambiguous sexual metaphors, surrealism and David Lynch influence. Perhaps a bit too much so as it comes off a little confusing as to what the director wants to say. From dance perspective the movie sadly fails to do anything of interest. That aside, it’s an interesting head-scratcher, and is of some additional interest for being partially filmed in Yokohama Rockza.



Gyoson ni totsuida onna: Furin no yūwaku (漁村に嫁いだ女 不倫の誘惑) (2025)
A low key domestic violence drama released as a pink movie, but barely in the confines of the genre. The movie follows a quiet, middle aged Tokyo woman marrying a fisherman and relocating to a small fishing town. Unfortunatelty the man turns out to be an impulsive momma’s boy who resorts to fists before words. Like the quintessential Japanese wife, she tries to put up with it without complaining. It’s worth emphasizing that this movie’s ambitions are clearly elsewhere than in the genre it was released it. The sedate piano score, the first person narration and the general approach (including the relative sparseness of sex scenes) somewhat echo the likes of Hirokazu Koreeda. It’s still a cheap production without much refinement to the directing, producing or acting, though Rockza dancer / AV actress Kana Mito is thoroughly sympathetic in the lead role. She and the storyline elevate this somewhat above its production quality.



Others movies I watched include Zoku: Matagari tenshi: Tabidachi no asadachi (続・股がり天使 旅立ちの朝勃ち) (2022), a lesser Matagari tenshi sequel only featuring Shirahashi in a small supporting role, Onna mamire: Honban hairimasu (女まみれ 本番はいります (2023), a pretty insufferable and amateurish film industry pink with delightful Shiratori Suwan featured in three scenes, Mokkori mangekyō: Yokujō shita gonin no onna-tachi (もっこり万華鏡　欲情した五人の女たち) (2023), a modest but watchable pink comedy about a shy guy harassed by a rock star’s girlfriends while waiting for his own sweetheart (Irita Maaya), and Punyu katsu: Ippai daisuki (ぷにゅ活　いっパイ大好き) (2024), a kind of sympathetic drama / comedy about a shy good girl introduced to male prostitutes by her friend (Irita again).