Pinku

One of Japanese director Chusei Sone's better pinku eiga films of the period, this softcore melodrama features talk-show hostess Maria Mitsui as Akemi, a laboratory technician who spends her evenings spying on her gangster neighbor (Nobutaka Masutomi) as he makes love to his stripper girlfriend (Meika Seri). The objects of Akemi's voyeuristic attentions learn of her interests and suggest that she'd make a fine prostitute. Not surprisingly, Akemi agrees and channels her interests into this more lucrative occupation. Despite the silly plot, this well-made Nikkatsu film was a bit of a comeback for Sone, who had slipped from his reputation as the studio's most reliable director with a series of remarkably dull efforts in the mid-'70s. This one manages to be entertaining, and was a sign of even better films to come, as Sone entered the most creative period of his career with superior efforts like Tenshi No Harawata Akai Kyoshitsu and Akai Boko.

An unrelated pink film titled Rope and Breasts, was directed by the early pink film SM-specialist Shintarō Kishi at Yamabe Pro and distributed by Kanto in 1967. The story involved a man with a weak heart who suffers at the hands of his sadistic wife. The script was by Oniroku Dan, and the film apparently gave the author his first screen credit under his famous pen-name. Though Dan was working for Nikkatsu at the time of Rope and Breasts (1983), Jasper Sharp writes that the only connection between the two films seems to be that they both feature "a lot of rope and a lot of breasts."

A man is kidnapped by his ex-girlfriend on his wedding day and sexually tortured. When his wife finally runs into him after 3 months - the man finds that even though he still loves his wife - he can no longer perform sexually for her as he's been "broken" and turned into his ex-girlfriend's sex-slave. Meanwhile - his fiancé has started an affair with his brother which complicates things further. The man's ex-girlfriend decides to invite the fiancé, her new boyfriend, and that guy's ex-girlfriend over for a "chat" - of course this turns into an orgy of sexual sadism as you would expect from this sort of thing…

Noboru Tanaka returned to direct the third of Nikkatsu's pinku eiga melodramas examining prostitution in various Japanese cities. This one focuses on modern-day Osaka, and although it is still a softcore film, is the most outrageous of the lot. The casting is almost demented, with classical ballerina and staunch feminist Genshu Hanayagi smoking a cigarette with her privates, poet Sakumi Hagiwara blowing up some gangsters by suicidally detonating a gas-filled love doll, and similarly peculiar appearances from notorious druggie Meika Seri and genre icon Junko Miyashita. Highly recommended for pinku eiga aficionados, this one must be seen to be believed.

The music business is a tough nut to crack. Just ask Hajime, a raspy voiced singer/songwriter not short of talent but somewhat anachronistic in his choice of dress. Sporting a shiny bob wig, velvet blazer and heavily ruffled shirt, he's every bit the picture of a GS (group sounds) frontman but several decades too late for that brief trend. His busking draws curious stares and his attempts to get signed to a label are met with indifference. His semi-retreat into a career as a radio DJ seems like a good fit, especially when Miki stops by for an autograph. She's young, cute, and clearly in awe of his musical persona. That night they have sex, and she shocks him into speechlessness by climbing on top and climaxing during the act. Within the minute he's writing a new song, smitten, and by the next scene they're shacking up. Things are ideal until they wake up after a night of passion and Hajime discovers Miki's secret: After sex, she sheds a layer of skin like a snake in one large piece. Like a tissue-thin Miki suit. It's an eye-opener.

A series of short Ishii-esque stories about “bizarre” crimes committed by females in the Meiji, Taisho, and Showa aeras. Love and Crime was released in 1969, the year when Ishii directed no less than eight feature length movies. He made brief visits to Nikkatsu studios in form of the Rising Dragon series (which concluded in 1970 with the Meiko Kaji starring Blind Woman’s Curse) but all of his Toei films fell strictly under the exploitation banner.

A movie from the director of EVIL DEAD TRAP, based on a manga by Dirty Matsumoto. A ballarina diva runs a dance school from a secluded castle hidaway. One day she brings in a young lovely ballarina upstart to show her the ropes.

From director "Gaira" comes another prime chunk of sleaze in this last of his installments (as far as I know) of his Guts of a Virgin films. The first two entries in the series are J-splatter gold. This third one takes a different, less bloodthirsty and more sensual and erotic turn (but still has strong violence) with a number of fetishes highlighted and some NICE over the top sexual depravity.