The Non-Synapse Roman Porno Thread

[tetrapak]

many thanks to both of you...

Yes, like Maito Guy wrote, she had a long career and contrary to some other RP starlets she acted in mainstream films too: in this "area" I hope to watch soon "Dynamite Bang Bang" (Dainamaito Dondon directed by Kihachi Okamoto in 78), a film for which she won a Blue Ribbon award...

[Maito Guy]

I mostly would recommend the same ones Takuma did. I only disagree with him on LOVE MAKES ME WET which I think is great. WET WEEKEND gets a recommendation from me also.

On top of those I would add Kumashiro Tatsumi's MAN & WOMAN BEHIND THE FUSUMA SCREEN: ENDURING SKIN (also known as WORLD OF GEISHA 2) and STREET OF JOY. I actually like both of them more than WORLD OF GEISHA.

I've also seen AFTERNOON AFFAIR: REAR WINDOW which I remember as being not too bad, but wouldn't really give a recommendation for it.

Miyashita Junko was one of the few RP starlets who worked more than just a few years at Nikkatsu before "retiring". She seems to have starred in 71 films over a span of eleven years from 1972 until 1983. So there is still a lot left to discover ^_^

I have all the available entries of the APARTMENT WIFE series in which she appears on my to watch list on DMM, but couldn't yet motivate me to work through them since I still have to find one which doesn't suck or is just boring average.

I'm really looking forward seeing this one with her, which will get a DVD rerelease in October ↓



HOUSEWIFE'S EXPERIENCE REPORT was a trilogy handled by director Takeda Kazunari with Miyashita Junko appearing in all three of them which all got released in 1975. They seem to be quite highly regarded in Japan. That said, I've made the experience that one cannot count much on the reception of RPs in Japan.

[Takuma]

Wet Weekend is not bad, but I was expecting more from it considering it pairs one of my favourite RP directors (Kichitaro Negishi) with one of my favourite actresses (Ako)...

For some reason Geneon released the lesser Negishi films on DVD and stayed away from the best ones...

[tetrapak]

Not my favourite actress, despite having some acting talent. You already mentioned by favourite Miyashita film (Dance) and I'm having a bit of trouble coming up with recommendations...

Hmmm... A Woman Called Sada Abe or Watcher in the Attic? Good films, although I'm not passionate about either one.

Yes I was thinking about one of them, even if I would prefer a film sets in modern times

I rather liked Masaru Konuma's Getting Raped, which is a decent violent thriller with relatively little sex in it. I also recall kinda liking Overly-Ripe Breasts: Married Women, which was kinda fun and hip time waster when I saw it a looong time ago.

Love Makes Me Wet is highly regarded, although I found it just highly over-rated.

Thanks for the suggestions, I am not familiar with any of them ...

She's apparently in a supporting role Secret Chronicle: She-Beast Market. I had forgotten about her in that one. Very good film!

I watched it yet, I agree, great film

I also know she is in a film with Naomi Tani: "Woman's Bedroom: Lusty Competition" (1978)


and I a'm also interested in watching "Wet Weekend" (1979)



Did you watch any of the two ?



EDIT: There should be another film but I don't know anything about...



title seems to be Tí´kyí´ himitsu hotel- Kemono no tawamure (東京秘密ホテル　けものの戯れ) [Nikkatsu - 日活] dir- Atsushi Fujiura starring Junko Miyashita, Naomi Oka 1976

[Takuma]

Not my favourite actress, despite having some acting talent. You already mentioned by favourite Miyashita film (Dance) and I'm having a bit of trouble coming up with recommendations...

Hmmm... A Woman Called Sada Abe or Watcher in the Attic? Good films, although I'm not passionate about either one.

I rather liked Masaru Konuma's Getting Raped, which is a decent violent thriller with relatively little sex in it. I also recall kinda liking Overly-Ripe Breasts: Married Women, which was kinda fun and hip time waster when I saw it a looong time ago.

Love Makes Me Wet is highly regarded, although I found it just highly over-rated.

She's apparently in a supporting role Secret Chronicle: She-Beast Market. I had forgotten about her in that one. Very good film!

Maito Guy?

[tetrapak]

ok I am in the mood for a good Junko Miyashita film...

do you have any recommendation? (except "Woman with Red Hair", "World of Geisha" and "Beauty's Exotic Dance: Torture!")

[Maito Guy]

Blue Lagoon: A Summer Experience (Hitonatsu no taiken aoi sangoshou; Ikeda Toshiharu, 1981) - 2.5/5
Always wanted to see this entry in the A SUMMER EXPERIENCE series directed by Ikeda Thoshiharu whose ANGEL GUTS: RED PORNO is one of my favorite RPs. It features a cute but somewhat annoying Terashima Mayumi alongside an as usual wonderful Kurayoshi Asako and the always sexy Shima Izumi.

BLUE LAGOON: A SUMMER EXPERIENCE is a coming of age story about a young girl played by Terashima Mayumi on her journey to loose her virginity on an Okinawa island on which she also meets Kurayoshi Asako's character who is there to reconquer an old love.

The complete female cast in this one is pretty sexy, which is quite a rarity within Roman Porno in my opinion. It also is super stylishly shot and features some great scenes which sadly don't amount to much as a whole. I also found that the backstory of the main character played by Terashima Mayumi was pretty worthless and felt really tagged one both at the beginning and at the end.















New Apartment Wife: Prostitution in Building #13 (Shin danchiduma baishun gruupu 13 goukan; Nishimura Shogoro, 1975) - 2/5
One of the Nishimura directed titles I was trying to get in before my DMM subscription will end next week. I chose this one mainly because it features Seri Meika. Unfortunately she is in the movie only for a few short scenes.

NEW APARMENT WIFE: PROSTITUION IN BUILDING #13 is pretty basic APARTMENT WIFE stuff. A lonely married woman gets pushed into prostitution and slowly descends down a ladder of sex and violence. In this one she manages to escape at the end.

Overall this is another pretty uninspired entry within the APARTMENT WIFE series. As usual it features a good cinemascope shot here and there and one could argue that there are far worse RPs out there, but in the end there really isn't much positive to find here either.









Indecent Woman: Solace on Black Skin (Waisetsu na onna kuroi hada ni naku; Izumi Seiji, 1985) - 1.5/5
Late Roman Porno by director Izumi Seiji featuring Asou Kaori as a housewife descending into an affair with an afro-american man. The film pretty much delivers on what it promises in the title. Of course the characterization of the afro-american characters is as stereotypical as it can get. Overall just a pretty boring accumulation of sex scenes with a good shot here and there in-between them. Best thing about INDECENT WOMAN: SOLACE ON BLACK SKIN was that it was over in just about an hour. This will get a first time DVD release in Japan in January of 2018.









Flower and Snake: Sketch of Hell (Hana to hebi jigokuhen; Nishimura Shogoro, 1985) - 2.5/5
Second entry in the FLOWER AND SNAKE Roman Porno “series”, directed by Nishimura Shogoro more than ten years after the initial one featuring Tani Naomi started the Dan Oniroku films at Nikkatsu back then. I think Takuma reviewed all entries of the series much earlier in this thread and didn't quite like them if I recall it correctly. I actually really like the first one, but haven't seen it in a long time.

FLOWER AND SNAKE: SKETCH OF HELL tries to enhance the all so common Dan Oniroku SM stuff by adding a Sukeban group into the mix. This kind of works at times, but unfortunately the movie just ends up falling into the usual fallacies so many SM themed RPs do.

Best things about this one was the first scene the Sukeban girls appear, the henchman of the bad Yakuza boss and a quite over the top action-heavy last third. In between you get your usual Dan Oniroku SM games, which seem to just go on forever. The ending definitely elevated this for me from being mostly forgettable.






The guy in the back is the henchman of the yakuza boss and by far the most fun character in the movie despite being pretty one-dimensional. I don't know the actor, but he really seemed having a blast playing this role.

[Maito Guy]

Thank you for the positive reactions guys!

And thanks Takuma for the great piece on Eirin. I remember reading about this a few years ago but already had completely forgot how it actually works within the Japanese film industry!

I also watched FUJUNNA KANKEI this week and really liked it. I'm pretty much on the same page with you on that one. Definitely the best I've seen so far from Nishimura. Only real complaint I have with it is that it gets a bit too much and too over the top towards the end with regards to the sex scenes. That said even some of the in my opinion not so fitting sex scenes really end up being fun and even make sense with regards to the characters and their relationships to each other. I also really loved the soundtrack.

Actually I want to write a little piece about the best Roman Porno soundtracks maybe next week. There are quite a number of great songs featured in the genre in my opinion

Also the scenes set in the bar made me want to go out drinking again in Japan



I have a few new reviews coming again also ↓

[Takuma]

Awesome stuff, thanks!

He also claims that Eirin (Japan's movie regulator) wasn't as harsh on Nikkatsu as it was on the pink film industry so Nikkatsu definitely was pushing the boundaries with regards to sexual content in Japanese cinemas in the early 70ies.

Might be worth pointing out to those who are not familiar with Eirin that Erin is not quite the usual censorship office. It a self-regulatory organ founded by the major Japanese film studios.

There is no governmental censorship office in Japan. If some film is suspected to be against the law, there will be a police investigation and the filmmakers and distributors may be sued. It is the distributor's own responsibility to make sure that they are not breaking any laws. Eirin was founded precisely because of this. Their job is to interpret the law and give advice to the distributors concerning necessary censorship. They also give age ratings. However, Erin's decisions have no juridical power, so passing Eirin's inspection does not mean you're 100% safe.

In the famous Roman Porno law suit where Nikkatsu was accused for obscenity (mainly for Love Hunter, 1972) it was not only the filmmakers who were taken to the court but also the Eirin employees who had passed the film (I think they were accused of "assisting" in the distribution of obscene material...).

It's possible to bypass Eirin entirely, but in that case
a) you'd run into serious distribution problems because almost no one wants to take a risk with such material (see below)
b) you'd better be sure the material won't be deemed obscene or you may find yourself in prison

[tetrapak]

Yes, great post Maito Guy!

[AngelGuts]

Huge thank you, Maito, for making this interview with Nishimura available. I've never read an interview with him before.

Nice stills, too.

[Maito Guy]

Nishimura Shogoro Interview (summarized from Interview With a Romance Film Creators Vol.1 and Vol.2)
The interview begins with Nishimura talking a bit about Japanese film history and the ties of it with Nikkatsu and Roman Porno in general. He mentions that while the number of spectators for the mainstream movies declined throughout the 60ies, films like Takechi Tetsuji's DAYDREAM or Wakamatsu Koji's BLACK SNOW were huge successes.

The steady decline of ticket sales resulted in Nishimura (like a few other directors also) not getting “hired” anymore by the company to direct movies. He himself obviously got a chance again with APARTMENT WIFE: AFFAIR IN THE AFTERNOON. Despite not being really sure wether he wanted to shoot sex films he decided to do so anyway to make ends meet financially (like probably most of the “regular” stuff at Nikkatsu had to do at the time, besides the bigger star actors).

A few interesting and funny things he mentions about this early period within the Roman Porno history:

• Nikkatsu didn't even have an apartment set at the time of APARMENT WIFE: AFFAIR IN THE AFTERNOON, so they had to borrow one from a TV station.
• He was the oldest director to shoot films for the Roman Porno line.
• Due to close ups being a rarity within Japanese pink films of the 60ies they had to teach Shirakawa Kazuko how to put makeup on.

He also claims that Eirin (Japan's movie regulator) wasn't as harsh on Nikkatsu as it was on the pink film industry so Nikkatsu definitely was pushing the boundaries with regards to sexual content in Japanese cinemas in the early 70ies. As a result of this Roman Porno had a kind of revolutionary atmosphere attached to it, which fitted the political climate of the early 70ies perfectly and probably was one of the reasons why it was so successful in its early years. This went as far as actresses like Tanaka Mari getting invitations for university festivals.

While Nishimura at first shot countless entries within the APARTMENT WIFE series he later tended to shoot many SM themed Roman Pornos. He says that he just did whatever the producers were asking him to do. He didn't have any ambitions to make art or even a certain type or genre of movie. While Nishimura certainly could be seen as a kind of leader of Roman Porno due to him directing 84 Roman Porno titles (the highest output of any director under contract at the time of Roman Porno) and also starting the series with his APARTMENT WIFE: AFFAIR IN THE AFTERNOON he says that he doesn't really see himself as such. He was just at the right place at the right time and luckily got an offer to direct APARTMENT WIFE: AFFAIR IN THE AFTERNOON when he was in the need of work again after being excluded from shooting movies for Nikkatsu before.

He then goes on telling that ticket sales were starting to decline for Roman Porno again mid to late 70ies and that the company tried to excite audiences for their program picture line again with harsher content and SM, especially if it was written by Dan Oniroku. Funnily he, like Fuji Katsuhiko does in his interview also, mentions that for him all the Dan Oniroku novels are basically the same, but that he was quite impressed by someone being able to write so much about so little.

He also briefly mentions the popularity of Roman Porno amongst female viewers lately and that he actually proposed woman only screenings to the company during the time of Roman Porno but his idea never got picked up back then. He goes on that though he himself is a “fan” of Roman Porno he thinks that from a female/feminist point of view most Roman Pornos are quite problematic.

Then Nishimura starts complaining about the later Roman Porno years. In the beginning the company hired “real” actresses who actually wanted to do a good job, but later good-looking girls got scouted from the street due to obviously being cheaper. Not only did most of them have no real acting ability, but they also weren't really motivated to shoot sex films and some of them even ended up crying during the shootings.

He finally ends with a statement about the working atmosphere at Nikkatsu, not only during the Roman Porno era but also from earlier years: “All the mainstream film companies in Japan made their own kind of films, but at Nikkatsu staff from all the different companies gathered together. Of course we were shooting action movies at the time, but we weren't really trying to make every little detail perfect. More like Yujiro (Ishihara Yujiro), we were just trying to get work done fast so we could go home earlier. This kind of lightness shines through the movies we made and may be very well the reason Roman Porno titles are still so much fun to watch today.”






Nishimura with staff and actors on the set of FLOWER AND SANKE: SKETCH OF HELL.


On the set of KOICHIRO UNO'S NURSE DORM. The movie is stated as one of the best entries in the KOICHIRO UNO series and a precursor to comedies like THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY in the same book the interview is from. I haven't seen it so sadly can't comment on its quality.

[Maito Guy]

The last two RPs I got in this week. In hope for a better round next week ... :(

Dan Oniroku: Hell of Roses (Dan oniroku bara jigoku; Nishimura Shogoro, 1980) - 2.5/5
Nikkatsu / Dan Oniroku SM business as usual here. A professional photographer and his student discover their interest for kidnapping and tying up young girls while taking loads of photos. Both find themselves on the run after their doings get revealed to the police by a victim of them. Of course they decide to kidnap another girl, well knowing this may be the last time being able to cater to their newly found interests. Their last victim happens to be an old flame of the photographer, played by our main female lead, Mabuki Junko. A world of revenge, jealousy, many ropes and whiplashing begins to unfold from here.

The script is pretty minimalistic but just enough to not lose interest in the movie completely throughout its 70 minutes running time. Competent direction by Nishimura and beautiful lensed this one also features a great title track (shamefully only featured in the opening scene). I would rate this about the same as I'd rate the other SM films by Nishimura I've seen so far (WOMAN WITH PIERCED NIPPLES and DAN ONIROKU: FEMALE TEACHER IN ROPE HELL). Not really great but not that bad either.








This screenshot and the last two below are all from the pretty over the top last scene of the movie, which also happens to be the best part of it. I don't want to spoil too much but it involves a snake, the chopping off of male genitals and our main female lead begging for harder and harder whiplashes before the movie ends.





100 High School Girls: Secret Motel Report (Jokousei hyakunin maruhi mooteru hakusho; Sone Chusei, 1975) - 3/5
Though Takuma wrote in his review for FUJUNNA KANKEI above that one sometimes is able tell a Roman Porno being good from the very first shot is mustn't necessarily end up that way sadly.

100 HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS: SECRET MOTEL REPORT starts out extremely promising with our main character, a female reporter played by Okamoto Rei setting an end to one of her sexual liaisons before continuing on an investigation on a high school prostitution scandal brought to light by the police earlier on in the timeline of the movie. The movie then turns into a more episodic style, as we follow our female lead on her investigations through the use of various flashback scenes.

One can definitely see that this was quite an ambitious project for Sone Chusei. The first third of the movie is beautifully shot in black and white before it abruptly jumps into color at the arrest and interrogation of the first high school student. We then get three shorter episodes and one slightly longer episodes with different schoolgirls which all are somewhat related to each other. The film sometimes feels like a more serious variation on some of the Toei Pinky Violence films.

My main problem with 100 HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS: SECRET MOTEL REPORT was that most of the episodes weren't that interesting. The first one starts strong but all the other ones just feel off and too truncated, even the longer one towards the last third of the movie. This may be very well a result of the constraints of Roman Porno, but I think with a bit of rewriting and maybe laying the focus more on the first episode this could have ended up being a far better Roman Porno entry. That said I have a feeling that this one could also end up growing on me with further viewings.

[Maito Guy]

I have the same problem with D (with his Toei reviews). Sometimes I agree with him, sometimes I disagree with him, sometimes something in the middle, but I can't find any consistency to it. Usually you learn to interpret a reviewer... you learn to understand his/her taste and know what things you're likely to agree/disagree with. But with D, I often can't figure out how he ended up liking one film and disliking another when I thought both were of similar quality...

Yeah, definitely. I think that the work he did with his book is extremely impressive and I very much appreciate it as a kind of encyclopedia, but with the reviews he just seems to be off. I think that the main reason for this may be due to him reviewing non-subtitled films without knowing much Japanese. He argues that most of the movies being quite similar helps him follow the plot, which actually is true, but this could explain some of his ratings.

There's a lot more good stuff in the film than I could describe in a capsule review. I really like the whole beginning where he takes Yamamoto home and tells her to take her clothes off, and she's like "No! You just want sex" and he's like "you're the one who came here". Ok, that may not be award winning characterization but it's still more than most RP films offer in a similar situation.

Usual Roman Porno characterization, where every woman secretly wants to get raped and not a single guy ever declines an offer for sex by a girl

Really looking forward to watch FUJUNNNA KANKEI. Maybe I will be able to get it in tomorrow night ^_^

Soaplands used to be called Turkish Baths, but Turkey eventually complained about it because they didn't want their country's name to be associated with prostitution, so they became soaplands. I think that was around the 80s...

I'm not sure if Nikkatsu changed the titles out of courtesy or because the younger generations might not recognize the old term (would they? I don't know)....

Edit: I just asked my gf and she had no idea what toruko's were. She thought they're something to eat

Sometime in the 80s Japan also deemed exploiting high school girls in sex film titles to be bad, so a lot of 女高生 titles became 女校生 (*) upon their re-release. To my surprise, the new DVD and BD releases use the original 女高生 titles...

Thanks for the info! So probably a mixture of both.

I never actively noticed the change from 女高生 to 女校生, probably because, as you already stated both read the same way, so many thanks for this info also.

Been slacking on the roman porno front lately, but ended up watching one yesterday
the last and most recent subtitled one availible to me, I have a hard time to get to the non-subtitled ones

Female Teacher Rope Hell (1981) 7.0/10
A female teacher gets kidnapped by a co-worker, and forced gets forced to submit to him in his "mancave".

Having seen a few oniroku dan, it's easy to see where it's going to end once it gets going. Somewhat flawed with plenty of dildo action, with some usual oniroku dan traits like an inevitable fire and stockholm syndrome.

Have seen this quite some time ago and probably would rate it slightly lower than you did. Just business as usual Dan Oniroku stuff. If you've seen one of them you've seen (almost) all

On the topic of Shogoro Nishimura, seeing how productive he was, the ones i've really enjoy (in order): Flower & Snake: Sketch of Hell, Snake & Whip and The Woman With Pierced Nipples and id propably rank this one 4th.

Thanks. I have FLOWER & SNAKE: SKETCH OF HELL on my to watch list and am planning to get to it next week.

[ropo1]

Been slacking on the roman porno front lately, but ended up watching one yesterday
the last and most recent subtitled one availible to me, I have a hard time to get to the non-subtitled ones

Female Teacher Rope Hell (1981) 7.0/10

A female teacher gets kidnapped by a co-worker, and forced gets forced to submit to him in his "mancave".

Having seen a few oniroku dan, it's easy to see where it's going to end once it gets going. Somewhat flawed with plenty of dildo action, with some usual oniroku dan traits like an inevitable fire and stockholm syndrome.

On the topic of Shogoro Nishimura, seeing how productive he was, the ones i've really enjoy (in order): Flower & Snake: Sketch of Hell, Snake & Whip and The Woman With Pierced Nipples and id propably rank this one 4th.