

Above are three promo posters for the Japanese actioner Onna koroshiya: Mesu inu, which in English was called The Art of Assassination and, interestingly, Hitwoman Bitch. It’s about a woman who works as a restaurant hostess but moonlights as an assassin, and draws an assignment killing a rich businessman but gets entangled in all kinds of complications. The lead is Kyôko Enami, whose amazingly long career lasted from 1960 until 2018, when she died aged seventy-six. These beautiful posters are fitting tributes. The two tateken sized promos look identical at a glance, but upon closer inspection you’ll see that they’re different in several respects. We’ll circle back to Enami a bit later. Onna koroshiya: Mesu inu premiered in Japan today in 1969.