We’ve always called posters of these dimensions “panel-length,” but that’s just our personal lingo—they’re actually “tatekan” posters in the parlance of collectors. This rare tateken for Bankaku Rokku, aka Bankaku Rock, aka Ranking Boss Rock has a washed-out look, but the colors are true. The designers seemed to be shooting for something less garish than the typical Japanese promo (though we love the garish). We couldn’t track down the movie—lot of that going around lately—but we know it’s about a war between two female gangs, the Akabane 100 Club and the Ikebukuro Cavalry, and it focuses mainly on the Akabane 100’s chief badass Yukiko, played by Emiko Yamauchi of Neon Jellyfishfame. Though we didn’t find the film, we did find a bunch of promo shots, which you see below. Bankaku Rokku premiered in Japan today in 1973.
1971—Mariner Orbits Mars
The NASA space probe Mariner 9 becomes the first spacecraft to orbit another planet successfully when it begins circling Mars. Among the images it transmits back to Earth are photos of Olympus Mons, a volcano three times taller than Mount Everest and so wide at its base that, due to curvature of the planet, its peak would be below the horizon to a person standing on its outer slope.