We usually watch movies in the order we’re able to acquire them, so as a matter of availability we ended up watching parts one and three in the Rika the Mixed Blood Girl trilogy without having seen the middle entry. Last night we remedied that and screened part two, Konketsuji Rika: Hitoriyuku sasuraitabi, known in English as Rica 2: Lonely Wanderer. You see a rare tateken style poster for the film above—along with a nice zoom—that you won’t find anywhere but on Pulp Intl. We already expounded upon the change in spelling of Rika’s name in the English title a while back. Shorter version: we don’t know why Rica makes more sense than Rika. Probably it doesn’t. Take it up with the honchos at Kindai Eiga Kyokai.
Rika 2/Rica 2 stars Rika Aoki and she’s once again required to right wrongs, as she escapes from the frying pan of reform school and lands in the fire of urban crime and other hazards endemic to pinku cinema. The main plot involves a ship that exploded and sank in Misawa harbor, and a survivor—Rika’s friend Hanako—who’s in a mental hospital as a result. But Hanako is mentally fine. She’s actually hiding in the one place hired killers can’t reach her. Turns out the ship was yakuza owned, and everyone who survived is being hunted down. Rika goes to the police and demands an investigation, but the cops are yakuza owned too. Why must everyone who survived the ship disaster be killed? How high does the conspiracy go?
Rika handles her business with moral outrage and violence, but she also has time for a musical number or two. She’s the Dylan of the Misawa nightclub district. Check out her lyrical stylings:
As with the other films, some of the action in Rika 2/Rica 2 veers into slapstick. Also like the other films, there are racial and political digressions, and they aren’t subtle. For instance, when Rika and a friend are accosted by Americans at one point, the group consists of one cowboy, one hippie, one guy dressed in a suit, etc. Later Rika is told point blank that it’s lucky she’s half white, because being half black like her friend Hanako would make her even more inferior to anyone fully Japanese. These are villains talking to her. The movie’s default setting is anti-racist, which of course is correct and moral, but it’s funny how what’s considered racist evolves over time. Hanako is played by Japanese actress Masami Souda in shoe polish and an afro wig. Oops! For pinku cinema, it’s just another day. But all-in-all, a reasonably fun one. Konketsuji Rika: Hitoriyuku sasuraitabi premiered in Japan today in 1973.
