 Hey, since you're back there, tell me something. Do I look as amazing to you as I do to me?  
We've arrived at what would be month five of the 1972 Reiko Ike Weekly Playboy calendar, but we already used that image a while back, so we're offering a substitute. Above, Reiko climbs atop her vanity to get visual confirmation of her own unusual beauty. We'd spend a lot of time in front of the mirror too, if we were her, but we'd be touching ourselves in every possible way. This shot came from a 1974 issue of Heibon Punch and was accompanied by other interesting photos we'll probably share down the line. We will return to your regularly scheduled calendar next month.
 She doesn't actually have any super powers. But then again she doesn't need them. 
In this image, Japanese action star Reiko Ike, seated before a platter of lemons, oranges, and tomatoes, has just been told tomatoes are really fruits instead of vegetables, and now nothing about the world makes sense anymore. We still struggle with that one too. The photo appeared in the 1972 Weekly Playboy calendar, which we've been documenting each month. In thirty days we'll see if Reiko has gotten past this tomato thing.
 Never mess with anyone who guts fish for fun. 
This cool image features Japanese actress Sanae Ôhori in character as Mari from her 1974 pinky violence flick Sukeban: Tamatsuki asobi, aka Girl Boss: Crazy Ball Game. Ôhori appeared in only four other films, but among them were Seijû gakuen, aka School of the Holy Beast and Onna hissatsu ken, aka Sister Street Fighter, both of which are fun efforts. With a résumé that slight it's unlikely we'll see her again here, but you never know.
 They have appetites big enough for the entire room. 
Above is an interesting production photo made during the filming of Gendai poruno-den: Sentensei inpu, aka Modern Porno Tale: Inherited Sex Mania, aka The Insatiable. It's a wider angle of a promo image we shared back in 2015, and if you were ever curious how many people are on set for a sex scene, in this case there are five visible, aside from the performers, plus at least one more shooting the photo. Probably there are even a few more. Here's some full disclosure for you: when PSGP worked at Playboy he was asked to help out on the set of a softcore movie titled Call Girl Wives. He saw shot two sex scenes shot, and there were at least ten people around for each. Later he was asked by a porn producer if he wanted to perform in an actual xxx film. Long story short: he declined. Just another interesting PSGP aside.
 First comes the sex, then comes the fury. 
The landmark pinky violence flick Sex & Fury premiered today in 1973, so as tribute we have its female co-stars Christina Lindberg and Reiko Ike in a rare promo image, which came from the same session that produced this photo. If you're ever going to appreciate pinky violence cinema, Sex & Fury is a film that would be your gateway. But the genre isn't for everyone. The films are easy to hate, and for legitimate reasons. We have Sex & Fury's iconic promo posters available for viewing at this link, and don't forget—you get to see Reiko in a new image the first day of every month of 2022. The previous two are here and here.
 It was a very, very good year. 
1972 was a leap year on the Gregorian calendar, which meant twenty-nine days of February to ponder Reiko Ike, rather than the usual twenty-eight. Above you see the second page of her Weekly Playboy 1972 calendar (the first is here). We altered it, but not in a way that matters. Originally, the second half of February ran across to an adjacent page, and the first half of March appeared as the bottom of this page. But we wanted to save March until next month so we swapped them. As we said, it's not important, but that's full disclosure for the collectible purists out there. More from Reiko in twenty-nine days.  
 Miki and Reiko rock and rule Osaka in 1973's Sukeban. 
We already shared this rare circular poster for Sukeban, aka Girl Boss Revenge: Sukeban, in a group post years ago, but since it's so rare and interesting we're bringing it back for a solo look, and as you see below we've split it in half to allow you to have your own copy of reasonable size, if you're inclined to put the two pieces together. We might as well comment on the movie too. When we first shared the art for this, we figured why discuss the film in detail when there were already plenty of reviews online? We even linked to one back then. Little did we know that Pulp Intl. would still be going ten years later and would be a top repository for vintage Japanese poster art online. That being the case, we figure we'll tell you about the movie this time.
It stars two of the brightest stars of the Japanese grindhouse era—Miki Sugimoto and Reiko Ike. Miki plays a gang leader who calls herself Kantô Komasa, while Reiko is the girl gang leader of Namairu High School. They meet in a prison van and escape simultaneously, headed different directions but destined to cross paths again. Miki forms a new gang in Osaka called Gypsy Dance, gets into the usual delinquency, and meets a director of dirty movies who she enlists in a revenge plot. But all the fun and games take a nasty turn when she runs afoul of the North Dragon yakuza and they start dishing out pain and suffering. Only with the help of a young North Dragon footsoldier named Tatsuo is Miki able to escape her predicament.
It just so happens that Tatsuo is Reiko's boyfriend. Reiko has been missing since her escape from the prison van, but arrives on the scene just in time to find Miki in bed with her man. That puts Reiko and Miki at odds in the worst way, but Reiko has no idea Tatsuo is working for the North Dragon. She'll find out, though, via a stunning betrayal. We'll end the synopsis there, but add the warning that the North Dragon  are mean as hell and the tortures they administer are hard to watch. But gangsters gonna gangster—if they spent their time at garden parties and poetry readings there'd be a different word for them.
Sukeban, which was directed by Norifumi Suzuki, is a prime example of Toei Company's pinky violence genre—wild, colorful, gritty, and bloody, with moments of humor to leaven the hard tone. Movies of this style influenced many later directors, but apart from Quentin Tarantino and maybe a couple of other mavericks such operatic exploitation is a relic of the past. The film is basically Miki's show, and whether rolling fabulously down a hill in her fur coat and platforms or getting dirty in an alley fight, she delivers a freewheeling performance in a production that isn't for the faint of heart. It's worth watching for its historical value as well as for entertainment, but in either case, hold onto your hat.
As a bonus, below we have some production photos, including a rare image of Miki striking the topless pose used to create the promo poster. We always thought her head looked a little warped on that poster. Turns out it's a defect in the original photograph—someone either shot her off-kilter or introduced the flaw during the developing process, and she stayed that way. We're guessing, but we're pretty sure because normally her head is very symmetrical. As is the rest of her. You'll see what we mean below about the photo. Sukeban premiered in Japan today in 1973. You can see our other write-up on it here.
     
 So far so good. Only 364 days to go. 
Well, here we are in 2022, and karate kicking, sword swinging, yakuza slicing, mushroom cloud laying action movie icon Reiko Ike is here to welcome you to another spin round the sun. We think this image has gotten things off to an excellent start, even if Ike looks sort of like she's made a New Year's resolution to smack anyone who utters an unkind word in her direction. But that's just Reiko being Reiko. The shot is from the magazine Weekly Playboy, for which she starred in an entire 1972 calendar. For the fun of it, every first of the month or so, we'll share a new Ike calendar shot. We say “or so” because we used one a while back, and because she doubled up a couple of months in the calendar, but you get the gist—nine or ten new Ike images are coming. If she doesn't get you looking forward to the new year nothing will.
 Reiko and Miki chew over a very tough problem. 
Reiko Ike (front) and Miki Sugimoto pose together in a rope gnawing b/w promo made for their pinky violence actioner Zenka onna: koroshi-bushi, aka Criminal Woman: Killing Melody, which premiered today in 1973. We found this on Reddit, so thanks to whoever originally uploaded this slightly bizarre item. We have plenty on the movie in our website, including some amazing posters. We recommend clicking its keywords below and scrolling.
 There's hell to pay and the only currency she takes is cold hard ass.  
Above is a rare bo-eikibari style promo for Sukeban burûsu: Mesubachi no gyakushû, known in English as as Girl Boss Blues: Queen Bee Strikes Again, or sometimes Girl Boss Blues: Queen Bee's Counterattack. It premiered in Japan today in 1971. You can see the standard promo at the top of this group post, and you can see the tateken promo here. Basically, Reiko Ike, Miki Sugimoto, Yayoi Watanabe, et al are members of a gang of hot young thieves who extort hapless middle-aged squares by luring them, drugging them, and robbing them. The movie has a little of everything—and lot of Ike, one of the towering figures of Japanese b-movies.
We find it interesting that Sugimoto didn't make it onto the poster (nor the other promos made for the film) while Yayoi Watanabe (prone and restrained) did. Rest assured, Miki is in the film. She gets as much screen time as anyone except Ike, especially in the first forty-five minutes. Mysterious are the minds of pinku poster designers. This isn't the first time they've thrown us a curve by leaving someone important off a promo. Anyway, this movie is well worth a watch for fans of pinky violence. We already showed you a promo image of Reiko Ike yesterday, but what the heck—let's bring her back, below. And Sugimoto too. We can't have one without the other.
 
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The headlines that mattered yesteryear.
1927—First Prints Are Left at Grauman's
Hollywood power couple Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford, who co-founded the movie studio United Artists with Charlie Chaplin and D.W. Griffith, become the first celebrities to leave their impressions in concrete at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood, located along the stretch where the historic Hollywood Walk of Fame would later be established. 1945—Hitler Marries Braun
During the last days of the Third Reich, as Russia's Red Army closes in from the east, Adolf Hitler marries his long-time partner Eva Braun in a Berlin bunker during a brief civil ceremony witnessed by Joseph Goebbels and Martin Bormann. Both Hitler and Braun commit suicide the next day, and their corpses are burned in the Reich Chancellery garden. 1967—Ali Is Stripped of His Title
After refusing induction into the United States Army the day before due to religious reasons, Muhammad Ali is stripped of his heavyweight boxing title. He is found guilty of a felony in refusing to be drafted for service in Vietnam, but he does not serve prison time, and on June 28, 1971, the U.S. Supreme Court reverses his conviction. His stand against the war had made him a hated figure in mainstream America, but in the black community and the rest of the world he had become an icon. 1947—Heyerdahl Embarks on Kon-Tiki
Norwegian ethnographer and adventurer Thor Heyerdahl and his five man crew set out from Peru on a giant balsa wood raft called the Kon-Tiki in order to prove that Peruvian natives could have settled Polynesia. After a 101 day, 4,300 mile (8,000 km) journey, Kon-Tiki smashes into the reef at Raroia in the Tuamotu Islands on August 7, 1947, thus demonstrating that it is possible for a primitive craft to survive a Pacific crossing. 1989—Soviets Acknowledge Chernobyl Accident
After two days of rumors and denials the Soviet Union admits there was an accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine. Reactor number four had suffered a meltdown, sending a plume of radioactive fallout into the atmosphere and over an extensive geographical area. Today the abandoned radioactive area surrounding Chernobyl is rife with local wildlife and has been converted into a wildlife sanctuary, one of the largest in Europe.
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