Pulp International - Zubekô+banchô:+yume+wa+yoru+hiraku

Sep 22 2023

Oshida and her friends run riot in the capital.

We're sticking with Japanese posters today. Here's one for the 1970 pinky violence flick Zubekô banchô: yume wa yoru hiraku, aka Tokyo Bad Girls, aka Delinquent Girl Boss: Blossoming Night Dreams. We showed you two other promos for this film, which were the standard and always fun tateken sizes. This is a rare bo-ekibari.

Japan Toei Company Zubekô banchô: yume wa yoru hiraku Tokyo Bad Girls Delinquent Girl Boss: Blossoming Night Dreams Reiko Oshida Keiko Fuji pinky violence pinku poster art cinema

Vintage Pulp

Sep 22 2021

The Zu animals break loose and Tokyo is never the same.

Above is a promo poster for Toei Company's pinky violence hit Zubekô banchô: yume wa yoru hiraku, aka Tokyo Bad Girls, aka Delinquent Girl Boss: Blossoming Night Dreams, which premiered in Japan today in 1970. We already talked about the movie years back and showed you the tateken sized promo poster. Because we had this second piece of art, today we decided to be completist. Reiko Oshida and Keiko Fuji are still the main graphic elements, but some of the other bits have been rearranged. You can see the first piece, and also read about the movie, at this link.

Japan Toei Company Zubekô banchô: yume wa yoru hiraku Tokyo Bad Girls Delinquent Girl Boss: Blossoming Night Dreams Reiko Oshida Keiko Fuji Masumi Tachibana Yukie Kagawa pinky violence pinku poster art cinema

Vintage Pulp

Sep 22 2016

Oshida and Co. may have been to reform school but once a boss always a boss.

First film in what would become the successful Zubekô banchô series, Zubekô banchô: yume wa yoru hiraku, aka Delinquent Girl Boss: Blossoming Night Dreams, aka Tokyo Bad Girls stars Reiko Oshida as a parolee from a reform school who takes a job in a Shinjuku hotspot called Bar Murasaki, but finds walking the straight and narrow a difficult ambition to fulfill. As usual in these pinku films set in and around nightclubs, a criminal syndicate wants to take over, which means she's soon stuck between a resistant owner and an insistent Yakuza. Some girls she knows from reform school have also found spots at the club, and in addition to Yakuza problems, Oshida finds herself drawn into the issues of her friends.

But it's good they're around, these girl delinquents, because when the climactic brawl with the villains happens, Oshida will need loyal friends at her side. On the whole Blossoming Night Dreams is tamer than later entires in the Delinquent Girl Boss series, but considering the sexual violence that began to appear, most would consider that a good thing. Of course, it's always important to remember that these films are counterculture in character, replacing the subservient women of previous eras with badass riot girls who always took violent revenge upon men who wronged them. The formula was both exploitative and pro feminist, with the sexploitation putting rear ends in the seats, whereupon the progressive message was hammered home.

Anyway, moving on to the poster, you may notice that, by a quirk of design, Oshida, star of the film, does not appear to be star of the promo art. The topmost position is given to Keiko Fuji. But a closer look reveals that Oshida gets a full body shot in the center foreground of the art, while Fuji is layered behind. It's still unusual that Fuji is placed where she is, though. While she plays Bar Murasaki's headlining performer, she has far less screen time most of the other castmembers. But she's good in her role, Oshida's excellent, Masumi Tachibana, Yukie Kagawa, and the rest of the troupe are having fun, and everyone deserves credit for making the movie well worth a screening. Zubekô banchô: yume wa yoru hiraku opened today in 1970.