A LITTLE CONFLICTED

Nagisa and Tani learn that some things aren't meant to be shared.

Above is a poster for the roman porno flick Osanazuma: Zekkyô. We haven’t watched a roman porno since the summer, and there are good reasons for that. They’re not often fun. This one had no Western release, thus no English title. Its official title 幼な妻絶叫!! means in English “young wife screams.” Okey dokey. We watched it and it’s another cookie-cutter entry from Nikkatsu pictures, this time starring Rina Nagisa, who according to legend was discovered in a nightclub and, after an appearance in Semi-dokyumento: Sukeban yôjimbô, eventually installed as the latest hot thing in Japanese sexploitation cinema.

Nagisa plays an eighteen-year-old smalltowner who elopes to the big city with her boyfriend Nagatoshi Sakamoto, but falls on hard times. She and her man both take low wage jobs, and it’s at Nagatoshi’s gas station attendant gig that he’s noticed by none other than Naomi Tani. Burdened by the knowledge that Rina wants to attend night school, he shags Tani in exchange for 50,000 yen to pay for classes. The tryst leads to lingering problems, but meanwhile, on the opposite side of the roman porno plotline, Rina is noticed by a pervy old stranger who clearly believes that desire and consent are two different beasts. We won’t reveal more.

Roman porno movies, which we’ll note again aren’t hardcore but rather the equivalent of envelope pushing r-rated fare, all have the same sexually violent underpinning, and the same unblinkingly voyeuristic approach. In this era, they all read as indictments of male cinematic tastes. In our efforts to understand the genre we’ve learned mainly one thing: there’s a feminist reckoning coming to Japanese society one day, and movies like Osanazuma: Zekkyô will be right at the center of the discussion. It premiered today in 1976.

Japan, Nikkatsu, Osanazuma: Zekkyô, Rina Nagisa, Nagatoshi Sakamoto, Yu Mizuki, Naomi Tani, pinku, roman porno, sexploitation, poster art, cinema, movie review

ABOUT

EMAIL

LEGAL

SEARCH PULP INTERNATIONAL

PULP INTL.
HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

January 24

1961—Plane Carrying Nuclear Bombs Crashes

A B-52 Stratofortress carrying two H-bombs experiences trouble during a refueling operation, and in the midst of an emergency descent breaks up in mid-air over Goldsboro, North Carolina. Five of the six arming devices on one of the bombs somehow activate before it lands via parachute in a wooded region where it is later recovered. The other bomb does not deploy its chute and crashes into muddy ground at 700 mph, disintegrating while driving its radioactive core fifty feet into the earth.

January 23

1912—International Opium Convention Signed

The International Opium Convention is signed at The Hague, Netherlands, and is the first international drug control treaty. The agreement was signed by Germany, the U.S., China, France, the UK, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Persia, Portugal, Russia, and Siam.

January 22

1946—CIA Forerunner Created

U.S. president Harry S. Truman establishes the Central Intelligence Group or CIG, an interim authority that lasts until the Central Intelligence Agency is established in September of 1947.

January 22

1957—George Metesky Is Arrested

The New York City “Mad Bomber,” a man named George P. Metesky, is arrested in Waterbury, Connecticut and charged with planting more than 30 bombs. Metesky was angry about events surrounding a workplace injury suffered years earlier. Of the thirty-three known bombs he planted, twenty-two exploded, injuring fifteen people. He was apprehended based on an early use of offender profiling and because of clues given in letters he wrote to a newspaper. At trial he was found legally insane and committed to a state mental hospital.

January 21

1950—Alger Hiss Is Convicted of Perjury

American lawyer Alger Hiss is convicted of perjury in connection with an investigation by the House unAmerican Activities Committee (HUAC), at which he was questioned about being a Soviet spy. Hiss served forty-four months in prison. Hiss maintained his innocence and fought his perjury conviction until his death in 1996 at age 92.

January 21

1977—Carter Pardons War Fugitives

U.S. President Jimmy Carter pardons nearly all of the country’s Vietnam War draft evaders, many of whom had emigrated to Canada. He had made the pardon pledge during his election campaign, and he fulfilled his promise the day after he took office.