This poster was made to promote the Nikkatsu Studios roman porno drama Jerahsî gêmu, which was released in English as Jealousy Game. Basically, it’s about a married couple in their thirties—Reiko Oshida and Yôsuke Natsuki—that angrily split up while sharing a motorcycle on a trip through Hokkaido to Sapporo. After they part, Natsuki picks up a beautiful twenty-something hitchhiker, while Oshida accepts a ride from a twenty-something driver. These twenty-somethings—Hitomi Takahashi and Hiroaki Murakami—are actually another couple that have split while traveling. So essentially, they’ve all swapped.
At first they only discuss their troubled relationships, talking in a way they don’t with their partners, but pretty soon it leads to sex. Hey, you know, the ass is leaner on the other side. The dick is fatter too. Don’t give us that look—the dick size thing actually comes up in the movie. Since the two new pairs are travelling the same route, they naturally run into each other—in a restaurant, on the highway, in a hotel—which presents opportunities for acting on their feelings of rage and resentment. All of what we’ve just described would, on its own, make an interesting enough film, but this is a roman porno, so you know things will go wildly weird at some point.
Jerahsî gêmu is beautifully shot in sparsely populated regions around Hokkaido, which we rarely see in a Japanese movie, most of them being urban, yakuza related dramas. The change of scenery is nice, and we now have a greater appreciation for the unspoiled wilds of Japan. In addition to great visuals, there are a couple of moments that are uproariously funny, especially a bit relating to possible pregnancy. How many times have we laughed during a roman porno—that is, in a good way, not a horrified way? Not many. This is one of the best efforts from the genre, in our opinion. It premiered today in 1982. You can see another poster for it here.
