This poster was made to promote a Nikkatsu Studios roman porno flick titled Osoe!, which in Japanese means “attack.” In typical roman porno fashion, the plot is pretty twisted. In brief, Erina Miyai plays a woman who wants revenge on a corporation for its role in the death of her parents. She goes to a disco and deliberately allows herself to be taken home and gangbanged, all for the purpose of later informing the guys who did it she'll accuse them of rape if they don't kidnap the corporation's CEO for her.

We'll say this much for Nikkatsu—their ideas were certainly creative. In this case there's a subtext of turning male power against itself, which is all to the good, but of course things never come off quite how the protagonists intend in roman porno. Which is to say, Miyai's plot goes pear shaped. Osoe! is super obscure in the West but was a successful release and even played a few years ago at the famed Laputa Asagaya revival cinema in Tokyo. Its original premiere was today in 1978. 

Zûmu in: Bôkô danchi, for which you see a poster above, is another Nikkatsu roman porno movie, with a serial killer/rapist on the loose dispatching women in baroque and horrible ways. The star of the movie, Erina Miyai, falls victim to a rapist early on but is not killed. When the murders start she wonders if it's the same man. That question is answered quickly, but mystery is not really the point here. The goal seems to be making a mash-up of Japanese pinku (pink film) and Italian giallo (yellow film).

For example, during one of the killings a woman is pursued past an apartment block, but in filmmaking terms she's running in place, which lends the scene the nightmarish quality characteristic of giallo. All the windows beyond her are illuminated, but as she screams for help the lights go out one by one. As far as mixing filmmaking palettes goes, it's nice work. As far as the message, was director Naosuke Kurosawa also trying to tell viewers Japan was becoming inured to violent crime? Perhaps.

Based on the existence of roman porno Japan was for sure becoming inured to violent movies. Zûmu in: Bôkô danchi is more violent than most, but with its deliberate attempt to transcend—however slightly—the requisites of roman porno, it's also better than most. Does that mean it's actually good? Not as such, but for serious film buffs it's worth a glance and a discussion. It premiered today in 1980. 

Above are two similar but not identical high kicking posters for Document porno: Sukeban, aka Dokyumento poruno: Sukeban, known in English as Porn Document: Sukeban. At some point the original panty shot must have been deemed inappropriate, because as you can see it was covered with black paint. It's like her crotch went into mourning. And we did too, a little, when we saw it. Was the retouch effort supposed to look like tights? We suppose so, but it's a pretty ham-handed effort. We'd love to know if the second poster is an official promo from Purima Kikaku, the studio that made the film, or a one-off from an individual cinema. We'll never know, we're sure. Document porno: Sukeban premiered in Japan today in 1973. It was the prequel to Dokyumento poruno: zoku sukeban, aka Porn Document: Sukeban 2. You can see that poster here. Also, you can see another high kicking Japanese poster here. 

Japanese manga artist Toru Shinohara painted two posters for Meiko Kaji's classic Female Convict series. We shared the first, for Joshuu sasori: Dai-41 zakkyo-bô, aka Female Convict Scorpion: Jailhouse 41, back in 2014. Here's the second, for Joshû sasori: 701-gô urami-bushi, aka Female Prisoner Scorpion: #701's Grudge Song. It premiered in Japan today in 1973. We'll get back to Shinohara a bit later.