c Despite being Japan’s oldest film studio, Nikkatsu by the late 1960s was struggling: with TV quickly becoming the go-to source of entertainment, ticket sales for films were at an all-time low. In order to compete with TV, Nikkatsu needed something that couldn’t be broadcast, and their attention, like many other studios at the time,

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When looking at the origins of sukeban media, the first representation of the genre came in 1967 with Taro Bonten’s Modern Delinquent Girl Stories manga; with the first proper sukeban film, Girl Boss: Broken Justice, not coming later until 1969. That isn’t to say, however, that vestiges of these themes weren’t explored prior to this.

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To call “Dirty Harry” ground-breaking would be an understatement. In 1972, it completely revolutionised urban crime dramas with its gritty – almost giallo – cinematography, focus on shocking crime and of course Clint Eastwood’s now legendary protagonist. The rulebooks were torn up and decency disregarded as the film focused on the villain Scorpio committing seemingly

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After Purima Kikaku’s success with their three “Document Porno: Sukeban” films they would move onto a new format for their next attempt at the sukeban genre – the “semi-document”. Whereas the document porno films would portray the action as a mockumentary accompanied by a narrator to sell the illusion of reality; “Semi-Document: Sukeban Bodyguard” would

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Sukeban SEX Violence 1973 cover photo

After helping to kickstart sukeban cinema in 1970, Nikkatsu would largely retire from the genre in 1971 after the lacklustre performance of “Bad Girl Mako”, leaving Toei unchallenged in their pinky violence dominance. However, in 1973, a fresh entry would come courtesy of the small studio Purima Kikaku. Purima Kikaku would exclusively make low-budget porn

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Taro Bonten and the Birth of Sukeban Cinema COVER PHOTO

The genre, now referred to as “Pinky Violence”, would absolutely dominate cinema in the early 70’s, which was largely helmed by Toei in their focused attempt to pump out many popular films to quickly and cheaply as possible to meet their quota of two new films every fortnight in order to obtain exclusivity contracts with

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Assault Jack The Ripper

Discs save the day during this pandemic thing, but once it’s over, it’s back to the theatres, right? Cinemas are an integral part of our cultural identity. Nothing can beat the ritual of going to watch a film in a theatre, especially when you’re seeing something people are hesitantly or even reluctantly drawn to, like

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