#Female Yakuza Convict

[thepinkyviolencearchive]

“Female Yakuza Convict” starring Yoko Horikoshi, Tsunehiko Watase and Reiko Ike (1974)

[mudwerks]

promo photo from Suke Yakuza, aka Female Yakuza Convict, aka Female Prisoner Yakuza, which premiered in Japan today in 1974 starring Yoko Horikoshi and Reiko Ike

[shizuokadivision]

“I always tell the truth. Even when I lie.”

Introduction

Sakura Kito, also known as Renegade in rap battles, is a yakuza boss stationed in Shizuoka. Known for mercilessly killing her entire family one night, Sakura took control of the Kito-gumi becoming its leader and turning the group into one of Japan’s most powerful yakuza families. Even now she remains a frightening woman who demands respect, especially in the man’s world known as the Yakuza.

Sakura is a beautiful woman of extremely tall height with a muscular but slim figure and tan skin. She has lower back-length crimson-red hair tied into a ponytail with bangs covering her forehead. She has fierce silver eyes with a ruthless glint to them.

She wears a dark gray business suit jacket, a matching grey suit vest with the top button left undone, dark grey suit pants, a black belt with a gold buckle, and black ankle boots. For accessories, she wears three gold necklaces, multiple gold piercings, a cherry blossom hair pin, and has a dagger-shaped pin on the left side of the suit jacket’s lapel.

Name Meanings

Kito (鬼頭) - Demon Head

Sakura (桜) - Cherry Blossom

Aliases

Boss - Her Subordinates

Saki-chan - Shinji

“The Godmother”

Biographical Info

Gender - Female

Age - 28

Birthday - May 31st

Ethnicity - Japanese 

Hair Color - Crimson

Eye Color - Silver

Height - 195cm / 6’5

Weight - 195lbs / 88kg

Star Sign - Gemini 

Piercings - Lobes, Helix, Industrial, Snug, Orbital, Conch

Markings - Scars across her back, upper arms, and legs

Family 

Mother (Deceased)

Father (Deceased) 

Stepmother (Deceased)

Adoptive Father

Older Half-Brother (Deceased)

Voiced By - Lee Young Ji (Rapping)

Fun Facts

MC Name - Renegade 

Occupation - Yakuza Boss

Division - Shizuoka

Team - Silent Tragedy 

Position - 3rd Member

Favorite Food - Inarizushi

Least Favorite Food - Tomatoes 

Likes - Drinking, Working, Target Practice, Smoking

Dislikes - Mentions of her family, Disrespect, People reminding her of her illegitimacy, People underestimating her, Traitors

Hypnosis Microphone

Sakura’s Microphone takes the form of a black microphone and stand with a golden eastern dragon wrapped around the stand. The dragon's head is turned facing the opponent snarling at them. 

Her Speaker takes the shape of two dark red hannya masks with a speaker in the middle of their mouths. Cherry blossom petals float around her as well.

Her rap ability, Vengeance, allows her to come back from an attack that would otherwise knock her out and lets her hit back with a devastating attack. It can only be used once per battle. 

Sakura’s rap centers around her lifestyle as a yakuza boss. How she runs her city’s underworld with an iron fist and how she’ll threaten anyone who dares to cause trouble in her territory. She raps about her skills with a gun and how she never misses a shot. She also makes reference to her childhood under her abusive family and how she brutally murdered them.

Personality

Sakura displays a rather cold and stern personality and is shown to be a pragmatic, opportunistic, and professional businesswoman. She is a cunning and ruthless woman, having built her convictions from her past and doing anything to achieve her goals. Although she has shown herself to be rather cynical on occasion, she is a good leader to her men and makes sure they are doing alright. Sakura is well known to be very loyal and generous to her friends and allies but will always get vengeance if betrayed.

Sakura is also downright ruthless, not surprising, given her position as the head of a yakuza family. She is willing to go to whatever means to get what she wants, showing no mercy to enemies. Having survived the brutality of her family’s abuse, Sakura decided to never again be put down. Although she can be cold with those who have offended her, Sakura tries her best to never lose her temper, knowing it can be her downfall.

In private or with the people she’s closest with, Sakura visibly relaxes and takes off her mask of a ruthless yakuza boss. She shows her softer side and smiles a bit more. With Kanon and Reika, she is surprisingly nurturing, making sure that they are alright even if they make her feel quite frazzled. 

Background

In a separate post coming soon. 

Trivia

Sakura gives Kanon traitors and enemies as gifts to experiment on.

Sakura is a master markswoman and is able to hit a target 2,000 yards away with her pistol.

She has a good chunk of the Shizuoka Police Department on her payroll. 

[moralsrot]

official  name  :  rosalía  magdalene  dolores  kalili  ( née  hernández ) meaning  of  name  :  of  latin  origin  meaning  rose ;  of  latin  origin  meaning  sorrows . nicknames  :  rosa  for  close  friends  and  family. date  of  birth  :  june  sixteenth  . age  :  fifty  two  .   birthplace  :  municipality  of  alcobendas,  spain  . hometown  :  soho,  new  york  city .   nationality  :  american -  japanese citizenship  .   gender  : cis  female  .   pronouns  : she/her  .   orientation  : openly  fluid,  unlabelled  .   religion  : raised  roman  catholic,  not  practising  but  still  holds  some  beliefs  .   languages  : spanish  ( first  language ) , japanese , french , mandarin  and  teaching  herself  russian  ( has  picked  up  some  sayings  from  a  mostly  russian  mother’s  group  she  used  to  attend,  but  doesn’t  quite  understand  the  meaning  of  them )

inspired  by  :   wanda  maximoff  ( marvel ),  mrs  smith ( mr  &  mrs  smith ),  shiv  roy ( succession ),  the  countess  ( ahs ), back  to  black ( amy  winehouse  album )  . mbti  :  entp  . main  vice  :  envy  . main  virtue  :  charity  .

family  :       sofia  hernández  (  mother,  housewife,  deceased  )       javier  hernández  (  father,  ‘‘businessman’’,  deceased  )           older  brothers  (  three,  siblings,  unknown  )

crimes  :  none  that  she’s  been  convicted  for,  she’s  a  saint  !   mental  health  :  ptsd  and  grief,  however  she’s  currently  in  therapy  to  process. physical  health  :  healthy  and  often  goes  to  the  gym. height  :  five  foot , six  inches  . scarring  :   a  small  scar  on  her  right  collarbone  she  got  as  a  child  . noticeable  features  : perfectly  manicured  nails,  rouge  lined  lips  +  a  small  heart  outline  tattoo  on  left  outer  wrist  and  her  irezumi  (  to  be  decided  )  on  outer  right  thigh.

01.  there  are  no  good  people  in  this  world.  mama  reminds  you  every  morning  as  you  help  with  the  chores,  carry  the  washing  load  back  inside  while  your  brothers  follow  papa  down  the  driveway  into  town.  a  fabricated  nuclear  family;  observant  eyes  watch  men  enter  and  leave  your  home  during  late  afternoons.  family  friends,  papa  explains,  but  you  know  better.  pack  your  things  and  leave  at  eighteen,  you  aren’t  named  after  a  saint  for  no  reason.

02.  new  york  is  a  jungle  of  opportunities,  adrenaline  rushes  through  your  veins  as  you  step  down  on  the  tarmac.  the  nineties  are  just  arriving  and  so  do  you,  a  chance  to  transform  into  the  woman  you  want  to  be.  immediately  head  off  to  columbia  and  begin  a  degree  in  law   ⸻  there  may  be  no  good  people,  but  you  plan  to  prove  otherwise.  it’s  at  one  of  columbia’s  student  parties  where  you  meet  your  future  first  husband.

03.  you  value  honesty  above  anything  else,  blurt  it  out  with  wine  stained  blush.  your  heart  swells  when  he  agrees.  an  aspiring  boxer  and  upcoming  lawyer,  married  at  the  courthouse  at  twenty.  wedding  dress  exactly  like  the  telenovelas  that  imprint  on  childhood.  you  both  move  into  a  cheap  apartment  in  flushing,  it’s  not  much  but  already  imagination  spirals  into  what  could  be.

04.  he  never  specifies  what  kind  of  boxer  he  is.  coming  home  late  at  night,  rarely  allowing  you  to  see  his  fights  (  don’t  you  want  your  biggest  fan  there  ?  you  ask,  i’d  rather  keep  life  and  work  separate,  keep  you  safe.  )  but  you  know  better,  instinct  tells  you.  the  ring  he  boxes  at  owned  by  the  likes  of  the  yakuza  ⸻  their  prized  fighter  who  helped  manipulate  the  game  in  their  favour.  

05.  one  final  game,  he  promises,  and  he  wants  you  to  wait  by  the  back  alley  for  him.  you  agree,  standing  by  the  back  door  freezing  even  with  his  leather  jacket  on.   the  door  slams  open,  a  bloody  hand  takes  you  by  the  wrist  as  he  tells  you  to  run.  questions  left  unanswered,  a  duffel  bag  full  of  money  in  his  other  hand  with  the  name  stitched  on  the  side.  suddenly  you  stop,  the  sound  of  a  loud  bang  ringing  in  your  ears  as  his  weight  pulls  you  down  to  the  ground.  three  years,  gone  in  a  shot.  

06.  life  now  begins  as  a  widow,  condolences  from  the  yakuza  as  she  promises  to  see  them  again.  return  each  night  furious  as  loneliness  greets  you  at  the  door.  learn  and  study  the  name  kristiansen,  grief  is  nothing  but  fuel  for  the  wrath  that  bites  at  you.  learn  to  discover  that  your  first  husband  had  an  offer  from  the  kristiansen,  fall  during  the  match  and  be  paid  enough  to  take  the  both  of  you  to  the  height  of  luxury.  he  took  it,  stealing  the  money  and  keeping  his  loyalty  to  the  yakuza.  always  ambitious,  yet  never  the  one  to  think  far  ahead.  st  beg  every  night  for  a  chance  to  come  by,  any  opportunity  to  avenge  your  husband.  the  universe  listens,  in  the  figure  of  kellan  kalili.

07.  how  quickly  you  two  understand  each  other;  feel  the  same  purpose  as  one  another.  it’s  your  idea  to  move  to  tokyo,  uphold  the  promise  to  the  yakuza  you  made  at  twenty  three.  the  fire  never  leaves  your  eyes,  but  suddenly  hope  glistens  instead.  start  building  the  family  you  always  wanted  for  yourself  ⸻  live  a  life  as  a  criminal  defence  lawyer,  while  keeping  loyalty  to  both  your  family  and  the  mafia.  time  flies  quicker  than  you’d  imagine  as  you  find  yourself  back  in  new  york.

08.  there  are  no  good  people  in  the  world,  that’s  for  sure.  but  you  discover  there  isn’t  entirely  bad  people  either.  new  york  comes  in  vibrant  shades  of  grey,  with  the  pops  of  kristiansen  red  sink  to  the  gutters.  you’re  a  mother,  one  hell  of  a  lawyer  and  associate  to  the  mafia.  unexpected,  but  you  couldn’t  be  more  content. 

[dragonrajafanfiction]

Crane Team: The Self-Condemning Heart

On the hilltop outside Osaka that was accessible by a single country road, the scars of a massive fire were still observable thanks to the black marks on trees. As you climbed the hill, some of the trees were completely burnt, their charred trunks marring surrounding picturesque greenery. But as the caravan of black cars rolled up and crested the ridge, those black burnt trees gave way to an arbor of beautiful wisteria vines. They were not in bloom and the plants were still young, but in about 10 years, the entry would be a snowy curtain of white blossoms. Such was the goal of the Bliss Hall Memorial Garden. It was the former site of the Devil Clan headquarters and also the site of their most crushing defeat. It was the place where the Devil Clan figurehead Kogure “Ryoma” Sakurai had died. It was now a place of cherry, apple and plum trees, hills of begonia and sculpted arborvitae. The ugliness of the past would be completely outshined by the beauty of the present, while paying homage to it. After all, white was the color of mourning.

The caravan came to a stop at the grand torii gate and a group of men and women in black suits and sunglasses stepped out and stood in a single file line, backs straight, hands behind their backs. Each one was outfitted with a pistol, those authorized to be security personal always carried them, a baton and a dagger. They were all senior well trained members of teh Executive board of Hydra. A young Hydra department woman in a straight black skirt and black heels stood before them and looked down at her clipboard. “All the names I read, please step forward.”

One by one, the names were read and the security personnel stepped forward. Once she’d reached about half the group. She said, “Follow me to your security assignments. The rest of you please stand by.” 

She walked away leaving the rest of the group in slight confusion. But they stood and waited obediently. Once the first group was out of sight, Crow stepped forward from where he had been waiting behind his red vintage car. “Unfortunately you won’t be working this event.” Crow broke the news bluntly, staring them all in the face. “I don’t have to explain why. I’m sure you know the answer to that.”

No one moved or spoke. Crow puffed on a cigarette and then tossed it on the ground, stomping it with his alligator leather shoe. He stared at it for a moment. “I’m sure this is going to upset some of you. But direct your complaints to the High Matriarch if you dare.” He said slowly.

The High Matriarch Nanami Sakurai was a patient woman but she was also one who brooked no arguments once decisions were made on staffing. When a Hydra contractor decided not to do any work in Devil Clan territories, he found himself hung over a pier by his feet. By the time he was rescued, his business was bankrupted, bought out, and sold and the man was convicted of extortion once his under the table dealings were discreetly delivered to the police. Crow waited to see if anyone was foolish enough to break the silence. All the people standing before him were those he’d investigated himself. They all put up a front of agreeing with reunification, asking to be put on security detail for the event. But an investigation by Kaguya found that they were all members of the Sons of Amaterasu. No one spoke up in their own defense, something Crow found surprising and a little frightening.

They would probably try again.They didn’t care if he knew who they were.

“Since there are no objections, then there’s a van here to take you to Osaka City. Enjoy your time there. From here to the city is about an hour. The roads are surveilled. By the time you get back here, everyone will know that you tried to get back. And you will be subjected to severe consequences. This is your only warning.” It was part of the plan to make sure the inauguration of the Bliss Hall Memorial garden took place without violence or retribution. It was an important step in the reunification of the two clans torn apart by war. It was bold and reckless given the fact that so many of the remnants of the Devil Clan were present here. It made it a valuable target. 

Crow watched the rejected Hydra cadres climb into the van without fuss and continued to watch as the van drove away. He half expected it to explode into flames and the sons of Amaterasu to come out, guns blazing. He only breathed a sigh of relief after the van was out of sight. But then he picked up his cell phone and made a call. “They’re on the move.”

“Thank you. I’m monitoring the van.” Said a cold female voice before the line cut.

Crow looked at his phone, impressed. The Hydra detail they’d hired was redundant. The real security lay behind the scenes, hidden and faceless. Crow was only allowed a brief peek at the proceedings. Mrs. Yoko had her own outside team assisting her. Working between Devil Clan and Hydra and Cassell was quite a feat given the conflicts between all three organizations and yet she managed to work with all of them. That female voice could be with any one of them.

He walked through under the Torii gate and into the garden proper. All around, people were dressed in fine Kimonos and carrying umbrellas over their heads as they strolled along the banks of the restored creek. The building was not salvageable but the reclaimed materials served as pavers. The bridge spanned over the creek and led to the central memorial on the original foundation. There, groups of people gathered around a very large central statue.

 They were all Hybrids. Some from all the different clans. However, if you didn’t know someone personally, you had no idea which gang they were from. This choice was intentional. The Kimonos were the required dress, meant to show that there was no line drawn between the two Yakuza organizations any longer. It was only the Japan Branch. They all laid down bouquets of flowers and bowed deeply and solemnly.

The central statue was composed of about a dozen people releasing paper lanterns. Even though certain features of their faces were altered to protect identity, he could recognize them. There was Chance, sitting on the podium, one foot dangling, one foot resting, eyes turned upward in a hopeful, wistful expression. There was Kogure Sakurai who stretched her hands up towards a flying lantern and next to her was Sakura Yabuki, helping her keep her balance with a hand behind her back.

How she’d managed to capture Sakura’s likeness so well was amazing given they’d only met briefly. Crow felt a lump growing in his throat and he lowered his eyes. She’d died defending the young chief the way she’d always defended him. According to Nanami, she’d smiled as she left the world. He would always regret not being there, not being able to do anything. The faces of Devil Clan members he’d made suffer under order flashed before his eyes and he felt a fire burn against his heart.

“Hey.” A soft recognizable voice came from beside him.

“You didn’t tell me she was gonna be on the statue.” Crow grumbled, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Sakura?” Yoko Uesugi was the one who had stood beside him and she took a deep breath and sighed. “We weren’t together in our fight, but we made an impact on one another. We had one good heart to heart, and that was enough to come to an understanding of where we stood on things. I think if we had gotten the chance, we would have been good friends.” 

Yoko held up a small bouquet. “Want to go together?”

Crow lifted his gaze to the statue. He was sorry. For what he’d done under Tachibana, for not being there for the young Chief, Yasha and Sakura. But there was no point in getting worked up about it. There was nothing anyone could do but move on. The sunlight danced in his eyes as they started to swim and he looked away. “I have no right to.” 

He turned on his heel and walked quickly back the way he came.

[thebeauregardbros]

Can you tell me about Yakuza 0? I've never played it before and would like to read your thoughts on it.

YOOOOOOOOOOO LES FUKIN GO (thank u!!)

This review is spoiler-free!

Despite what you might assume a game about a bunch of tough muscley fighting dudes, the amount of moral philosophy in this game could rival a 3-part episode of Star Trek: TNG in terms of surprisingly deep and emotional thought. The struggles the protagonists go through has a huge emphasis on honor, keeping your word, taking responsibility for your actions, standing up to things you think are wrong and persevering no matter how much pain, suffering and threat you personally go through all in the name of trying to be a good person, and emphasizing that the mental fortitude to stand for your convictions is the true strength, not just brawn. Character development is absolutely fantastic and I feel like it’s impossible not to fall for these main characters by the end of the game, no matter how weird or even pigheaded they might seem to you at first.

(Trust me, moral philosophy is probably my biggest autistic hyper-fixation. They did this shit GOOD.)

Another major reason I really love Yakuza 0 is that it takes an unusual setting to the normal person - the incredibly political, dark, yet surprisingly realistic setting of organized bullies, criminals, and the uneducated brawn and bad-attitude baddies of the world and try to show them as worthy of more as humans like you and me than just trash that should not be seen or touched. The amount of humanitarian outlook on these people and the humanitarianism of our protagonists is absolutely heartwrenching and beautiful. Despite appearances, anyone can be a good person - this seems to be a major message in this story which I just find absolutely beautiful.

The yakuza definitely have different rules to their world, and that is one that’s built on violence over paperwork, especially when it comes to showing eachother the extent of their passion about something. I feel like it’s an excellent way of portraying the difficulties any normal person goes through with their mental health while struggling to do the right thing in a very direct and relatably painful way that anyone can understand.

The story deals with not only the importance of preserving life and protecting it with surprisingly pacifist ideologies, but the aesthetics in align with the idea that no matter how dark the world or your life feels, happiness is always an option.

Why you might love Yakuza 0 even if the plot doesn’t sound that interesting to you:

Tons of minigames - I think about 28~30 total. That includes 4 actual vintage SEGA arcade games! There’s also tons of gambling games like black jack and shogi, fishing, rhythm games, bowling, fighting tournaments, pool, darts, stock car racing, doll dressup.. It’s very hard not to find at least one you’ll like!

Tourism. Yakuza 0 has such an incredible amount of visual detail to every nook and cranny of every corner and unseen alleyway in the town maps that it feels just absolutely insane to me. The devs didn’t need to put in all this detail but they did. I could legit spend hours in first person mode just looking at everything. On top of that, every restaurant in town has a detailed menu describing each item despite the fact that all food items are just generic healing items. I think there’s even a bar where the bartender will go on a spiel talking about certain drinks after you order them. The atmosphere really makes you feel like you’re truly taking a vacation in another place. Great for when you’re longing to see new scenery while being stuck at home all the time during COVID.

The amount of optional side quests is absolutely insane. According to a wiki there’s a total of 100 side quests in all. If you’re a fan of JRPGs or a fan of completionism, completing them all gives you a ton of extra content and side-stories that can sometimes be just as gutwrenchingly wholesome or tragic as the main plot, or otherwise be great comic relief.

Speaking of comic relief, this game is notorious for it. The main plot can be incredibly serious and stressful and the devs know that can really wear down on the mental state of the player after awhile, so seeing Kiryu dance at a disco in the most lame awkward embarassing dad way possible, or see him pick up a phone in the most ridiculously over-dramatic way for no reason, or see Goro sing lovey-dovey pop songs is just something that will absolutely kill you with laughter and joy and give you a refreshed break you need to help you be able to keep continuing on.

Big fan of seiyuu (Japanese voice actors)? The karaoke bar lets you hear your protagonists’ gorgeous singing voice. You can even invite some side characters and hear their voices too!

NOW THE FAIR CRITICISMS:

Despite the plot having a huge emphasis on how important the morality is of not killing, fighting animations are often totally lethal. Goro canonically fights with a knife and a bat by the end of the game. Both characters can use guns, swords, poisoned knives, baseball bats and other lethal items as a weapon. One of Goro’s main fighting animations is snapping a dude’s neck. Kiryu threw a dude out of a high window. Kiryu shoots at dudes with a gun in a high speed chase at some point and none of these instances are ever addressed in canon plot as having blood on the hands of these characters - no matter what, the people hurt by these things seem to be able to stand up fine later on like nothing happened. Even the main characters can get shot by an actual gun 20 times in a row and shrug it off by shoving convenience store food down their throat. It’s super dumb but absolutely hilarious in it’s unaddressed B-Movie esque hypocritical nature and became a huge in-joke with the fandom. Despite these Goofy Video Game Logic instances, the main plot (specifically the cutscenes) are all extremely realistic and well done. Actual members of real-world Yakuza say the story is pretty accurate to reality.

One of the minor characters is obviously a trans woman but is misgendered constantly by other characters, including the protagonist (though this may be a translation problem), and is the only female character in the game you can fight and have to fight in order to unlock Kiryu’s endgame fighting style (though he remarks he only fights her because she looks like she can handle herself in a fight). She does end up joining up with you as an ally afterwards without changing anything about herself so that’s a positive, I guess? SEGA is aware of fans’ dislike for transphobia and have removed a lot of transphobic content from their re-releases of future Yakuza games, as well as shown the protagonist, Kiryu, as a huge LGBTQ+ ally.

-----------------

Things you might like or otherwise want to check out relating to the same story style of Yakuza 0 I personally highly recommend:

Kyou Kara Ore Wa!! (aka, "From Today, It's My Turn!!"): Absolutely hilarious gag comedy with surprisingly heartwrenching drama and incredibly lovable in-depth characters. It’s about highschool delinquents in the late 1980s (same era Yakuza 0 takes place!). The two main characters remind me a lot of the protagonists of Yakuza 0 in that one is very straight-laced and honorable while the other is more prone to dirty tricks but still does the right thing in the end. I personally recommend reading the manga above all because adaptations cut out a lot of details that I feel add a lot of depth to the characters, but the OVA anime is pretty good on it’s own and there’s a hilarious live action TV show adaptation if you like slapstick.

Rookies: A story about an impossibly determined formerly disgraced highschool teacher doing absolutely everything he can to be the best teacher he can be. Part of his journey is helping reform a group of delinquents who have self-sabotaged themselves into having their baseball team - the one thing they cared about - disbanded. The delinquents constantly fight the teacher off, believing him to just be another adult putting on airs instead of truly caring, while the teacher perseveres no matter what to prove them wrong. A manga and live action drama - both extremely good.

[anhed-nia]

BLOGTOBER 10/23/2019: FEMALE PRISONER SCORPION - BEAST STABLE

I’m not sure that I made the right choice by including this film in my blogtober program. A fugitive thriller with women’s prison and yakuza elements, BEAST STABLE doesn’t seem very horrific on its face. However, this third installation in the Female Prisoner Scorpion series (and the last by visionary director Shunya Ito) is also the most visceral and intimate. Its relative lack of action movie bravado shifts the focus from matters of the spirit to those of the body, the appalling details of which made me ask myself whether I didn’t consider this a horror movie after all. My conclusions are not very firm, but the debate is worth having.

During notorious convict Sasori (”Scorpion”)/Nami Matsushida’s latest escape, she runs afoul of the relentless Detective Kondo (Mikio Narita) on the subway, who no sooner cuffs her than loses his arm to her blade. This produces some of my favorite images from the whole hallucinatory series, with Matsu racing through the streets with the severed limb flailing behind her to the unforgettable sounds of star Meiko Kaji’s theme song “Urami Bushi”. In her flight to a shanty town on the outskirts of the city, she meets a young prostitute named Yuki (Yayoi Watanabe) in a most outrageous fashion. Yuki lies on her back in a cemetery, clutching bills from the john who left her there, and gazing vacantly at the stars. When a strange sound draws her attention, she finds herself locking eyes with the feral Matsu, who crouches behind a tombstone with the severed arm in her mouth, scraping away at the handcuff chain. The strange gothic horror of this scene only scratches the surface of how weird BEAST STABLE will become.

Yuki is an especially desperate character whose pitiful lot justifies the trouble that she makes for Matsu. A poor prostitute who is virtually enslaved to her brain damaged brother, she must keep his base instincts in check only by submitting to his every sexual whim. When Yuki chases after Matsu, begging to be freed from this nightmare, she unwittingly attracts the attention of the local mob, including a female pimp with a penchant for back alley abortions. The crow-obsessed crook Katsu, who might as well be a Batman villain (played by Reisen Ri, who has powerful Karen Black vibes) hatches a plot to take out Matsu, but this falls apart when Matsu starts slashing her way through the gang’s ranks. Rather than confront her, Katsu foolishly opts for the safety of prison--Matsu’s home turf, where she is able to exact a diabolical revenge that belongs more in a giallo than a standard issue women’s prison movie. 

BEAST STABLE is often as beautiful as either of its two predecessors, which are generally considered to be superior; the dreamy rain of fire produced when Yuki searches for Matsu by dropping matches into the sewer is not to be missed. Admittedly the other films have a more ethereal, allegorical quality, but BEAST STABLE holds its own in terms of being potently disturbing. Where we previously found female criminality presented in a sort of heroic light, aimed at the dissolution of the corrupt prison system and the punishment of hypocrites, here women are metaphorically imprisoned in maddeningly hopeless situations. Yuki is unable to emotionally separate herself from her rapist brother, as she is carrying his baby to term--even after being raped with a golf club by Katsu for intruding on the pimp’s territory. When one of Katsu’s colleagues sets his sights on Matsu, the thug’s distraught girlfriend kills him by virtually boiling him alive. Trapped in Katsu’s bird cage, Matsu escapes by retrieving a scalpel from the cold grip of a prostitute who died as a result of a horrifying abortion. Nowhere are the courageous, castrating antiheroes of FEMALE PRISONER 701: SCORPION or JAILHOUSE 4. In BEAST STABLE, we have only Matsu grimly following a trail of victims to the film’s hard won conclusion.

I am left trying to figure out if I can create a reasonable distinction between horror and pure exploitation, at least in this case. My first clue lies in the film’s profound sadness, which first appears in the image of the recently befouled Yuki, lying fully clothed in a cemetery like a discarded corpse. Apparently, I think that despair is an important element in horror. It would be pretty difficult for anyone other than the most serious degenerates to get it up for this movie, with its relentless agonies and heavy focus on abortion. There is no token lesbianism or nude calisthenics to brighten the mood now and again, and at that, the violence is rarely political. In the former films, Matsu and her defacto acolytes rage against authorities who would break their spirits, but in BEAST STABLE the violence is personal and intimate rather than institutional, and few characters are afforded a majestic martyrdom as a way out. SCORPION and JAILHOUSE 41 pit the anonymizing degradation of jail against the glories of anarchy and vengeance, but BEAST STABLE reaffirms that not much good awaits women beyond prison bars.

This line of thinking leads me to indulge in a personal note. I was introduced to this series while still in college, by a person who I would later categorize as a total abuser. Though he was highly intelligent and charismatic in an offbeat way, he dated exclusively much younger women--a sure sign of someone avoiding the sound judgment of his peers--and there was some evidence of his having that iffy white guy preference for asian girls. He lured in women who were too young or inexperienced to know better by flaunting his inner sensitivity and trauma, and then once he had someone (or more than one person) on the hook, he rewarded her by being relentlessly dishonest and unfaithful, as if to teach her a lesson for sympathizing with him. To my knowledge, he had not been a women’s studies major in his school days, but he might as well have been, as most of his film discussion came through a feminist filter. He analyzed sleazy genre fare to within an inch of its life, and seemed to delight in making remarks like that the infamous borderline pornographic slasher movie THE TOOLBOX MURDERS “is dangerous and should not be seen.” This all might sound like the typical calculation of a basic predator, but having been his unfortunate friend for several years, I truly believe that he believed his own bullshit. His manic depressive behavior belied little self-reflection, and he would sometimes make tearful statements that bordered on magical thinking, about how “something” unnameable about him drove women insane. He seemed genuinely affronted by his long suffering girlfriend’s suggestion that he might be a misogynist, even though he admitted to hitting her during at least one argument. (A fact that he naturally presented as something that should make me feel sorry for him, in his epic turmoil) He showed no awareness of how suspicious it might be to some people, that he voraciously took in any movie starring teenage girls or childlike women; even though I held his opinion in the highest regard for years, I had to learn to start ignoring him when he recommended these movies, because whether he was right about their actual quality was a complete crap shoot. 

The point that I’m coming to is that he was absolutely obsessed with the character of Sasori. He believed that the JAILHOUSE 41 was one of, if not The greatest movie of all time, and both his email address and user image related to her. The FEMALE PRISONER SCORPION series represented the pinnacle of his absolute favorite thing, which was raped virgins returning for revenge. Back when I knew him, I took this to be plain old good taste; today, I associate it obliquely with an attitude I sense a lot on the political right. Without giving this remotely the space that it would take more me to fully prove my point, I’ll just say that part of what motivates conservatives and bigots is the profound, primal, unconscious fear that those they have repressed will come back to avenge themselves. There’s a subaural signal in right wing rhetoric that I always hear beyond their empty circuitous logic, that simply says “We’ve done a lot of bad things to you, and by virtue of that, now we have reason to fear that you will do those same things to us, given the slightest chance.” Since that time, I have become acquainted with more men like this than I would have preferred to. Not the scheming women’s studies serial rapists, but  the sulking intellectuals whose unshakable belief in their own nobility--their certainty that they are too smart to be bigots--prevents them from fully acknowledging their abusive, misogynist, and frankly sometimes pedophilic attitudes toward women. These guys vocally obsess over the likes of Lydia Lunch and Kim Gordon and Sasha Grey and Asia Argento et al, and boast about their literacy in matters of gender and sexuality, only to routinely accumulate the most submissive and virginal partners they can find, and blame these girls for all of their personal problems for as long as they stick around. The FEMALE CONVICT SCORPION movies are great, both in terms of formal artistry and metaphor for the female experience. I would love to believe in the specialness of men who relate so openly to characters like Matsu, but because of my majority experience, I’m afraid I tend to find them all guilty until proven innocent.

[mexcine]

Trials of an Okinawan Village (1971) review: This film is known under several English titles: perhaps most prevalent is Trials of an Okinawan Village, but this doesn't seem to be a literal translation of Nippon Jokyȏ-den: Gekitȏ Himeyuri-misaki (note: the Nippon Jokyȏ-den part of the title refers to the series "Tales of Chivalrous Women"), so perhaps Battle at Cape Himeyuri is more accurate.  There's not much information available in English (the most complete I’ve found is http://www.weirdwildrealm.com/f-trials-okinawa-village.html) and my Japanese language skills are nonexistent, so I guess we'll never know. 

One odd and mildly annoying aspect of the film is its indefinite chronological setting.  Although the United States ended its occupation of the main islands of Japan early in the 1950s, it didn't turn over control of Okinawa until 1971 (possibly an inspiration for this film's production).  However, the film's script strongly indicates the story is taking place within no more than a decade after the end of World War Two: Junko Fuji and Bunta Sugawara are shown in wartime flashbacks and do not look that much different in the contemporary scenes.  Other characters refer to their wartime service, and a teenage girl says she was injured during the war when she was "very young," so a reasonably good guess would be that the film's main action takes place no more than about a decade after the war's end.  And yet the clothing, hairstyles, and--most noticeably--the motor vehicles are definitely much newer than that.  This was probably a Catch-22 for the filmmakers: the script had Fuji and Sugawara meet in 1945, and it wasn't feasible for them to be 25 years' older for the bulk of the movie, and yet recreating 1955 Okinawa was either too expensive or simply not considered important enough to attempt. 

Trials of an Okinawan Village begins with World War Two footage and printed titles which read (in translation): "April 1937; U.S. troops advance on to Okinawan soil."  This is clearly erroneous: the battle of Okinawa did begin in April, but it was 1945, not 1937.  I don't know if this is a translation error or if the original titles also contained this misinformation.  The footage changes to colour, with images of the U.S. flag, airplanes, and military bases; the titles read "Okinawa in state of recovery under U.S. Occupation."  

Yuri Yonamine (Junko Fuji) runs a trucking company in post-war Okinawa, taking over from her late parents; she has vowed not to consider herself a "woman" (i.e., not get married or assume a traditional female role) until the company is rebuilt.  Yuri and her employees visit a restaurant to celebrate the purchase of a new truck, and clash with yakuza from the "mainland" (according to the titles--this means the main Japanese islands) who are hassling Sachiko, a teenage girl selling flowers.  Boss Iwamatsu calls off his thugs.  Yuri drives Sachiko--who uses a crutch due to a war injury--to her village the next day; coincidentally, it's the home village of Yuri's late mother.  Asada, the mayor, tells Yuri the village is very poor; they've planted sugar cane but had to borrow a large sum of money against the crop.

When Yuri learns a lot of wartime scrap has been unearthed near the village, she sees this as a chance to earn money to retire the debt.  However, Iwamatsu's gang has the sole right to sell such scrap to the U.S. government, and is also shipping scrap illegally to Hong Kong.  Asada threatens to report the yakuza to the U.S. authorities, but is killed by a hit-and-run driver.  The villagers are put to work loading the scrap for Iwamatsu, but a bomb explodes and kills 3 women.  Iwamatsu refuses to accept responsibility or pay an indemnity.

Tetsu Nakagami (Bunta Sugawara), a yakuza fleeing from Tokyo police, arrives on Okinawa and discovers his wartime friend Asada is dead.  Yuri asks him to delay his revenge on Iwamatsu--whose men clearly murdered Asada--until they earn enough money to pay the dead women's families.  Nakagami, stationed on Okinawa during the war, knows where a large cache of artillery shells is stored.  As it develops (shown earlier in flashback), Nakagami met the young Yuri (who was serving as a nurse) in a cave during the final battle for Okinawa: he gave her a wristwatch and urged her not to sacrifice herself.

Iwamatsu orders his men, including Okinawa native Iba, to stop Yuri and the villagers at all costs.  They blow up a truck loaded with scrap, killing two of Yuri's employees.  Iba and Nakagami fight; Yuri convinces Nakagami to spare the other man's life.  Iwamatsu's men force the villagers to retrieve the scrap from the hidden cave.  However, when they bring Sachiko to the site--intending to rape her--Iba intervenes.  He's mortally wounded, but takes the girl to Yuri's office before he dies.  Nakagami sets off for the cave site, and Yuri follows.  

Nakagami and Yuri wipe out Iwamatsu's entire gang, including the boss (who is savagely hacked to death by a sword-wielding Yuri), but they are then both arrested by U.S military police. Yuri is acquitted but Nakagami is convicted of murder and shot to death by a firing squad.   

Junko Fuji, daughter of a film producer, began acting in the early 1960s, and appeared in a number of yakuza films in this era.  She had her own yakuza series, "Red Peony Gambler," but retired when she got married in 1972.  She came back a decade later and has continued to work to the present day, sometimes under the name "Sumiko Fuji."  As Yuri, Fuji repeatedly declares her desire to postpone being a "woman" until her business goals have been reached; nonetheless, she is depicted as caring and responsible, in contrast with the violent Nakagami.  At the conclusion, of course, Yuri and Nakagami are pushed too far, and Yuri more than holds up her part of the final battle, firing a rifle, tossing a grenade, and wielding a sword with deadly effectiveness, her face distorted by rage. 

The "romance" between Yuri and Nakagami that standard film conventions would seem to demand never progresses, even to the point of a kiss, despite the obvious attraction between the two.  [This could be (a) a Japanese cultural convention, (b) a yakuza film convention (this is what Wild Realm Reviews suggests), or (c) something deliberately done by the filmmakers in this particular instance.  Western viewers will likely have their expectations confounded, in any case.]  As Nakagami is being led away to his execution, a weeping Yuri repeatedly shouts "Don't die!" (the same thing he'd told her in 1945 during the battle for Okinawa), and the film concludes with Yuri honouring Nakagami's memory with a ceremony next to (presumably) his grave marker on an Okinawan cliff. 

Nakagami is a "noble yakuza" (a Sixties trend that was largely replaced by more negative, realistic depictions of gangsters in the Seventies, represented by Iwamatsu and his gang here): in one scene he even says his gang "never harmed commoners!" [Presumably meaning non-yakuza; “civilians” might be a better word.] He arrives in Okinawa illegally (fleeing, as we later learn, an unjust accusation from a rival crime family), but has the ulterior motive of visiting the island where he fought during World War II (he later tells Yuri that he came back to find her, although this seems like an afterthought).  Iwamatsu asks him to collaborate, but Nakagami demurs (he doesn't refuse outright, and even borrows a car from the gang boss!).  When Iwamatsu won't pay an indemnity for the woman killed in his employ, Nakagami prepares to go into action, but Yuri asks him to wait, hoping she can get money for the women's families without violence.  She later convinces Nakagami not to kill Iba, an Okinawan native working as a yakuza for Iwamatsu, apparently feeling the man has a good side (possibly just because he's Okinawan--the film makes a point several times of highlighting the differences between Okinawans and Japanese from the "mainland," even including a comedy scene in which one of Nakagami's aides arrives on the island and is perplexed by the Okinawan dialect). 

In a somewhat contrived scene, one of Yuri’s men is trapped when a stack of old artillery shells shifts suddenly.  One of the shells starts to tick--it’s a delayed action bomb!  Fortunately, Nakagami (who was an artillery officer during the war) has the know-how to defuse it.  The scene is tense even though the audience knows that Nakagami (and Yuri, who runs back into the building to be with Nakagami and her employee) aren’t going to get blown up with half the film left to go!

Nakagami learns he's free to return to Tokyo (the rival gang admitted their falsehood and cleared him with the police), but he decides to stay on Okinawa, turning over his criminal gang to his assistant.  It's implied that he is thinking about marrying Yuri and settling down, but his death puts an end to those plans.

The U.S. presence in Okinawa is overt in several scenes, although the occupation of Okinawa (and thus, its status as an island governed by the Americans rather than Japan) is referenced frequently.  Early in the film, Yuri and her assistant Isamu fleece a Military Policeman out of several barrels of much-needed gasoline: the man wagers the fuel against a date (later raising the ante to "and a kiss") with the attractive young woman, but loses a game of cards (Yuri cheats by viewing the reflection of the man's cards in Isamu's belt buckle).   Later, Iwamatsu betrays Nakagami's presence to the U.S authorities, and a large group of Military Policemen (with one Japanese-American who acts as translator), arrive at Yuri's house to arrest him.  Nakagami hides in Yuri's bedroom, and she distracts the Americans by allowing them to "catch" her with her blouse off.  "Wow!" one MP says, but then has the decency to say "Excuse me," and leave.  

Nakagami's aide Hide arrives from Tokyo and starts to run when he sees a jeep full of MPs--they hold him at gunpoint (he says "Why am I running? I didn't do anything!") and he babbles about his birthplace, etc., before he's spotted by one of Yuri's men, who takes him to Nakagami.  This scene suggests that the residents of Okinawa view the Americans with some trepidation: without recourse to their own system of laws, they're at the mercy of the occupying troops. 

At the conclusion, Yuri and Nakagami are arrested by a horde of Military Policemen (who arrive after the one-sided battle is over).  A military judge pronounces judgement (curiously he begins speaking in English then switches to Japanese): "Okinawa belongs to America!" Nakagami will be executed.  When Yuri protests, the judge says "Take her out!" and has the protesting Yuri dragged away by several MPs.   

Trials of an Okinawan Village does not go out of its way to attack the American presence on Okinawa--in none of the previously-noted scenes do the MPs actually do anything illegal or brutal (well, Nakagami is executed but it appears to have been done legally)-- but the film makes it clear that the Okinawans are under military occupation and have few legal rights of their own.  The American military is the largest "business" on the island and has a number of exclusive rights, and the native inhabitants have to accommodate these, to their own economic detriment.  

Iwamatsu and his yakuza are the overt villains: they have a license from the U.S. to collect scrap, and exploit the Okinawans because of this.  However, they're not satisfied with this, illustrating their dishonourable nature by illegally exporting scrap to Hong Kong. 

Trials of an Okinawan Village makes good use of location shooting and is generally quite slick and professional.  The script does get bogged down a bit in the middle section, as Yuri and Nakagami (and the villagers) keep finding different sources of scrap metal, Iwamatsu and his men keep taking it away, and so on.  The performances are all good, although the comic relief provided by Nakagami's aide Hide (who only appears briefly) is somewhat out of place. 

Generally entertaining overall, and of additional historical-political interest because of its setting and the depiction of the U.S. occupation of Okinawa.

[alkhale]

hi guys currently working on updates and some lovely ko-fi requests and getting to your asks rn but 

i’m a hoe-ass author who can’t get this idea out of her head and i’m so hung up over this new oc i want to bring into existence within the golden kamuy universe and i know not all of you guys watch/read it (but pls do it’s so freaking good holy shit) and i wanna hear some opinions of what you’d be interested in reading because this oc is particularly tricky

gk verse is very gorey, lots of violence and some horrible things happen and a lot more gets to go by since it’s the early 1900s where the ideals we have now aren’t as relevant then, but its got great humor and heart

backstory is very rough, mother and younger sister and oc sold into a human trafficking ring where taught to become courtesans and entertainers along with brothel workers in the yoshiwara district, run by one yakuza boss until oc learns from the older courtesans, becomes the man’s pet and eventually kills him and runs off, lives a good life with good people for two years before that’s ruined, enlisted into the war and trained as a spy before leaving that, joins the hunt for a tattooed convict specifically because they’ve got a vendetta against said convict

basically oc has been through some rough shit and will be very exciting for me to write and rated M because we gonna get into some nitty gritty shit but i wanted some feedback and thoughts on whether you guys would like the focus to be a male oc or female, all the ideas i have and outlining are honestly unaffected by whichever gender the oc ends up being, including name and as such and love interests, but i was contemplating whether or not to make new oc male or female and would love to know what you guys would be interested in seeing

i think i’m stuck because i like the challenge and idea of writing from a new perspective with male oc, but gk universe doesn’t have an older female figure in the group aside from Inkarmat and i think it’d be interesting to have the new character with her background join the fray

would love to hear what you’d be interested in reading!

[goldenkamuyhunting]

Golden Kamuy re-reading: CHAP 3: ‘Trap’

Trasposed in: Episode 2 ‘Nopperabō’

Currently the story is at: Chap 170: ‘The female convict at Akou prison’ (scanlated), Chap 171: ‘The punishment of the Karafuto Ainu’ (raw)

What follows are my ramblings over Golden Kamuy chapter by chapter, comprehensive of summary of the chapter, comparisons with the anime transposition, spoilers, theories, discussions about how a page or a panel was drawn and whatever else caught my attention.

As Golden Kamuy hasn’t ended yet I might miss some details that will be relevant in the future or make a wrong theory (or change my mind in the future on that theory). Consider yourself warned.

Also occasionally you’ll find ramblings for the covers or the extra contained in the volumes.

CHAP 3: ‘Trap’

The cover here shows Asirpa’s equipment and this is possibly even more useful as it introduces us to the Ainu equipment as well as to a bunch of Ainu words.

The story in chap 3 starts with Asirpa fundamentally teaching Sugimoto how to hunt squirrels… and we are introduced immediately to the difference between Sugimoto and Asirpa. Sugimoto is sort of against hunting squirrels because he likes them, as in he finds them cute and wouldn’t want to kill and eat them… like most of us really. Asirpa confirms she likes them as well… but as food.

Asirpa has no empathy for the squirrels, they’re no cute animals for her, just food… while Sugimoto, the guy who could murder people so brutally and skin their corpses is reluctant to harm a squirrel because to him a squirrel is not food, it’s a cute animal.

I love this sort of things that remark their cultural differences but also how things we take for granted are often a matter of culture. Many of us don’t eat squirrels. It gets even harder to think at them as food.

Asirpa plans to catch the squirrels also to pay for travel expenses as they can sell their pelt.

We might think this bit doesn’t mean much but just give us some info about Ainu hunting habits but it’ll turn out later on that learning about these traps had a meaning… which shows Noda’s ability as a storyteller. Everything in Golden Kamuy has a purpose, it isn’t just exposition or harmless chatting.

Back to Sugimoto and Asirpa, Sugimoto thinks that the escape prisoners are still searching for the gold and therefore wouldn’t have escaped to mainland Japan. His assumption is actually off. So far we know 17 escape convicts and very few of them were searching for the gold (some will be roped in the search later but weren’t interested in the beginning), the rest just didn’t care and remained in Hokkaido because that was their home… not mentioning that one of them even left Hokkaido (and we’re still missing the whereabouts of 7 escape convicts).

Asirpa points out Hokkaido is big but Sugimoto claims the convicts can’t really live in the wild so they would go to the biggest Hokkaido towns in order not to stand out. In this too Sugimoto is off as we’ll see that some escape convicts could have easily managed living in the wild (Nihei) or go back to their own small village (Yōichirō the manslayer) or to a minor city Sugimoto didn’t think about (the yakuza boss).

Anyway, long story short, if it had been left up to solely Sugimoto’s plan they would have never managed to get all those skins…

LOL, I love Sugimoto but he’s not exactly great at making plans…

Anyway Sugimoto thinks they can start with the closest big city near to them, Otaru.

Again the anime follows the story more or less faithfully so far but instead than this chapter’s title, it’ll go for chapter 4’s title ‘Nopperabō’. Oh well, since episode 2 covers chap 4 as well it’s not a big deal.

Back to the story Asirpa asks Sugimoto how he thinks they’ll manage to find out people with those tattoos…

…it’ll turn out Sugimoto’s plan is to go ask around if people saw guys with weird tattoos.

Sugimoto starts his search at a men’s bath. While this lead him to nothing there are two good reasons for this. The first is a Watsonian reason, since the men’s baths were baths at which many attended (few had a personal bath at home), it was logical enough that, if one had a weird tattoo, he would be forced to expose it when visiting it.

The second is a Doylist reason.

Noda wanted a good reason to show us how scarred Sugimoto’s body is.

He didn’t want to randomly show it, he wanted a reason that could fit the plot to show it and in this he shows he’s a good storyteller. Anyway, as the man in the bath said, the scarring on Sugimoto’s boy is really impressive enough to make amazing how Sugimoto is still alive.

Back to the story the man in the bath, understanding Sugimoto is a soldier, thanks him for fighting and allowing them to get back southern Karafuto, which ensured financial prosperity in Otaru.

Sugimoto comments the merchants are actually the only ones who got rich…and then thinks he’ll get rich as well, no matter what he’ll have to do. It’s noteworthy how in those first chapters Sugimoto is obsessed with this idea… which he’ll fundamentally drop more and more as the story progress to the point the money is more like an afterthought for him.

The anime cut this little bit about the merchants getting rich and Sugimoto wanting to get rich as well. Well, since the anime planned to be only 12 episodes long I can understand they didn’t want to bother with this part of Sugimoto’s character development as they wouldn’t manage to reach the point where Sugimoto would OBVIOUSLY prioritize Asirpa to the money. It’s still a pity though.

Asirpa goes asking to the women working in the brothels if they saw a customer with a weird tattoo.

In that moment a man who’s probably the owner of some brothel picks her up by the back of her clothes, demanding to know what she’s doing there. He then comments Asirpa should be 12 or 13 since she doesn’t have a tattoo around her mouth yet and then comments since nobody would want a girl with a tattoo around her mouth he should sell her off now.

During this Asirpa remains calm and apparently emotionless but it’s sort of disgusting how that man is handling her, as if she was something he could take possession and own at will (not mentioning the comment about the tattoo is offensive to Ainu culture) but then she catches her chance to hit the man in the eye with the back of her knife so that he’s forced to drop her while the other women cheer for her.

Personally I admire how she remained calm as a man much bigger than her handled her in such way and, at the same time, managed to free herself without stabbing the man with the knife. While remaining careful not to hurt the man too badly, she still managed not to let the man think he could own her.

Asirpa is an AMAZING girl.

Sadly we don’t really get to see more of her putting that guy to his place because Sugimoto joins and beat the guy up, forcing him to tell them if he’d seen people with a weird tattoo. Well, I know I should be glad Sugimoto protected her and that guy could be a hard opponent for Asirpa considering how big she was and how determined not to hurt him too badly she was… but still I would have liked to see her handle him, if possible. But I guess even if she had been able to hold her ground, she probably couldn’t have managed to force him to talk.

In fact the guy has relevant info as he confesses someone else also came asking him if he saw people with weird tattoos. Sugimoto grins as he claims someone had their same idea... knowing this might mean that someone might be an escape convict.

Now��while the anime follows the plot of the manga somehow the whole ‘fighting’ scene came out as less cool… which is bad because in an anime action scenes should come out better than in manga but well, maybe in the dvd version they’ll fix it.

Apparently Sugimoto and Asirpa keeps on asking around but now someone is following them.

Sugimoto and Asirpa know about it. It’s sort of fun though how Sugimoto is the one who asks Asirpa how many are following them and she’s the one to answer it’s just one… but well, I guess that since Sugimoto is a soldier while Asirpa is a hunter it makes more sense she would be capable to figure out how many are following them better than Sugimoto… sort of like Tanigaki, despite the broken leg, is good at keeping his distance from Ogata and Nikaido. Also being so young it’s less suspicious if she turns to check.

The one following them is troubled by how far Sugimoto and Asirpa are walking. He admits he planned to kill them in their sleep, but since they keep on walking he plans to kill them there. As he says so he pulls out a gun, walks after them and… without realizing ends up in a trap that’s a much bigger version of the one Asirpa used for squirrels.

See why we needed to see how squirrels traps worked? Because Sugimoto and Asirpa were going to use them to catch their followers.

As if this wasn’t clever enough the guy’s clothes gets trapped in a bark ‘by coincidence’, ending up on exposing his tattooed skin so as to spare us from further exposition on how Sugimoto and Asirpa will have to check if he’s a tattooed prisoner.

It’s meaningful how, while he’s caught by the trap, we’re shown also a squirrel who was caught by one of Asirpa’s trap, just to refresh our mind on how the trap which had caught this man is the same that had caught the squirrel... only bigger.

Now... compared to all the other prisoners this guy as of now is really solely a plot device that won’t even get a name and will solely be called ‘prisoner number one’. Even Shiraishi, when seeing his skin, will label him as a nobody. I’ve no idea if in the future they’ll reveal something about him that’ll change his status from plot device to something more. For now... he just exists to set into motion some parts of the plot. The chapter ends her. The volume adds a picture of Hokkaido and southern Karafuto, in a quiet hint that’s in those place our story will develop.

In regard to the anime, it changed things a little here, as, instead than having his clothes traped in a back this causing him to expose his skin, it’s prisoner number one who ends up exposing his tattoo with his actions… which doesn’t really make sense. It was okay when he was trying to free himself from the rope that was strangling him but that all of sudden he would pull open his shirt instead than focusing on the rope around his neck… well, that’s weird.

[fabelyn]

Golden Kamuy arc plot: our MCs’ fall into a trap in a maze like western house serving as a hotel as the landlady is actually an old escaped convict who kills people to eat their body parts as that is turning them younger and female looking. Said person wants our heroine’s eyes for his collection, while our MC wants to skin him for his back tattoo, but both parties are also trying to fend off another convict who is drunk and trying to fuck the old man having been tricked by the disguise. Meanwhile a fire start and an idiot drops bombs into it

Me: whatever happens next will be a disappointment, no following arc will surpass this for a while-

10 chapters later: our MCs’ and a horse are hiding in a house to escape three murderous bears outside because some idiot broke their bear-killing trump card (hunting bow) by sitting on it. As they try to escape the outside threat, they find out two men inside the house with them are yakuza who are after them for ruining their bets on a previous horse race but when the yakuza try to cheat the MCs into sacrificing themselves one yakuza turns against the other because it turns out they were lovers but one cheated with a young male prostitute

Me: I love being wrong

[thepinkyviolencearchive]

Female Yakuza Convict (1974)

[abloodymess]

Man, if you want a cathartic scene of an ass kicking girl gang light up a party of would be rapists with Molotov Cocktails, Stray Cat Rock: Sex Hunter is the movie for you.

The third in a series of five Stray Cat Rock films, Sex Hunter! stars hard-as-nails Meiko Kaji (Yakuza Burial, Female Convict Scorpion) as the leader of a gang of vicious teenage schoolgirls who get their kicks with gang fights, street muggings, and rock and roll. Directed by Japanese action master Yasuharu Hasebe (Female Convict Scorpion #701 and Black Tight Killers).

Mako and her girl friends enter a dispute with rival street gangsters The Eagles, a band of racist macho pigs led by the evil Baron, who hate half-breeds (descendents of afro-American and Japanese couples). When one of the girls start dating a half-breed, they start a terror campaign to take all of them out of town. Mako and her gang fight back, helping their new friend Kazuma find his long gone sister.

[hadarlaskey]

The Japanese cult classic that paved the way for the modern female action hero

When Meiko Kaji moved from Nikkatsu to Toei in 1971, she was trying to steer her career away from the ‘Roman Porno’ films the studio would soon become notorious for. Having already earned a feisty reputation for her roles in Blind Woman’s Curse and Stray Cat Rock: Delinquent Girl Boss, both from 1970, she was assured that a new home would be her ticket to freedom.

But this was the height of the exploitation era. Studios were reliant on economically-produced franchise films to pry a predominantly male audience away from the lure of home television, and so Toei’s first offer to Kaji was the leading role in Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion, a violent women-in-prison picture rife with nudity and poorly characterised female characters. Allegedly, it was Kaji’s passionate rejection of the role that ended up convincing the studio to rewrite it rather than to seek a replacement.

Kaji portrays Matsu, the titular convict with a sting in her tail. Betrayed by her crooked cop ex-lover Sugimi, and raped by a gang of yakuza, she is imprisoned in an all-female facility and forced to fight for survival after the male prison staff punish the inmates for Matsu’s failed escape attempt.

In one of the film’s first scenes, we’re given a glimpse into what would make Kaji a feminist icon. Tearing through lush green paddy fields while prison guards and attack dogs trail in pursuit, Matsu turns to confront one gun-wielding officer, overpowering him before staring down the rest of his troop in a defiant stand-off. Bound and thrown into solitary confinement, she contemplates revenge with her will intact.

But this dramatic introduction is offset by a preposterous plot point. Matsu and her prison companion Yuki are on the brink of escape until the latter suddenly begins menstruating, forcing the duo to break their stride. This fatal biological flaw of the fairer sex proves to be their undoing; the women are captured and the men resume control.

The film is filled with such absurdities. Women are forced to march around the prison complex in the nude as a form of punishment, while several dialogue scenes inexplicably take place in the communal showers. A queer romance between inmates adds little to the plot other than cheap titillation, while a major prison riot results in the women taking several guards hostage, smothering them with their breasts as a means of torture.

Kaji escapes much of this discrimination through the positioning of her character within the plot. Matsu is an outsider; she is betrayed by her antagonists, preyed upon by the guards and tormented by her fellow inmates. It’s her against the world, and first-time director Shunya Itō makes this explicit through regular allusions to Japanese flag.

A cathartic groin stabbing by Matsu’s hand at the film’s climax aligns the corrupt Sugimi with the national government by having him bleed out red into his white linen trousers. This thinly-veiled critique of the system Itō was working within can be interpreted, too, as a subtext for Kaji’s retaliation against the exploitative nature of the industry.

Aside from this unconventional depth of meaning, Itō also does a great job of elevating the film through vivid colour symbolism and hallucinatory dream sequences, such as in the flashback to Matsu’s first sexual encounter with Sugimi. This pivotal scene, set in a vast blue room full of billowing white sheets, is thereby imbued with a sense of otherworldliness which heightens it’s potency amidst largely set-bound prison confrontations. Another memorable shot finds Matsu laying against a fire-red floor, her hair standing on end, signifying her transformation as she prepares a violent streak of vengeance.

Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion and its three sequels are essential texts in understanding the influence of Meiko Kaji on strong female characters like Princess Leia, Ellen Ripley and Sarah Connor. But this exploitative women-in-prison flick, like so many of Kaji’s other films, is best appreciated as a time capsule. Problematic as it may be, the film remains a vital chapter in the history of female action cinema.

The post The Japanese cult classic that paved the way for the modern female action hero appeared first on Little White Lies.

source https://lwlies.com/articles/female-prisoner-701-scorpion-meiko-kaji-female-action-hero/

[vatsunara]

Brb with too many comments~!

Edit: I'm back and I say no. This is a REALLY long post. I tagged it as LONG POST also. Not in caps though.

👀 *Sighs while smiling off to the side* There's so much and too many screenshots so... I'll start with the previous post. So those compact seal things Sir has. They weigh like 11 pounds apparently?? He has 3+ of them on him probably. So he just keeps them in his pockets?? Like... 30+ pounds in one pocket. Like what even. I just find that so amusing for some reason??

Like what kind of pants are you wearing? Are they magic?? They clearly don't sag. Your belt game must be good to not let your pants slide down with those weights. Or anything you wear that you put those in. Unless there's a support item for that. His entire outfit is perfect and doesn't look weighed down in any way.

Speaking of those weights, they're support items. To me, all talk is pretty much about 'main' heros so I forget support anything. Yet there are support heros that don't get talked about much even if support anything is talked about. Not just sidekick support heros but support heros that make weapons and/or items like the one Sir uses. Even if they only make support items, they're still heros. At least some of them, I'm sure, since a 'hero' is one who has their license. Yet to me, license or not they're still a hero.

I honestly forget there are support agencies. They help heros and make fighting or being on the front lines possible for heros that don't have combat suitable or an all around quirk for fighting. Of course even if one did have an all around quirk for fighting, that doesn't mean they don't/wouldn't use support items.

So next, the pic above. Like 83. What even. I don't even know what to think. It's cute though. Plus I don't know what to think of Touga. How cute, sweet, and nice of her??? Yet I know what she can do. Yet she's still a female so I shouldn't be surprised??

THEN THE PAGES AFTER THIS/FLASHBACK!!!!! >8O Omg!!! Like!!! Shigarakis words!! Even though they're villains, I understand now/see why they follow him. Yeahn they all have their own motives for following or went because of Stain but now??? If one is staying, I see why. His words and conviction for his cause and his group is really.... I don't even know but they were shocked when he showed his face after they questioned him. Be it they were shocked by his face or because he said he believed in them. Like!!!!!

I can see the difference between Shigaraki and Overhaul as a difference. If one were to put the 2 together, they're be a perfect villian. Shigaraki believes in and trust his group/the people close to him. He seemingly doesn't want to lose any of them or harm to come to him. Yeahn they all know the danger and isn't much they can do but that doesn't mean Shigaraki wants bad things to happen to them.

With Overhaulnit's pretty much the exact opposite so far??? Even in 1 panel, it was said that the mask isn't a sign of trust from Overhaul. Yeah, he knows they'll be rutheless/get the job done but doesn't mean he really trust them. They're expendable yo him. It's also why when captured or whatever, they talk about his plans to the heros. They know that they're expendable to Overhaul but just went with it to let lose

That's all they wanted from the start. Some of them anyway. To let lose and go on a rampage with their power which he lets them do when need be. Yet they're not loyal to him in the end. Some of them even know that Overhaul doesn't care about them/are pawns to him. He just has them to save his own skin/complete his objective at all cost.

So as weird as it sounds, Shigaraki is more of a family man/villian compared to Overhaul. 8/ Even though Overhaul is part of the Yakuza which is kinda like a 'family'??? 8/ I guess if things weren't going bad with Overhauls boss it would be a bit different?? Maybe??? 8/

Yet if they combined, it would be great?? Shigarakis family bond villainy, Overhauls quiet behind the scenes way of doing things. Yet they'd have money/a bigger front to make their villiany rise. Mentalwise, they can switch between. Shigaraki is growing mentally so I don't think Overhauls 'smarts' and more 'stable mentality' tops his.

They both have good things, villian or not. Looks, Overhaul is kinda hot and 👌 in his suits. I really like Shigarakis coat. 83 His clothes are pretty okay too though. X9 Honestly I want to pamper/take care of him. For his lips are so freaking chapped I must hydrate this baby. >8| With Shigaraki, you can't go out and about as you please outside but with Overhaul you can. Yet I like the bond Shigaraki has with his group, not so much with Overhaul. 8/ Ihonestly don't know who to pick if I had tojoin a villian team. 8/

Well there was more but I'm gonna put it in another post since it kinda turned into hc???? 8D

[kingdomofnerds]

Persona 5 Request

Requester: @ultimafangirl

Prompt: Um, for Persona 5, could I make an Iwai scenario request? With him dealing with a reader who keeps coming to his store and hanging around and then somehow finds out that they're there to check him out?      

Notes: I haven’t written anything in probably two months now, so I apologize if this isn’t very good. I hope it’s not dissapointing to you though!!     

When the bells above the door had jingled, a merry ring that sounded the announcement of a customer, Iwai hadn’t been too interested. He didn’t get a lot of customers per-say, but he liked things better that way. Less work for him, and more time to work on the under-the-table requests that really mattered.

Still, it would have been a lie to say he hadn’t done a double take after taking a quick glance towards the door, assessing the customer that came in. It wasn’t too often he had female customers at his shop, let alone ones as gorgeous as you. You were nearly breathtaking and Iwai couldn’t help but let out an appreciative, though silent, breath.

Attractive as you were, though, Iwai left you alone. His more lecherous days of petty flirting were over, after all. Flirting with a customer would be pretty damn unprofessional too, after all. He may not have cared much for his little model gun shop, but he wasn’t going to make a ruin of it either. So, aside from asking if you needed any help after you’d spent a good while in the store he left you be.

Your next few visits were met with apathy. Iwai wouldn’t complain about new customers (even if you didn’t usually buy anything) and you never caused any trouble. Just looked around and left when you’d had your fill of window shopping. You brought in customers the odd time too; desperate gun fanatics hoping to meet the pretty girl who might just share their interests. Iwai could hardly complain about a few extra sales.

Iwai could also only go so long without his suspicions rising. At first he thought you might just be a picky buyer; a collector looking for that one perfect piece to compliment their pieces. But, seasons came and went, and along with them limited edition stock that most jumped at the chance to buy, and you still had taken interest in nothing.

You continued to visit, and the more often you came the more scrutiny you were met with. Iwai noticed more than ever the way you looked at things. You touched nothing, left no trace of yourself. You glanced over everything with dull eyes, clearly uninterested if not completely uneducated on what any of his products were, recognition flashing seldom if ever on your face as you looked around. Clearly you were not a gun fanatic. If that was the case, you really had no business being here.

Most unsettling for Iwai though was the way you looked at him. Quick glances, increasingly frequent. Whenever you thought the shop owner wasn’t looking at you, head tilting down to pretend to fiddle with product, your eyes would snap over to him. You looked him up and down, he could feel your eyes. Yet, whenever Iwai turned to meet your gaze you looked away. Had he not been so suspicious he may just have chalked your actions up to shyness. But there was far too much at stake for Iwai to be lax in his vigilance.

It was just as you were leaving one day, with a meek thank you and small bow, that Iwai decided something had to be done. He’d not allow himself to be player nor pawn in some long, drawn-out game.

It was on your next visit that Iwai decided to put that something into action.

“So what are you really here for?” It was just the two of you in the store that day, and as per usual you were glancing with disinterest at a case of model shotguns. With no one to interrupt and your guard down from browsing, Iwai figured it was the perfect time to corner you.

“Wh-what?” The break in composure came more easily than Iwai expected, but he wasn’t complaining. Evidently, whoever trained you hadn’t done a very good job; that just made things all the easier for him.

“You and I both know you’re not here for those guns.” Face blank Iwai turned from the parts he’d been cleaning to look at you. Eyes round as saucers and the slightest dusting of pink on your cheeks, you looked rather embarrassed - not quite the reaction Iwai had been expecting. Still, even as you began to sputter, desperately trying to retort, Iwai kept his conviction.

“I’ll ask you one more time.” Setting down his parts Iwai stood, straight posture and hard expression making him feel a hundred feet taller than you as he came closer, looking down to meet your fleeing eyes, “What are you really here for? Someone send you?”

The question confused you, and despite your embarrassment about being caught so suddenly you met Iwai’s gaze with a furrowed brow.

“Someone…? Wh-- no, I just, um....” Your confusion was genuine. Iwai liked to think he’d been around enough to know when someone was trying to fool him. Perhaps he’d pegged you wrong, then. But if he had, the question still stood - if you didn’t care about guns then what were you doing here?

Sighing, Iwai relaxed his posture, face relaxing into a neutral expression as he leaned back against the counter, rolling his toothpick between his teeth. Clearly he wasn’t going to get anywhere by trying to intimidate you. Evidently that just made things worse.

“I mean, ‘side from model guns and vests there ain’t much here.”

“W-well, I just…” Fiddling with the hem of your shirt, rolling the fabric between your fingers as if it was your safety net, you cautiously met Iwai’s gaze. Had his eyes always been this intense? It was hard to look right at him, even through the veil of your lashes. It felt a little too warm under his scrutiny, and you didn’t ever want to know how red your face was becoming as the blood creeped up your neck.

“I wanted to see you Iwai-san.”

“...”

“...”

The silence between you was heavy and you thought for a few moments you may burst from the pressure.

Iwai on the other hand had drawn a complete blank. ‘Oh. Oh.’ He hadn’t even considered that possibility. But then again, it wasn’t the most concerning of any of the scenarios that had played out in his head. He could see your earnesty clear on your face (even through the heavy blush) and for the first time in a long time Iwai was rather lost for words.

“Right.” He wanted to cringe as he said it, though there was little Iwai could do to break the uncomfortable atmosphere he had created. He nearly all out accused you of being an understudy of a vengeful member of the Yakuza and you were, apparently, really just here because you thought he was attractive.

“So, um,” your confession could have gone better, but you were quick to decide that it could have gone much worse too. You’d not received an outright rejection and somehow that gave you an odd bout of courage to continue.

“Would you like to go out sometime? Maybe?” The short laugh that came after your question wasn’t exactly reassuring, but the feeling of a strong, calloused hand on your head sent a wave of butterflies fluttering hard in your stomach.

“What an odd girl.” The mutter was loud enough for you to hear but Iwai continued before you could pout or protest, “Meet me here after the shop closes tomorrow. Sound good?”

It sounded amazing.