You probably know that the American film industry lost more than 80% of its business in the quarter century between 1946 and 1971. Faced with ever-increasing competition from television, total ticket sales dropped in that period from 4.8 billion to 0.7 billion. Lagging slightly behind in time, Japanese theaters eventually faced the same sorts of attendance problems. That time-lag behind the States turned out to be serendipitous for the Japanese studios. The American studios had not been able to respond properly to the TV threat in the 1946-64 period. The logical counter-move would have been to offer sensational content that could not be shown on television, but that move was blocked because the Hays Code forbade it. The situation was different in Japan. The decline started later, and the studios were able to respond earlier. As early as 1961, they were responding to the TV threat by showing Japanese audiences what they could not see on their home screens: sex and violence. The so-called "pink films," cheap softcore porn efforts with violent themes, were born in the early sixties. Nikkatsu Studio was not among the pinku pioneers. Nikkatsu produced action films throughout the sixties, but when they say how profitable pink films had become, they created their own line, the "Roman Porno" (Romantic Pornography) sub-genre in 1971. The idea behind the Roman Porno erotic product line was to package the theretofore sleazy pinku within a more commercially accessible format, featuring mainstream performers who could also be seen elsewhere in non-porn performances. It is worth mentioning that, although the Japanese have adapted the word "porno" into their language, it doesn't have the same stigma that it does in English.

The concept worked so well that Nikkatsu ceased all other production and made nothing but Roman Porno films for 18 years, enough of them to stock theaters constantly with fresh triple bills. Unlike the competing "Pinky Violence" films from rival Toei Studios, some of the Nikkatsu directors included genitals in the scenes as they were filmed, but always blurred the genitalia in the distributed versions in order to placate the Japanese censors. The pixelation of pubic hair is very annoying to foreigners who watch the films, but that is simply a given in Japanese cinema. In fact, some of Japan's stricter moral guardians felt that even when the view was pixelated, it was arousing to think of what was behind the blur!

The Angel Guts series is one of the later of the Roman Porno efforts from Nikkatsu. It is based on a popular sex-and-violence Manga series, the Japanese equivalent of a series of R-rated "comic books" or "graphic novels." The term "angel" represents the idealized woman, a model of purity and goodness, while the "guts," according to Japanese popular expressions, are the seat of all feelings and motivations, used in Japanese speech as we would use "heart" in English. Thus the title implies the conflict between the spotless image of modern women and the reality of their lives and desires. The common threads, besides sex and violence, are that they all feature an abused woman named Nami Tsuchiya, and an oppressive male character named Tetsuro Muraki. 

The first four Angel Guts films were made by top Nikkatsu directors, and the competent execution combined with the popularity of the graphic novels made it one of their most successful series. Takashi Ishii, the original creator of the Manga efforts as well as the author of four of the five screenplays, directed the last one.

(Ishii did write and direct another Angel Guts film several years later, but not for the same studio.)

This time, Nami (Jun Izumi) is a junior sales clerk in a posh department store. She is no stranger to physical pleasure, and we seen her tossing off in one creative way or anther as soon as she gets home from work each day. As a favor to a friend, she subs for a photo shoot one night, and that proves to be a serious mistake because the shoot was for a B&D magazine called "Red Porno." This came to the attention of her married boss, who took her to dinner, got her drunk, and took her to a love hotel. When the boss' wife discovers Nami's magazine spread and recognizes her from the store, he turns her in and gets her fired as a slut moonlighting as a porno star. Nami, as is expected in the Angel Guts series, ends up forming a relationship with Muraka.

Muraka is a nerd, given to masturbating in unison with the school girl (Kyoko Ito) across from his apartment. Of course, she is an inspiration. You wouldn't believe what she does with a raw egg, a condom, and three sharp pencils. Also, some pervert is making obscene phone calls and stealing women's underwear. We are to expect, as the neighbors do, that Muraka is the pervert.

Eventually we finally get to the obligatory rape and tragic ending.

Ikeda is interviewed in the special features, and his interview is a "must watch." He became a director accidentally. While in college, he was out drinking with friends, and the woman next to him at the bar seemed to know a lot about movies. As he was a movie fan, he expounded on his theories, and she became angry, saying that if he knew so much about movies, he could probably direct one. When he agreed, she gave him her card. She was a scriptwriter at Nikkatsu. The next day, he showed up for an interview, but was told he would need a four-year degree to be hired. Relieved, he joined her for tea in the employee cafeteria, where she was sitting with two men who were in desperate need for an assistant director for the film they were starting the next day. She offered Ikeda's services and, since he had no degree, she said he would work free of charge.

Ikeda welcomed a chance to do Roman Porno at Nikkatsu, as he had wanted to explore sexy cinema anyway, and the idea of delving into real women, as opposed to romanticized cup dolls, appealed to him. While Ikeda claims to be a reluctant director who was much happier as an assistant, I think that was partially modesty talking, and partially beer, since he drank constantly through the interview. Of all the Japanese directors interviewed for this excellent set, Toshiharu Ikeda was the most likable. I suppose it is not a surprise that I liked his film very much as well. Surprisingly, Ikeda was not originally slated to direct at all, but was brought in at the 11th hour, as Ishii was finishing the screenplay. It was slated for an already advertised December 25 release, and he had 10 days to film it.

This particular one is the sexiest of the five in the series. The masturbation scenes, while soft core, are very hot, and most of the sex is consensual and passionate. In fact, the plot, although coherent, seems more like glue to tie the sex scenes together. It is the shortest of the five, but otherwise offers the same high quality as the others in the series.