Out of the Past: Yoshie / Mie / Miki Mogami / Saijô

Today let's fulfill yesterday's promise to take a look at early busty Pink actress, Mie Mogami (最上美枝), who made such an impression on me in her brief appearance in Shûji Kataoka's S&M Hunter (緊縛・ＳＭ・１８才 - Kinbaku · SM · 18-sai; 1986). Given her early and relatively obscure career, I found quite a few scans and video clips of the actress. Here is a sample video clip for your viewing pleasure. However I found no real information on her, other than some glimpses of her video and pink film career. JMDb is always a good place to start for a filmography of Japanese film personnel. The bad news is her listing there gives only four films. The good news is, S&M Hunter, the one appearance already known to us, is not listed. (I presume her role was to small to be mentioned there, as Pink film listings are usually fairly sparse.) So that makes FIVE known Pink film appearances for Mogami! (As I warned, information on this early actress is very hard to find, so we have to celebrate our victories where we can...)

I can't find much on her AV career-- which normally precedes a Pink film career today. But in these early days of AV, the performers were usually less successful Pink film actresses. The earliest solid evidence I have of the actress is a listing as Mie Mogami at Amazon's description of the video release of Nobuyuki Saitô's Roman Porno Wives' Rape Mansion (人妻暴行マンション - Hitozuma bôkô mansion; 1985-03-23). (Roman pornos were, essentially, big-studio Pink films.) This film was released by Nikkatsu on March 23, 1985, movie.goo also lists Mogami, giving her role name as "Lemon-chan". This appearance in Wives' Rape Mansion indicates that Mogami started with big studio Nikkatsu, apparently didn't make much of a splash, then went onto independent studios, and then into AV. This March 1985 appearance also puts her ahead of Eri Kikuchi, who is often pointed to as the first "big bust" AV performer. Kikuchi debuted in September 1985. There were a few busty models before this era, for example the famously big-boobed Nikkatsu Roman porno actress Ran Masaki who debuted in late 1983, but Kikuchi seems to have been the first to make an AV career out of her bust.

Mie Saijô (西条美栄) seems to have been the name she used only for AV appearances, while Mie Mogami (最上美枝) was her Pink film name. Apparently she was also known as "Miki" (presumably Miki Saijô). Her Arzon profile gives her debut year (presumably her AV debut year) as 1985, which was the same year as Eri Kikuchi's debut. I was well aware of Eri during these years, though, even though a busty Japanese AV star was quite rare in those days, for some reason, she never appealed greatly to me. As I pondered yesterday, I just can't imagine how I missed Mie Saijô at that time, as she would certainly have been my type. (Not so impressive today, with a cornucopia of true Japanese BBWs around, but still quite nice.) My guess is-- and this is supported by the difficulty in finding information on her today-- that she was not as popular as Kikuchi, and didn't make as many appearances either in film, video or print.

Fuller-figured ladies were considered best for S/M demonstrations. S/M guru Oniroku Dan once commented in an interview with Asian Cult Cinema, "An SM heroine must have a certain amount of body fat so the bondage rope makes a clear impression on her skin." It's rather an unfortunate association for us fans of Japanese big-bust / BBW models who have no interest in S/M. All evidence points to the likelihood that Mie was an S/M-specialist performer as well. I find only one real contemporary video listing for Saijô: Shigeki (刺激; AS-115), listed at V&R as released on September 15, 1985. The cover to that video is above, and a sample of the proceedings therein can be glimpsed at left. For more images and a video sample of this SM-fest, check here.

Mogami's first Pink film appearance listed at JMDb is half a year after her March appearance for Nikkatsu. She appears in director Ichirô Kitami's October 1985, Ryôshoku SM kinbaku (猟色ＳＭ緊縛; literally something akin to "Colorful S&M Bondage"). Released by Ôkura Eiga, this first film interestingly has Mogami supporting S&M star Hiromi Saotome (早乙女宏美), who would also star in S&M Hunter, performing the iconic (well, it should be considered iconic) death-defying dangling-nude-from-a-crane scene which concludes the film. I don't know anything about director Kitami, and both Jasper Sharp and Thomas Weisser ignore him in their tomes on Japanese sexploitation, so I guess we can conclude he's fairly minor. He does have an extensive filmography at JMDb going back to assistant director at Nikkatsu in 1942. He took up the Pink film genre in 1966 and directed nearly 100 films in the genre, mostly released by Ôkura, including some entries in the Chikan Densha / Molester Train series.

Mogami's next listed film is Yûzûru Ichimura's Buchikomu (ぶちこむ; re-release title, Reipu gekishin; レイプ激震) from November 1985. The following month she appeared in another Ichimura/Ôkura Studio film, Seikan kyokusen (性感曲線; re-release title Honban ura-hyô; 本番うら表). S&M Hunter was released by Shintôhô in February 1986. The U.S. DVD release, from Pink Eiga, credits Mogami as "Yoshie Mogami", which is an alternate reading for "Mie Mogami". It seems like most Japanese sources (Arzon for example), with they syllabalize her name, use "Mie" though... This film (see yesterday's review at this blog) is a satire of the S&M genre. The genre, so popular in the '80s, was apparently "jumping the shark" at this point, making it a ripe target for satire. We might hazard a guess also, that the film's star, Hiromi Saotome, and possibly Mogami herself, were closely enough associated with S&M to parody the genre. Mogami's final theatrical appearance listed at JMDb is in Takashi Sakaki's Takeshita Yukari: Gusho nure no honban (竹下ゆかり　ぐしょ濡れの本番), also for Shintôhô, released in May 1986.

Besides the September 1985 release, the only other AVs I can find with Mie Saijô are those at AV-Channel, which are are later compilation DVDs released on VCA's D-Cup label (an early big-bust label). This indicates either that she did make more appearances in the '80s, and I just can't find them online, or that one appearance was popular enough to be re-edited into multiple compilations. (As an indication that this is a possibility, see the more recent case of Moa Anzai, who apparently only performed once, but who has been re-edited into many compilations. And then there is Kimiko Matsuzaka, who only made 21 videos and 2 Pink films, but has been seen in scores of compilations.)

One fleeting hint of hope that Saijô had a much longer career than I have been able to find is given in a video listing for Chikan stalker: Nerawareta bijin model (痴漢ストーカー　狙われた美人モデル), which starred Saori Mizuno and includes Saijô in the cast. According to JMDb this Ken'ichi Fujiwara-directed Shintôhô production was released in June 2001. Whatever name she worked under-- Mie Mogami, Mie Saijô, Miki-- she is easily recognizable not only by the size of her bust (rather unique in the mid-1980s), but also her nipples, which are as large, firm and enticing as grapes. Enjoy one last refreshing look at them below:

S&M Hunter

Tonight I finally saw Shûji Kataoka's Bondage SM: 18 Years Old (緊縛・ＳＭ・１８才 - Kinbaku · SM · 18-sai), released on DVD by Pink Eiga to American audiences-- twice (first edition at left, second edition below, right)-- as S&M Hunter. We all owe this fine company-- and others, like Synapse, the late, great Pinky Violence, Panik House, ArtsMagic, etc.-- a world of thanks for, finally, making this fascinating area of Japanese cinema available for those of us with more adventurous tastes. I've had my nose pressed against the window of Japanese erotic cinema for decades, just reading all about it that I could, but my actually viewing of them was all too rare. I did have the good fortune to see a few Nikkatsu Roman Pornos and the like during their first run, but thanks to DVD releases, the last few years have given me the chance to see dozens of films I'd previously only known from still photographs and literature.Still, though I've had this DVD for a while, I put off watching it because of my general dislike of S&M films. Oh, I can tolerate an exceptionally well-made one, with a really gorgeous actress, like Naomi Tani in Wife to Be Sacrificed (1974), or Naomi Tani in... just about anything else. But usually I find tying, whipping, pissing in buckets, etc. to be just inane, and not even remotely erotic... So my prejudice postponed my viewing this really funny satire of the genre, and a really good low-budget movie to boot.

This film was first released theatrically in February 1986 as a sequel to Hanging Upside-Down Bondage (逆さ吊し縛り縄 - Sakasa tsurushi shibari-nawa) which was released in September 1985. Pink Eiga plans to release this earlier film on DVD to the Anglo audience as S&M Hunter Begins. Thomas and Yuko Mihara Weisser, in their Japanese Cinema Encyclopedia: The Sex Films (1998) call these two films the "Roper from Hell" series. According to them, there was a third installment planned, but never produced. Pink Eiga is giving some future releases titles which imply they tie into the "Roper from Hell" series (such as S&M Hunter Chronicle: The Legend of Yakuza and S&M Hunter: Wife to Be Molested-- note the Tani reference), but they actually have no relationship to the "Roper from Hell" films.
S&M Hunter was released to home video in Japan in the VHS edition above......and re-released theatrically on November 27, 2007 under the ending-spoiler title S&M Crane Suspension (ＳＭクレーン宙吊り - SM crane chûzuri). The poster to that re-release is above.

The film has a strong, veteran Pink film cast. Mr. Pink himself, Yutaka Ikejima, introduces the film in the role of the master of an S&M club, and Pink film stalwart Shirô Shimomoto (right) is in his element in the titular role, a one-eyed vigilante rope master who uses his skills to punish offending females. The female cast is led by eager and pretty, but skinny, S&M enthusiast Hiromi Saotome as Meg, S&M Hunter's nemesis and leader of the girl-gang The Bombers. These bad girls go around capturing, tying up, and abusing men.

One actress in the film deserves special attention from this blog. With my taste in big, bouncy gals, and the Pink film genre's preference for skinny girls, I usually view these movies simply as movies, not expecting there to be much to stimulate my own specialized tastes. However upon the unveiling of the estimable bosom of Mie Mogami (above, sometimes transliterated as Yoshie Mogami), who plays a member of The Bombers, I snapped to attention. The film subsequently gave me a few moments to stop, rewind, pause, and reflect, admiring the view in loving slo-mo. Another reviewer says the film takes a brief turn into Russ Meyer territory here. Well, not quite, perhaps, but Ms. Mogami did inspire me to do some research. I find that, under the name Mie Saijô, she was an early buxom AV star, before Kimiko Matsuzaka, and maybe even Eri Kikuchi. How I missed her in the mid-1980s, I'll never know. Tomorrow I'll post what I little found on her.
Above, naughty Mogami torments a gay captive with her body......and the S&M Hunter takes vengeance on her with his notorious spider-web trick, twanging the ropes expertly to produce some titillating jiggles.

Where were we? Oh right, the movie. Yes, it's a comedy. A very funny one. And, while parodying S&M films, it manages to take satirical swipes at many other genres and subjects. There's something to offend everyone, as they say. Among the targets for its gleefully un-PC humor are: Christianity, Nazism, S&M (of course), scatology, homosexuality, etc., etc., etc. Kataoka's direction is very movie-savvy, and targets of parody include Western films in general, Sergio Leone in particular, along with the music of Ennio Morricone, and at least one wink at John Ford... Kataoka not only ribs the western directors, he makes damned good camera set-ups and creates some very impressive visual imagery while doing so.

Speaking of memorable imagery, as alluded to in the VHS and re-release titles, the film ends with an amazing set-piece: Hiromi Saotome tied-up and suspended by crane, nude, high above Tokyo. It is surely one of the most awe-inspiring moments in Pink film history. This scene deserves to be as iconic to world erotic cinema as Harold Lloyd hanging off the clock in Safety Last (1923) is to silent film.

Surprisingly, reviewing it in 1998 under the original title Bondage SM: 18 Years Old, Thomas and Mrs. Weisser treat this as a run-of-the-mill Pink film and only give it two-and-a-half stars out of four. (More and more I suspect the Weissers actually saw precious few of the films they review. Though their basic data usually turns out to be accurate, I've stopped paraphrasing their plot descriptions at movie sites due to blatant errors I've found in them.) I found this film to be an outstanding example of Pink cinema, and one of the best releases so far from Pink Eiga. This is one I will look forward to watching again. On my Pink film scale I give it an enthusiastic nine stars out of ten.