is a 1975

1975 in film

The year 1975 in film involved some significant events, with Steven Spielberg's thriller Jaws topping the box office.-Events:*March 26 - The film version of The Who's Tommy premieres in London....

 Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese film in Nikkatsu

Nikkatsu

is a Japanese entertainment company well known for its film and television productions. It is Japan's oldest major movie studio. The name Nikkatsu is an abbreviation of Nippon Katsudō Shashin, literally "Japan Cinematograph Company".-History:...

's Roman porno series, directed by Nobuaki Shirai and starring Hajime Tanimoto and Terumi Azuma.

Synopsis

Mio is a struggling writer who writes a pornographic book entitled Flesh Futon which becomes a surprise best seller. With his newfound wealth, Mio begins indulging in the nightlife, excusing his activities to his wife by saying it is for research. Mio's reputation comes crashing down when a prostitute reports that his penis is like a "guppy". More bad luck follows. His book is banned, and his wife puts him on a short leash. At the height of his misfortune, his house is robbed. Mio meets the robber who turns out to be the Japanese folk-hero Nezumi Kozō

Nezumi Kozo

Nezumi Kozō is the nickname of Nakamura Jirokichi , a Japanese thief and folk hero who lived in Edo during the Edo period.-Capture and tattoo:In 1822, he was caught and tattooed, and banished from Edo...

. The two become friends, and Kozō introduces Mio to a doctor who can perform penis-enlargement surgery. With his new equipment, Kozō and Mio become frequenters of the red-light district, until the real Nezumi Kozō appears, and evil luck returns to Mio.

Cast

• Hajime Tanimoto: Mio Kingyotei
• Maya Hiromi: Shungiku
• Rei Okamoto: O-ine
• Terumi Azuma: Nui
• Akemi Nijō: Tama Kishibe
• Tamaki Katsura: Kō Iwanabe
• Asuka Seri: Kayo
• Hiromi Igarashi: Bikuni
• Nobutaka Masutoko: Jirokichi Nezumi Kozō

Critical appraisal

In their Japanese Cinema Encyclopedia: The Sex Films, the Weissers write that Atsumi Yamatoya's script for Banned Book: Flesh Futon shifts awkwardly between sex jokes and slapstick, and that it is "wildly out of control" by the time that Mio meets the first Nezumi Kozō. By the time the real Kozō appears, the story has gone completely over-the-top. Allmovie agrees that the slapstick humor is too much, but points out that this comedy at least proves that Nikkatsu was producing more than S&M and erotic melodrama films during the 1970s.

Availability

Banned Book: Flesh Futon was released theatrically in Japan on November 22, 1975. It was released on home video in VHS format in Japan on August 16, 1983, and re-released on August 4, 1995.