Hana to hebi 3

Flower and Snake is a novel that Dan Onuroku wrote in his 30s, so there's quite a bit of history to it. Dan started writing novels to pay back the debt the Shogi (Japanese chess) magazine had where he was the editor. But his style was very much ahead of time, and he became the preeminent S&M writer of his days.

This is the 3rd installment of the Flower and Snake series that started with Aya Sugimoto's version in 2004. Minako Komukai replaced Sugimoto in this version. Dan himself recommended S&M movies as a career path to Komukai.

This is based on a novel that were written in the '60s, and it's somewhat tame by today's standard. I think Yusuke Narita has better visuals than Takashi Ishii who directed the previous two versions, but the story just meanders and lacks delivery. This was very much Dan's own early writing style as well, so I'm not sure who gets the blame.

In any case, Komukai does a very good job as Sugimoto's replacement, and this is one of the last movie that Dan himself was involved in the making, so if you've been following Oniroku Dan's movies, this is one that you wouldn't want to miss.