Female Yakuza Tale: Inquisition and Torture

I recall some politician once being advertised as "tan, rested, and ready." Well, Ochô (Reiko Ike) has recovered from her massive wounds sustained in Sex & Fury, and is ready to do battle again.

This time she is involved in the "Crotch-Gouge" murders. Something to do with Chinese drug mules who smuggle the drug up their crotch. Needless to say, the drug gang picked the wrong person to mess with.

Exploring the video nasties of the 70s and the pinky violence of the same period is an adventure in just how wild filmmakers can be. At least the Japanese films are all in glorified color and full of gorgeous beauty. The music is also very upbeat and enjoyable.

There are more breasts than in a chicken processing plant, and the blood flows freely in the final battle. This was not as good as Sex & Fury, but it had a whole lot more skin.

This "sequel" to "Sex and Fury" is more of a softcore sex romp than the bloody tale of revenge its parent was. Teruo Ishii's direction is a little flat and uneven and it's quite obvious his passion is female flesh, not kinetic action or creating a glorious action/erotic hybrid. Norifumi Suzuki, the director of "Sex and Fury", is a more original, energetic director and brought great artistry and aesthetic brilliance to his work. Ishii's accomplishment is a diverting time filler with too many characters, some intrigue, and mountains of softcore canoodling. The opening fight scene revisits the stylistics of the original film, but quickly dispenses with that style and involves itself in unnecessarily complex plotting. The finale is reasonably bloody, but it never reaches the towering heights of its predecessor because Ishii directs it like he's bored.

Reiko Ike returns as skilled gambler & swordswoman Ochô Inoshika in this unrelated sequel to Norifumi Suzuki's Sex and Fury directed by Ero-gro master Teruo Ishii (Joys of Torture series, Blind Woman's Curse).

When she is framed as the "Crotch-Gouge'' killer by three men, Ocho sets out to discover their identities and in turn becomes embroiled in a convoluted plot involving Yakuza-related drug smuggling between Japan and China. She soon learns the men have mistaken her for one of their dope-addicted prostitutes they've been using as drug mules to import the Heroin.

Meanwhile the Ogi Clan are having leadership troubles as their old boss has died and his young daughter is missing. Ocho subsequently finds out the bosses daughter is being held in a mental institution but arrives on the scene too late as the girl has already been electrocuted then strangled to death.

Female Yakuza Tale definitely lacks the surreal and psychedelic visuals of Suzuki's direction in Sex and Fury. Aside from the excellent opening sequence involving a naked Ocho slaughtering multiple opponents in slo-mo with her trusty sword and the films fantastic climax, the blood & action mainly takes a backseat here to be replaced with copious amounts of softcore sex, goofy comedy relief and an often hard to follow plot.

On the plus side though, there's plenty of sleazy sex & rape, a badass Nun / assassin who says a little prayer before she kills, a hilarious bullet-in-the-eye scene, some extremely bizarre mental patients and the spectacular finish in the form of a garishly lit kill-a-thon which reminded me of the Batman TV series from the 60's. Add to that a superb score, brilliant fight choreography and slick cinematography and you have one slightly flawed but still highly enjoyable Pinky Violence flick. 8/10

Ochô Inoshika (Reiko Ike) is mistakenly kidnapped and tortured by drug traffickers and later accused by the police of of murdering another woman. She is helped by Jyoji and discovers that the criminals use the vaginae of women from a gang of female thieves to smuggle drugs to the Clan Ogi led by the Yakuza Goda (Tatsuo Endô). Further, Goda had killed the former lord and abducted his teenage daughter. Ochô plots a scheme with Jyoji and the female thieves to revenge the torture and abuse of Goda and his men.

"Yasagure anego den: sôkatsu rinchi" is a messy Japanese exploitation, with a confused screenplay and development of characters and probably lost in translation to Portuguese. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): "A Mulher da Yakuza" ("The Woman from the Yakuza")

This is considered a sequel to Sex & Fury also released in 1973. Not a continuation of the story. Rather a continuation of the character Ocho Inoshika again played by Reiko Ike.

This movie as a whole is definitely watchable. Unfortunately the script has a number of holes which makes it a little confusing at times. The fight choreography which was excellent in Sex & Fury is disappointing here. There is plenty of nudity just like before if that's what you seek. A decent helping of violence as well. You could compare both Ocho Inoshika films to Lady Snowblood. Have to think Quentin Tarantino has seen these.

Reiko Ike is of course excellent. The rest of the cast ranged from passable to excellent. Change in directors for this film is definitely noticable, giving this film an entirely different feel and atmosphere.

If you're looking for a Yakuza pinky violence story with action, then definitely watch. It's not required to see Sex & Fury first but it is a much better movie.