Chika Gentou Gekiga: Shoujo Tsubaki (found Ero Guro anime film; 1992): Difference between revisions

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In 1987, Hiroshi Harada, a Japanese storyboarder who worked for various animation studios under trade, began work on a self-funded anime adaptation of Suehiro Maruo's 1984 manga ''Shōjo Tsubaki.'' Harada had attempted to gain sponsors for his film, but nobody was willing to support it due to its graphic imagery. Because of this, Harada was forced to animate and fund the entire film by himself, with the exception of voice acting done by an unknown cast. The task was so painstaking, with reportedly over 5,000 sheets of animation of work that had to be done, that Harada did not finish producing the film until 1992.  
In 1987, Hiroshi Harada, a Japanese storyboarder who worked for various animation studios under trade, began work on a self-funded anime adaptation of Suehiro Maruo's 1984 manga ''Shōjo Tsubaki.'' Harada had attempted to gain sponsors for his film, but nobody was willing to support it due to its graphic imagery. Because of this, Harada was forced to animate and fund the entire film by himself, with the exception of voice acting done by an unknown cast. The task was so painstaking, with reportedly over 5,000 sheets of animation of work that had to be done, that voice recording did not commence until the summer of 1991, and Harada did not finish producing the film until 1992.  


The film, titled '''''Chika Gentō Gekiga: Shōjo Tsubaki''''' (地下幻燈劇画 少女椿 roughly meaning ''Underground Projected Drama: Camellia Girl''), also known as just '''''Midori''''', premiered on May 2nd, 1992 "inside a giant red tent inside the grounds of the Mitake Jinja Shinto shrine in Tokyo." The premiere version is widely reported to have been between 52 and 54 minutes in running time. Following the premiere of the film, Eirin, the Japanese film censor board, required 26 cuts to be made before the film could be more widely screened, due to the fact that the film contained scenes of sexual and physical abuse on a prepubescent girl by travelling carnies of a much older age. Some of these scenes even remained in the film after the cuts were made. Extreme levels of gore were also prevalent in the film, including a scene of animal abuse where a dog was stomped to death by one of the said carnies. While these scenes do exist in the currently surviving version, there were reportedly more graphic scenes that were shown at the original 1992 premiere. The post-censorship version of the film was reportedly later screened at more secretive venues, that required people to "read cryptic signs pointing to where the performance was being held, and patrons had to enter through dark labyrinths before getting to the actual venue."<ref>https://nergalheavyindustries.wordpress.com/2014/02/11/anime-dvds-you-may-have-missed-midori/</ref> However, in the late-1990s, the screening print would be sent overseas and be screened for the final time. When the film returned to Japan at Narita Airport, Japanese Customs agents intercepted it and destroyed it. Fortunately, at least one backup copy of the edited version of the film survived the late-90s.
The film, titled '''''Chika Gentō Gekiga: Shōjo Tsubaki''''' (地下幻燈劇画 少女椿 roughly meaning ''Underground Projected Drama: Camellia Girl''), also known as just '''''Midori''''', premiered on May 2nd, 1992 "inside a giant red tent inside the grounds of the Mitake Jinja Shinto shrine in Tokyo” with a 52 minute runtime. Following the premiere, the film would begin to be shown throughout the world in its original form until 1994, when Eirin, the Japanese film censor board, demanded the film be edited to meet Japanese standards. According to Hiroshi Harada’s production company in a 2020 interview with Lost Media Wiki user bun39, female nudity, sexual violence, and violence towards animals were optically censored using blurring techniques, and discriminatory language was muted. Fortunately, a telecine transfer in standard definition had been made before any of the film’s edits were made. However, it was unknown if any film survived of the original uncensored version.
 
In 2006, Perisian company Ciné Malta licensed the film and released a PAL DVD of the film in limited quantities. This DVD contains a 48 minute cut of the film, and was widely believed to be the censored version of the film for years, until 2020, when Hiroshi Harada’s production company interviewed with Lost Media Wiki bun39, and stated that “in the 52-minute original, there is a narration at the beginning of a commentary on the "Underground Lantern Playhouse," and ... midway through the film, there is a scene in which the theater goes black and the loud sound of an earthquake is played.“ These scenes had been excised from the DVD version of the film as they were intended solely for theatre viewing. During the same interview, it was confirmed that the DVD version contained the original uncensored version of the film.
 
In 2013, the original 16 mm negative of the film was rediscovered in the back of an IMAGICA warehouse (a Japanese editing studio). Harada’s production company proceeded to strike a new uncensored print from this negative, as well as a 1080p digital master, and screened both at Japanese film festivals. A Blu-ray release of this version has been hinted at, but no official announcements have been made regarding it.


When Harada was informed about this, he grew outraged and refused to allow further screenings of his film, even the cut version. In later years, Harada grew more lenient, eventually culminating in the French company Ciné Malta releasing a region 2 PAL DVD of the 48-minute edited version. The DVD includes six different languages of subtitles, including French, Spanish, German and English. However, bootleg VHS copies of what is believed to be the exact same source, if not the exact same transfer of said source that the 2006 DVD has, have circulated since the 1990s, and a rip of one of these bootlegs even exists on YouTube without any subtitles.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKfokE3CEyo A VHS rip of the circulated bootleg version.] Retrieved 09 Jun '15.</ref> However, a rip of the superior DVD of the film also exists on YouTube as of 2015.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxME8pxrKyQ A DVD rip of the 2006 PAL DVD.] Retrieved 09 Jun '15.</ref> Unfortunately, however, approximately six minutes worth of cut footage has not seen the light of day since approximately 1999.


==References==
==References==
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[[Category:Lost animation]]
[[Category:Found media]]
[[Category:Lost films]]
[[Category:Partially lost media]]
[[Category:Historic]]
[[Category:Historic]]

Revision as of 02:35, 23 May 2020

Nsfl.png


This article has been tagged as NSFL due to its disturbing subject matter/visuals.



Shojotsubaki.jpg

Cover for the movie.

Status: Partially Lost

In 1987, Hiroshi Harada, a Japanese storyboarder who worked for various animation studios under trade, began work on a self-funded anime adaptation of Suehiro Maruo's 1984 manga Shōjo Tsubaki. Harada had attempted to gain sponsors for his film, but nobody was willing to support it due to its graphic imagery. Because of this, Harada was forced to animate and fund the entire film by himself, with the exception of voice acting done by an unknown cast. The task was so painstaking, with reportedly over 5,000 sheets of animation of work that had to be done, that voice recording did not commence until the summer of 1991, and Harada did not finish producing the film until 1992.

The film, titled Chika Gentō Gekiga: Shōjo Tsubaki (地下幻燈劇画 少女椿 roughly meaning Underground Projected Drama: Camellia Girl), also known as just Midori, premiered on May 2nd, 1992 "inside a giant red tent inside the grounds of the Mitake Jinja Shinto shrine in Tokyo” with a 52 minute runtime. Following the premiere, the film would begin to be shown throughout the world in its original form until 1994, when Eirin, the Japanese film censor board, demanded the film be edited to meet Japanese standards. According to Hiroshi Harada’s production company in a 2020 interview with Lost Media Wiki user bun39, female nudity, sexual violence, and violence towards animals were optically censored using blurring techniques, and discriminatory language was muted. Fortunately, a telecine transfer in standard definition had been made before any of the film’s edits were made. However, it was unknown if any film survived of the original uncensored version.

In 2006, Perisian company Ciné Malta licensed the film and released a PAL DVD of the film in limited quantities. This DVD contains a 48 minute cut of the film, and was widely believed to be the censored version of the film for years, until 2020, when Hiroshi Harada’s production company interviewed with Lost Media Wiki bun39, and stated that “in the 52-minute original, there is a narration at the beginning of a commentary on the "Underground Lantern Playhouse," and ... midway through the film, there is a scene in which the theater goes black and the loud sound of an earthquake is played.“ These scenes had been excised from the DVD version of the film as they were intended solely for theatre viewing. During the same interview, it was confirmed that the DVD version contained the original uncensored version of the film.

In 2013, the original 16 mm negative of the film was rediscovered in the back of an IMAGICA warehouse (a Japanese editing studio). Harada’s production company proceeded to strike a new uncensored print from this negative, as well as a 1080p digital master, and screened both at Japanese film festivals. A Blu-ray release of this version has been hinted at, but no official announcements have been made regarding it.


References