The SM Detective

At first I thought the Shibuya event was just a freebie presser, but it turns out it was a full-blown show and tickets were going for 3,750 yen a pop. Due to my schedule, I wasn't able to attend but Kogure told me it was sold out anyway. She thought there were 500 tickets available but according to this report, a thousand people were in attendance.

Arisue-san doesn't appear in the movie this time but he was very visible at the show in Shibuya, performing a live bondage act with the star of the film, Komukai Minako, that lasted about 40 minutes. Kogure was there feeding him the ropes.

This sometimes happens at shows. The nawashi is tying fast and concentrating on entertaining the audience. An assistant is off to the side handing him one rope after another. Since ropes come in different lengths and diameters, it's important to hand off the right rope at the right time. It reminds me of a surgeon performing a delicate operation as a nurse slaps a scalpel into his gloved hand.

Although Arisue-san did not reprise his role of Onigen this time around, he was the official nawashi/bondage adviser for the film and did all the tying of Ms. Komukai. He said that he spent a total of 20 days on set.

I always ask him the same question: Do you think Komukai Minako liked bondage? "Of course," he said. His response was the same when I asked him this regarding Sugimoto Aya who starred in the 2004 and 2005 re-makes. If she didn't like it, she wouldn't have accepted the role.

So, does that mean Ms. Komukai is an m-jo? Whoa! Hold your horses. Just because she liked it (didn't mind?), doesn't put her in the m-jo category.

I'm a location freak and I had read that one of the scenes in the new movie took place outdoors near some railroad tracks. Ms. Komukai is bound and helpless and some homeless perverts come across her and have their way with her. I really wanted to know where this scene was shot and Arisue said it took place near an abandoned slaughter house out in Chiba Prefecture. Cool.




Arisue Go with Komukai Minako at Duo Music Exchange in Shibuya


The director of Flower and Snake 3 is Yusuke Narita. I'm no expert on Japanese directors. Arisue-san said he was known for action movies. As far as I can tell, this is the first time Narita has directed this kind of movie. The film will be released on Aug. 28 in Japan so in just a few days we will see how he envisioned this tale created by Dan Oniroku nearly 50 years ago.

Speaking of Dan Oniroku, there was some chance, despite his ill health, of his appearing at the Shibuya event. I'm not sure that happened. The report I read didn't mention it.

Don't get this movie mixed up with previous versions of Flower and Snake. This franchise goes back a long ways. It seems the very first Flower and Snake was a pink film that came out in 1965. In the 1980s, Nikkatsu put out several films with Flower and Snake in the title. It appears that, in the West, these films have been numbered in order to distinguish one from the other. Needless to say, these are completely different from this new release which was produced by Toei.

I've embedded a couple of videos below. The first is the live show in Shibuya. The second, a trailer for the actual film.

KabukiJoe








Oh, and here's the talk show part. The interviewer is Lily Franky.