Many members of the Japanese Parliament tried to get the novel banned, but to no avail. When the film was released, they attempted to ban it also. Both efforts resulted in the novel and film becoming even more successful as people bought the book and went to the movie to see what the fuss was all about.
(at around 1h 5 mins) The magazine containing bomb-making instructions that is used by Shinji Mimura and his gang is titled "Hara Hara Tokei" ("The Ticking Clock"). This magazine is a real bomb-making magazine published by an anti-Japanese-Government activist group called Higashi Ajia Hannichi Buso Sensen (East Asia Anti-Japanese Armed Front) from the 1970s.
One of the top-10 highest-grossing films in Japan.
Actress Chiaki Kuriyama (Takako Chigusa) was cast as GoGo Yubari in Kill Bill - Vol. 1 (2003) by Quentin Tarantino, since he is a huge fan of this film.
Contrary to popular belief, this film was never banned in the United States. There are however, several conflicting, if plausible explanations as to why it wasn't initially released:
- Toei refused to license the movie for North American distribution and rejected offers from several American companies.
- Toei's licensing fee was unusually high for this kind of film, so smaller independent distributors could not afford it and larger distributors that could refused to pay.
- After the Columbine High School shootings (April 20, 1999), no distributor was willing to pick the film up, due to the plot line involving high school students killing each other.