Jokôsei: Tenshi no harawata

This is the first of six movies in the Angel Guts series based on a manga. Also the worst of the series.

A motorcycle gang of three enjoys raping girls preferably young and not afraid of hitting or tying the girls while raping them. One of the gang members has a younger sister he is trying to protect from the world as well as paying his debts to the Yakuza.

This movie is very depressing. All the girls are victims and most are throwaway characters. Two of the men of the gang don't seem to have any redeeming value. The third might have some value, sort of, but you'll have to watch to see as that's the only interesting story arc in this movie. The rapes scenes are very disturbing and often violent. Nothing erotic about them.

This does have a good soundtrack for 1978. That's the best that can be said for this movie. If you want to watch the Angel Guts series you can skip this turkey.

I like J-horror, anime and even kinda dig the pink movement, which some have claimed this a member of, but this did nothing for me. I willing to go a step further and label this one of the biggest let downs of my film watching career.

Three young rockabillies go around getting their kicks out of raping girls. One of the group starts to develop a concisions about their pass-time when his kid sister nearly catches them in the act. Invariably, the group turns on itself as the once friends begin fighting with each other. It ends on a down note befitting the film as a whole.

Aside from watching the friends yell at each other, which they do a lot, there isn't a whole lot going on here. The film is littered with LONG continual shots that only exacerbate the issue. On top of that, even when the film starts to do something interesting, it suddenly gets bogged down in ethereal philosophy that never makes any sense. For instance, after one of the buddies has his change of heart about assaulting girls, he goes out and does it again, but then stops his buddies from taking their turns. Huh? The cinematography is slow and lighting is poor. The writing is OK, as is the acting, which makes this a sub-par cinematic effort from the start. Mix the lack of technical prowess with the flimsy content and you have nothing more than a waste of time.

Oh, and one more extra note, at least one of the girls that appears in the buff does not look old enough to be doing that kinda stuff.

3/10

Tells the story of three bike riders whom seem to spend their time riding, laughing, paying their dues to the jakuza and seeking out to rape young women victims. At least two, lead by Kawashima (black helmet) and Kaji (orange helmet). There seemed to be a hint that the other one Sada (sunglasses) wasn't interested in women.

Even though the film is well shot, with believable dialogue and is fast moving. It really does start off right away. We see within the first five minutes these bikers make their first attempted rape on a young woman Nami (she was a passenger in a bright vehicle passing by). Of course they stopped the vehicle with their bikes and threw the driver out.

Another quite disturbing somewhat climax is the further rape scene once again with this woman but this time she was fleeing but was soon stopped in the rain by the railroad's (around the 39 minute mark). There seemed to be soothing music playing throughout which was odd.

The main subplot though reflects with the lead biker protecting his younger sister Megu. Within with an hour she gets attempted raped by one of his friends (Kaji) yet she never tells her brother (which was bizarre). The final twenty minutes feels rather slowed down as we are watching the brother trying to figure what happened. The very ending wasn't very good either as none of these characters really got what they deserved. As a film it is intended in being disturbing with its nature due to its somewhat realism and not for everyone.

Only in Japanese cinema could you find a character living by a such a seriously messed-up moral code as biker Kawashima (Sanshô Shinsui): as a member of a ruthless gang, he thinks nothing of robbing and raping innocent strangers on a daily basis, yet he goes out of his way to protect an innocent schoolgirl from being raped by fellow thug Kaji; given orders to rape the schoolgirl himself, however, and he complies without protest. Kawashima also acts as guardian to his younger sister Megu, protecting her from the harsh realities of his life, but when he catches the occasional glimpse of her blossoming female form, it is clear that his feelings of brotherly love extend beyond the accepted norm.

Such an unbalanced individual should make for very interesting viewing, but sadly Takashi Ishii's meandering, confusing and ultimately pointless script for Angel Guts High School Co-ed wastes any opportunity to delve further into Kawashimi's clearly disturbed psyche (or those of his pals), preferring instead to simply deliver a series of sleazy sexual assaults for the viewers' titillation. The girls are very attractive of course, and all get nekkid for the camera, but as much as I enjoy seeing pretty Japanese babes in the buff, I had hoped Angel Guts: High School Coed would offer something a little more substantial in the plot department to prevent tedium from setting in.

5.5 out of 10, rounded up to 6 for IMDb.

There's so much obscure Japanese cinema that I long to see. Thank God for niche suppliers like Tokyo Shock and Artsmagic. The latter has resurrected a five film series of Nikkatsu pink films entitled Angel Guts. High School Co-ed is the first of these films, all of which center around a brutal act of rape, around which a moral tale unfolds. This one has a group of three bikers who attack young women. One of them, Kawashima, has a small bit of conscious, though. Outside of his friends, he lives for his young sister and realizes that the violence he and his friends enact upon others could just as easily be applied to her. While I've seen more graphic material before, the actual rape scenes are very disturbing. The artistic merit is certainly questionable, and the acts are played for stimulation. However, the script is very good, and the characters come across as people. There is at least one character whose situation is only hinted at and never explained – I would have liked to know more about him. And the ending is very odd. Otherwise, definitely a film of interest, if not for those who are easily shocked.