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Tokyo Emmanuelle
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray B - United Kingdom - 88 Films Review written by and copyright: Eric Cotenas (13th July 2025). |
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The Film
 When her French husband Pierre has not returned for four days after a fight, Kyoko (Wolf Guy's Kumi Taguchi) takes the advice of her old girlfriend Eiko (The Horrors of Malformed Men's Mitsuko Aoi) to fly back to Tokyo to give her some time and space to think about whether her marriage is worth saving. Upon arrival, Kyoko is reluctant to resume the more intimate side of her relationship with Eiko but finds distraction in a hotel bellboy (Street of Joy's Kunio Shimizu) when no one picks up the phone at home. Eiko introduces her to Maki (Gamera vs. Gyaos' Fujio Murakami), a professor at the women's university who has developed new laws of sexuality in which that which is biological cannot be erotic, only that which is "unnatural" can be truly pleasurable; as such, sexual acts of one, three or more, homosexuality, masturbation, and group sex that bypass biology and engage the body and the mind are the essence of eroticism. Teenage Rumi (Naka Fuyuki) warns Kyoko against listening to Maki, claiming that he is impotent and a "mental voyeur" who projects his fantasies onto others. Despite being raped by two hikers on the way to Maki's country residence, Kyoko dallies with Maki's bisexual lover and assistant Minoru (Namio Sokame), puts Maki's philosophy into practice with some self-love while knowingly being spied upon, and has a muddy, naked scrum with an entire rugby team before urging Rumi to graduate beyond the "lesbian phase" of her sexual development. It is only when she discovers that Eiko is also a convert into Maki's sexual laws that she realizes her duplicity; but have Eiko's manipulation and Maki's perversions transformed her from a woman who cannot live without her husband into a being who recognizes the primacy of her own sexual pleasure? A Nikkatsu Roman Porno take on the novels attributed to Emmanuelle Arsan but penned by her diplomat husband Louis-Jacques Rollet-Andriane, Tokyo Emmanuelle – dropping one 'm' in keeping with the practice of other ripoffs and spinoffs trying to avoid litigation – is essentially a retelling of the original novel and film adaptation with some minor changes but largely sticking to the idea of a housewife tempted into lesbian dalliances before falling under the influence of an older male libertine who has made sex a philosophy with impotence presumably preferred by the filmmakers and target audience than any display of male homosexuality more overt than some wrist squeezing; that said, the film does seem to embody Maki's philosophy in that the "necessary" progression for Rumi from lesbianism to group sex involves an intermediary requirement of making love with a man that takes the form of rape since she is unwilling and Maki goads Minoru into proving he is a man by forcing her, making this "biological" combination seem very unnatural despite Kyoko's encouragement after being ravished by an entire sports team. Like the Just Jaeckin film, Tokyo Emmanuelle also concludes with its protagonist pondering her reflection and her transformation under the surface. Perhaps hoping to market the film as an "Emmanuelle" sequel abroad, there are only a few explicit (albeit fogged) sex scenes while the others like the slow motion rugby scrum linger more on Kyoko's topless writhing. Taguchi – who looks a bit like a Eurasian combination of Emmanuelle Riva (Hiroshima Mon Amour) and Françoise Fabian (Belle de jour) – only made a few films including Cloistered Nun: Runa's Confession for Nikkatsu while Aoi, Shimizu, and Toshihiko Oda (Youth of the Beast) – who plays the guide Eiko arranges for Kyoko who gropes her when she falls asleep during their drive – were regulars in the Roman Porno line along with director Akira Katô (Female Teacher: Cherry Boy Hunt) who directed over forty films during the roughly decade-long cycle of the genre. 
Video
Presumably due to its literary and cinematic "pedigree," Tokyo Emmanuelle was of the few Nikkatsu Roman Porno films to be dubbed into English and released theatrically in English-speaking countries posing as a semi-sequel by describing its relatively inexperienced heroine in the tagline as the "lady who has done everything takes on the East…" The U.K. X-certificate theatrical release ran nearly ninety-one minutes and the pre-cert cassette release ran slightly shorter due to the higher PAL framerate; however, the original Japanese version comes in at just under seventy-one minutes; the reason for this being that the U.K. version incorporated footage from the film's sequel Tokyo Emmanuelle: Private Lessons which was no released outside of Asian territories (we have no idea if the sex scenes were unfogged for export or if the U.K. distributors cut around those shots). 88 Films' 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 2.45:1 widescreen Blu-ray features the original Japanese version running 70:31. Apart from one or two bumpy reel transitions as well as the shift from color Nikkatsu logo to the black and white prologue – which may always have been an issue going by experience of some of the rough edges of the Roman Porno titles in post compared to the emphasis on onscreen production value – the image is pretty spotless with the occasional popping primaries against a color scheme that is sometimes muted in seventies décor and wardrobe. Textures are evident in close-ups of skin, hair, and clothing while the softness of wider shots seems to be a combination of on-camera diffusion and the older anamorphic lenses. 
Audio
Audio options include both the original Japanese LPCM 2.0 mono track – which features some French dialogue, some of which is subtitled onscreen in Japanese while some was presumably deemed incidental enough to not require translation – as well as the LPCM 2.0 mono English dub that reverts to Japanese with English subtitles for scenes not included in the English version. We have no idea if those bits were trimmed in preparing the export version – including Rumi's first attempt to warn Kyoko off Maki and the morning aftermath of Kyoko's encounter with the bellboy and another unanswered call home – or excised in creating the U.K. composite but it is an appreciated inclusion in the absence of the U.K. version even as a tape master (which might be due to its rarity or Nikkatsu asserting their approval of the final product Toho-style). The Japanese track sounds cleaner than the English which more likely comes from a VHS source than provided by Nikkatsu. The optional English subtitles are free of any noticeable errors. 
Extras
The film is accompanied by an audio commentary by film historians David Flint and Jasper Sharp who discuss how Emmanuelle had become a byword for "porno chic" and the number of films in the U.K. that either added "Emmanuelle" or "Emanuelle" to the title – and even used the familiar font from the Jaeckin film – while also noting that the film hits the beats of the original film like a "half-remembered" retelling. Sharp provides some background on the film's production and also notes that the film's theme song was sung by Kenji Sawada (Samurai Reincarnation) who had been part of the Beatles-esque band The Tigers in the sixties and then went solo and androgynous before Bowie – although the main character's name is Kyoko, the theme song is "Julie" out of Sawada's admiration for Julie Andrews for whom he also titled a solo album – but neither seem to have been aware of the reason for the running time discrepancy between the U.K. and Japanese versions and may not have been given a master with the English track as the ponder whether the U.K. version was shown subtitled. "Lost in Translation" (18:18) is an introduction to Roman Porno by film historian Kei Chiba who distinguishes pink and Roman Porno films – also revealing that the "Roman" was added because it conferred the idea of class and that it was actually derived from a proposal of films submitted to Nikkatsu by an independent company – and that although Nikkatsu turned to the genre as a money-making endeavor, it registered with the anti-establishment crowd because of the eight year obscenity trial that eventually went in the studio's favor, and that during that time they had targeted universities with apperances by the filmmakers and cast. He also reveals that a number of the male performers had been bit players at the studio promoted to stars when a lot of the contract talent quit over the change while the women were scouted and made instant stars. "Emanuelle Goes to Tokyo" (7:24) is an introduction by film historian Mio Hatokai who reveals that due to the output of Roman Porno, there was a constant need for new ideas and incorporating "Emmanuelle" was another variation. She also discusses star Taguchi and how director Katô acknowledged that the audience was 99.9 percent men but he still felt it was his responsibility to satisfy the female audience and she discusses how his films presented more nuanced depictions of female characters. She also draws from the liner notes of the Japanese DVD release which interpret the ending as less transformative than the source, suggesting that Kyoko does indeed go back to her respectable life (although we have not seen the sequel which may indicate that beyond the more ambiguous final shot). The disc also includes the stills gallery (1:14) and the Japanese theatrical trailer (2:36). It would have been nice if we could even see an upscale of the U.K. version from tape but it may be too rare or the inclusion of footage from the sequel might have lead to a rights issue. 
Packaging
The first pressing includes a limited edition OBI strip and booklet notes by Jasper Sharp and Dakota Noot (not provided for review).
Overall
Although Tokyo Emmanuelle has no character named Emmanuelle (or Emanuelle), it does provide an entertaining example of Nikkatsu Roman Porno's diversity and how exploitation distributors continued to capitalize on the success of the original film well beyond its release.
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