Misako Tominaga

It was five years ago when Minako spent a night with Sozo, younger brother of her ex-husband. She now lives in a local town with a rich old man who owns a dry goods store. Minako travels to Tokyo on business every three months, during which time she continues to meet Sozo, who has married the daughter of his respected teacher.

6.7/10

A young girl named Oichi is abandoned by her mother and blinded by a lightning strike. When her guardian is killed, she learns to wield a sword from a traveling ronin. As she develops into a master swordsman, her profession becomes that of a bounty hunter. Many test her sword and many die by her skills. She travels throughout the countryside to seek her mother and her revenge.

6.9/10

Goro had grown up in the yakuza world. As an active member of the Mizuhara family crime syndicate, he expressed his loyalty by always putting himself in the forefront of every battle. Violence never bothered him. However, after being sentenced to three years in prison for stabbing a rival gang’s hit man, he becomes disenchanted with the Yakuza life style. Goro is determined to start anew, but karma catches up. His two closest friends are murdered by his ex-boss. He is left with two options: to kill or be killed.

7.1/10

A nerdy young college instructor named Shinji Kikyo returns home one day to find himself the target of a mad assassin. Surviving somewhat miraculously, he fends off other assassins and with the help of reporter Keiko Tsurumaki and car mechanic Bill Otomo, eventually discovering that a "population control" association is really an assassination squad led by Shogo Mizorogi, who has been training patients of a mental asylum to become killers.

6.9/10

A young yakuza hitman named Goro does a job and needs to hideout away from Tokyo for a while. He hangs out with loose women and hard men and always manages to stay one step ahead of the law. In his exile, he comes under suspicion for a murder and meets the girlfriend of the murdered man. They develop a strange bond while unbeknown to Goro, another hitman is after him for the job he did in Tokyo.

6.8/10

This is the story of a vagrant samurai – the solitary, savage and scrupulous Kiba – who arrives at a village to defend a beautiful, blind woman against a sinister plot. Her assailants then send against him another samurai, named Sana, who is without scruples. The fight between them will become personal, for the honor and love of the blind woman.

7.1/10

Ayako, a young woman from a rural fishing village is sold by her family into a brothel when her father takes ill. There she quickly is stripped of her innocence and illusions.

6.9/10

In the shady black markets and bombed-out hovels of post–World War II Tokyo, a tough band of prostitutes eke out a dog-eat-dog existence, maintaining tenuous friendships and a semblance of order in a world of chaos. But when a renegade ex-soldier stumbles into their midst, lusts and loyalties clash, with tragic results. With Gate of Flesh, visionary director Seijun Suzuki delivers a whirlwind of social critique and pulp drama, shot through with brilliant colors and raw emotions.

7.4/10

Yoshie Nogami, a factory worker by day, moonlights as a hostess at a bar. One of the regulars, Eiji Kitami, invites her out on a date. Still only 19, she goes along out of curiosity and ends up spending the night at a hotel where she gives herself to him. They begin a passionate love affair and move in together, after which Yoshie begins skipping work at the factory and rarely returns to her family home. Before long, Eiji’s demeanor changes and he begins to constantly ask her for money. Despite claiming to be a businessman, he is actually a local thug, and his inability to pay his dues to his gang leads him to force Yoshie into prostitution. Driven by fear and resignation, she begins to entertain clients at Eiji’s apartment but flees when she is asked to pick up customers on the streets. However, a few days later she is captured by members of Eiji’s gang and subjected to a brutal lynching.

7.2/10

Miyoko Sekiguchi, who works at a second-rate trading company, and car mechanic Koji Fukumoto are in love. The morning after Koji and Miyoko went out for a drive, the strangled corpse of a call girl is discovered in Toyamagahara. Chief Akagi, Detective Sergeant Sawada, and the other detectives begin to suspect Koji during their investigation. Koji insists he's innocent, but has no evidence to prove it. Even when detectives come to Miyoko's home and workplace and her coworkers begin to look down on her, Miyoko continues to trust and love Koji...

In the late 1950's prostitution was banned in Japan and if a woman was found exercising this profession they were sent to a reformatory. This is a story of one of these brave women Kuniko who is released from the reformatory and tries to build a new life.

7.4/10