Can there be beauty in pain? Can there be love found in the darkest pits of Hell? Hiroshi Harada’s animated film Shōjo Tsubaki, known simply as Midori outside of Japan, attempts to answer these questions. A film that is widely sought after and spoke about not just in the anime community, but in the independent film community at large. Reactions towards the film have historically ranged from high praise to outright labeling the film as filth. However, the film is actually viewed far less than it’s spoken about. This is due to official releases of the film becoming out of print years ago, as well as theatrical showings of the film being restricted by the strange restrictions set in place by Hiroshi Hirada. You see, Hirada originally did not allow theaters to show Midori unless they set up the theater like a freak show. While Hirada later became laxer on this rule, and even allowed some conventional theaters to show it, the film faded into relative obscurity for a long while due to this. However, the film remains widely bootlegged and is relatively easy to find in film swapping circles. Does Midori really warrant all this trouble? Is the film good enough to warrant the controversy and praise? After multiple viewings, my answer to both of these questions is a resounding yes.
An adaptation of influential mangaka Suehiro Maruo’s manga ‘Mr. Arashi’s Amazing Freak show,’ which itself is a retelling of popular kamishibai stories shown during Japan’s Shōwa era, Midori released in Japan in 1992. The story follows a young girl named Midori who becomes an orphan after the death of her mother. Midori joins a travelling freak show/circus and enters a world of hell full of rape, humiliation, and mental anguish.
Before speaking of the film’s quality, Hirada’s work must be discussed further. The film was single handedly created by Hirada himself, with Hirada hand drawing over 5000 pictures to create the film. The film was controversial almost from the beginning. After only two years the film was censored at the request of the Japanese film censor board Eirin. This cut of the film removed the scenes of sexual assault, animal cruelty, discriminatory language, and censored all nudity in the film. This censored version of the film was the only way to watch the film for many years after, and it became extremely difficult to find the film uncut for many years. Midori was eventually released in its uncut form in 2006 by French film distribution label Ciné Malta. Even so, this release went out of print in the following years and the only way to watch the film was in the form of bootlegs. However, the original 16 mm negative of the film was rediscovered in 2013 and began screening in Japan uncensored. There have been talks by Hirada’s production company of potentially releasing the film on blu-ray in the future as well, meaning that Hirada’s efforts will finally be widely available to witness. Now that the background has been explained, what about the actual film?
To start, the film is not a work of traditional animation. Instead, the film is a mix of paintings and drawings filmed in various ways by Hirada or zoomed-in on with musical accompaniment, sound effects, or voice acting. This is mixed in with traditional animation, and neither feel out of place. In fact, the film actually looks and sounds better than almost any other animated film, as the presentation is wholly unique and is always a sight to behold. Periods of traditional animation will have shocking moments in the form of still art. This change makes the impact of these scenes even more exaggerated due to Hirada forcing the viewer to look at what is happening and giving time to analyze it more deeply. These shocking moments are plentiful throughout the film, but never once do they feel out of place. Unlike much of the ero-guro genre, the film never feels self-indulgent. Yes, there are disturbing scenes of sexual abuse and graphic violence, but these always serve the story that the film is trying to tell. Midori’s world is a bleak one, and Hirada never shies away from showing the viewer this fact. Many viewers and critics of the film in the past have written the film off as pure filth and perversion due to this, but this blind writing-off of the film is both ignorant and unwarranted. You see, there is legitimate beauty in this film as well. It explores themes of love, innocence, and growing up just as much as it explores the darker themes. Oftentimes these themes are mixed, but to simply write off the film as being self-indulgent filth is to write off Hirada’s efforts.
The music ranges from soft and soothing, to harsh and jarring, and the soundtrack always fits the tone of the film. Tender moments are accompanied by light instrumentation, and when these moments change to scenes of misery the music changes to accompany this. Nothing in Midori feels out of place, and everything from the pacing to the animation style feels carefully executed by Hirada. Simply put, this is not just the best ero-guro anime film ever made, it is one of the best animated films ever made in general.
To watch Midori is to experience something that you never have before. Shocking, disturbing, beautiful, and haunting. A film that is a testament to the power of storytelling and animation as an art form, as well as a showcase of the talents of one man. This is truly one of my favorite films of all time, and it is one that everyone should experience at least once.
AKA: Shôjo tsubaki: Chika gentô gekiga, 地下幻燈劇画 少女椿, Мидори, 지하환등극화 소녀춘
Directed by: Hiroshi Harada
Written by: Hiroshi Harada, Suehiro Maruo
Produced by: Hiroshi Harada
Cinematography by: Nobuyuki Sugaya
Music by: J.A. Shîzâ
Cast: Minako Naka, Norihiko Morishita, Keinosuke Okamoto, Kazuyoshi Hayashi, Yoshifumi Nomura, Sanae Katô, Yumiko Takagi
Year: 1992
Country: Japan
Language: Japanese (English subtitles)
Colour: Colour
Runtime: 47m
Studio: Kiryûkan
Distributor: Ciné Malta