''Zero Woman'' () is a Japanese video exploitation series with ten entries dating from 1974 to 2007. The series chronicles the adventures of a woman Rei, who, working for a fictional

Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department The , known locally as simply the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), is the prefectural police of Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. Founded in 1874, the TMPD is the largest police force in Japan by number of officers, with a staff of more than 4 ...

secret agency called ''Zero Division'', goes undercover to infiltrate and assassinate drug kingpins, mercenaries, and various criminals and their henchmen. The original film may have been the inspiration for

Luc Besson Luc Paul Maurice Besson (; born 18 March 1959) is a French filmmaker. He directed and produced the films '' Subway'' (1985), '' The Big Blue'' (1988), and '' La Femme Nikita'' (1990). Associated with the '' Cinéma du look'' film movement, he h ...

's 1990 film '' La Femme Nikita''.

Series

was released by the Toei studio in May 1974. Along with '' Female Convict 701: Scorpion'' and its sequels, it was part of Toei's '' Pinky Violence'' series of sexploitation films made in response to the success of the

Nikkatsu is a Japanese film studio located in Bunkyō. The name ''Nikkatsu'' amalgamates the words Nippon Katsudō Shashin, literally "Japan Motion Pictures". Shareholders are Nippon Television Holdings (35%) and SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation (28.4%). ...

studio's Roman Porno titles. The film starred

Miki Sugimoto is a Japanese people, Japanese actress best known for her roles in the ''sukeban'' (delinquent girl) subgenre of Toei Company, Toei's action/erotic form of "pink film" known as ''Pinky Violence''. Life and career Sugimoto began her career as a M ...

as Rei who is released from prison to become the deadly assassin Zero Woman for a secret government agency. Also featured are Eiji Gō,

Tetsurō Tamba was a Japanese actor with a career spanning five decades. He appeared in nearly 300 film and television productions, both in leading and supporting roles, and was the winner of two Japan Academy Film Prizes. At the height of his career, he wa ...

Hideo Murota was a Japanese actor who specialized in playing villains and tough guys. In 1957, he signed a contract with Toei Studio and appeared in over 1000 films. He won the Best Supporting Actor award at the Yokohama Film Festival for his role in ''Origi ...

and Yōko Mihara. The film was directed by Yukio Noda and like the ''Female Convict Scorpion'' series was based on a

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

by Tōru Shinohara. Possibly due to the success of the 1990 '' La Femme Nikita'' and the 1993 American film rendition of the Nikita story, ''

Point of No Return The point of no return (PNR or PONR) is the point beyond which one must continue on one's current course of action because turning back is no longer possible, being too dangerous, physically difficult, or prohibitively expensive to be undertaken. ...

'', in the mid-1990s, a movie and a series of low-budget straight-to-video

V-cinema Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, television series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strate ...

releases based on the original ''Zero Woman'' appeared. A different actress played Rei in each of the productions. The January 1995 movie, was directed by Koji Enokido and starred Naoko Iijima (as Rei) and Tokuma Nishioka. From 1995 to 2004, seven

works were released: * (1995) starring

Natsuki Ozawa (born April 19, 1972) is a Japanese singer, actress and AV actress who has appeared in mainstream films and adult videos. Life and career As a teenager, Ozawa had roles in two 1987 films, the youth action comedy '' Be-Bop High School: Koko yot ...

* (1996) starring Kumiko Takeda * (1996) starring Mai Tachihara * (1997) starring Mikiyo Ono * (1998) starring Chieko Shiratori * (1998) starring Saori Ono * (2004) starring Maiko Tōno In 2007, the

pink film refers in Japan to movies produced by independent studios that includes nudity (hence 'pink') or deals with sexual content. This encompasses everything from dramas to action thrillers and exploitation film features. Many pink films would be a ...

studio

Shintōhō Eiga is a Japanese pink film production company and film distributor located in Tokyo, Japan which has been among the most influential studios in the pink film genre since its beginnings. Foundation The first Shintōhō, or "New Toho", also known ...

released the tenth entry in the series, , directed by Ken'ichi Fujiwara and starring Atsuko Miura as Rei. Also in the cast were Sasa Handa, Masaki Miura and Hiromitsu Kiba. The film was released theatrically by Shintōhō on May 26, 2007 and a DVD edition was published by the Take Shobo company in July 2007.

References

{{Reflist Action film series Girls with guns films Japanese direct-to-video films Japanese film series Films scored by Shigeru Umebayashi

Series

See also

References