Wandering Ginza Butterfly Collection Limited Edition

On the same year that she defined the action heroine with her role in the Female Prisoner Scorpion series, Japanese screen legend Meiko Kaji teamed up with future Sister Street Fighter director Kazuhiko Yamaguchi for a diptych of gambling, deception and violence set on the mean streets of 1970s’ Tokyo: Wandering Ginza Butterfly and its sequel She Cat Gambler!

The first film sees Kaji’s character Nami “The Red Cherry Blossom” returning to her old stomping ground in the seedy Tokyo district of Ginza after a stint in prison for killing a yakuza boss. She soon settles in, living in her uncle’s pool hall and working at the local hostess club. But when ruthless yakuza Owada (Koji Nanbara, 11 Samurai) attempts to take control of the club, Nami and her uncle devise a plan to take him down. In the sequel, Kaji is paired up with the equally legendary Sonny Chiba at his most charismatic as the streetwise Ryuji, who takes a shine to Nami and decides to help her on her quest to avenge her father. Together they’ll comb through every seedy gambling den and lowlife ruffian of the Ginza underworld until Nami finally zeroes in on her prey.

Meiko Kaji is magnetic as the steely and righteous Nami, whose foray into Tokyo’s sordid back alleys is brought to life by Yamaguchi’s energetic direction in this electric spectacle of 1970s Japanese crime cinema.

LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS

• High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation of both films
• Original lossless Japanese mono audio for both films
• Optional newly translated English subtitles for both films
• Brand new audio commentary for Wandering Ginza Butterfly by Japanese cinema experts Patrick Macias and Matt Alt, hosts of the Pure TokyoScope podcast
• Archival audio commentary for Wandering Ginza Butterfly by Japanese cinema expert Chris D.
• Back to Back in the Yakuza Multiverse, a brand new interview with Patrick Macias and Matt Alt on Wandering Ginza Butterfly 2: She-Cat Gambler
• Genre Mill Memories, an archival interview with director Kazuhiko Yamaguchi
• Butterfly and Scorpion, an archival appreciation of star Meiko Kaji by Japanese action and pink film expert J-Taro Sugisaku
• Original trailers for both films
• Reversible sleeve featuring new artwork for both films by Andy Bourne
• Collectors’ booklet featuring new writing on the films by Asian cinema expert Camille Zaurin