''Zero Woman'' ( ja, ゼロウーマン) is a Japanese film and 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 serves as the prefectural police department of Tokyo Metropolis. Founded in 1874, it is headed by a Superintendent-General, who is appointed by the National Public Safety Commission, and approved by the Prime Minister. The Tokyo Metro ...

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 film director, screenwriter and producer. He directed or produced the films '' Subway'' (1985), ''The Big Blue'' (1988), and '' La Femme Nikita'' (1990). Besson is associated with the ' ...

'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 entertainment company known for its film and television productions. It is Japan's oldest major movie studio, founded in 1912 during the silent film era. The name ''Nikkatsu'' amalgamates the words Nippon Katsudō Shashin, literally ...

studio's

Roman Porno in its broadest sense includes almost any Japanese theatrical film that includes nudity (hence 'pink') or deals with sexual content. This encompasses everything from dramas to action thrillers and exploitation film features. The Western equiv ...

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 ...

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 is best known in the West for his role in the 1967 James Bond film '' You Only Live Twice'' as Tiger Tanaka. Biography Tamba had a part-time job as an interpreter at Supreme Commande ...

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 ''Shin ...

and

Yōko Mihara was an actress of Japanese exploitation cinema, erotic dancer and pin-up model who was active from the 1950s to 1970s. Life and career Mihara signed up with Shintoho in 1951 but appeared mostly in minor roles, pursuing the career of a pin-up mo ...

. The film was directed by

Yukio Noda Yukio is a masculine Japanese name, Japanese given name. Possible writings Yukio can be written using different combinations of kanji characters. Here are some examples: *幸夫, "happiness, man" *幸生, "happiness, live" *幸男, "happiness, ...

and like the ''Female Convict Scorpion'' series was based on a

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) 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 prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

Tōru Shinohara is a Japanese manga artist. He was born in Niihama, Ehime. After graduating from high school in 1955, he started working at a factory in Osaka making car parts but quit after only ten months. He studied manga via a mail-offered course and wro ...

. 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 dangerous, physically impossible or difficult, or prohibitively expensive. The point of no return can be a ...

'', 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, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy was p ...

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 is a feminine Japanese given name which is occasionally spelled . Possible writings Naoko can be written using different kanji characters and can mean: *直子, "obedient, child" *尚子, "esteem, child" *奈緒子, "Nara, cord, child" *菜緒 ...

(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 yotar ...

* (1996) starring

Kumiko Takeda is a Japanese actress. Personal life Takeda was married to an American from 2000 until divorcing in 2016. She currently lives with her daughter in San Diego. Filmography * ''Shuffle (film), Shuffle'' (1981) - Girl in playground * ''High Teen ...

* (1996) starring

Mai Tachihara is a Japanese actress. She appeared in '' Ring: Kanzenban'', the 1995 TV movie adaptation of Koji Suzuki is a Japanese writer, who was born in Hamamatsu and lives in Tokyo. Suzuki is the author of the ''Ring'' novels, which have been adap ...

* (1997) starring Mikiyo Ono * (1998) starring Chieko Shiratori * (1998) starring

Saori Ono (born 1975) is a Japanese model and actress. Life and career Ono began her career as a fashion and gravure model and was featured as the 1997 Asahi Kasei swimsuit Campaign Model. In 1998, she starred in the erotic action-thriller V-cinema produc ...

* (2004) starring

Maiko Tōno is a Japanese actress. She starred as Rei, the Zero Woman, in the 2004 V-cinema Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an ...

In 2007, the

pink film in its broadest sense includes almost any Japanese theatrical film that includes nudity (hence 'pink') or deals with sexual content. This encompasses everything from dramas to action thrillers and exploitation film features. The Western equiv ...

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 a ...

released the tenth entry in the series, , directed by

Ken'ichi Fujiwara is a masculine Japanese given name. Possible writings Ken'ichi can be written using different kanji characters and can mean: *賢一, "wise, one" *健一, "healthy, one" *憲一, "constitution, one" *謙一, "humble, one" *建一, "build, one" * ...

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

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0219420, Zero Woman Action film series Girls with guns films Japanese direct-to-video films Japanese film series Films scored by Shigeru Umebayashi

Series

See also

References

External links