[18+] Tomomi Akimoto’s Graduation

Thanks to: nameinuyotchan

DDL | Archive

This was mentioned in the previous post, but rather than dealing with laserdiscs myself, I found a decent quality laserdisc rip of Tomomi’s “Graduation” on the website formerly known as Twitter, split into 13 parts and stitched back together here. The story is about a student’s crush on her teacher. Released by Cosmos Plan in 1987.

Indeed, Mr. Saitoh did.

The drama-like narrative production style Makoto Saitoh was known for is still present. There is a more traditional AV scene in here, but it’s still conservative, and the mosaic censorship is so heavy that you couldn’t make out anything either way (for one, showing pubic hair was still prohibited when this was filmed). Considering the runtime for this was just below 30 minutes, editing it in any capacity would have interfered with the story to the point that it wouldn’t make sense anymore. Still, this is really the “you could have easily shown that on late night TV” softcore type. It’s also genuine art.

The original copy posted was upscaled to HD and not properly deinterlaced, but I managed to remove most of the artifacts via QTGMC, although the heavy compression made it so that I couldn’t derive a 60fps version (the frame rate this was originally shot in) from it. The ending song sung by Akimoto is rather nice and her idol-like charms really blossom here.

~Info
Video: 8-bit x264, CRF18 (Preset: Slower)
720×540 (Anamorphic 4:3), CFR 30fps
Audio: Japanese, 2 Channels, AAC, 128kbps
Subtitles: None
Source: Laserdisc Webrip

[R-15] Blooming Path + MP3

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Contains nudity and non-graphic sexual expressions.

More vintage Cosmos comfy Plan. First, I made a mistake about the director’s name, it’s actually Makoto Saitoh, not Sakai. This video was released in 1989 and stars Tomomi Akimoto, and it’s a pretty straight love/romance story. Again, what’s notable about Sakai Saitoh is his ability to tell stories from a pure visual perspective without many spoken lines, almost like an image video. He perfectly capture the aesthetics and feel of the bubble period. Unfortunately, a lot of his movies seem to be laserdisc exclusives, and I’m not looking to buy a LD player just for that.

There’s some interview segments with Akimoto cut in between the story scenes. The folder also includes a recording of Akimoto from her idol days that was not included in the movie itself. The song’s lyrics and a relatively recent interview with her are linked on pastebin.

~Info
Video: 8-bit x264, CRF20 (Preset: Slower)
720×540 (Anamorphic 4:3), CFR 60fps
Audio: Japanese, 2 Channels, AAC, 128kbps
Subtitles: None
Source: VHS

[18+] Silent Hallways

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1990 original video pink film directed by Makoto Saitoh and starring Ai Komori about a female student’s struggles with bullying and sexual harassment. Keep in mind that it’s pink, not JAV, so there’s plenty of nudity & sex, but all the naughty bits are non-graphic (think late night TV flicks). What’s more impressive is that it manages to tell quite a bit of story using little to no dialogue, so it’s easy to follow without subs. For that matter, I really like Saitoh’s/Cosmos Plan’s directional style. The song sung during Komori’s violent musical performance at the end is Spring, Summer, Fall & Winter (English translation provided) by Shigeru Izumiya.

~Info
Video: 8-bit x264, CRF19,50 (Preset: Slower)
720×540 (Anamorphic 4:3), CFR 60fps
Audio: Japanese, 2 Channels, AAC, 128kbps
Subtitles: None
Source: DVD

Psychic Sailor Fantasy

DDL | Archive

1988 original video drama directed by Makoto Saitoh and starring Chiyuki Makimoto. The story takes great inspiration from the famous novel The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, and Nobuyoshi Araki’s film rendition in particular.

Although the original story had adult content, this is an all-ages, worksafe (mostly) re-edit.

Another note is that the VHSRip unfortunately suffers from the same visual issues as Pretty Executor, meaning the image being too dark. The capture gear I use has no option to turn up contrast, so please excuse that.

~Info
Video: 8-bit x264, CRF19 (Preset: Slower)
720×540 (Anamorphic 4:3), CFR 60fps
Audio: Japanese, 2 Channels, AAC, 128kbps
Subtitles: None
Source: VHS