Hidekazu Takahara's pinku film Tsumugi (Seifuku bisyojo sensei atashi wo daite) is notable for one reason: the presence of Sora Aoi in the lead role. In the film, Sora Aoi plays Tsumugi, a teenage nymph who gets it on with both her high school teacher (Takashi Naha), who is in a mid-life crisis, and one of her classmates (Satoshi Kobayashi). When she isn't bedding paramours, Tsumugi is running around, showboating, and repeating herself. A subplot is featured involving the teacher's friend, an older punk rocker played by Shigeru Nakano of the legendary Japanese punk band Anarchy.
Tsumugi is basically a teen drama presented in the pinku format. The dramatic element is taken a bit further than usual, but ultimately, the dramatic beats line the path to the sex scenes. Sora Aoi's performance is hilariously overdone. For example, her dialog consists of many questions and one-line statements that are intended to make her character seem precocious, but Aoi's delivery actually makes the character seem confused and crazy.
Pink Eiga's new special edition DVD features Japanese language audio in 5.1 surround with new English subtitles. Although the image quality is a bit soft, Pink Eiga's widescreen presentation is probably as good as this film will ever look. The DVD is loaded with extras, including multiple Sora Aoi featurettes and interviews, production diaries, trailers, videos from Shirgeru Nakano's band Dread Nought, and lots more. Given the general unavailability of Sora Aoi films outside of Japan, Tsumugi is pretty much essential for fans. For those generally interested in pinku, Tsumugi is certainly not the best of the genre, but the mountain of extras makes Pink Eiga's release worth investigating.
