Hiroko Sato – Kanbai Gekijo Togenko

29 Jul 2007 Comments Off

Hiroko Sato – Kanbai Gekijo Presents Hiroko Sato / Togenko (2005)
TV Asahi

The Skinny: An excellent DVD circa October 2005. Not exactly a whirlwind tour of Okinawa – instead think of this one as a compendium of Hiroko looking breathtaking in various beautiful settings. In short I loved this DVD.

Let’s begin with a scan of a photo, a freebie that is included with the DVD. This was unexpected, and we appreciate that TV Asahi thought of this as an added bonus.

The DVD is structured into groups of sequences like Okinawa Seaside File, Kanbai Dream File, Kanbai Photo Memory, and Treasure Box which you can select from the Menu. As the video opens we see a woman walking on a back country road. She’s dressed in a white dress, later she will carry a parasol to protect her from the sun, and, she wears a hat.

In a series of shots, shown montage-style, they establish two facts: the woman is the beautiful Hiroko Sato, and the images are breath-taking. If you speak Japanese, you would understand what Hiroko is saying in a gentle voice-over.

While the country shots are spectacular, the beach series which follows is even prettier. Hiroko goes through a series of different colored bikinis. The weather could not have been nicer – check out the rich blue color of the sky on the box cover – and the beach itself is spectacular.

These beach scenes (Okinawa Seaside File) employ some editing gimmicks which spruce up the action to a degree. Hiroko does her best to look as beautiful as can be, and the images speak for themselves.

There are many closeups, and Hiroko playfully looks right into the lens in these closeups as though she has spent most of her life with us.

This is followed by a scene that opens with Hiroko carrying a big Canon camera. She’s by the coast – we those same concrete boulders that we’ve seen before – a Okinawan trademark. We also see something that is man-made and projects out into the sea. We are not sure of what it is.

We find out when we first hear the sounds then get the visual evidence. Hiroko has been positioned sea-side directly in the path of incoming jet planes who will touch down in less than 50 yards from where she’s standing. In short the jets fly right over her head.

They include some of the shots taken by Hiroko. While you can’t quite count the rivets in the belly of the jet-liners, easily this is as close as you’ve ever been to a in-flight airplane without being inside of it.

There’s a lengthy photo montage segment (Kanbai Photo Memory) that follows. These are a series of stills from some of Hiroko’s either movies or work in television serials circa 2003 -2004.

While it is nice to a see a idol in regular clothes, the sequence was entirely too long, and seemed totally out of place unless this was work done in Okinawa. There are notes in handwriting serving as captions for some of the images, but I cannot read the script, so I have no idea what the notations said.

Following this we get a series of chapters, (Kanbai Dream File) all of the indoor variety, and all with Hiroko in another series of bikinis. This segment was again handled with some intriguing editorial flourishes.

I believe that this DVD was made entirely with a great amount of loving dedication. The interplay between Hiroko as model and the director, as well as the connectivity between the director and his editor, seemed so harmonious and the results are superb.

There’s also a section (Treasure Box) which includes some off-shoots, and making of segments which show Hiroko at work, as well as Hiroko at play.

Summary: a supremely successful video experience. While the point of Hiroko taking photos of arriving jet-liners was lost on me, the execution of the sequence was excellent.

The photo montage was again inexplicable – but maybe a Japanese speaker would care to offer some comments here. But the vision of Hiroko as an actress portraying a real world person (albeit Japanese soap-opera style) in sweaters, suits, and in work garb as a nurse and a surgical nurse were fun.

If you’ve read my earlier reviews (see list below) of Hiroko’s DVD’s, you already know that I am of the opinion that she’s amongst the best of the gravure models. So it will be no surprise that I award this DVD a four point five, and the half point reduction from perfection is for the overlong photo montage. Otherwise this is as good as it gets. Don’t miss it.

http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-ag-49-en-70-x88.html
http://www.jpophelp.com/scripts/newsite/proddetails.asp?listid=JPN-PCBE-51692

May 26th, 2007 – http://www.justmemikesnewalsoonvideo.com/2007/05/26/hiroko-sato-himitsu/