Shōjo Tsubaki

"The Camellia Girl" (少女椿) is a stock protagonist of kamishibai during its revival in early Shōwa period Japan. The character and her story is traditionally attributed to a creator known as Seiun, though the plagiarism and retelling in sundry variants that was the norm for popular-proving tales make its true origin uncertain. Generally speaking, the character is a stereotypical adolescent or preadolescent ingénue, a daughter of a penniless family who goes from selling camellias on the streets to being sold or forced to perform in a revue show.

The character is known to western and contemporary Japanese audiences predominantly by way of Suehiro Maruo's ero guro reinterpretation in comics, first in a short story as part of an anthology and then in a full-length graphic novel of the same name (published in English as Mr. Arashi's Amazing Freak Show), and Hiroshi Harada's semi-animated film based on Maruo's version, screened at film festivals and released on DVD-Video with English subtitles as Midori.

The graphic novel is considered a classic of Maruo's 1920s-inspired brand of ero guro and its out-of-print English edition has become much sought-after. Harada's film is also infamous in itself and for the elaborate expanded cinema presentations it was originally only shown in, though it has been allowed to screen in conventional movie theaters and even released on home video outside of Japan. A live-action film adaptation of the manga was released in Japan in May 2016.

Manga
Born into a poor family in 1938, Midori is a young girl who lives with her bedridden mother. To make ends meet, Midori drops out of school and begins selling camellia flowers in the city, where she meets a man by the name of Koijiro Arashi. He tells her that if she's ever in trouble, she can come visit him. Upon returning home, Midori finds her mother dead and partially eaten by rats. Now an orphan, she decides to visit Arashi, who takes her to his freak show.

Unfortunately, Midori's life does not improve upon joining the circus. She is forced to work as a servant, and she is constantly bullied, abused, sexually assaulted, and tortured by the bizarre and disfigured freak show performers.

The circus has also been falling on hard times, and in order to bring in more money, Arashi hires a magician named Masamitsu. Masamitsu is an overweight middle-aged man with dwarfism, as well as a pedophile who eventually takes Midori as his child bride. He acts as her "guardian", protecting her from the abuse of the other performers and grooming her into loving him. He goes so far as to brutally murder one of the performers who makes advances towards Midori.

Arashi eventually runs away with the circus's money, forcing the troupe to disband. Midori and Masamitsu end up leaving the circus together. Masamitsu leaves Midori at a bus stop while he goes to buy them a bento. On his way, Masamitsu is stabbed to death by a thief. Unaware of his death, Midori believes that Masamitsu simply abandoned her and never really cared for her. Midori attempts to run away somewhere, and begins to hallucinate the circus troupe mocking and bullying her once again. As she attempts to attack the hallucinations, they all disappear.

Traumatized and completely on her own, Midori suffers a mental break. The story ends with her alone and sobbing. It is implied that Midori may have committed suicide.

Characters

 * Hanamura Midori the Camellia Girl: An innocent girl around 12 years old with a distinctive bob haircut. She sells camellia flowers for a living. After the death of her ill mother, she joins a freak show, where she is abused and tormented by the performers. In the anime film, she is voiced by Minako Naka. In the live-action film, she is portrayed by Risa Nakamura.


 * Midori's Father and Mother: Midori's father is absent throughout the story, leaving his family alone. Midori's mother was bedridden due to an illness and is eventually eaten from the inside out by rats. Midori's mother is voiced by Akiko Tanaka in the anime and portrayed by Miyuki Torii in the live-action adaptation.


 * Mr. Arashi: The boss of the Amazing Freak Show and the seedy stranger who led Midori into his horrific circus. His full name is Koijiro Arashi. He first appears to be a benevolent man and good manager, but later proves himself to be a greedy and manipulative conman who'll do anything to get rich. He is a pedophile who is attracted to little boys, and he has a fetish for oculolinctus. In the anime film, he is voiced by Keinosuke Okamoto. In the live-action film, he is portrayed by Akihiro Nakatani.


 * Tokkuriji Muchisute the Mummy Man: A disfigured pervert with missing arms and a face covered in bandages, resembling a mummy. Depending on the adaptation, he is either a leper or a burn victim. He uses his feet in place of his missing hands, and performs archery with them in the show. He stalks and eventually rapes Midori, who he claims to have feelings for. Due to these unwanted sexual advances, he becomes an enemy of Masamitsu, who murders him via stuffing mud into his mouth. In the anime film, he is voiced by Kinshi Nomura. In the live-action film, he is portrayed by Daichi Saeki.


 * Akaza the Giant: A sword-swallowing, one-eyed strongman with a shaved head and tattoos. He is a laid-back "tough guy" who enjoys eating, money, and having sex with Benitsu. He goes along with the other circus members' sadism and fetishes. In the anime film, he is voiced by Kazuyoshi Hayashi. In the live-action film, he is portrayed by Motoki Fukami.


 * Benitsu the Snake Woman: A sadistic and promiscuous snake-charmer who engages in sex with various men. She once tried to solicit sex from Mr. Arashi, but was rejected due to his homosexuality and pedophilia. Despite also taking part in assaulting Midori both violently and sexually, Benitsu would later defend her and wish her happiness. In the anime film, she is voiced by Sanae Kato. In the live-action film, she is portrayed by Misaki Morino.
 * Kanabun the Boy-Girl: A fire-swallowing psychopath, characterized by overt cruelty and bloodlst. Their extreme sadism is displayed in an infamous scene in which they brutally murder Midori's puppies and make them into a stew. They appear as a doll-like young girl with a black ponytail, but have male genitalia and refer to themselves with the masculine first-person pronoun "ore". Kanabun is also considered to be male by other members of the circus. They are advertised as a "futanari" in the freak show, but it is unclear whether Kanabun is actually intersex or merely cross-dressing. They are also in an sadomasochistic sexual relationship with Mr. Arashi. In the anime film, they are voiced by Yumiko Takagi. In the live-action film, they are portrayed by Takeru.


 * Masamitsu the Bottled Wonder: A middle-aged magician who claims to be a master of Western magic tricks. One of these tricks involves him fitting himself inside a small bottle. He has a pedophilic attraction towards Midori. He is a dwarf, and becomes enraged when people make fun of him for this attribute. In the anime film, he is voiced by Norihiko Morishita. In the live-action film, he is portrayed by Shunsuke Kazama.

Anime film


Midori (地下幻燈劇画 少女椿) is a 1992 Japanese independent semi-animated ero guro fantasy horror drama film by Hiroshi Harada, based on Suehiro Maruo's comic version of the kamishibai standard. The film (which Harada wrote for the screen and directed under the pseudonym of Hisaaki Etsu (絵津久秋) and whom he presents as a lost filmmaker he worked on it under ) consists primarily of paintings and cels of drawings by Harada held, panned, or zoomed over with music, sound effects, voice acting, and occasional touches of traditional animation.

In 1994, a censored version of the film was produced for future screenings at the request of Eirin, the Japanese film censor board. This version optically censored nudity, sexual assault, and violence towards animals, while removing discriminatory language from the audio track in the form of audio muting. The 2006 Ciné Malta DVD release of the film contains the original 1992 version, albeit with two short sections intended for audiences at live screenings omitted.

For many years, a videotape transfer of the film was all that was known to exist of the film, aside from censored post-1994 film prints screened at various international film festivals. In 2013, the original 16 mm negative of the film was rediscovered in an IMAGICA warehouse. A new print and digital master were made from this negative and began to be screened in digital format in Japan numerous times. Harada's production company plans to release a restored Blu-ray Disc of the new film master in 2020.

Production
The film was single-handedly created by Hiroshi Harada. Given the subject matter, Harada had found it impossible to gain sponsors. He then used his life savings to make the film over a five-year period. Harada hand-drew over 5000 separate sheets of animation.

Screenings
The film was for many years very rare to see at all, as Harada will only screen Midori in Japan if the venue is presented as a carnival freak show. From 1994 to 2006, outside of standard definition videotape transfers of the original master, the film was only available in the form of prints with visual and audio censorship in place. However, in 2006, a region 2-locked PAL-style DVD-Video of the film with subtitles in French, English, Spanish, Italian, and German was released in France by Ciné Malta containing the film's original, uncensored version.

Live-action film
Midori: The Camellia Girl (映画 少女椿), a live-action film adaptation of the manga directed by Torico and starring was released in cinemas in Japan on May 21, 2016. Other cast members include Shunsuke Kazama,, Takeru of the band Sug, and.

The film was shown in Germany in 2017 at the 18th Japan-Filmfest Hamburg, and it was released on limited edition DVD (limited to 1000 copies in total) with Japanese audio and both German and English subtitles in German-speaking Europe by the distributor Midori-Impuls in 2020.