Shall we say, Tokyo Decadence is not everyone's cup-of-tea. The 'bents' are extreme and I suspect few would find them erotic and most might term it distasteful - but I liked the story and the performances - but not the drug use. The image is what it is and both it, and the audio, have improved upon DVD. The choice of purchase is your own.

***

ON THE DVDs: Previously released by Arrow Films in a non-anamorphic widescreen version, ArrowDrome's dual-layer, anamorphic transfer is also an NTSC-PAL conversion, although the original NTSC master wasn't all that hot to begin with going by the Cinema Epoch edition. The ArrowDrome transfer sports mattes on the top and sides of the image (cropped away, the image measures out to 1.75:1). Although the Cinema Epoch version seems to come from the same master (albeit unconverted), it does not have the top and side matting (the framing is the same, however). It is also an interlaced transfer of the 112 minute version (it is rumored that a 135 minute version was premiered in Japan, but his version has not turned up on home video and may have been an earlier, rougher cut of the film rather than a more explicit version, or the director may have been urged to trim it to a more workable length for VHS and laserdisc distribution).

The Japanese mono track is similar on both versions, but the English subtitle translations are different (Ishioka tells Ai to act like a "horny secretary" in the ArrowDrome, and a "horny businesswoman" in the Cinema Epoch) with the ArrowDrome generally featuring cruder language during the S&M sessions. For image quality, it is a draw (with the Cinema Epoch disc looking marginally better). While the ArrowDrome disc offers trailers for other ArrowDrome releases and a liner notes booklet by Robin Bougie (not supplied for review), the Cinema Epoch disc featured the film's trailer, a multi-page text-screen essay by Nicholas Rucka, and a featurette labeled as an interview with the director. It is actually a promo clip with footage from the film and a talk by the director.

TOKYO DECADENCE was first released in the US on VHS by Triboro and on LD by Image Entertainment. It was this master that Image released on DVD in 1999. This version featured both Japanese and English dubbed mono tracks (the running time is 108:36 and may either be cut - although it is reportedly the same as the NC-17 version [Triboro was known to trim their films, including some expository footage from their unrated versions of ANDY WARHOL'S DRACULA and FRANKENSTEIN during the period when they had the rights] - or a PAL conversion). Another fullscreen release followed in 2003 by First Run Features. The French Film Sans Frontieres edition features English, Japanese, and Italian audio tracks but only French subtitles.

 - Eric Cotenas