Chisato Shouda - A Showa Tale of a Shameful and Secret Affair
Translation and Timing by ZENRA


“The tale of an ordinary farm wife living deep in Japan's aging countryside.  An outsider, a man of refined character, from Tokyo visits and through fate more than anything, they slowly fall in love.  In the susurration of falling rain, they meet and make love again and again.  A drama of immorality and forbidden passions starring Chisato Shouda.”

There are many things A SHOWA TALE OF A SHAMEFUL AND SECRET AFFAIR gets right about Japanese countryside living.  The biggest and most obvious:  WOMEN, not men, are the real farmers of Japan.  I speak from experience having lived in such areas that if there EVER is a farm-related job that requires only one person, the woman does it.  If it needs two and one allows someone to sit, the man gets that 'opportunity'.  If both jobs do require both to be on their feet, you're nearly guaranteed to see the more demanding of the two tasks being carried out by the wife.  AND of course, once said tasks are over, the husband quickly retires to watch TV for hours with an "I did work today!" smugness etched on his wrinkled, drooping face while his wife, the actual farmer, now has to prepare a multi-course dinner.  "Important" agriculture co-op meetings (in reality, old men drinking parties) are of course regular happenings with farmer wives needing to be on call to pick up their husbands who can't drive home safely anymore.

Such is the life of a "farmer's" wife in Japan.  Such is the life CHISATO SHOUDA skillfully portrays in today's update by ORGA.  Her husband does a fine job being the good-for-nothing 'breadwinner' though his mannerisms didn't quite nail actual Japanese farmer and more of a guy from Tokyo trying to emulate one.  Still, it was a decent portrayal in this top-heavy (when it comes to dialog portions at least) release.

This was one of ORGA's first titles and they really go to town with the visuals and original music.  I almost think the director was more into some of those beautiful bucolic backdrops than the questionably immoral romance that happened again and again between married Shoko (CHISATO SHOUDA) and a city slicker (JO OSHIMA) looking to buy up property for an amusement park of all things.

Top heavy, as I mentioned above, best describes this release.  The plot pretty much vanishes halfway through with multiple examples of sensual and yes, forbidden romance.  TEI JAGA, the director, is known for beautiful footage, but very quiet coitus and he delivers both here masterfully.  CHISATO SHOUDA, one of JAV's best MILF actresses looks fantastic and her portrayal of concerned Shoko is pretty believable.  A farmer wife and a housewife in the city aren't too different after all.  Her coupling with JO OSHIMA is nonpareil; both have a massive amount of experience performing love on camera and I'm happy to see them doing what they do best (fun fact:  a few months ago we showed another movie filmed a bit after this that starred both of them).

A SHOWA TALE OF A SHAMEFUL AND SECRET AFFAIR is not my favorite ORGA movie, but it's a good one.  The plot could've been fleshed out more.  The ending was a bit hackneyed and the voice-over at the end sounded like it was recorded on a smartphone in one take (you can hear some of it in the trailer).  Amusingly, this movie could've ended with the "Dear Jane" letter about halfway through and I don't think too many people would have batted an eye.