Wandering Ginza Butterfly Collection Blu-ray brings together two electric entries in 1970s Japanese crime cinema, starring Meiko Kaji at the height of her power and directed by Kazuhiko Yamaguchi. Released the same year Kaji redefined the action heroine in the Female Prisoner Scorpion series, these films blend gambling drama, yakuza violence, and street-level vengeance into a stylish, hard-edged diptych set in Tokyo’s Ginza underworld.
 
In Wandering Ginza Butterfly, Kaji stars as Nami “The Red Cherry Blossom,” a woman newly released from prison after killing a yakuza boss. Returning to Ginza, she takes refuge in her uncle’s pool hall and works at a local hostess club, only to find herself once again entangled in criminal power struggles when ruthless gangster Owada moves to take control of the neighborhood. Calculated, composed, and quietly lethal, Nami devises a plan to dismantle his operation from within.
 
The sequel, Wandering Ginza Butterfly 2: She-Cat Gambler, pairs Kaji with Sonny Chiba at his most charismatic. As the streetwise Ryuji, Chiba joins Nami on a relentless hunt through gambling dens and back-alley hideouts as she seeks vengeance for her father’s death. Together, the two carve a violent path through Ginza’s criminal ecosystem, pushing the series toward a more overtly explosive and mythic conclusion.
 
Anchored by Meiko Kaji’s magnetic screen presence and Yamaguchi’s kinetic direction, the Wandering Ginza Butterfly Collection stands as a defining showcase of 1970s Japanese crime cinema — tough, stylish, and driven by a fiercely independent heroine navigating a world ruled by men.
 
directed by: Kazuhiko Yamaguchi
starring: Meiko Kaji, Sonny Chiba, Tsunehiko Watase, Junzaburo Ban, Kôji Nanbara
1972 / 172 min / Japanese mono