13 Steps of Maki: The Young Aristocrats (1975)

 

If you ever listened to modern day YouTubers and bloggers, you would think that the Girl Boss Film is a modern-day phenomenon.  Indeed, many online influencers genuinely believe that there were no strong female characters prior to 2016.   Of course, anyone who has watched 70s Hong Kong and Japanese Cinema know that those films featured a whole variety of Girl Bosses. The Japanese studio, Toei, had quite an impressive stable of kickass females, most notably:  Meiko Kaji (Female Prisoner Scorpion), Reiko Ike (Sex and Fury, Queen Bee’s Challenge), Miki Sugimoto (Girl Boss Revenge: Sukeban) and the star of today’s review, Etsuko Shihomi.

In my review for the Female Prisoner Scorpion, I claimed that Meiko Kaji was the female equivalent to Clint Eastwood. Etsuko Shihomi is more on par with Bruce Lee than she is with Clint Eastwood.  In the Female Prisoner Scorpion series, Nami was a woman of a few words and always kept her cool, regardless of the situation. She was cold and a calculating woman, who was always waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike.  In 13 Steps of Maki, the title character is the exact opposite of Maki; she wears her emotions on her sleeves and has a warm, inviting personality.  Nami operated in a stealth-like manner when it was time to take out her opponents, while Maki prefers a blunter approach – she is confident that her fighting abilities will win the day, no matter what the odds are. 

Maki is the leader of a girl gang, The Wildcats. When they are not practicing karate, they roam the streets and take out the trash. In the movie’s opening scene, two women are tied to a train track by a girl gang.  It looks like their goose is cooked until Maki shows up.  Maki makes mincemeat out of the women gang members but is then ambushed by the male members of the gang. However, they prove to no match for Maki’s superior fighting skills (she was trained by Sonny Chiba, after all).   Unfortunately for Maki and her gang, they run afoul of the Yakuza. 

What initially starts off as a cat fight between Maki and rich bitch, Takako, evolves into a full out war.  They first encounter Takako on the road; Maki and the Wildcats are joying riding in a jeep and are cut off by Takako, and her boyfriend, in their Trans Am. The Wildcats swear to get even.  They get their revenge by tracking Takako down on the beach, stripping off her clothes, and burying her up to her neck in the sand.  It turns out that Takako is the daughter of Taizo Ebihara, a prominent businessman, who also has ties to the Yakuza.  Takako then strikes back by asking the Yakuza boss, Daimon, to help with her revenge. Daimon’s goons kidnap the Wildcats, strip them nude, and tie them up to a merry-go-round.  When Maki arrives to save them, Takako is standing on a rollercoaster track, laughing her ass off.  Of course, this only further infuriates Maki, and she responds by kidnapping Takako and forcing her to get a tattoo on her back shoulder (this marks Takako and prevents her from marrying into a respectable family). 

What began as a catfight turns into a full out war; Daimon’s men kidnap the Wildcats, shoot them up with drugs, and force them into prostitution. Maki breaks into Daimon’s headquarters to save the girls but, instead, runs into Daimon’s bodyguard, Eto.  He challenges Maki to a fight and if she beats him, he will tell her where the Wildcats are. It’s while the two are fighting that Daimon calls the cops and Maki is dragged away to a women’s juvenile hall.  This does not sit well with Eto, who was promised he would be allowed to beat Maki in a fair fight – he might be a low life, but he is an honest lowlife.

Etsuko Shihomi makes for a credible, and fun, heroine. She manages to inject warmth and even humor into what could have easily been a dour, one-dimensional character.  My favorite scene in the movie is when Maki visits her uncle, because it gives us a glimpse at her lighter side – this is the one scene where she can drop the tough girl routine and have a normal conversation with a family member. Her uncle does scold her for her fighting, but it in a loving manner.  Also, it is usually Maki who is scolding the Wildcats for their reckless behavior; so, in some ways, it must be a relief to be on the receiving end of that equation. There are not too many people who would have the guts to criticize Maki. There is also nice moment where the two of them share a bottle of saki; her uncle enjoys it, but Maki can’t stand the stuff and makes a sour face after tasting it.  It is a minor moment, but it does a lot to humanize the character. 

Shihomi's acting can be a bit inconsistent at times (this isn’t too surprising as she was still a teenager when she made this movie) but she really throws herself into the action scenes. This movie was made in era when filmmakers had a total disregard for the actors’ safety, which means that Shihomi did most of her own stunts.  She does incredibly well in the non-dialogue scenes – she is especially good with body language. She doesn't need to know to speak, because we can tell how Maki is feeling by her posture and the ferocity in her eyes. She would have been a terrific silent actress.

However, while Maki is a compelling protagonist, the most interesting character is Takako. She begins the movie antagonistic towards Maki but by the movie’s end she turns into an ally.  When she sees the Wildcats in their drugged out, whored out state – she is appalled. Sure, she wanted to teach them a lesson, but this is going too far. Later, when she goes to Eto for advice, she tells him, “I’m scared of all the things I’ve done.”  The only advice Eto gives to Takako is that she needs to help free the Wildcats, and he offers to help.  That plan quickly gets tossed out the window when they are ambushed by Daimon’s men. Eto is greatly outnumbered, but he does manage to save Takako from being raped by Daimon.  He buys her enough time so she can escape and contact Maki.

Takako visits Maki in the girl’s juvenile hall and not only volunteers to testify on Maki’s behalf but offers to pay her way out of jail, as well. Maki is too stubborn to accept Takako’s generous offer and is determined to get out of jail her own way. It’s only when Takako informs her of the fate that has befallen the Wildcats that Maki is stirred into action. Later, Takako helps a beaten-up Eto escape from his prison cell (in the basement of Daimon’s headquarters) by dropping her hair pin on the floor next to him, so he can pick the lock. The final straw for Takako is when Daimon has her father murdered. Daimon wants to become an official partner in Ebihara’s restaurants and wants to marry Takako, but Ebihara shoots down both suggestions.  This doesn’t sit well with Daimon, and he has Ebihara murdered in a car explosion. 

 Unfortunately, Takako’s payoff is underwhelming: the filmmakers lead you to believe that she is going to murder Daimon; she has agreed to marry him as a pretense to get him alone, so she can kill him with the knife she has packed in her suitcase. Instead, Takako gets sidelined at the end (she ends up killing the woman who betrayed her father) and it is Maki that kills Daimon.  It would have been, emotionally, a much more satisfying ending if Takako killed Daimon; not to mention it would have completed her character arc. The film also sets up a potential romance between Eto and Takako – they are both troubled characters who want to atone for their past sins.  This subplot gets quickly abandoned as the rest of the movie is more focused on Maki’s escape from the juvenile hall and revenge.  I was surprised to learn that the actress Misa Ohara only has two acting credits (according to IMDB) because she gives an effective performance as the guilt-ridden Takako. It’s the best performance in the movie.

Eto is another interesting character.  He is initially antagonistic towards Maki, but he always treats her with respect and behaves in an honorable manner. In the beginning of the movie, the Wildcats encounter a naked woman running through the streets and take her under their wing.  It is revealed that the woman is Momoe, a stripper who dances at a club owned by the Daimon Group. Maki and friends confront the owner of the strip club, and all out brawl breaks out. It begins in the green room and eventually spills out onto the catwalk. The men in the audience believe this is part of the act and cheer on enthusiastically. This angers Daimon and he sends his goons to bring the stripper back. They confront the Wildcats in an empty swimming pool (where the Wildcats are training) and Eto, wanting to avoid a bloodbath) suggests that Maki and he fight it out – whoever wins will get Momoe. However, when Daimon’s goons go behind his back and try to grab Momoe, Eto is appalled, gives the offenders a good slap down, apologizes to Maki and tells her to take Momoe. Later, when Takako asks Eto to help get her revenge on the Wildcats, he declines and tells her he doesn’t want to get involved in a catfight.  It also interesting to note that Eto is only person who beats Maki in a fair fight; before their fight is broke up by the police, Eto is clearly winning.  Tatsuya Nanjo brings a great physicality to the role of Eto; you genuinely believe he could take on an entire army. There is a tragic element to his performance; to atone for his violent past, Eto has vowed never to live a normal life.  He could potentially have a happy future with either Maki, or Takako, but he just won’t allow himself to let go.

It often feels like 13 Steps of Maki is the middle chapter in a trilogy; it is set up early on that Maki has a long-lost brother and the only time we see him is in a flashback (this allowed the filmmakers to shoehorn in a cameo by Sonny Chiba). It was Maki’s brother who taught her to fight and the way he is set up, you are expecting him to make an appearance at the end to help his beleaguered sister. It doesn’t happen. In fact, after Chiba’s cameo, the long-lost brother subplot is discarded. The fates of the Wildcats and Takako are left ambiguous – the last time the Wildcats are shown, they are still drugged out of their minds while engaging in acts of prostitution.  The last time we see Takako, she is standing on the stairway, traumatized by the aftermath of the bloodbath caused by Maki.  My initially thought was that the movie would end with Takako joining the Wildcats (and then the follow up film could center around Maki and Takako whipping the Wildcats back into shape), instead it ends with Maki, in tears, running on the beach.  The movie ends so abruptly that it leaves you asking questions.  

The second half of the movie is your standard “women behind bars” movie; the warden is in cahoots with Daimon and puts her in the same cell with gang members that have a grudge against her.  There is a hierarchy in the system: the girls get their orders from an inmate known as “The Boss”, who gets her orders from the warden, who, in turn, gets his order from Daimon. There are a couple attempts on Maki’s life – the most colorful one is a woman tries to strangle Maki with her long hair.  The Boss eventually challenges Maki to a duel, and Maki thoroughly beats her. This wins her the respect of The Boss and the other inmates, and they help Maki escape (by forming a human pyramid so Maki can crawl over the wall).  It checks all the boxes of the “Woman Behind Bars” genre: a corrupt warden, female nudity, a torture scene, over the top violence, and an escape; though, it avoids the gratuitous lesbian sex scene. It is not groundbreaking, but it is well done.

Etsuko Shihomi was a busy actress from the 70s to the mid-80s, but then retired from acting in 1986.  Sonny Chiba co-starred in a good chunk of those movies (it’s not surprising, considering he was kind of mentor towards her).   It was also around the time of 13 Steps of Maki that Shihomi starred in the Sister Street Fighter series. While those movies are entertaining, they’re not as swiftly paced as 13 Steps of Maki.

13 Steps of Maki is a flawed movie, but it also incredibly entertaining. It moves at a fast pace and never wears out its welcome (it’s only 78 minutes long). It’s full of surprises and has an energetic young cast. It is way better than most modern Hollywood action movies, because, unlike most modern actors, Shihomi actually studied martial arts. Compare Shihomi’s fight scenes to Daisy Ridley’s in the Disney Star Wars trilogy, and you will notice a huge disparity between the two of them: Shihomi looks like a genuine warrior while Ridley looks awkward swinging around her lightsaber.

Cast: Etsuko Shihomi (Maki Hyuga), Misa Ohara (Takako Ebihara), Hiroshi Nawa (Ryunosuke Daimon), Tatsuya Nanjo (Tetsuya Eto), Hiroshi Kondo (Taizo Ebihara), Shin’ichi (Sonny) Chiba (Kenichi Hyuga), Koji Fujiyama (Kuwata), Hideo Murota (Warden Akae), Meika Seri (Okyo Kushimaki).

Director: Makoto Naito
Writers: Ikki Kajiwara (comic), Masaaki Sato (comic), Takeo Kaneko (screenplay), Makoto Naito (screenplay).
Running Time: 78 minutes.