**Please note that this is not the 2016 re-release - it is the original first release printed in 1981!**
This is an original Japanese B2 poster printed in 1981 for Sogo (Gakuryū) Ishii’s cult biker-punk breakthrough Crazy Thunder Road (狂い咲きサンダーロード). Shot as a no-budget student feature and then picked up by Toei for nationwide theatrical release, the film’s white-hot speed, anarchic gangs, and industrial wastelands made it a cornerstone of Japanese punk cinema and a clear forerunner to the 1980s biker and proto-cyberpunk boom.
Film background
Ishii—barely in his early 20s—married documentary immediacy to graphic, manga-like framing and strobing edits, forging a new, aggressive visual language that would influence everything from music videos to later cult features (Burst City, etc.). Crazy Thunder Road remains a rite-of-passage title for collectors of Japanese underground and post-Mad-Max cinema.
Poster design
A ferocious, two-tone black-and-white illustration dominates the sheet: a visor-masked rider looms like a mechanized oni, clutching a weapon as debris sprays across the frame. At the base, a swarm of bikes roars toward the viewer. The neon-magenta title 「狂い咲きサンダーロード」 slams across the bottom over the hand-lettered English subtitle Crazy Thunder Road, with the lower-left credit 「イラスト：染谷しげる」 identifying illustrator Shigeru Someya. The 映倫 80421 seal and Toei credits line the footer, confirming first theatrical issue.
Condition
Very Good condition. Please review the photos; they show the exact poster for sale.
We have taken the condition into account when pricing. Once framed, this poster will display excellently.
This poster is an original Japanese theatrical B2 from the 1981 first-release campaign.
It is not a reproduction or a reprint.
It is over 44 years old!
Certificate of Authenticity included.
