“D.O.A.: A Rite of Passage” (D.O.A. 伝説のパンクス、セックス・ピストルズ), Original First-Release Japanese Movie Poster 1986 (film 1981), Artwork by Soyka, B2 Size (51 × 73 cm) S165

This is an original Japanese B2 theatrical poster produced for the first Japanese cinema release of Lech Kowalski’s seminal punk documentary D.O.A.: A Rite of Passage, centred on the Sex Pistols’ notorious 1978 American tour and featuring an extraordinary cross-section of the original punk movement. Although the poster itself identifies the production as a 1981 American film, the documented first Japanese theatrical opening was 26 July 1986, distributed by KUZUI Enterprises.

Produced and directed by Lech Kowalski, the film captures punk at its rawest and least mediated: live performances, backstage footage, confrontation, interviews and the increasingly unstable final period of the Sex Pistols. Alongside Sid Vicious and John Lydon, the film features The Clash, Iggy Pop, The Dead Boys, Stiv Bators, Rich Kids, X-Ray Spex, Generation X, Sham 69 and others. It remains one of the essential primary-source documents of the first-wave punk movement.

Poster design
A fantastic and highly distinctive punk-era design featuring original artwork by Soyka, whose signature appears within the lower-left portion of the illustration. The artwork is independently documented as Soyka’s design and was used internationally in connection with the film.

The composition is wonderfully confrontational. A huge vintage green luxury car bears down upon a pale, androgynous punk sprawled across the asphalt, complete with pink hair, chain collar, skull ornament and piercing yellow eyes. The image deliberately collides symbols of establishment wealth and punk nihilism: polished chrome and bourgeois luxury looming over a figure associated with rebellion, disorder and self-destruction.

Scrawled directly across the artwork in shocking pink Japanese are three defining words:

アナーキー — “Anarchy”
混沌 — “Chaos”
破壊 — “Destruction”

Below, the enormous fluorescent-pink D.O.A. title is painted across the black field with the rough immediacy of graffiti or a hand-made punk flyer.

The left-hand campaign copy declares:

「永遠のパンクスに贈る聖書!!」

— “A bible dedicated to eternal punks!!”

while the right-hand text introduces the Sex Pistols as the great problem children of the 1970s, whose incendiary actions shook young people around the world.

The English billing along the bottom reads almost like a roll-call of first-wave punk history, prominently naming The Sex Pistols, Iggy Pop, The Clash, The Dead Boys, Stiv Bators, Rich Kids, X-Ray Spex, Generation X and Sham 69.

The combination of Sex Pistols subject matter, Soyka artwork, lurid Japanese typography and the uncompromising punk aesthetic makes this one of the strongest Japanese music-documentary posters of the period.

It is over 40 years old!

Condition
Excellent. A very strong surviving example with the toxic green, fluorescent pink, deep blacks and cream tones remaining exceptionally vivid. The principal illustration and typography present beautifully.

There are only minor signs of age and handling, including some light peripheral creasing and very small age-related marks to the verso, but no significant damage detracts from the central Soyka artwork. The reverse remains generally clean and well preserved.

Please review all photographs, including the detailed front and reverse images—they show the exact poster for sale.

It is not a reproduction or a reprint.

Certificate of Authenticity included.