“Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl” (鮫肌男と桃尻女), Original Release Japanese Movie Poster 1999 (film 1998), Tadanobu Asano, B2 Size (51 × 73 cm) S160
This is an original Japanese B2 theatrical poster produced for the first Japanese cinema release of Katsuhito Ishii’s cult crime-comedy Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip Girl (鮫肌男と桃尻女 / Samehada Otoko to Momojiri Onna), starring Tadanobu Asano and Sie Kohinata (小日向しえ). Although the film was produced in 1998, its Japanese theatrical opening was 6 February 1999, distributed by Tohokushinsha. It was adapted from the manga of the same name by Minetaro Mochizuki (望月峯太郎) and became one of the defining Japanese cult films of the turn of the millennium.
The film follows Samehada Kuroo, played by Asano, who steals money from a yakuza organisation and goes on the run. His path crosses with Toshiko, a young woman escaping her own oppressive circumstances, and the pair are pursued by an extraordinary collection of gangsters and assassins. The ensemble includes Ittoku Kishibe, Susumu Terajima, Tatsuo Yamada, Tatsuya Gashuin, Shingo Tsurumi and Kimie Shingyoji. The film became particularly associated with Japan’s late-1990s mini-theatre culture and Ishii’s hyper-stylised visual approach.
Poster design
A superb and highly distinctive Japanese first-release design dominated by an enormous portrait of Tadanobu Asano, photographed almost full-length against an extraordinarily vivid turquoise-blue field. Asano appears stripped down to black briefs and an elaborate gun harness, cigarette in one hand and pistol in the other—an intentionally provocative, fashion-driven image that perfectly captures the film’s combination of crime, absurdist humour and late-1990s Japanese cool.
Across his torso sits the huge flaming-yellow SM device, referring to Samehada Otoko & Momojiri Onna, while fine white manga-style line drawings stretch horizontally through the composition, linking the live-action film back to Minetaro Mochizuki’s original comic.
The enormous white Japanese title 鮫肌男と桃尻女 dominates the lower half, while the smaller English SAMEHADA-OTOKO & MOMOJIRI-ONNA and credits identify Minetaro Mochizuki as the original creator and Katsuhito Ishii as writer and director.
The exceptionally minimal colour scheme—turquoise, black, white and blazing yellow—makes this one of the most instantly recognisable Japanese cult-film posters of its era.
It is over 27 years old!
Condition
Very Good+ to Excellent. The poster retains exceptionally strong colour saturation, with the turquoise background, yellow SM graphic and photographic image remaining vivid and highly impactful.
There are a number of tiny pinholes principally around the margins / corners from previous display, together with some light surface and handling creasing visible in the detailed photographs. These are relatively minor and do not materially detract from the central artwork or typography.
Once framed, it will display extremely well.
Please review all photographs, including the close-up and verso imagery—they show the exact poster for sale.
It is not a reproduction or a reprint.
Certificate of Authenticity included.
