Midori: Shoujo Tsubaki is a 1992 Japanese independent ero guro horror film by Hiroshi Harada, based on Suehiro Maruo's comic version of the kamishibai standard. The film, which Harada scripted and directed under the pseudonym of Hisaaki Etsu and whom he presents as a lost filmmaker he worked on it under, consists primarily of paintings and cels of drawings by Harada held, panned or zoomed over with music, sound effects and voice acting and occasional touches of traditional animation. It follows the misadventures of a girl called Midori who, after losing her mother, joins a funfair freak show. She is harassed, abused, and humiliated by everyone else in the show until the appearance of a dwarf magician-hypnotist.
The film was single-handedly created by Hiroshi Harada. Given the subject matter, Harada had found it impossible to gain sponsors. He then used all of his life savings to make the film over a five-year period. Over 5,000 separate sheets of animation were hand-drawn by Harada.
Midori: Shoujo Tsubaki has been considered one of the most controversial pieces of anime due to the themes of child sexual assault and extreme amounts of gore. Thus, it was banned in Japan; some of the parts are currently lost. Because of the demented themes, both PhantomStrider and Robyn consider this to be not only the absolute worst anime of all time, but the absolute worst cartoon of all time, even surpassing "Ren Seeks Help".
Lists Strider Includes Midori: Shoujo Tsubaki
- It made it to Most Controversial Anime at #3 (July 30, 2014)
- It made it to Worst Anime of All Time at #1 (May 7, 2017)
Trivia
- In Worst Anime of All Time, he censors the gore using pictures of Bludgeoning Angel Dokuro-Chan.
- This film got a live-action remake in 2016, as Robyn points out in the video.