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Yukari Oshima

Whatever happened to the Nipponese nutcracker?

Of all the fighting femme fatales who graced the jade screen during the '80s, the most sorely missed must be Yukari Oshima. As a youngster, she studied Goju Kai Karate, earning her black belt before developing her screen-fighting skills at a stuntschool run by martial arts movie star Yasuaki Kurata. Oshima cut her teeth on a number of Japanese action TV series. She had a cameo in everyone's favourite school-girl with a nuclear-powered yo-yo show, Subekan-deka II, and played a villainess, Faracat, in the Chodenshi Bioman series. Even then, as a die-hard fan of Hong Kong actioners, she had her sights set on a career in the then-Crown Colony.

The Osh, as she was known, first registered on the worldwide fight film fan consciousness as part of Sammo Hung's amazing ensemble cast in his eastern Western Millionaire's Express (a.k.a Shanghai Express). Even among such stiff competition, the Fukouka native's all-too-brief lady ninja schtick, including a chanbara-inspired slice'n-dice session, made an impact. Though it's harder to believe now, western fans turned on to the genre in the late '80s were so short on hard information that some thought they were watching that other made in Japan martial arts maiden, My Lucky Stars's Michiko Nishiwaki. The actress went on to establish her own identity as a villainous dominatrix who gives fellow battling babe Moon Lee a good whipping at the end of the Taiwan-produced Angel. Book Of Heroes, another Taiwanese actioner, may be hokey as hell, but it at least allowed Oshima to cut loose, martial arts-wise, alongside her former mentor Yasuaki Kurata. When the dust settled, Oshima's looks and moves had made her, at least temporarily a hot property in the Hong Kong action circle.

Under the Cantonese name Di-do Yukari, her talent was further fostered by actor/director Frankie Chan. Chan gave her impressive spotlight roles in his films Burning Ambitions and Outlaw Brothers, and Oshima was rumoured, at the time, to be more than good friends with Chan off-camera. Whatever its parameters, the Frankie connection led to Oshima's being introduced to Willie Chan, manager of yet another Chan: Jackie. Though unrelated, Frankie and Jackie were long-time friends, and the latter is said to have helped choreograph the final fight scene of Outlaw Brothers. Willie Chan was sufficiently impressed with Oshima to put her under contract, and she became the first Japanese artiste to join the JC Group's stable of stars.

The actress came under the influence of SC Dacy, an LA-based film-maker intent on producing what would have been the first real Hong Kong/Hollywood actioner. Dacy planned to cast Oshima opposite his client, Swedish bombshel Sybil Danning, in a thriller entitled High Callibre. (He had earlier wooed Joyce Godenzi for the role, with her beau, Sammo Hung, slated to direct. When the relationship with Hung soured, Dacy turned his attention to Oshima.) The script, penned by Dacy himself, is set in a crime-ridden future New York in which the hard-pressed authorities send an agent undercover to take over the city's underworld.

With the backing of Hollywood heavyweight Ed Pressman, producer of Conan The Barbarian and Wall Street, Dacy attracted the interest of Willie Chan, and flew to Hong Kong to co-ordinate a promotional photo shoot with Oshima. Dacy also tried, in vain, to secure the actress a role in an underrated Eric Roberts' vehicle, a fencing movie entitled By The Sword. (The Oshima role went to Mira Sara). To my knowledge, High Callibre was never released.

One event that definetely did happen in 1990 was Oshima's marriage to Hong Kong actor Mark Cheng. Though the couple were genuinely an item, it was alleged that Cheng agreed to the marriage partly because it would allow his new wife to stay and work in Hong Kong. indefinetely. (Throughout the '80s, foreign actors flouted immigration rules by working in films while resident in the British Colony on tourist visas.) The couple worked together on Midnight Angel, Kickboxer's Tears and the wonderfully titled The Godfather's Daughter's Mafia Blues. In 1991, Oshima was cast in a Golden Harvest film, the Japanime inspired splatterfest Story Of Ricky. The film has the distinction of being the only Hong Kong film ever with-held from release on account of its violence. Shortly thereafter, Oshima left JC Group. It was the beginning of a gradual decline in both the quality and, eventually, quantity of her Hong Kong films.

The actress' career arc is perhaps best exemplified by her relationship with director Philip Ko. While still based in Hong Kong, Ko used Oshima to good effect in his battling babes effort Angel Mission and in the Thailand-set actioner Final Run (a.k.a Kickfighter). After Ko relocated to The Philippines, allegedly due to depts his company had incurred in Hong Kong, he continued to top-line Oshima in a string of locally-produced actioners. She was cast opposite Mortal Kombat star Robin Shou in a brace of passable pot-boilers Hard To Kill (a.k.a Interpol Connection) and Fatal Chase

Unfortunately, later efforts like Ultracop 2000 set a new low, even by the limited standards of the Filipino film industry. Her extended sojourns in Manila contributed to Oshima's divorce from Mark Cheng. She also found herself blessed with a new name, Cynthia Luster, which was created for her by the Filipino distributors. Regardless of the varying merits of her releases, Oshima remains popular in The Philippines to this day.

In Hong Kong, though, her star faded, along with the whole battling babes boom. Moon Lee moved into TV, Michiko Nishiwaki into television and Cynthia Khan into obscurity. Oshima's last hurrah saw her play a cameo role as a lady terrorist who duels Michelle Yeoh at the start of Project S (a.k.a Supercop 2). She made her last Chinese movie appearence (to date) in Golden Triangle. This low-budget thriller, shot in Thailand, stars Once Upon A Time In China series veteran Max Mok Siu-Chung.

Click to enlarge.

The actress returned to Japan, where she resumed her career in local action TV series, and starring in the film Kinkyu yobidashi: Emajenshi koru. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any screenshots of that movie. A serious injury curtailed her comeback, and led her to her semi-retirement from the industry. She was last seen on-screen in a promotional campaign advertising the delights of her hometown, Fukuoka, where she now lives.

Yukari Oshima narrowly missed the major leagues, never really getting a chance to shine opposite major Hong Kong talent. Her proposed Hollywood career was still-born, and she remains virtually unknown in her native Japan. Regardless, The Osh has developed a rabid worldwide fan following, and prospective action producers would do well to short-list her for future fighting femme roles, especially if they plan to lens in The Philippines...

Written on May 9th - 10th 2002

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