His Motorbike, Her Island – Cult Epics (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Japan, 1986
Director: Nobuhiko Ôbayashi
Writer: Ikuo Sekimoto
Cast: Kiwako Harada, Noriko Watanabe, Riki Takeuchi, Ryoichi Takayanagi, Takahiro Tamura, Tomokazu Miura

Release Date: August 12th, 2025
Approximate Running Time: 90 Minutes 1 Second
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC, 1.37:1 Aspect Ratio (Opening Sequence)
Rating: NR
Sound: LPCM Mono Japanese, DTS-HD Mono Japanese
Subtitles: English
Region Coding: Region A
Retail Price: $34.95

"Following a painful breakup, macho biker Koh (Riki Takeuchi) skips town and hits the road on his beloved Kawasaki W3 650. On his countryside excursion, he encounters the free-spirited Miyo (Kiwako Harada, older sister of Obayashi favorite Tomoyo Harada) who quickly takes interest in both the leather-clad Koh and his motorbike. Koh and Miyo fall in love even as Miyo's prodigious biking talent and thrill-seeking tendencies heighten Koh's fear that she may push it all too far." – Synopsis provided by the Distributor

Video: 4.25/5

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "High-definition Transfer."

His Motorbike, Her Island comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 37 GB

Feature: 22.4 GB

The source looks comparable to the Third Window Films region B UK Blu-ray release. Flesh tones look healthy, colors are nicely saturated, image clarity and black levels are strong, and there are no issues with compression or digital noise reduction.

Audio: 4.25/5 (Both Audio Tracks)

This release comes with two audio options, a LPCM mono mix in Japanese and a DTS-HD mono mix in Japanese. I did not notice any differences between these two audio tracks. They both sound clean, clear, balanced, and robust when they should. Included are removable English subtitles. It should be noted there are a few weird anomalies, like symbols and numbers that should not be there. Here are two examples. The letter W looks off at the time stamp 2 minutes 33 seconds, and at 42 minutes 5 seconds it should say “I’ll Pour”; instead it says “NlpOYlK.”

Extras:

Extras for this release include a theatrical trailer for His Motorbike, Her Island (1 minute 32 seconds, Dolby Digital mono Japanese with removable English subtitles), an archival interview with director Nobuhiko Ôbayashi (15 minutes 44 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Japanese with removable English subtitles), a video essay by Esther Rosenfield titled Becoming the Wind: His Motorbike, Her Island and the Biker Movie (25 minutes 11 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English with non-removable English subtitles for Japanese film clips), a video essay by Alex Pratt titled Her Island: Onomichi Pt. 1 (21 minutes 18 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English with non-removable English subtitles for Japanese film clips), an audio commentary with Samm Deighan, reversible cover art with original Japanese poster art, a slipcover (limited to the first pressing), and a reproduciton 24-page Japanese pressbook (limited to the first pressing).

Other extras include theatrical trailers for School in the Crosshairs (1 minute 55 seconds, Dolby Digital mono Japanese with removable English subtitles), The Island Closet to Heaven (1 minute 41 seconds, Dolby Digital mono Japanese with removable English subtitles), and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2 minutes 43 seconds, Dolby Digital mono Japanese with removable English subtitles).

Summary:

You should never judge a book by its cover. Consider Nobuhiko Ôbayashi's His Motorbike, Her Island, a film brimming with unrivaled creativity. Nobuhiko Ôbayashi defies convention once more, switching from black and white to color throughout His Motorbike and Her Island, often within the same scene. Though noticeable at first, as the narrative progresses, it becomes an afterthought.

That said, despite visuals that veer towards the avant-garde, the narrative is surprisingly conventional by Nobuhiko Ôbayashi's standards. The narrative revolves around two characters from two different worlds who fall in love. The narrative also does a great job filling in backstory via flashbacks.

When it comes to performances, the two leads, Riki Takeuchi (Fudoh: The New Generation) in the role of a biker named Koh and Kiwako Harada (The Drifting Classroom) in the role of a rural island girl named Miyoko, are excellent in their roles. Also, they have a tremendous amount of onscreen chemistry, which enhances their performances. Another performance of note is Noriko Watanabe (Death of a Ninja) in the role of Fuyumi, Koh’s ex-girlfriend, who funneled her pain from their breakup into her creativity as a singer.

Once again, Nobuhiko Ôbayashi creates a film that is a melting pot of genres. His Motorbike, Her Island has romance, melodrama, and some music thrown in for good measure. From a production standpoint, there is not an area where His Motorbike, Her Island does not excel. Also, the stylish cinematography complements the creative editing. Finally, His Motorbike, Her Island is an extraordinary film that contains all of the elements that are synonymous with Nobuhiko Ôbayashi's cinema.

Although this release has more extras and is on par with Third Window Films' releases in audio/video presentation, the subtitle errors are an unfortunate issue that many won’t be able to look past. That said, despite the subtitle issues, I still recommended the Cult Epics release for those who are not region-free.

Written by Michael Den Boer