Go, Go, Second Time Virgin - Critical Reception

Critical Reception

Though long relatively unknown outside of Japan, Kōji Wakamatsu has been called "the most important director to emerge in the pink film genre," and one of "Japan's leading directors of the 1960s." Go, Go, Second Time Virgin is one of Wakamatsu's best-known films, but discussion of it in English has been hampered by its long lack of availability to the English-speaking world.

Compared to Wakamatsu's earlier films The Embryo Hunts in Secret and Violated Women in White, David Desser, writing in 1988, calls Go, Go, Second Time Virgin "by any standards a more interesting and less painful film to watch..." In 1998, Thomas and Yuko Mihara Weisser, in their Japanese Cinema Encyclopedia: The Sex Films, gave the film a middling review which concludes, "Wakamatsu remains an interesting director due to his obstinate disregard for social standards. But unfortunately, he doesn't make the alternative, cultural anarchy, seem very appealing either."

With its release on region 1 DVD in December 2000, English-language criticism of Go, Go Second Time Virgin increased substantially. In his review of the DVD, Daniel Wible of Film Threat says Go, Go, Second Time Virgin is "clearly a film that will enthrall some with its ultra-stylized perversions while horrifying nearly everyone else." He calls the movie "a serious and profound work of filmic art," adding "rom the experimental, jazzy score by Meikyu Sekai to the shocking use of color in a predominantly black and white film, "Go Go" is a director’s film all the way. Wakamatsu gets away with his graphic images of sex and violence because they are staged in ways that resonate emotionally for both the characters and the audience.

Totaro points out that in spite of the limited budget and location, "Wakamatsu sacrifices little in terms of aesthetics, using both the location and the cinemascope frame to increase the character’s psychological expression." Though warning that "he relentless, downbeat atmosphere will prove tough going for many viewers," Mondo-Digital website says the film "packs a tremendous amount of artistry into every scene."

Sarudama.com's review of the film calls it "a rather dismal tale of primitive morality in the face of degradation, humiliation and abuse," and "a bizarre and despairing film which will undoubtedly cause viewers to (re)consider the role of social morality."

The New Zealand band The Headless Chickens also recorded a song named after and loosely based on this film.