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Sukeban is a street slang conjunction of Zubeko Bancho which would literally translate as "bitch female boss". When shortened, it's commonly accepted to mean "Girl Boss". There are two different series, individually utilizing each title, but collectively they are known to Japanese sexploitation Otaku (fans) as the "Destroy All Girl Boss Films."

The current Kogal (also Kogaru) style of retro-hip soul-sister fashion can be first seen in these films -released two decades before the advent of Kogal culture. In fact, these films were the first to show high school girls (albeit delinquents) in street styles rather than exclusively in the uniforms that are so famous the world over.

This change-of-styles was likely a political statement on the part of the filmmakers (equating the loss of that uniform as the loss of sexual innocence), and it heralded the advent of Japanese feminism.

Sukeban films are almost science fiction, at least in a sociological sense, which is to say that they work as a collective cautionary tale for Japan in much the same way that A Clockwork Orange was a pessimistic prediction for England.

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Experiencing its heyday roughly between 1971 and 1976, with Nikkatsu's Roman Porno and Toei's Pinky Violence as its two main streams, Japanese exploitation benefited from solid production values and a new wave of talent both in front of and behind the camera. With avid young helmers like Tatsumi Kumashiro, Kinji Fukasaku and Shunya Ito, and the star power of such actresses as Meiko Kaji, Naomi Tani and Miki Sugimoto, the 1970s are a treasure trove of pleasure, guilty and otherwise.

Nikkatsu's Stray Cat Rock series of delinquent girl gang films can be considered as one of the forerunners of this phenomenon. Consisting of five episodes made in 1970 and 1971, it is boxed in between the lurid pop art explosions characteristic of much of Nikkatsu's output of the 60s, as exemplified by the work of Seijun Suzuki, and the more shameless and graphic exploitation cinema of the 1970s. Closer in spirit to the former in its abundant go-go dancing, musical interludes and nightclub scenes, Stray Cat Rock at the same time announced what was to come in its approach to violence and sexuality, as well as in its casting choices, with stars Meiko Kaji and Tatsuya Fuji going on to make indelible marks on the decade that followed.

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