Rika Aoki

Born SharonLee Yoshida Morris to an American father and Japanese mother Rika adopted both the first and last name of her manga counterpart as her stage name Obviously her mixedrace heritage was a large factor in her winning the part though she also stood at an impressively statuesque 5ft7 the average height for Japanese women is 5ft2 further accentuated by a pair of highheeled boots perfectly matching the leggy manga heroine Taro Bonten the creator of the manga was full of praise for Rika saying I never thought Id find someone so perfect Despite this Rika was quite selfdeprecating about her looks and by the language she uses it seems like she may have unfortunately faced racism while growing up I look like a monkey just like my papa My younger brother is handsome and looks just like my mama Rikas legs werent just for looking at her height advantage led to great athletic prowess throughout her high school career Rika modestly stated I was a track and field athlete in high school running the 100m in 13 seconds flat and scoring 16m in the high jump I also learned karate In reality her 129 second time placed her 2nd in the national high school record Given Weekly Myojos vested interest in their new star they were keen to give Rika as much publicity as possible leading up to the film Between her casting in February and initial shooting in October she enjoyed constant attention in the pages of the magazine Being a total amateur Rika underwent extensive training in acting and modern ballet presumably to achieve the high kicks necessary for the characters kickboxingesque fighting style to prepare for the role However she also received training in singing clearly showing an intention to push Rika to stardom across all disciplines at the time it was common for top actresses to record at least one single but that usually came after they were established names Her first single was released in June 1972 almost a half year before the films release to truly kickstart the hype train At the same time she also became a regular on TV screens as the cover girl for the variety shows Yo Don and The 11PM Show This all ensured that Rika was close to becoming a household name even before the film was released Weekly Myojo stated that she was a hot topic of conversation nationwide