Tanaka's visual flair raised "Private Life of a School Mistress" (1973) above its lackluster story of a female teacher and her romantic relationship with a male student. The mainstream film journal "Eiga Geijutsu" put the film at eighth place on its list of the top ten films of the year. While employed at Nikkatsu, Tanaka also made a few films outside of the "pink" genre for other studios. For Toei, he filmed "Kobe International Gang" (1975) and "Escape of Gangster Ando Noboru", starring the yakuza-turned-actor Noboru Ando himself.