From Japan

2004-01-02T19:21:00.000-08:00

Wild Zero (2000)

BRUTALITY ON SCREEN!!!!!

What can I say about this movie other than, well, I love it like fat kids love cake..to paraphrase one of today's great poets. It's fun, dumb and full of romance, cheap zombie gore, punk rockabillies with sword guitars and, above all else, unabashed rock n' roll.

Wild Zero is the story of Ace (played by Masashi Endo), a young rockabilly/greaser-looking guy obsessed with the punkabilly rock n' roll band, Guitar Wolf.

Ace's obsession with the rock god trio, as well as love found the rock n' roll way, on the road, leads him into a battle with an army of zombies brought back from dead by an army of flying saucers trying to fuck up the world. Ace is clumsy, a bit of a dork, but the spirit of rock n' roll is in his blood and the band, composed of Seiji (guitar), Billy (bass) and Toru (drums), saw that in him after an awkward introduction involving cross dressing crooked club owners and a loaded revolver.

Guitarist and lead vocalist, Seiji, handed the you Ace a whistle, which with one blow, calls Guitar Wolf to be right there at his Aid. Something that'll come in handy after craziness ensues and zombies and UFOs wreak havoc on the streets of Japan.

Ace becomes a man when thrown into the center of insane bullshit and impending doom, while coming to grips with a big, or maybe not so big, surprise from the girl he fell in love with at first site, Tobio (played by Kwancharu Shitichai).

It's a zombie movie. It has all the element's of a zombie movie. From assholes ending up in the woods, attacked by the undead, to an assorted and flammable group surrounded by the once-living, who just wanna eat some brains. But it's a lot more than that.

Guitar Wolf truly made this movie. From clips of them on stage, dancing and jumping around flames, singing "There's a wallet on my ass with a rock n' roll license" in some dark-lit, crowded club, to their stiff, cockily executed bad dialogue always tied together by the spirit of rock.

It's part zombie flick with an Ed Wood-esque sci-fi edge and part music video (something not surprising as first time film director, Tetsuro Takeuchi, got his start directing wild music videos for MTV Japan), but it's all just good old fashioned fun and it isn't trying to be anything else.

Synapse Films has finally brought the DVD Stateside, which includes a behind-the-scenes making of video, Guitar Wolf pictures and info and the first ever DVD drinking game...which consists of drinking everytime a zombie's head blows up, hair is combed or the words "rock n' roll" are heard. You should get good and fucked by fifteen minutes in.

Official Wild Zero site

2003-12-31T07:11:00.000-08:00

Cutie Honey trailer and shit.
Showa Kayo Daizenshu trailer and all kinds of craziness.

2003-04-13T20:57:00.000-07:00

Everybody loves pachinko. Well, at least in Japan they do. Pachinko, a game much like pinball mixed with a slot machine, where passive players guide little steel balls into special holes in order to win prizes.

It's a phenomenon over in Japan, with a reputation for leaving bored housewives and over worked salarymen addicted. Lately, I've noticed quite a few headlines involving pachinko over at Mainichi Daily News.

"Woman killed with bat while husband plays pachinko," "Man found in river identified as pachinko parlor employee," "Baby dies in parked car while mom plays pachinko," "Slot machine mama leaves child fighting for life," "Girl mowed down while mother plays pachinko," "Pachinko-playing priest pinched over up-skirt snap."

It's nice knowing that Americans aren't the only gambling obsessed psychopaths on this pretty blue planet. And now on with the show.

Dead or Alive: Final (2002). Directed by Takashi Miike

The year is 2346 and the city of Yokohama is surrounded by wasteland, ruled by the flamboyant, boy-loving Mayor Woo (Richard Chen). Sexual intercourse and reproduction is strictly forbidden and pills eliminating sex drive and the desire to bare young are given to all, with strict consequences issued to those who refuse.

To eliminate the sins of the past, war, famine and overpopulation, Mayor Woo stands by his edict, unwilling to budge. At his side stands Officer Honda, played by Riki Tekeuchi, a good man lucky enough to be allowed a wife and child, willing to enforce Woo's law despite his disdain for it.

In Woo and Honda's way stand a small group of Chinese rebels and reluctant mercenaries who the rebels can't seem to pay. As all seems lost to these freedom fighters, in walks Ryo, played by Sho Aikawa, who's mysterious nature and easily noticed super human abilities impress the rebels as well as paint a grimace onto the face of the tyrannical Mayor and his head enforcer, Honda. for nearly all involved, little is as it seems and in this last and final installment of the Dead or Alive films, things get pretty wild.

Before I go on, this is the third of the Dead or Alive trilogy. For those who've watched the first two, there seems to be little connection between the films besides the featuring of Riki and Sho. Well, while the films do get progressively weirder and feature only a small glimpse of the tie that binds, DoA Final wraps it up and, at the same time, makes you think a bit. Something not uncommon in director Takashi Miike's films.

Now, I dug this film and thought it was a great way to end the series eventho' I'm sure many were counting on a noir-y, gangland theme, not some futuristic, post apocalyptic monster. Still, I'll admit the film did have some flaws.

First off, outside of Riki, Sho and Richard Chen, there was some seriously bad acting. The English-speaking, pretty boy, Fon, played by Terence Yin, was almost painful to take. The by-the-book protagonist who meets an early cruel fate indpired no drama as I was actually happy to see him out of the way.

On top of that, some of the film's special effects were pretty hokey at best. Miike's brilliance is that he can take a B-movie script and a B-movie budget and turn out something fun, exciting or at the very lest, interesting. And he did that here, but I know that, despite some well executed scenes closely resembling The Matrix's "Bullet Time," many will complain that this is some cheap action film with little else going for it. I can understand that, but I see Miike as a director willing to aim high even when the resources are not there and while very few movies are without noticeable flaw, he's always managed to make shit work for me. Part of the reason I'm a fan of much of his work.

WARNING: Some big motherfucking spoilers ahead. Skip it and scroll down to the next image if you don't want to know anything about the series' shocking conclusion.

Midway through the film, we realize Ryo's uncanny ability aren't just exaggeration on the part of Miike. No, they're what they seem and they aren't in fact super human, they're the abilities of a Replicant. A droid. A cyborg. Incredible strength and speed are part of his design and he's not alone.
Officer Honda, discovering by accident that his life has been a fabrication, that his wife and child were merely Replicants as well, realized everything he's even known has been a big sham. Still, even after growing the desire to administer justice to his puppet master, the tyrant Woo, he finds himself unable to harm a hair on the Mayor's head. His programming won't allow it. But what it does allow and dictate is an epic battle between him and his close match, Ryo.

The two battle it out in some stupid abandoned warehouse. Only after vicious blows landed by all, the two feel weird and in a matter of moments, destiny rules the day. The two merge to become a giant robotic monster with a giant black phallus for a head. Any previous programming is now nullified and the two, Riki and Sho, as one, go and give Woo exactly what he deserves. The end.

Personally, I interoperate this as the following. The tie that binds all three DoAs is the dynamic between the films' two stars, Riki and Sho. Whether battling each other or joining together to kill some bad motherfuckers, each film showcases both men, in relation to each other, summoning mysterious, unexplained powers when they are needed (for example, In DoA, Sho pulls out a bazooka from nowhere as Riki shoots off a massive Chi blast from his palms..and the film ends). I like to think of both men as parts of one, destined to scrap at the side or against the other. But Miike and the film's writers left it open for personal interpretation.

The DVD's extra menu offers a a Making Of segment, interviews with Miike and the film's stars (all in Japanese with no subs), DoA and Miike film trailers as well as a movie stills and poster art gallery. And oh yeah, maybe the most entertaining credits ever.

Trailer, from the official Dead or Alive site.

Ichi the Killer: the Animated Episode 0

The beginning of this anime starts off where the film left off. Hajime (Ichi), clad in dirt bike-like gear fitted with retractable blades, is fighting the smooth, masochist gokudo, Kakihara (voiced by Takashi Miike himself) in a revamped scene somewhat different from depicted in the film (although I have yet to read Hideo Yamamoto's manga, so the animated fight sequence might be more in line with that). Instead of on a Tokyo rooftop, the brutal back and forth takes place inside an outdoor walkway high up on a rabbit hutch-style apartment building.

Despite the dull, no frills animation, I had high expectations as soon as the disk started spinning, but soon after, I realized that, tho' interesting I suppose, this prequel to Miike's film is just not for me.

In this anime, we learn the origins of the sadistic, troubled killer, Ichi. Unfortunately, it seemed so intentionally shocking and expected that, after the first few scenes, I just wanted the thing to be over. Full of animated semen, brutal sex scenes and over the top gore, this seemed like little more than a cheap animated follow up relying on the success of the film and the use of shock tactics in lieu of content. Controversy for the sake of dollar signs..where as, although Miike's live action stab at Ichi the Killer was unsettling and controversial, I felt it was all necessary to convey the mood of the story and, by the film's end, was a solid movie that managed to entertain and provoke a little thought. The cartoon failed at doing the same, tho' I suspect director, Shinji Ishidaira, and writer, Sakichi Sato, had no intentions of doing that.

Yes, I'll admit certain themes and the overall means of storytelling do harbor a certain novelty when animated. For example, the film starts off at the end of film's climax, yet it's a prequel, examining Ichi's youth and the path that lead him to be an underworld murderer extraordinaire. The scenes were presented in a nonlinear, out of sequence style similar to Memento or Pulp Fiction. And it worked. It worked quite nicely, allowing viewers to speculate on certain matters only to be proven right or wrong minutes later.

But overall, thisseemed nothing more than a means to titillate those who fancy shock and gore. The story itself describes a young teen, bullied by his classmates, without any friends, growing up with a bizarre homelife. Fitting in nowhere, Ichi's signals become mixed and he realizes torturing and killing animals allows him to achieve orgasm. And then things escalate and Ichi's existence becomes even more troubling and perverse.

Ultimately, as part of a means of indoctrination by some shady underworld characters, Ichi meets up with the beautiful Midori who not only leads him to believe she finds him attractive, but encourages him to experience the fullest sexual pleasure with her at the cost of violence during sex. The scenes were a bit too much for me and, to be honest, I probably would have turned the damned thing off if it wasn't so close to the end. For those of you who've seen Miike's Ichi the Killer, you know what eventually happens to her. Here, it's all put together.

We also see Ichi fall to the underworld's clutches at he is befriended and mentored by former yakuza turned opportunist, Jiiji , who secretly knows of Hajime's bizarre fetishes and behavior patterns and manages to capture Hajime as some impressionable tool of gangland murder.

For fans of outlandish shock and those curious to see the origins of some of the Ichi the Killer players, you might want to check this out if you can find a cheap copy, but this really isn't something I'd recommend to anybody else. I didn't care for it and saw nothing more than a wasted opportunity full of troubled characters you just can't bring yourself to care about.

Guitar Wolf's UFO Romantic

OK, for those of you who've seen the Japanese rockabilly/zombie movie, Wild Zero, you've seen Guitar Wolf, the punk/rockabilly band that starred in the film as well as provided the soundtrack.

Yeah well, I picked up their latest CD, UFO Romantic, the other day and..well I can't review a CD for shit. Seriously. So in a move to confirm my status as King Douche, I swiped this from Amazon.com...

"Ever wondered what vintage American punk acts like Johnny Thunders' Heartbreakers and Joan Jett 's Blackhearts would sound like if they'd emerged from Japan? Well, here is the answer. Although this Tokyo trio reigns in its loud sonic assault to allow for actual distinction between instruments on its eighth album, that doesn't soften the primal wallop of songs like "After School Thunder" and "Alcohol Ace." Following the Ramones ' two-chord credo, Guitar Wolf stick to the basics: feedback, wailing, and jackhammer rhythms. The ubiquitous black shades and leather jackets only sweeten the deal. Like getting blasted with a bazooka and waking up with a smile. --Aidin Vaziri"

You can check out some clips over there as well..something not available for The Pillows import disk and some of the Shonen Knife CDs. This CD makes me want to punch some big motherfucker right in the teeth and then enjoy myself as I get knocked into oblivian. Good fucking stuff.

Until next time,
-V
Crippled Fist of Doom!

2003-02-09T05:25:00.000-08:00

The above image is from manga published by the doomsday cult, AUM Shinrikyo, lead by Shoko Asahara (above in manga form. Below, a photograph taken while he was "levitating").

On March 20, 1995, twelve commuters were killed and more than 5,000 were sent to hospitals after a member of the cult released sarin gas inside the crowded subway. What does this have to do with anything? Well, it's an interesting story, especially in light of the recent terror alert. But also, it's a kickass segue into this weeks first review. Woohoo!

Suicide Club (Jisatsu Circle). 2002. Written and Directed by Shion Sono

"What in the world is in that BAG, what you got in that BAG?"

ON May 26th, 50 schoolgirls from 18 different schools all over Tokyo step up to the yellow line on a subway platform in crowded Shinjuku Station. They, standing side by side, hold the hand of the girl next to them, cheerfully count to three and without any reluctance, jump to their deaths. Five young highschool girls, crushed underneath a speeding train, sending buckets of blood all over Shinjuku Station.

Later that night, at a dark, empty hospital, two nurses, without any peculiar emotion or signs of fearing their own demise, jump to their doom from several floors up from the hard pavement. No signs of fowl play were discovered at the scenes of both disturbing suicide locales, but at each, a white bag was laid down. Bags not seen put down by anybody, but clearly left for the police to discover.

Scratching their heads at the bizarre number of suicides popping up all over Tokyo, a group of detectives are conflicted. Do they assume this is a crime or just some tragic fad gripping the youth? The white bags found at the scene reveal grosteque rolls of patches of skin sewn together (resembling a giant Cinnamon Roll), taken from those who took their own lives and possibly those who are about to. With this and an anonymous phone call, from a girl calling herself "The Bat," revealing an unusual website showing only red and white dots representing the men and women who are dying from suicide, things only get more complicate.

After more suicides from schoolkids jumping from atop a highschool roof, claiming to be "The Suicide Club's founding chapter", one detective takes the roll as the lead protagonist and with the aid of fellow detectives and his son, who's managed to find one of the bizarre web sites without the aid of "The Bat", aims to get to the bottom of this weird tragedy.

Despite all of this, Detective Kuroda (played by Ryo Ishibashi), a good husband and father, gets nowhere and the problem is, as viewers, neither do we. I want talk about a few other aspects of the film before I get to that as to give a better description of what you're in for without spoiling anything.

The film borrows many themes and ideas from of some of Japan's latest thrillers. I've seen Suicide Club compared to Battle Royale although, besides the fact that school kids are dying by the handful, there's actually very little in common. This films feels much more like the curse-via-video fright flick, Ringu (also known as The Ring, just like the American remake which hit theaters last year). The movie starts with a given date, May 26th, and in every few scenes, the dates are listed until we get to June 1st. Also like Ringu, young school kids are dying due to a mysterious, possibly supernatural means brought via form of entertainment.

Still, besides the close similarities, it's not a bad film. There are certain points in the movie where you just want to turn the damned thing off as the chills run down your spine at levels that will be, for some, nearly unbearable. Although one could argue that it's not a true horror movie, the dark cinematography and wonderful use of music and timing will definitely approach scaring the shit out of you.

Oh yeah. I must mention that this film is also not for the squeamish. In one disturbing sequence, Tokyo residents off themselves while an ultra sweet preteen pop band plays in the background. A Young child reaches for her mother's attention as the mom thoroughly amputates her own fingers and hand in an almost jovial manner. A group of young women, reciting lines from a play, laugh and giggle before kicking the stools from under their feet, kicking out the support keeping them from snapping their necks. It's this mix of gore and a sense of perverted innocence that will leave you uneasy and eager to find out just what the fuck is going on.

Who or what is responsible for the mass suicides? What is the relevance of the white bags of rolled up skin? Well, if you don't want to find out before you watch the movie, stop reading right now. Some of what I will mention after the next image might contain some spoilers. If you do not want any part of this film spoiled, you might want to skip it.

Through beautifully planned cinematography and timing, this film has managed to have me look over my shoulder on a few occasions. Through the use of brutal scenes of explicit mutilation and sheer mortality, this film managed to leave me thankful that I watched on an empty stomach, but despite all that and despite the fact that, shock value aside, mass unexplained suicide is a very interesting concept, the film failed to leave me impressed with the overall story. The way the film played out seemed to be almost a waste of a fresh idea.

As with so many Japanese films, mainly horror films, Suicide Club fell from grace, ultimately relying on wackiness and then a cryptic ending worthy of a groan or two. Before I get labeled somebody who simply doesn't "get it", I must say that I think director Miike Takashi's use of semi-open endings and the thought-provoking end of Ringu were simply brilliant. I do get it, I just didn't like it.

The mysterious pseudo-informant known as "The Bat" is actually two young teen girls who don't quite get the scope of the Suicide Club. They're eventually kidnapped by a bunch of punk thugs and brought to a bowling alley doubling as the home of The Suicide Club. Lead by a glammed-up punk with no conscience, the gang tortures the girls (as well as several other girls and animals which lie helpless, covered by tied-up bed sheets) and then breaks into song (not a bad song actually). The leader in drag, on guitar and vocals, sings a song demonstrating just how crazy and nihilistic he is. As if for a minute, the ghost of Kubrick haunted the set in an effort to have viewers thinking "What the fuck?"

The Bat, surviving only because the gang still has plans for her, manages to call the cops..who arrive at the scene and arrest the flamboyant thugs. Cuffed and being lead into custody, the effeminate gang leaders tells news cameras he's the "Charlie Manson on the information age" and the leader of the Suicide Club. So he and the gang, through various websites, persuaded hundreds of Japanese youth to take their own lives. Mystery solved. Roll credits.

But no, this all turns out to be a false ending. The gang of delinquents was nothing more than a product of the real Suicide Club. I'll warn you one last time, if you don't want the movie spoiled, don't read the rest of this review. OK?

Throughout the latter half of the film, a creepy kid has been calling Detective Kuroda, asking him weak philosophical question about Kuroda's own relationship with himself. It turns out the mastermind of this whole Suicide Club was none other than a bunch of little kids, delivering their message, or should I say, their questions, through the lyrics and posters of a super sugary J-Pop band consisting of several twelve year old girls that has swept Japan. Through this band called Dessert, the creepy suicide-inspiring children have lured in hundreds, making them question their own existence and they're relationships with themselves. The end result being the acceptance of themselves and therefor, the ability to take their own lives without reluctance or concern. Yeah, you read that right. Whatever the fuck that means.

An interesting idea I suppose and something more interesting than say some super natural force or subliminal messages..which I was kind of expecting. This is a wonderfully shot film accompanied by great special effects and fine acting, but in the end, it seems like something intending to shock, capitalizing on the troubling elements of Battle Royale and the cryptic vagueness of Ringu.

I should mention that thoughout the film, a series of web URLs are given out. I haven't visited them, and I'm not about to, but they appear to be real, starting with www and ending with .com or .ne.jp. Like the mysterious video tape in Ringu, these websites harbor the power to lure you to your doom or end the cycle. If you end up checking out this film and decide to visit the sites mentioned, good luck.

Japanese Movie Posters: Yakuza, Monster, Pink and Horror. DH Publishing

First of all, this book's title isn't exactly accurate. Japanese Movie Posters: Monsters and Yakuza, Ghosts and Samurai, Anime, Pink and New Cinema is what best describes it, as it's written on the back cover. As a huge Japanese cinema fan, my jaw dropped when Moviepoopshoot.com's Editor-in-Chief, Chris Ryall passed this along for me to review.

After a great introduction by Chuck Stephens, the books cuts to the chase, presenting page after page of full color prints of some of Japan's finest movie posters.

From Brother's noirish simplicity to the brilliant colors of Mothra 2, the blunt sexuality of Pervert's Medical School and the beautifully illustrated A Night in Nude, a wide variety of style and expression comes across in these pieces. Some loud and flamboyant, some subtly suggestive, all posters picked for this book do one thing and they do it well. They invite you into whatever world they're selling. An art that seems to be dying here in the States.

The book's divided up into seven main categories. Yakuza, Sci-fi and Monster, Samurai, Pink, Horror, Animation and New Cinema. Of course, many of the films mentioned share themes so a film like Zatoichi, a blind vagabond swordsman, often fighting yakuza is under "Samurai"..which is really no big deal. Just figured I'd mention it.

Around a dozen posters from each genre are chosen. Each so awesome to look at, it was hard to pick which ones to show.

For each of the posters featured, a brief synopsis of the film it's representing is mentioned underneath. Also, a nice short history is given for each genre. Accompanied by interesting tidbits and a little something about the creators of the films. Here's a small sample of what you'll find among the 96 pages.

Yakuza-

The Nun's Gamble (Toei, 1971)

Japanese Molls: Bloodied Flowers (Toei, 1971)

Sci-fi and Monsters-

Monster Island Battle: Son of Godzilla (Toho, 1967)

Throughout the Pink section (Pink, being adult films release by independent companies) one can't help but notice the rope bondage theme displayed in many of the posters.

Fascination: Portrait of a Lady (Nikkatsu, 1977)

Prohibited in Japan: Female Trafficking (Shin Toho, 1977)

Samurai-

This one, one of my favorites, is from Zatoichi, the Fugitive (Daiei, 1963).This and most other of the Zatoichi/Blind Swordsman films can been seen every Saturday morning on IFC.

Princess Blade (Shurayuki-Hime Production Committee, 2001)

Horror-

Curse of the Blood (Shochiku, 1968)

Animation-

Ghost in the Shell (Bandai Visual, 1995)

Another of my favorites, "Beat" Tekashi's Brother (Office Kitano, 2001) from the New Cinema section. If only the movie could be half as good as the poster!

Whether you're an art or movie poster fan, Japanese film buff or looking for a nice table/conversation piece, you might want to check this one out. Oh yeah, in the back of the book, there's instructions on how to order any of the posters seen in the book. There's definately a good few posters in here worthy of hanging up on any wall.

Next week, the third and final installment of Tikashi Miike's brilliant trilogy, Dead or Alive Final, Shirow's Ghost in the Shell 2 from Dark Horse and much more.

-Victor Destefano
Crippled Fist of doom!

2003-01-27T22:25:00.000-08:00

In many, if not most, Japanese magazine publications, manga litters the pages. From a strip or two here and there to a full 12 page story in the middle of a porno or fashion magazine, manga is everywhere.

Sure, comic strips play a role in many American magazines. Whether it's Playboy or The Star, comic strips are ready to break things up, but on a much smaller scale than it's Japanese counterpart. Here's a few strips that I found in some of the magazines I buy and use for reference. Maybe some of you are interested in seeing manga other than that which is translated and brought over here.

A bizarre full-pager fount in this month's EGG Magazine, a kogal (trendy Japanese girl obsessed the latest fashions) magazine. Apparently, this strip was inspired by a true story one of the kogal readers sent in. Here.

Here's two pages from a 12 pager feaured in the Japanese Penthouse about a sexy robot than transforms into a Sony robo-dog (Note the edited genital shots. Depictions of genitals in a sexual manner must be removed even from manga). Here and here.

From another porno, panels accompanied by text of gropers and what looks like rapists. I can't read kanji so I don't know what context it's in. I'd like to think it's nothing more than an article trying to condemn such activities (maybe trying to balance out the porno stigma?), but I have my doubts. Here and here.

From the Japanese Lowrider Magazine..which looks and feels exactly like the Lowrider published in the States. Here.

Takashi Miike's Dead or Alive.

I'm not an astronaut, but if I was, I'd imagine blasting off into space would be an interesting experience. For a few minutes, the speed and leaving the Earth's surface might feel like an incredible rush. Just chaotic, maybe giving a feeling of having no control. Shortly after, there's a more peaceful travel, still awesome. Still a rush. then, before you know it, you're on the moon or orbiting the globe. One hell of an experience marked by different stages that all serve their purpose and leave you feeling like something great just happened. That's also Dead or Alive.
I know, I know. How pompous. Comparing a movie to space travel. But on a much, much smaller scale, that's how it is.

Dead or Alive is first of three unrelated films (the "sequels", DoA2: Birds (see archive) and DoA3: Final) starring Show (Sho) Aikwawa and B-movie veteran, Riki Tekeuchi. In this one, a Tokyo cop, Detective Jojima, played by Show Aikawa, is trying to figure out who murdered a gay gangsters and members of a Chinese Triad. With the aid of his partner, played by Susumu Terajima (Brother, Sonatine), scumbag informants who make bestiality flicks and the reluctant honesty of some yakuza whom the detective is quite familiar with, Jojima makes some progress, but not much. And that's hardly the most important thing on his mind.

His teenage daughter is sick and needs an operation in order to live. The operation's a pricey one at $200,000 and a clean cop simply can't afford it. Troubling times for a cop on the right side of the law.

Meanwhile, a small gang of well armed hoods, Chinese by ethnicity, are calling the shots in the underworld. Lead by Ryuichi, played by Riki Tekeuchi, the gang of a few young men and one young female stripper are willing to beg, borrow and steal to make a buck. And they do much worse.

After leaving a trail of dead cops, empty money trucks and massacred gangsters, Japanese and Chinese, the leader gets greedy and paranoid and starts eliminating anybody who doesn't fit nicely in his plans.

Amidst the backdrop of a monumental alliance between the Yakuza and Triads, the detective and the head bandit end up facing off head to head.

The movie's simply brilliant. Playing with themes such as loyalty, resisting temptation and the bleak future ethnic Japanese have to look forward to, Takashi Miike shows that he's not simply a director depending on violence and semen...which isn't absent from the movie, but I'll get to that in a minute.

Moments of pure drama are carried out excellently all throughout the film. In one scene, Ryuichi and his brother are paying tribute to their deceased mother at her grave. The brother, returning from college which he attended in the States, is met by the members of the gang. In a moment reminiscent of something out of Tekashi Kitano's Sonatine or Kikujiro, the gang and the newly returned brother welcome each other with playful wrestling and similar antics. Several minutes go by showing nothing more than a bunch of friends, happy to be reunited, having a good time at an empty cemetery on a rainy afternoon.

For a minute, it's almost like you're right there, happy to see all of you're friends back together after a long separation. This coming from a director known for his graphic amputation scenes and cum themes, well, it's pretty damn impressive.

Before you start thinking that this a touchy feel kind of gangster film, let me note something to the contrary. The opening scene contains some of the most chaotic, explosive five minutes in film history.

Part old school John Woo, part Wong Kar-Wai (I should mention Michelle Reis of Kar-wai's Fallen Angels has a role in this film), the opening scene is nothing but Ryuichi's gang following out several hits on members of the Shinjuku Underground. A clown with a sawed-off 12 gauge on his back walks down the crowded streets of Tokyo at night. Walking by is a black leather jacket-clad Ricki Tekeuchi who pulls the shotgun from the clown's back, jumps on his motorcycle and takes down the street, stopping traffic by filling up a car full of gangsters with buckshot. A Chines gangster, paying full attention to a stripper dancing in front of him, has his ramen noodles shot out from his belly. It's literally five minutes chocked full of unadulterated fast paces sex and violence. Any more would be exhausting to take in.

And Dead or Alive isn't without other Miike staples. Scenes of a freshly raped hostess bathing in her own shit, a hooker spitting out the remains of a blow job or a drugged out porn star getting humped by a dog (at the behest of Dankan, star of Tekashi Kitano's Getting Any and member of Kitano's "Beat Army") do dot the film, but I will say that they seem much more genuine than the made-to-shock scenes in Fudoh or even Ichi the Killer. Whatever was shown was necessary..or at least more necessary than previous or future Miike film scenes which leave you uneasy for a moment.

Miike has gotten the rap as a woman hater. Is he? I honestly don't know, but here, any evil shit done to those with two X chromosomes is done to illustrate the ills and perversions of the film's antagonists. Not for cheap thrills.

Dead or Alive has become one of my favorite films in recent years. Borrowing or just coincidentally including elements from Tekashi Kitano and Wong Kar Wai, this should be something that appeals to anybody who can put up with a bit of much needed uneasiness while looking for a great story. While it's still yet to be released over here, region free versions of the DVD or VHS can be purchased on eBay or any other the Asian Import sites.

-Victor Destefano
Crippled Fist of Doom

2003-01-21T14:22:00.000-08:00

If I told you you had a bloody nose, would you hold it against me?

Blood: The Last Vampire 2002. Benkyo Tamaoki. Viz Comics. $15.95

Some of you might have seen the traditional/digital animation hybrid, Blood: The Last Vampire that came out on video and DVD in 2000. This is the sequel, written and drawn by pornographic manga artist, Benkyo Tamaoki, who managed to tone down his style a lot for this book, even though his passion for the porn manga is clearly visible here.

Akiko, a bad student, neglected by her parents and picked on at her school, has finally made a friend. The only problem is that friend is actually a centuries old vampire hybrid who's using poor Akiko to get her hands on the baddest vampire hunter out there, a young looking woman with many secrets and a bad attitude.

The vampire huntress, Saya, who kills with a priceless antique katana blade, does her job very well. But she, like Akiko, is underappreciated by the vampire hunting organization that employs her. As a matter of fact, they treat her like absolute shit despite her constantly putting her life on the line for the good of humanity.

This time around, Saya is told to befriend the bullied, neglected Akiko to get her hands on the female vampire and after several well constructed fights, motorcycle gang rampages, graphic torture, lesbian sex and urination, Saya and the vampire hunting organization get their wish. But at what cost?

Let's just say a centuries old unvalued vampire hunter meeting up with her new arch enemy, who looks exactly like her, can only lead to Earth shattering revelations for the female vampire slayer.

The story's pretty decent although, I must admit it was full of elements that really weren't too impressive or innovative. It's full of shit you've seen time and time again, the begrudging protagonist, the scientific vampire twist, the use of experimental monsters to symbolize man's misuse of science and the desire to live forever. Not to mention blatant sexuality where, at times, seemed a bit inappropriate. Long fully nude lesbian sex scenes, gratuitous torture scenes, panty shots and accidental urination. I'm not complaining mind you, it was actually fun to look at..well, some of it, but it didn't exactly leave any room for one to take the book seriously. But it's a fucking vampire story- the protagonist wears a school girl uniform, so I guess there's no need to take it seriously.

Personally, the best thing about this book was the art. Some of the fight scenes were really well done. Gruesome, yet rather simple. No elaborate backgrounds to drown out the brutality of severed limbs, heads, broken faces and incredible fluidity. Some great visual story telling as well. Eye rolls and subtle changes in body language managed to say a lot.

Depending on what you dig, the sex, nudity, violence and eventful ending will either leave you impressed or groaning (I'm still on the fence about the period blood/vampire cunnilingus scene that was alluded to. Oy!), but I guess that beats having little reaction at all. This book is read from traditional Western left to right.

The Happiness of the Katakuris.

Just when I thought I was on my way to figuring out Takashi Miike, I go and watch this.

Happiness of the Katakuris is unlike any other Miike films. Hell, it's unlike anything. Part musical, part murder mystery, part comedy plus claymation, it doesn't fit in any genre.

The Katakuris, a family consisting of a little girl, her single, naive mother, uncle, grandparents and great-grandfather, have decided, on the grandfather's urging, to operate a small inn in an isolated spot up in the mountains. The move caused friction between many family members and the lack of business only made things worse. What seemed like a good idea to granpa seems like nothing more than a cruel, futile caging to the other, younger Katakuris.

One day, that all seemed to change as the hotel got it's first customer, but in reality, this turned into the beginning of a nightmare. For some reason, those who stayed at the inn were dying and, not wanting to kill future business and ruin the inn's name, the Kutukuris buried their dead patrons themselves, leaving the authorities out of it.

As suspicions grow around the mysterious deaths and the young mother falls for a con man looking to score a quick buck, things get worse and worse. Digging up bodies to avoid detection and nosey cops all add to the difficulties. Still, the Katakuris, a somewhat dysfunctional lot, hold together in their time of need, proving that it's not only the "perfect" families that have their moments. When things get tough, the Katakuri family realizes just what it is they have in each other.

Besides a rather flamboyant ending, it's actually one of Miike's more traditonal-style films, well kind of. During moments like the young single mother falling for a grifter or the discovery of a dead body, it turns into an all out, choreographed musical. Singing, dancing, cheap special effects and all.

The problem I had with that is when the novelty wore off, it became a rather tiresome means of telling the back stories or exploring the family dynamic in some spots. As I watched the first scene, I was thinking "This is awesome! The guy who directed the insanely violent Ichi the Killer is doing a musical. Ha!" but as I continued watching, I realized that even the unexpected use of this from Miike wasn't enough to make up for the fact that, to be perfectly honest, I'm not really a fan . So besides the occasional pure Japanese wackiness during some of the scenes and a truly brilliant number at the end, the musical element was something I didn't mind, but didn't dork out for either. But I'm just not a fan of musicals so, obviously, I wouldn't fully enjoy that aspect no matter how well it was done.

Something else that was noticeably absent from a Takashi Miike film was an abundance of graphic violence. OK, well that's technically not true. There was was a disturbing scene in the very beginning (a scene of a goblin-like creature popping out of soup and attacking a young woman's uvula...that small hangy ball in the back of your mouth), but it had nothing to do with the film itself and it was accompanied by some of the sickest stopmotion/claymation I've seen. It was like an 80s music video introducing the movie. After that, claymation is used to depict a fight scene and a few other moments. Not high budget Hollywood stuff, but still pretty damn cool to see if you're into movies that break the rules a bit.

Happiness of the Kutukuris is more Little Shop of Horror than Dead or Alive I guess. It is indeed a musical and one without the insane violence and shock Miike is noted for, but more that that, it's a charming story of a family, all with their own problems, reluctant to be living together, who realize it ain't such a bad thing in the end. Miike fans should welcome it along with anybody else looking for something new.

-Victor Destefano

2003-01-12T21:47:00.000-08:00

In a minute, I'm going speak a little bit about the film, Battle Royale, which tells the story of the school day from hell, so I guess this is appropriate. Everybody knows about the Japanese education system, how strict it is and how much stress and grief it causes the average Japanese student, but what you rarely hear about is the Japanese teachers who cross the line and then some.

From molestation, hidden upskirt cameras, duct tape and bug spray, the renegade Japanese teacher puts our Pamela Smarts and Mary K. Letourneaus to shame.
Here's an interesting list compiled by the Mainichi Shimbun. Worst Teachers of 2002.

Now on with the shoe....

On Sunday, January 12th, Japanese director, Kinji Fukasaku, died of cancer. He was 72. Among many of his critically acclaimed films was Tora! Tora! Tora!, the 1970 classic depicting the events leading up to Pearl Harbor as seen from both sides, and the controversial teen survival thriller, Battle Royale.

Based on Koushun Takami's novel, Battle Royale, the film released in 2000 in Japan, has gone to break records in the mighty Nippon and found a strong fanbase in the US even though it's yet to be officially released by any major distributor. Most fans, seeing the movie on second or third generation VHS or VCD fell in love with the violent, thought provoking film, but for most Americans, the fact that eBay, specialty sites or comic and film conventions is the only way to score the film, lead to a general unawareness.

The story's pretty simple actually. In the Japan of the near future, a bunch of highschool students were picked to be unwitting contestants in a tournament-like event that's part Survivor, part Columbine and part Running Man. Set on a small woodsy island, the contest is overseen by the cruel, warden-like Kitano, played by Takeshi "Beat Takeshi" Kitano.

Each given a weapon and a bomb locked onto the neck which explodes if they to escape or stay in one area for too long (similar to the futuristic prison thriller, Deadlock, staring Rutger Hauer), they are released one by one and, from which point they must fend for themselves and kill in order to be the last student standing. The lone survivor who "graduates" from Battle Royale and is granted freedom.

Of course, some are more than willing to kill to survive. Actually taking pleasure in it. Some are reluctant, but do what they need to do anyway and then there is the few who simply won't kill even to save their own hides. Eventually, a small group of rebel students hatch a plan to get out of there alive along with their other classmates.

Obviously, due to all the school shootings in United States over the past few years, this movie is not likely to find a home in some cineplex or video store chain anytime soon. Seeing how video games like DOOM and recording artists like Marilyn Manson were blamed for many of the shooting, even though they had nothing to do with notions of killing innocent classmates, I'm sure a movie about school kids killing school kids would send outrage all across the nation.

Interestingly, there has yet to be any school shootings in Japan. While firearms are heavily regulated there, there's still easy enough access. Yet, after a film about highschoolers battling it out to the death cause lines to form around city blocks during the theatrical release, there has been no real-life highschool firearm related deaths.

Battle Royale's a violent film. Much of it seemingly taken from other films before it, but it's powerful and thought provoking. It really is. How often have you thought about what it might be like to be a highschooler running for your life, just trying to survive? How often have you been put in a position where you can sit back and watch that feeling being acted out right in front of?

Of course, the film and novel say much more than that. Disecting the human mind and the good and evil that can come from it. Hopefully, Battle Royale 2, to be released in Japan this Summer, will do the first some justice.

Master of the Flying Guillotine.

I've been dying to see this ever since the title invaded the lyrics of Ol' Dirty Bastard's Cuttin' Headz. Something about a flying guillotine, whatever the fuck it was, sounded pretty damn sweet.

And now with film, re-released on DVD, I finally got the chance.

The Master of the Flying Guillotine is the story of a righteous Kung Fu master, the famed one-armed boxer, played by Yu Wang, and the blind master of the flying guillotine (a hat-like weapon thrown from a chain, containing several serrated blades suitable for slicing or decapitating victims) after two of the blind man's disciples were killed by the one-armed rebel kung fu master.

To showcase some fine martial arts, the movie is set up around a tournament. One filled with a deadly Thai kickboxer, an Indian yogi who can stretch his limbs beyond normal human limits, a samurai and various other martial artists from around Asia.

Ultimately, the rebel kung fu master hatches a plot that could end up aiding in the defeat of the powerful master of the flying guillotine. And when I say plot, I mean a full-blown cheat. I don't know, something about seeing a typical protagonist fighting as dirty as he can just seems really cool. Bruce Lee kicked holes into windows blinding a seven foot tall Kareem Abdul Jabar in Game of Death. In Master of the Flying Guillotine, Yu Wang might as well have used an Uzi. I like that.

Accompanied by his students and a young female martial artist who lost her father to the evil master's blade, the One-Armed Boxer and the Master, accompanied by the Thai kickboxer, come to blows in a battle to the death.

Some of the fighting seemed a little ho-hum to me, the normal choreographed kung fu. But some of it was awesome. Witnessing the yogi, with arms extended, charging towards the camera or watching men with rope and curved blades fighting on top of bamboo shoots extended a few feet over deadly spikes is always badass.

I'm a big fan of the crippled Kung Fu, so seeing a one-armed boxer fighting a blind man with a death trap hat was really a treat (Wang Yu is no stranger to fighting the blind blade masters, as seen in Zatoichi Meets the One Armed Swordsman, 1971).

Some of the extras on this DVD include commentary from film critics, Wade Major and Andy Klein, original trailers and English and Spanish subtitles. My favorite though is the English dubs. Dubs that occasionally appear MIA as American voice overs turn into the original Mandarin. Bad dubbing and 70s kung fu. Two great tastes that taste great together.

Shoichi Aoki's FRUiTS.

There's not really too much to say about this one. FRUiTS is nothing more than page after page of color photos of the Harajuku, Japan (a paved Mecca where expressive Tokyo youth gather each Sunday) street scene and the crazy fashion sense of the minute. From kogals and cosplay freaks to goths, club kids, punks and bikers, these young people don't mind donning whatever it takes to get some attention and stand out a bit. A wife-beater, blue jeans and chaps? Sure. White faux-fur boots, stretch pants, a tech vest and a winter cap..on a dude? Hell, it's Sunday in Tokyo. Why not?

Photographer Shoichi Aoki was interviewed in Giant robot and, to be completely honest, kind of came off as a dick. But still, the dude's got an eye for this stuff. For those who want to keep in touch with the youth of Japan or just dig expression found in other cultures, you might want to check this one out.

I should mention that FRUiTS is not used as a slang term for homosexuals here. Aoki had no idea Americans used the word that way.

I was supposed to review Takashi Miike's bizarre murder myster/musical/claymation freak out, Happiness of the Kutukuris, but I just ran out of time. Next week, look for that and some more Miike. I promise.

-Victor Dstefano

2003-01-05T18:43:00.000-08:00

From the land where mothers schedule their teenage sons to get circumcised before cram school. From the land where inserting pearl-like beads into the shaft of one's penis is a fairly common cosmetic surgery. From the land where girls with crooked, pointed teeth are, to many, the ideal, I bring you From Japan!

FLCL

Every once in a while, you come across something that just blows you away. Something that cannot be topped.

Although I have a particular love for Japanese comics and cinema, anime has always been hit or miss for me. Sure, put some Miyazaki, Akira, Vampire Hunter D, Ninja Scroll or even Gunsmith Cats in front of me, and my eyes are glued to the TV screen like a Mongoloid to glitter, but I've always found great anime to be the exception.

So, when I got the FLCL (Furi Kuri/Fooly Cooly) DVD (Studio Gainax), I was a bit skeptical. I heard only good things, but still, that ultimately means nothing. I heard good things about Jin Roh too, but found Jin Roh incredibly boring.

FLCL is six episodes involving a twelve year old boy living with his dad, running into a strange chick on a Vespa, having his life changed in an instant. A collision with the moped chick leaves a giant welt on the head of Naota. A welt that will turn out to be a portal allowing a friendly TV-headed robot and giant beasts to enter this dimension.

On top of this, Naota will have to deal with his whacked-out manga artist father, his brother's troubled ex, peers and the attractive, yet crazy mystery moped girl, causing havoc on his hormones as puberty takes over.

Really, there's so many unique elements that are brilliant. Like I just mentioned, the pain and discovery of adolescence is handled so well. So accurate despite the chaotic, insane structure of this story. Dealing with hormones, jealousy and the uncomfortableness they cause is always an interesting thing when handled right, but put that into a pure Japanese gamut of insane animation and you got something unlike anything else. Revolutionary. At least to the medium.

FLCL uses anything and everything at any time. From rather traditional animation to ballistic, scrolling manga pages, to homages to South Park (for absolutely no reason), the bag of tricks is vast and almost exhausting. Seriously, after I watched the third episode, I had to take a break even though I couldn't wait to see ep. 4. It was too much to take. It blew me away.

You're angry at your father for stealing your girl, so what do you do? Why, you fight him. You fight him with full-auto pellet guns on a field, where's he's dressed like a Nazi, what else?

Ultimately, the episodes tell the story of Haruko, a traveler from another dimension (accompanied by a talking cat), seeking her long, lost love, the agency trying to track her down and how this affected a small cast of characters as well as an entire town, but it's divided into six episodes, each with a separate story of it's own. Examining and exploring the characters involved while forming a big picture. It's sci-fi meets adolescence meets pure ballistic, unchecked cartoon. As goofy and cliche as it is to say, it's a ride.

The version I have doesn't have the English dubs and I'm kind of thankful for that. The dubs might be great, I don't know, but I can tell you they simply cannot beat the original Japanese voice acting. At times, the subtitles move a bit faster than you'd like, but still, a great, great job was done by the voice actors involved.

Oh and before I move on, the soundtrack is maybe the best I've seen in Japanese animation thus far. The punk/pop band, The Pillows provides the theme song, Shooting Star, as well as a Devo-esque video for it.

In the chaotic vain of The Excel Saga, but with a much more interesting story and elements that should bring you back to being a young teen if but only for a minute. This raised the bar in my book. I highly recommend it.

Takashi Miike's Dead or Alive 2

When a wannabe hitman's work is foiled by a real hitman's actions, craziness ensues.

First off, Dead or Alive 2 really isn't a sequel to Dead or Alive although DoA's two main stars are back (and doing another bang up job I might add) and there is a Yakuza Vs Triads in Tokyo theme. With his blond hair, loud shirt and clumsy demenor, Mizuki, played by Show Aikawa, is a hitman who is all set to take out a gangster in order to start a gang war. The only problem is, before he can pull the trigger of his sniper rifle, another man, the dark-haired, shades wearing Shuuichi, played byRiki Takeuchi, takes out the mark and then some. In it for the money, Mizuki takes full credit and the money agreed upon...or at least tries to. The men who hired him found out that he never actually did the killing and want their money back. And that's when things get crazy.

On the run, Mizuki meets up with the killer who stole his mark on a ferry to his childhood home. Quickly, it is realized that both men were actually childhood friends, orphans actually, and instead of arguing or getting into what happened during the day of the shootings, the two make up for old time, along with another childhood friend who went strait, on the island where the men spent their youth.

The three men reminisce about their days at the orphanage, adolescence and the events that separated them and after a rather lengthy scene or two involving flashbacks and talking, things heat up and the two hitmen decide the best thing to do, given their current situation, is to do contract killings and then donate the proceeds to buy vaccines for children in third world nations. The mentality of the upbeat hopeful Mizuki is that by eliminating bad people, thousands of children can be vaccinated or fed in nations where there is little hope. The nihilistic Shuuichi agrees without much reluctance, and then, of course, after some hits ranging from simple sniping to typical Takashi brutality, their going up against the underworld comes back to haunt them.

It's a hell of an interesting story really. Two hitmen cross paths only to realize their childhood friends, and then kill for the good of the world, but that's really only half of the appeal. Takashi Miike's known for injecting whatever and whenever and here, that's really quite entertaining. One scene shows some of the adults staging a play for the orphans (a play full of men dressed as kappa [clever mythological beasts resembling both a monkey and a turtle] and robots) while simultaneously showing a bloody gang shootout taking place elsewhere. Later scenes show black and white angel wings on the two hitmen protagonists. Possibly a symbol of what's to come?

I don't want to give much away, but one scene where a man is executed by three men firing him at once, the scene cuts to a videogame-like graphic, showing the bullets coarse through the mans head, represented by a green sphere graphic. It's out of nowhere and it's just fucking cool. If I was less of a Neanderthal, I'd try to formulate much of the bizarre aspects into some kind of Freudian bullshit, but I'm not, so all of it just works in this "What the fuck was that? That was awesome!" kind of way. Like FLCL which I reviewed above, Takashi Miike seems to throw in whatever HE wants to see or whatever he feels during each scene and it's unlike anything else out there and works really well....usually. From pulling out a giant cinder block out of nowhere in a pinch to staging a sex charged play for orphans, it's a gumbo of nonlinear ideas that end up telling a great story.

Dead or Alive 2 is a gritty, violent underworld tale mixed with legitimate emotion and nonlinear scene assists, composed of offbeat imagery or raw, blunt metaphors that need no excuses. I've heard Miike dubbed "Tarantino on acid." Bullshit. Miike's Miike and his films are all his own. And this one, in my opinion, is one of his best.

Just for the record, I got a hell of a Matsumoto's Black and White-ish vibe while watching this movie. Could be pure coincidence, but nonetheless, I still got that vibe. A semi-homage of sorts perhaps..?

Lupin III vol. 1. Written and Illustrated by Monkey Punch. TokyoPop. $9.99

OK, the guy who writes and draws Lupin is Monkey Punch. Monkey Punch writes this book. End of story. Go buy the book! Monkey Punch!

But if that's not enough to convince you, I guess I'll review the actual book...or something.

Lupin's a master thief. A master of disguise and all around great criminal. Maybe the greatest ever. The James Bond of criminals, the anti-hero who steals the jewels, escapes the law, maybe kills a bad guy and then ends up banging some hot heiress.

In this book, composed of several short stories, Lupin is constantly dodging the strait Inspector Zenigata while staying one step above the underworld and normal law abiding folk alike. From a super clever jail break to turning the tables on a spoiled rich brat, Lupin always remains on top..that's what he does.

The intro to the book mentions that manga artist, Monkey Punch (not to be confused with Donkey Punch) was heavily inspired by French novelist, Maurice LeBlanc and his character Arsene Lupin. I never read any of that, but right away I noticed the French spy/master thief film vibe. The slick anti-hero tiptoeing through a manor, passing sexy, horny rich daughters with one fuming mad copper on his tail. It's all there. Fun stuff.

On top of that, there's a huge bit of humor in the book. Like Akira Toriyama (Dragon ball, Dragon Ball Z), Monkey Punch never hesitates to include himself in the joke as the perverted manga artist.

The art's great as well. Monkey Punch seemed to just want to get the comic out, so at times, a panel or two might be a bit sketchy or confusing, but in the end, it all works quite nicely. And ten panel pages are not at all uncommon here..something I find a bit amazing as nothing ever seems cramped. Ten panel pages full of black and white with gray washes and a decent bit of dialogue and it all flows as smooth as can be. Impressive.

Lupin III is sexiness and criminal espionage. James Bond meets MAD Magazine's Spy Vs Spy. Good stuff.

Junko Mizuno's Illustration Book. Viz Comics. $9.95

At about fifty pages, at 4 X 6, I bet the ten dollar price tag is sure to drive many people away, but this little book featuring a heavy, glossy cardstock cover and beautifully printed, glossy papered pages is really cool.

Nothing but page after page of Junko Mizuno art. A potpourri of art from T-shirt designs, character designs, logos, posters, etc, etc. all in full color with a brief description for each.

There's not too much to say how the book is all illustration, but if you like what you see and you think you might dig sexy, morbid cuteness, you might want to pick this one up. There's nothing like seeing something resembling a full grown Powerpuff Girl with great cleavage and a skewer full of baby ducks! Er...

Asian Girl of the Week!
Probably an offensive, stupid addition, but what can it hurt? This week's Asian Girl of the Week is none other than The Ring O's Yukie Nakama!

Next week: Takashi Miike's The Happiness of the Katakuris, Master of the Flying Guillotine, FRUiTs and much more!

-Victor Destefano
Crippled Fist of Doom!

2002-11-21T15:14:00.000-08:00

When children attack!

Oh my God! A theme! Well, kind of...

This week, I take a look at some media harboring one of the theme's I think Japan does best. Fucked up kids.

Many know Japan as the peaceful nation with a violent past and despite being the home of numerous crime gangs with numbers in the tens of thousands, it's actually pretty true. Still, as I follow the Japanese news via the Mainichi Shinbum, I've noticed that usually, at least once a week there's a story of a teen who killed one or more of his parents (and vice versa) or a group of young suburbanites who decided to beat a homeless person to death just because. Some have attributed these crimes to the high stress of academia, distant parents or a combination of the two, but despite the reasons behind these brutal crimes, it seems to be a theme many of today's Japanese story tellers are not afraid to work with.

Fudoh: The Next Generation. Directed by Takashi Miike.

Riki Fudoh is the son of a top Yakuza with a distaste for tradition and a score to settle. A well mannered, top student, Riki hides a dark side. A very dark side.

With a tattoo inked from his slain brother's blood, Riki recruits his fellow classmate and starts a gang which will soon wipe out his father's, giving birth to a new type of Japanese gang, full of oddball, unlikely killers and a willingness to use anything and everything that could be used as an effective way to conquer and rule the underworld. The Bruce Lee of Yakuza if you will.

From extorting and killing teachers, scouting new "talent" to all out Yakuza war, Ricki shows that he knows exactly what he's doing and takes no prisoners.

Unfortunately, Fudoh runs like a glossy B-movie with a bit of intentional weirdness that, while it does work, seems more like a gumbo of interesting ideas rather than an actual story.

Some of the featured members of Ricky's gang are the young schoolgirl stripper who shoots darts from her vagina..yet turns out to be something other than you'd expect, a giant idiot who can crush heads with his bare hands and even young children who fall into position and blow enemies away with large caliber revolvers. All, or at least most, very interesting concepts, but they almost seem wasted here.

It's sheer shock and brutality (exactly what you'd expect from a company called Tokyo Shock). Characters who seem as outlandish as possible turn out to be even more bizarre as the movie goes on. Combined with crude scenes of children playing soccer with a severed head, beyond-taboo sex acts, an allusion to the supernatural (common in many Miike films) and a general nihilism, by the end of the movie, you just can't care about what's going to happen. Too much is going on. Too over the top with little substance keeping it in line.

Definitely not my favorite Miike film, but it's so loaded with interesting ideas that it'd be a shame not to check it out. Some of the more interesting characters eventually come out rather stale, but still, it's the stuff most folks never get to see outside of depraved comic books and the Japanese shock scene.

Black and White vol.1. Written and illustrated by Taiyo Matsumoto. From Viz Comics .$15.95

Black and White are two kids living on the street. There's White, the ten year old with severe arrested development (the book starts with a page of him singing his new song, "Poopy Poops go bloopy blorp! Cocky Cocks go uppy whup!..." and being mighty proud of it.) With an obsessed fascination for wrist watches and a general childlike reluctance to bathe and behave, he survives only because his friend, possibly brother, Black, has amazing street smarts and a good heart despite his ease of using violence.

In the grimy, shit hole known as Treasure Town, the two Street kids (known as "Cats") invoke fear as well as sympathy. Meaning well, the two need to do what they gotta do in order to survive and even the local law enforcement's willing to turn a blind eye every now and then.

Nothing's what you would call a good time for the boys, but things turn even uglier when a Yakuza known as "Rat" returns to Treasure Town, disturbing the balance, pissing off cops and making things difficult for the local crime gangs who seemed to be doing fine before the gangster came back in town.

Rat and Black don't get along and with Rat's return and Black's anger, as well as his desire to keep the dimwitted White happy and safe, things get interesting in the dying city.

Taiyo Matsumato might remind you of Moebius. In fact, he spent years in Europe studying European, and more specifically, French styles of comic book art. Coupled with his original inspiration, Katsushiro Otomo's Akira and Domu, the blend of styles works incredibly well.

Relatively simple, with gray tones here and there, Matsumoto's style has became one of my favorites recently. Brutal, gritty and at the same time, cute at times, it's absolutely perfect for the story. Some of the most vivid story telling I've seen in quite some time. His more recent project, No. 5, made a fan, but Black and White has taken it to new levels.

Black and White is the story of two street kids trying to survive among truly bad elements and an overall bad scene. This is the first of three volumes. The next two I'll be sure to review very soon. Great stuff I urge you all to go and pick up.

Go, Go Second Time Virgin. Directed by Koji Wakamatsu.

In 1969, Koji Wakamatsu directed a black and white film unlike anything anyone had ever seen. Most of the film takes place on the rooftop of a Tokyo apartment building in which a group of teen delinquents rape and hold hostage a teenage girl who lost her will to live.

Not new to abuse, the rape victim, Poppo, played by Mimi Kozakura , wants to die, yet feels a strange attraction to one of the boys who attacked her. Tsukio (played by Michio Akiyama ), the distant, more uniquely troubled of the bunch.

Amidst the crowd of drunken, rowdy teens using the roof as their refuge from a changing Japan, (Late 60s Tokyo was much like that of the US, brewing with new ideas, rebellion and a sense of being lied to by everyone not your peers) the two fall into a new, troubled form of demented love and realize what they need to do. Destroy everyone and then themselves. But before such thoughts can be truly explored by the two, together, Tsukio has something he needs to show to his victim turned makeshift girlfriend.

In the same building where the youth are staying, Tsukio takes Poppo to an apartment. Once there, more evidence of Tsukios work is presented. The bloody, mutilated bodies of a group of young adults who took advantage and abused the troubled young man.

Before I go on, let me just take a moment to say a little about the film's director, Koji Wakamatsu. Wakamatsu, born in 1936, the son of a poor farmer, lead one of the most interesting lives I've had the pleasure of learning about. On the way to accidentally becoming a revolutionary, semi-underground film director, Koji spent time as a laborer, a yakuza thug and a Leftist terrorist sympathizer (His film, "Palestine" blocked him from getting a visa in the United States)

In the DVD (as well as the Ecstacy of Angels DVD. About 60s radical Leftist gangs butting heads after one managed to steal arms from a US military base) features a dubbed interview with Wakamatsu. Shot in a quaint bar Wakamatsu seems to enjoy, he explains his life story, tells of his days working with director, Juzo Itami (who was murdered by the yakuza after his film, MINBO [or The Gentle Art of Japanese Extortion] portrayed yakuza with brutal honest, driving home the message of standing up to thugs) and describes his general philosophy.

Wakamatsu, a Socialist, described art as something being against whatever establishment is currently in place. If Japan fell to Communism, he would simply switch "teams" and become capitalist, trying to find whatever fault he could with the party he would once be sympathetic to. As he sees it, that is the job of an artist of any medium. It's that brutal honesty which I found eye-opening regarding just what a rebel is and why.

OK, back to the film. Go, Go Second Time Virgin is violent and looks at rape in a disturbing way. Something shunned by the West (and for good reason), but if you look close, the rape victim who falls for her attacker isn't a tool for justification or an example of how crazy women can be, it's actually surprisingly feminist. The way it's portrayed anyway. It's the story of two young people who lose it all and find each other before they end their lives and those who wronged them. It's a story of desperation and trying to find anything to hold on to when there's nothing.

I've only read a handful of interviews with Takashi Miike, director of Fudoh: The Next Generation (among many other, much better films), but I see the same theme in some of his work and think he may very well have been influenced by Wakamatsu. Either that or it's something that's inherently Japanese visionary.

2002-11-11T00:02:00.000-08:00

Some of you might remember an episode of The Simpsons from years back, involving a Japanese corporate mascot named Mr. Sparkle. A soap logo, the melding of a fish and a light bulb, shouting "I'm disrespectful to dirt! Can you see I am serious?" Or the episode, the Simpson family flew to Japan and partook in an extreme gameshow, The Happy Smile Super Challenge Family Wish Show. Both parodies of the whacky world of Japanese entertainment...but not that far off actually.

I recently scored a tape of Japanarama volume 1 from Too Far East. The tape consists of various clips of Japanese game shows, sketch comedy shows, commercials and popular action dramas. All of which were as bizarre as they come.

Long before Jackass had boxer, Butterbean, knocking out Johnny Knoxville or FearFactor had folks eating maggots, there were shows like "Beat" Takeshi's Takeshi Comedy Ultra Quiz Show where a bus full of unwitting contestants were lowered into the ocean by a crane and lifted out at the last possible moment. I've been hunting for tapes of such programs for years and finally, I hit the goldmine.

In Japanorama volume 1, a grainy fourth generation bootleg, the show starts with a clip of some crazy-eye gameshow host talking loud while playing with some woman's nipples. Before you can think, "What the fuck??," another clip featuring a man in only a jockstrap being fired from a bunjee slingshot appears on the screen. A man screaming and crying into his helmet cam, being jerked around by the wayward slingshot blast and apparently, rocket shoes. Shoes consisting of huge amounts of fireworks blasting off from right under his feet.

To make matters worse, he is suspended over a huge cliff and is watched by dozens of spectators as well as the homes all over the mighty Nippon. Reality television at it's best...or worst depending on how you look at it.

Other clips like that of members of Takeshi's comedy troop, the "Beat Army," wearing only their underwear and balaclavas get legitimately pummeled by two huge wrestlers (One being a member from the American tagteam, the Road Warriors, and another a huge Japanese wrestler). After they are repeatedly knocked down, body slammed and military pressed, they are thrown outside the ring, onto huge, wooden platforms covered with some glue-like substance which, I think, is supposed to mimic a spider's web (I should mention that the host, "Beat" Takeshi, is wearing a giant mask resembling the head of a fly). When all members of the Beat Army are stuck onto the wooden "webs," the platforms compress, driven by hydraulics, "crushing" the defeated "wrestlers."

Those are some of the more elaborate bits showcased. Among commercials featuring Madonna selling alcohol, Quentin Tarentino roughed up in an ad for "Perfect TV," androgynous male pop bands, Funky Egg Pizza and a Japanese girl pop group armed with bazookas selling "KissMint," there's Break, the gameshow where teams of two have to wear huge cage hats while animals like turtles, snakes and porcupines crawl around on their heads. And then there's the always entertaining pornstar charades or shows featuring three men in masks, bow ties and jockstraps putting as many clothes pins on their body in front of a host, a hot female stripper and all of Japan.

If I lived in Japan, the novelty of these shows would probably wear off really quick, but in small doses, the sadistic voyeurism and whacked out commercials are definitely entertaining.

I must mention that the ad for McDonalds featuring eggs dressed like samurai, dancing around a tiny McDonalds is among one of the best commercials I've ever seen. Innovative, whacky stuff.

Spirited Away. Written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki.

Spirited Away (Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi) is the modern fairy tale involving a little girl, Chihiro, who, along with her parents, accidentally ventures into a world full of gods, strange creatures and danger.

Moving is a tough thing for anybody, but especially a young child. Accompanied by two somewhat distant parents, Chihiro is in the back seat of the family car, thinking about what is to come. A few wrong turns later, the family finds themselves in a wooded area full of strange stone statues and a weird tunnel.

The curious parents feel like exploring and, although reluctant, Chihiro, not wanting to stay behind, alone, tags along. And then things get interesting.

Upon exiting the opposite end of the tunnel, the family finds themselves in what appears to be an abandoned amusement park. Hungry, the parents see huge quantities of delicious food in one of the outdoor booths and dig in, sealing their fate. The food was never intended for mere mortals and as a result, they're turned into pigs (a common theme of Miyazaki's), leaving Chihiro alone in a world which will become noticeably populated by millions of gods, strange creatures, beings once human and basically, a spirit world as shitty as our own.

Right before it proves to be more than the little girl can handle, a young, long-haired boy named Haku discovers the stranded Chihiro and comes to her aid even as doing so could make things very bad for him. Sneaking her into town, he tells her she must find work if she wants to avoid being turned into an animal like her parents. And yet again, things get complicated as the child enters a world full of strange creatures, greedy workers, gods, monsters and a ruling witch consisting of bizarre, troubling proportions. Saving her parents and returning to the world she was once a part of will prove to be a frightening adventure...maybe even an impossible one.

Definitely one of Studio Ghibli's finest, Spirited creates a pure fairy tale and populates it with creatures unlike any every seen, fantastic magic and genuine, superbly captured emotions. For a moment, you get a sense of fear as if you were the young child thrown into a strange world in which you can't understand. In a well-written movie, that's an achievement. In an animated film, it's simply incredible.

The animation of Spirited Away is some of the best I've seen. Maybe the best! From the perfectly animated mannerisms, body language and klutzy fumbles of Chihiro, to the flawless flight of dragons and monsters composed of slop, mud and garbage, everything's is as fine as it could be. Miyazaki never disappoints and yet again, it seems he raised the bar.

Spirited Away is an entire world. It's dark at times, reminding me of Labyrinth or even The Never Ending Story. As any fairy tale should be. If you're a fan of fantasy, animation or just a good story in any form, this one's a must. A must!

Miyazaki's Spirited Away vol. 1 (of 5). From Viz Comics. $9.95

If Spirited Away isn't playing in your city, there's still hope. There's the five volume, full color manga composed of 167 pages of beautifully captured screen shots. Read in traditional right to left.
It's the same story only in manga form and divided into five parts. (at this time, only the first part has been released. The others to follow soon after..obviously)

There's really not much to say as it's simply the movie, exactly, but despite it being pages of panels and not actual animation, it's still incredibly smooth and flowing. I'm actually pretty damn impressed that so much of the film gas been thoroughly portrayed in under 200 pages.

Weather you just want to experience Spirited Away and don't feel like waiting for the DVD (or buying the bootleg) or you're an animation buff or Miyazaki completist, this is definitely worth checking out. Maybe a bit small for the price tag (again, $9.99), but the whole things is full color and even has a kanji/English sound effects guide (although, sadly, those are the only "extras")

Whether by seeing the film, reading the manga or both, Spirited Away is a world you really should dive into.

2002-10-27T17:56:00.000-08:00

Not much time this week, so on with the manga...

Love Hina vol. 1 by Ken Akamatsu. TokyoPop. $9.99

Wow, what a surprise. Picked this one up recently and it looks like I found another great manga series to jump into. From TokyoPop no less! I had pretty much written them off for some reason.

Love Hina's the story of a dorky second year ronin (out of highschool, not yet in college) desperate to get into Japan's top school, Tokyo University. Keitaro Urashima decides to pack up and leave for his grandma's hotel way out in a rural hot spring village in order to get some major studying done..as he's failed the Tokyo University entrance exam twice and needs to do all the studying he can to make sure the third time's the charm.

Why such an emphasis on Tokyo U? Well, years back, 15 years back actually, Keitaro made a promise to a young girl, a young love, that they'd both meet up again, years later at the university. The dorky student-in-training has yet to have a girlfriend, or even kissed a girl, in his years since his childhood encounter and it seems Tokyo U's the ticket out of being a doomed, dateless young man. The only problem is that he's not exactly Einstein and if he's going to make it, he's gotta bust his ass and hit the books like he's never done before.

The simple scenario's made into a big ordeal when he discovered his grandma has turned the failing, rural hotel into a female dormitory and packed up for a trip around the world. Keitaro finds out the hard way; running into a young, female student, naked, in an outdoor bath which he had no idea was female only. And so begins the life of a young second year ronin who's bad luck will make him look like Japan's biggest young pervert to the group of young girls living together.

Time after time, Keitaro tries to do the right thing, but ultimately ends up looking like nothing more than a nerd trying to cop a feel, check out the young females bathing nude or stealing panties.

Eventually, it gets to be too much when, on his way home, he is told some very shocking news. His grandmother has decided that the young ronin shall takeover the hotel turned dormitory. Hinata House has a new landlord.

Obviously, a building filled with one misunderstood young man and several young girls ranging from 12 to 17 lead to interesting dynamics. Nearly all seem to have a problem with him as the new Hinata House landlord. Some, however, seem to take it personally and it seems a few are fighting off feelings that they wish they weren't feeling for this "pervert" of a boy whom they tell themselves they can't stand.

The art's solid. Fun stuff. I hate to say it like this, but it's fairly "typical" manga, full of the usual methods of expression, speedlines, gray tones and whatnot. Also, it's read from right to left as it was when it originally hit store shelves in Japan. For those of you've who've yet to read manga in this manner, there really isn't a problem as far as I'm concerned. As a matter of fact, the only thing I've noticed from reading it this way is that I tend to pick up and American comic thicker than the average issue and automatically start from the last page. Reading manga from traditional right to left, for me anyway, seems habit forming.

It's The Facts of Life, but in Japan, with a young, hormone riddled nerd, a 27 year old smoker chick playing the "Mrs. Garret" role and no fat chick...wait, OK, it's nothing like Facts of Life, but damn if I wasn't on to something there! It's a fun book. Full of awkwardness, slapstick comedy and what looks to be the start of some bad luck-filled comic book romance. I can't wait to check out the next trade.

Hideshi Hino's Panorama of Hell from Blast Books. $9.95

192 pages of hell.

Panorama of Hell is the story of a demented painter, father and husband living in hell, currently working on his final masterpiece, the Panorama of Hell.

The chapters are constructed from his explanation of his various paintings. Each one is presented, explained and then used to introduce readers to the land the man is living in, Hell. The first painting is The Guillotine, which starts the vivid illustrating of the depraved, gory and torturous land filled with blood rivers, headless zombies and even vegetation know as the Fruits of Hell..which will make mad all those who consume.

It's the hell you'd expect, full of death, decay, pain and darkness, only it's presented by the mind of a fictional lunatic (and maybe an author who's somewhat of a lunatic himself) and therefor, the rotting hell has an almost cute quality about it. I may be wrong here, but I'd bet that Hino inspired manga artist Junko Mizuno a good bit. I couldn't help get that Mizuno vibe even though this book was first published in 1982, back when Mizuno was still a child.

Later on, paintings of his family are presented and the stories of his yakuza grandfather, soldier father, fight crazed brother and demented wife and children are portrayed. All very interesting stuff, but nothing compared to the painter's telling of his own history and life and interests today.

On August 6th, 1946 that first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima Japan. From that atomic bomb, the mighty Emperor of Hell arose in the form of a monstrous mushroom cloud. The Emperor of Hell took the life of thousands and thousands of Japanese and Koreans (slaves) in the city and impregnated a Japanese woman, married to a Japanese soldier, in Manchuria. The baby of hell was conceived.

Born odd looking and demented, the child spent his early years secretly torturing animals and then illustrating their doom as scenes from hell. His talent was impressive, but at a high cost. One day, already bored with the small amount of suffering he, himself, can cause, he accidentally constructed a shrine to his father, the Emperor of Hell, a blood soaked clay model resembling the mushroom cloud that gave him life.

The altar of hell allowed him to conjure up suffering his feeble hands could never do alone and inspired his paintings of hell. Today however, his paintings don't provide him much happiness so he's creating his ultimate piece, the Panorama of Hell, something which can only be inspired by the end of the world.

It's gloom and doom, violence and gore. Black humor and commentary on today's state of nuclear weaponry. I was expecting to be turned off, maybe even disturbed after seeing his directing effort on the Guinea Pig Films (the vivid staged portrayal of human torture and murder) but found myself getting more and more interested as I read. Solid gory, cartoony art (all black and white, no gray screen tones) with a bold story like nothing I've read before. This really was a pleasure to read.

Interesting note: The short bio contained in the book mentions that Hino, as the painter potrayed, was also born in Manchuria in 1946. How much of this story, if any, is autobiographical, I have no idea.

Japanese Comics Underground by Blast Books. $14.95

Speaking of Hideshi Hino, I also checked out the underground manga compilation/anthology, Japanese Comics Underground and the first story I checked out was Hino's Laughing Ball. A short story about a laughing circus clown who can't stop laughing even after his beloved son dies from a wasp sting.

Laughing Ball, one of the few creatures left over after humanity destroyed the spirit creatures 5000 years ago, performs with other spirit creatures in a circus. Being an endangered species forced to perform in anonymity isn't exactly what dreams are made of, but when depression falls on the performers, Laughing Ball's always there to cheer him up. It's his nature.

But his startling continuation of laughing with a smile on his face, after his son dies, angers his fellow performers and his innocence and good nature force him to do something drastic.

Definately one of the best stories from this underground manga compilation. Well, I hate to say underground because really, some DID make it to the mainstream market, but all short stories were definitely darker, quirkier or a bit more crude than the average book found on store shelves over in Japan.

I'm not too familiar with the history of Suehiro Maruo or his Planet of the Jap story, but I'd imagine this wasn't something the average Japanese man or woman was dying to read.

Basically, Planet of the Jap, another of the better short stories featured, tells the story of the Japanese Army after bombing Pearl Harbor, only it's the Japanese who have the atomic bomb and ultimately win the war after nuking Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Afterwards, Hirohito's Youth are seen marching in Hitler's Berlin, the Statue of Liberty destroyed, McArthur beheaded and Japanese soldiers are having their way with American women and abusing/killing the conquered American populace..as I'm assuming Maruo is suggesting was done to the Japanese by American GIs during the early occupation years.

However, it's more than just a portrayal of Japanese if they had been a bit luckier and quicker to the bomb. It's a look at the dark nature of humanity from wherever they may come from. Troubling stuff, but in a good way. It should you thinking.

Thirteen short stories in all. Ranging from incredibly detailed, deep works to intentionally crude stories illustrating simple ideas. The artists featured are, in no particular order, Nekojiru, Suzy Amakane, Muddy Wehara, Hideshi Hino, Hanako Yamada, Pan Migiwa, Suehiro Maruo, Kazuicji Hanawa, Yasuji Tanioka, Takashi Nemoto, Emiko Shimoda, Yoshikazu Ebisu and Masakazu Toma. Short biographies are given for all as well as a five page introduction to underground manga and what you are about to see.

At about $15, the 221 pages are definitely worth it if you're at all experimental and looking to read some manga that's not the typical fodder by any stretch.

2002-10-19T03:40:00.000-07:00

In Japan, all video and photographs of genitals must be tiled or censored before they are published. So, I'm guessing the before and after penis pill and cock-pump shots must be blocked out too. So when it comes to looking into adding a few inches over in Japan, trust is a must I guess. Something to think about.

Er....yeah.

I subscribe to a Japanese magazine called EGG. It's a teen girl/fashion magazine geared towards to kogals, the ultra trendy, dark tanned girls in the urban areas of Japan. It's one of my means of keeping up with the culture over there.

The majority of the magazine is nothing but pictures of models and real girls on the streets of Tokyo, showing off the latest platform shoes or pocketless bellbottom jeans. Countless ads for surgery "rounding" up they eyes, liposuction and diet pills. Not that unusual even though it is a magazine aimed at teen girls.

The weird thing is that, throughout the magazine, numerous cartoony manga strips show scenes of young Japanese men peeing in girls mouths, kogals being banged by three old black men or sneezing out, what I'll call, the aftermath of love.

It's crazy. The magazine has absolutely no nudity, no depicted sex between real life people. It's a kogal fashion magazine. That's why it's bought, but next to a picture of Japanese girls eating soba noodles and an ad for the new Beck CD, there it is, a cutesy drawing of a teenage kogal screaming after her boyfriend slipped in a little anal action. Crazy shit.

I'm pretty sure much of the manga strips are geared towards the small number of kogals who actually work as whores in order to afford the newest Louis Vuitton bag or Gucci boots, but I could be wrong. The way it's set up, it may also be illustrations of stories submitted by readers. I wish I knew how to read kanji. My curiosity is killing me.

Now on with the show....

The first movie I want to mention today isn't Japanese, it's Korean, so I guess "From Japan" isn't entirely accurate, but...oh it doesn't matter.

Volcano High.

Volcano High (also known as Whasango and Hwasan Highschool) is your typical Harry Potter meets The Matrix and Battle Royale mixed with Korean magic, martial arts and fart jokes. Hey wait, I guess that ain't so typical, now is it?

I actually bought this one reluctantly only after the dude selling it, at a convention I attended recently, threw it in in a buy two, get one for free deal. I had no idea what I was in for before I watched it and quite frankly, I wasn't expecting much. It was billed as Harry Potter meets Battle Royal and as I'm not too familiar with Korean films, Shiri being the only one I could think of right now, it really wasn't on the top of my list of shit to get through. But I put it in soon after I bought it to see how great the quality of the tape was or wasn't, and I was pretty much stopped in my tracks. The little Korean voice in my head said, "Doa nart pressa stop! Reave on Pray!"

The movie itself is nothing but fun. Really, the story itself could have sucked, the martial arts and character interaction still would have made it fun. But the story didn't suck. While it WAS heavily inspired by Harry Potter (a high school inhabited my mystic, sacred books and students learning the art of magic spells and potions) and maybe, as stated, Battle Royale (kids fighting one another while a totalitarian figure of authority plays Gipetto), it was a story pretty much all its own.

A blond haired wise-ass with a solid, moral backbone (Kim Kyeong-su played by Hyuk Jang...who might remind you of a young Bruce Lee for no other reason than his cockiness and mannerisms) sets foot in Volcano High as he was kicked out of numerous schools and this is his last shot. Rival groups of students formed into sports clubs (weight lifting, judo, rugby, etc.) compete for his allegiance. Obviously, conflicting teenagers and smart-ass new kids don't mix and things get off to a rocky start.

Add to that a poisoned principal, a weasely vice-principal doing whatever it takes to snag the secret, magical text, a powerful bully named Jang Ryang and five badass, Fascist-like "teachers" with incredible magic and martial arts abilities who come aboard half way through the movie for the sake of school domination and the like. The five baddasses were actually introduced as The School Five: Masters of Supressing Schools and Wrongdoing.

In order to defeat the bad guys, the feuding students must unite, Kim Kyeong must face his past and use his own incredible powers and, well, you know the rest. I won't spoil anything, but it's a fun, lighthearted kung fu movie. No surprises there.

The martial arts are more style over actual substance. Great, great use of wires and CGI instead of emphasis on real life technique is what you'll get. From powers that can stop rain drops in mid-air, shoot worm-like strands of energy from the palm or just blows that knock dudes back fifty feet, it's all abundant and mixed in with a small, but solid, showing of fisticuffs and even some wooden sword fighting.

In addition to beautiful cinematography, solid acting and overall fun, there's an element of the film, the director and the audience all being taken into consideration at the same time. Like, you're watching the film, the director knows it, so the movie, at points, interacts with you. ALA Woody Allen in Any Hall...but on a kung fu meets magic level. Obviously something that could only work in a light hearted comedy, but it IS a light hearted comedy so...

My only complaint comes from, I'm thinking, from my own stupidity. There's some flashback scenes regarding the Kim Kyeong-su's past and I really couldn't put it together. Not at all vital to the movie, but still, I do hate lingering curiosity. That and I think the romance angle between Kim and Yu Cha-i (played by actress, Min-a Shin), who's pretty damn cute actually, could have been played with/up a bit more.

Fun movie. Great effects. Definitely worth picking up providing you're not one of those who don't dig martial arts or you're one of them guys/gals who just hates the use of wires and CGI.

"Beat" Takeshi's Getting Any.

And the award for box art most resembling that of a porno goes to.....

It seems that "Beat" Takeshi (Takeshi Kitano) doesn't just write, direct and star in gangster movies (Sonatine, Brother) or act the part of a fascist, commanding young school kids to kill one another (Battle Royale), he can also make a damn funny movie.

I'll be honest, I really haven't enjoyed many Japanese comedies (Juzo Itami's Minbo and maybe Tampopo being the exception), but Getting Any got me laughing quite a bit. Often in disbelief, but nonetheless, still genuinely laughing.

It's 100% What The Fuck! A young man, well, not THAT young, leaves home on a mission to, well, get some. It's been too long and the dude needs to get laid badly. Broke and living at home doesn't exactly equal pussy magnet so, as his daydreaming dictates, he sets off on various missions to up his social status.

From buying a car, becoming an actor, accidentally joining the yakuza, becoming literally invisible and then doing something putting all previous "gigs"to shame, the whole movie is a series of fumbled attempts getting crazier and more bizarre.

Getting Any harbors an abundance of dick jokes, crude humor, innuendo and some of the funniest physical humor I've seen in years. That and day dreaming and temporary invisibility which provide great opportunities to throw in a good bit of nudity reminiscent of that from 80s comedy classics like Porky's and Revenge of the Nerds. Certainly in no way high brow or arty (as many have labeled Kitano after Sonatine) , but still subtitled so you can pretend it is.

Nothing revolutionary, but still some funny shit. Something I wish Takashi would get a bit more credit for.

The last movie I'll get to is none other than The Ring (Ringu). The original Japanese version.

The first of three movies involving a strange video tape that guarantees death after a few days of watching it. After viewing it, you'll get a phone call (hence the title) and then your days are numbered. Rather than some gruesome hacking or being eaten by some strange creature, you'll die of fear. Something that can be seen on all victims...as their faces carry the frozen look of intense fright.

I have it on VHS. A bootleg. I'm stating that because it may actually have something to do with why the fucker was so damn scary. Yes, the movie literally scared me. I watched it alone and as soon as the first phone call rang, I hit Stop and quit watching for the night. Something about the slightly grainy quality and the fact that, like the tape in the film, it was on VHS, might have had something to do with it.

After some teens die due to the curse of the tape, a journalist gets a copy and her young son accidentally views it. The journalist must save her son's life and find out the secret of the tape and do whatever it takes to prevent the curse from taking another life. But the clock's ticking and if she doesn't get to the bottom of it quick, they're both a goner.

This is a hard one to review because I thinking giving too much away will hinder some of the effect of the movie. And seeing how I haven't seen an actual scary movie in a long, long times, that's a real treat.

I will say that it relies on imagery and atmosphere. Not gore. Not at all. I've seen it compared to Miike's Audition and that's complete bullshit. Audition was gorey as fuck and although much of the imagery was disturbing, little or nothing about Audition was scary. The ring is a whole different animal.

If you don't mind having to look over your shoulder or checking your closet before you go to sleep..for a few days anyway, check this one out.

I had no time to read or review any manga this week, but found something pretty interesting. Years back, a simulated snuff film hit Japan. Interesting story you can find here: The Guinea Pig Films. I've seen some of them actually and although they're obvuiously fake, I can understand the confusion. Anyway, the director of two of the "films", Hideshi Hino, created a bizzare manga called Hell Baby and another called Panorama of Hell. I haven't read it either yet, but I just ordered 'em. They both look pretty fucked up. Gotta love manga!

2002-10-14T00:42:00.000-07:00

I had a dream a few nights ago. I was talking to this Japenese chick, asking her how she walks with her huge boots on. She was a ganguro, a young Japanese girl with extremely dark, tanned shin, a tiny mini-skirt and big ass platform boots that made her about six feet tall. She replied, "Yumika taka mikiho yuki." Some shit like that. Some Japanese sounding shit with a lot of hard Ks and a blank stare.(I love the way cute Japanese chicks pronounce the letter K) I couldn't understand her, realized I was out of my element and then woke up.

The dream made sense to me as I prescribe to the theory of dreams being extensions of interupted thoughts, but when I woke up, I couldn't help exclaim to myself, "You're way to into this shit, Vic!". Maybe I am.

I got into all aspects of Japanese pop culture years ago when I began the non-stop journey into researching Japan for a project I'm working on. Be it movies, comics (manga), animation (anime) or trendy schoolgirls nicknamed "yamanbas" (a Japanese word for the mythical mountain witch who's dark skin resembles that of today's ganguro girl), I'm hooked.

And now without any further adieu....

Junko Mizuno's Cinderalla. Viz Comics. $15.95

Every now and then I read a good book that most people never even heard of and I'm thankful I have a medium in which I can tell folks a bit about it and just maybe, get some folks to venture out and read the thing. Junko Mizuno's Cinderalla's one of those books.

I first read part of it when it was featured in Pulp Magazine in monthly installments. At the time, lack of funds prevented me from reading all of it so I was pretty happy to see it collected (and in color).

As the name suggests, it's a take on the classic Cinderella story. A bizarre take on it. Part Cinderella, part Tampopo with a Beetlejuice meets Russ Myers kogal twist, it's definitely something different.

Cinderalla works for her father, the owner of a Yakitori restaurant, and she actually digs working there. When things seem to be running smoothly, her father goes and eats himself to death. What to do? Well, Cinderalla could always wish her dad back by taking a trip out to the Fairy World, but that costs $20, 000, which she just doesn't have. Luckily, somebody recommends she simply goes to the graveyard after dark. It seems that cemeteries turn into zombie towns once the sun goes down.

With nothing else to do, she checks it out and finds her father fine and rather chipper (for a dead guy anyway). Soon after, zombie dad falls in love with an overeating zombie chick who has, you guessed it, two zombie daughters. Dad ties the knot with the zombie chick and poor Cinderalla now has a gluttonous zombie Mom and two ungrateful, demanding sisters of the undead.

Out one night, Cinderalla meets the man of her dreams, but briefly. After a cute zombie boy/pop idol of the dead riding on a turtle runs across her path, her heart starts throbbing and before she knows it, she's in love. Their meeting lasted only minutes and ... well I won't spoil the rest for you.

Junko Mizuno's Cinderalla is manga, but it's fast paced, morbidly cute and it reads like a strange, to say the least, fairy tale. To add to the charming absurdity, Mizuno throws in a huge Russ Myers vibe as characters are either running around topless for no reason at all or they're baring their huge breasts demanding Cinderalla make them a bra. Nudity o'plenty, but no real sexual overtones or content. Oh yeah, Junko Mizuno's a chick, which makes it even more odd. (a chick cartoonist into Russ Myers films? I think I'm in love)

There's a small bit of social satire too. One bit seemingly making fun of Japanese juvenile crime laws, another taking a stab at bad parenting. All of it, jokes, story and all, reads real smoothly (and fast) and most importantly, fun. To add to the package, there's a short story explaining the origin of one of the main characters, some mock ads and the interview Mizuno did for Pulp Magazine months back. Oh yeah, there's also some color stickers.

Yeah, stickers. Stickers that'll most likely end up on some Goth/alternative chick's lunch box. It's a shame really. No, not that Goth chicks'll read it. No, that's cool, but that they're most likely the only American audience the book will have. Them and hipsters. Then again, what do I know?

Junko's extreme cuteness meets bubblegum gore might not appeal to everyone and unless you're the kind of person who doesn't mind venturing out to check out something brand spanking new and different, you'll probably walk right by it at the book store/comic shop. Like I said, it's a shame. It's a fun little read.

Dragon Ball vol.1 and 2 by Akira Toriyama. Viz Comics. $14.95

I held off from watching the cartoon years back as I thought it was little more than fight scenes and martial art. Well, fighting is definitely emphasized and it's a huge part of the story, but there's an equal part fantasy, adventure and edgy humor. I finally gave in and started watching and the cartoon charmed the pants off of me (Well, not literally. You'll see soon how that may be a poor choice of words) and more importantly, got me hooked.

So, realizing the same exact story was being told in both the cartoon and the manga, I picked up the first trade. Then bought the second and the third soon after.

Dragon Ball is the story of this odd, incredibly strong child, Goku, orphaned and living in the woods. Think Tarzan if he once had the guidance of his grandfather and had super human strength...and a tail. Uhh, yeah. (Dragon Ball is partially based on the Chinese fairy tale, Legend of the Monkey King for those of you who are familiar)

Soon in, Goku meets a teenage girl named Bulma, a spoiled rich girl on a quest to find seven legendary orbs knows as the dragon balls. When all seven are collected, a dragon is summoned and whoever holds the balls is granted one wish (apparently, all 13 year olds boys believe this too and they don't stop believing it, well, ever). Cunning and fully absorbed in her own self interest, Bulma lures the young ox of a boy to venture along side of her, realizing his pure hearted naivety and incredibly strength can be used to her advantage. From there, the two roam the land meeting strange characters (a perverted old hermit wearing a turtle shell on his back and a shape-shifting pig obsessed with women's panties for instance), finding the dragon balls and getting into trouble both great and small; meeting up with an angry giant, a tough street gang and a power-hungry little blue man named Lord Pilaf.

The shroud of mystery surrounding the dragon balls as well as Goku himself unravels as the story unfolds. Naturally.

It seems pretty simple. Cute even, but there are aspects that set it apart, making it well suited for the adult reader (it's actually recommended for those thirteen and up). Akira Toriyama has fun fully using the situation at hand and incorporating some rather risque jokes and gags.

The dimwitted Goku, who's seen only one other human in his life, his grandfather, can't understand why Bulma has an extra "butt" on her chest. Later, while she's sleeping, he looks and sees her crotch is flat, unlike his and his grandfather's. Always the adventurer himself, he quietly removes her underwear to see for himself only to cry out a loud "EEEEYAAAA!" when he finds out she doesn't have what he has.

I've seen Toriyama described as a pervert and I'll admit his jokes often go wear no American would in a book like this, but I find all of the jokes completely harmless and innocent. It's part of what makes these books so damn fun to read. While I wouldn't suggest them for most younger kids, there's certainly nothing too far out among the trades I've read thus far.

Dragon Ball works as well for teenagers as it does for adults. Fantasy, adventure, mature humor and awesomely constructed fight scenes, this is the perfect book for the fourteen year old boy in all of us. The first story arc is contained in vol.1 and 2 with the third, obviously, starting another.

Bakune Young Vol. 1& 2 by Toyokazu Matsunaga. Viz Comics. $16.95 ea.

Bakune Young is an idiot. But he's a strong idiot. A bully too and he wants to be the ruler of the "yen-tire world." Well, what better way to rule the world than to take out the top ranking bad-asses, the Yakuza. With braggadocios vigor, the dumb powerhouse manages to take out half of the Fart-gumi (Fart gang), one of the smaller gangs of the giant criminal syndicate, the XXX Clan.

Setting up a chain of events that works incredibly well in the idiot's favor, Bakune Young manages to kidnap the top Yakuza boss and holds him hostage in the historical landmark, Osaka Castle. With absolutely no respect for the Yakuza, the police or antiquity, Bakune dons centuries old samurai armor and manages to infuriate everybody, young and old, while strolling around the fortress-turned-tourist attraction, captured mob boss in hand, without a care in the world.

Things get even more interesting though. A psychotic police commissioner, a few good cops, a white wannabe ninja with homosexual tendencies, the yakuza and a product of Bakune's torment, a former gym teacher bullied by Young to the point that his face now bears a permanent grimace all want to take the monster of a man out. Each with their own unique reasons.

The second trade introduces us to the kidnapped mob boss's daughter, Renge, and her seemingly supernatural mental abilities, odd motives and even stranger personality.

I can say this book is surely not for every one. It's gangsters, crude jokes, silliness, over the top violence and satirical looks at Japanese society and society in general. But for me, it works. All aspects of this book are caricatures of what they are supposed to be. The overly anal detective, the self-absorbed tyrant of a commissioner, the robot-like special forces soldiers, the hot headed yakuza and of course, the epitome of an idiot thug, Bakune Young, all work well together so long as strict realism and convention aren't what you're after.

It's as much a cartoon as it is a cop or gangster story, but everything, every organization or social element still stays within the parameters their real life counterparts adheres to. The cops have to obey the commissioner, the yakuza are set up as they are in the real world and all typical values are still the norm. That's what appeals to me. It's a cartoon, it's a parody, but no aspects are manipulated to the point where it becomes absurd.

It's interesting stuff and coupled with an artistic style reminiscent of an intentionally crude Moebius and an early Mike Judge (but with incredibly fine detail and awesome backdrops and environments), it amounts to offbeat social satire with an authentic gangster/cop possibly quasi-sci-fi element.

The only real gripe I have with the title is that it's incredibly slow even by manga standards. By the end of the second trade, nothing was displayed that couldn't have been tackled 75% into the first trade..in detail.

Battle Angel Alita by Yukito Kishiro. Viz Comics. $16.95

Battle Angel Alita is pretty typical actually. The bleak future full of cyborgs and mutants, bounty hunters and the simple relationship between the protagonists and antagonist, but there's something about this book that I just loved.

On another one of bounty hunter Daisuke's trips to the junkyard wasteland in order to look for parts, he stumbles upon the torso of a young cyborg girl who turns out to still harbor some life within her despite her state on inanimateness.

In awe of his newest discovery, the bounty hunter brings her back to his lab, giving her life once again as well as a brand new body. And thus Alita is born..er, born again.

It's quickly learned that despite Alita's innocent look at life and the world around her, there's something from her past life that resurfaces on instinct. Alita, unaware about all that's happened to her before she was left as scrap and unaware of who she even is, has an incredible reflex-like ability to kicks ass when the situation calls for it.

Daisuke, who's developed a bit of a crush on the young cyborg, forbids her to use that uncanny ability out in the very dangerous real world, but teens rebel and in a world inhabited by, say, a powerful, evil maggot man bent on destroying the man who rescued her, Alita lets the warrior in her come out. Like I said, pretty typical, but that which sets it apart from everything else is really just fantastic.

Kishiro's incredibly energetic visual storytelling is some of the finest I've seen in quite some time. Incredibly detailed environments, perfectly constructed action sequences and fine attention to character emotion really give this story it's wings. Coupled with potent character development and subtle, yet telling looks into the world this story is set in, it transcends the dumbed down, battle/sci-fi I figured it would be.

Battle Angel is cliche ridden, but everything's explained and accounted for and in many cases, that adds to the appeal. Overall, it's some fun future adventure that should inspire more curiosity towards reading the second Battle Angel book than moans and groans of genre redundancy.

Film wise, I really wnt to mention Takashi Miike's Ichi the Killer. I got to write some shit on this guy soon. He's fucked. Strait fucked! Ichi the Killer tho', it's fucked up, but I really dug it.

You take a pretty boy yakuza thug who's eaqual parts sadist and massochist..with self-inflected scars and piercings all over his face, a misled introvert wearing dirt bike gear filled with retractable blades, a fed up yakuza gang, lots of throwing spikes, meat hooks, hokey special effects, some dark ambiguity and there ya go.

The title of the movie itself appears on the screen out of a puddle of semen. A good indication to quit watching if you're easily offended and/or not in the mood for some approaching-the-line sexual content and violence. Let me clarify a bit.

There was actually little, if any, nudity, but both rape and domestic violence were confronted in some unconventional and less than subtle ways. I don't want to spoil anything, as it's a major part of the plot that unravels as the movie goes along, but neither was condoned in any way, condemned if anything, but still approached in a way that is maybe too in-your-face for some people.

The violence was laughably brutal at some points, but one can't help to be slightly disturbed while watching a few of the scenes; for example, Ichi flies into a room full of Yakuza in his blade-clad killer gear and all that is seen is buckets of blood, torsos, limbs and heads fly out of the doorway. The fact that the killings themselves aren't shown is what makes it almost hard to stomach. You'r left using your imagination and if your imagination's anything like mine, that might not be too healthy a thing in sizable doses. Let me make it clear that only in this one scene were the killings not shown (for obvious reasons), but throughout the film, they're shown and in detail.

Besides the brutality and unconventional sexuality, plot twists, the idea of a man being controlled by simple suggestion and the occaisional "What the fuck?" and "huh? which never quite get resolved, but don't take away from the film at all, this is one to watch for. (As of now, eBay or comic book and sci-fi/horror conventions are your best bet) A brutal cat and mouse chase movie meets gangster film disecting the most basic human emotion and abilities, this one brings a new chaotic energy that really hasn't been seen in the West.