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Kibakichi — Sukeban Deka: the Movie — Kekko Kamen: the Movie — movie reviews — capsulefest

by Chris ⋅ June 21, 2006 ⋅ Comment now ⋅ Subscribe RSS

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Kibakichi – A werewolf/yokai/chanbara fantasy, Kibakichi is the tale of a lone werewolf/swordsman (name found in title), who finds a job in a town run by human munching Yokai. These Yokai don’t eat just any humans, mind you. Just ones with vices – say gambling, or sex. In fact, they have an agreement with the neighboring humans to send them their undesirables. Initially Kibakichi finds this a tad bit disturbing, but realizing that his lupine leanings are more in line with the Yokai than the humans, he reluctantly decides to help them out. But, when the humans betray the Yokai in favor of weapons of mass destruction, Kibakichi is forced to choose his side, human or Yokai, once and for all.

Most of the film’s scenes are poorly lit, lending the film a sort of muddy quality. Sword fights are rather slapdash affairs, with awkward motions masked by clever editing. Acting is equally spotty, with most of the actors merely goung through the motions of happy, sad, fierce. The prosthetic effects do look pretty darn respectable, though, and most of the Yokai are pretty fearsome looking. Just compare the Kapa of this film to that of The Great Yokai War,for instance. The narrative’s manipulation of audience perceptions of the yokai, from fearing them to sympathizing with them, is fairly skilled. The shift seems natural, rather than forced, and helps lend a bit of poignancy to the sad affairs toward the end of the film. The final werewolf-cum-pyrotechnic action is pretty entertaining, and largely makes up for the sub-par altercations in the previous part of the film. Kibakichi has more than its fair share of flaws, but when it comes to werewolf fantasy period pieces I think it’s a decent, if singular effort.

Sukeban Deka: The Movie - Imagine if a Yo-Yo champion, a group of martial arts afficionados, some sci-fi freaks, some schoolgirl fetishists, and a gaggle of pyromaniacs were thrown into a small room and told they could not leave until they came up with a script for an action film. Well, the result might be something close to Sukeban Deka, the film adaptation of the immensely popular manga-turned-TV-show of the same name. This tale sees the second Sukeban Deka (translated: girl boss detective/policewoman) and her team of schoolgirl super-agents wielding trademark weapons of recreation (ranging from marbles to Sukeban Deka’s steel Yo-Yo) in their fight to free captive students from an evil school, hellbent on converting them into soldiers of an evil revolution. It’s a far out kitch-fest with just about everything you could want in an action film: helicopters, explosions, guns, cute girls, cute girls with guns, massive crashes, hard hitting martial arts, walls of fire, flying debris, and more, all set to an infectiously funky, crazy-cool soundtrack!

I really enjoyed the film’s anti-authoritarian bent. Adults can’t get any more evil than fascist youth haters, unless they’re fascist youth haters of this film, who when aren’t constructing their army of evil, like to perform Frankensteinian experiments on rebellious kids. It’s definitely in line with later works such as Battle Royale and Akira. The film’s look is reminiscent of your standard 80’s action and horror fare, but for some reason I kept thinking of Lupin III and Ricky Oh – Ricky Oh crossed with Rock and Roll High School, if you can imagine that. Admittedly the narrative takes quite a while to get going, but once it hits the 45 minute mark, there’s no stopping the thrills. Acting has one setting: dramatic. Near every sequence sees the actresses emoting in their gravely-serious do-rama style. But this seems only to help enforce the surreal nature of the antics on screen. Though not particularly deep, Sukeban Deka The Movie is one flick I’ll certainly be passing about my social circle. Once you get over that initial 45 minute hurdle, you’re in for a lot of fun. Fans of Sukeban, keep and eye out for Kenta Fukasaku’s (Battle Royale II) Sukeban Deka entry sometime this year.

Kekko Kamen (The Movie) - Kekko Kamen (translated: good mask, or good disguise) is an unbelievably stupid film, filled with panty shots, boobs, a lecherous school staff, and yep, a naked superhero. The film’s production value makes films like Cheerleader Ninjas and Longinus look expensive in comparison. All filming seems seems to have been performed with a stock-handheld DV camera with auto-focus enabled. But you know what? Despite the unbelievably low quality, puerile humor, and unsuccessful attempts at titillation, it’s actually kinda fun.

Following off the heels of the original anime series, this installment finds Kekko Kamen protecting the female students of a newscaster college. If you know the original “story” you know what you’re getting into, only this time the jokes are actually funny. I’d have to say most people will scoff at the slap-shod nature of near ever aspect of the film, but, when a main character says to another, “I think you should leave now. It would be good for both you and the plot,” you know the film is not taking itself seriously, and nor should you it. Kekko Kamen is not a good film, nor is it one that’s easily recommendable. But its cheeky Benny-Hill style humor and good natured cast make it stand head and shoulders over its source material. If you’re looking for some mindless post-work week fun, check it out.

dreamlogic.net -- CHRIS NELSON

Chris Nelson is a Technical Writer turned Java Developer, living in the Silicon Valley. He has been a film fan since age 6. When not writing reviews and code, he is studying for a Software Engineering degree at San Jose State University. Yah, he’s busy.