Sukeban Boy (aka: Oira Sukeban) — dvd movie review — early!

by Chris   ⋅   October 11, 2008   ⋅   Comment now   ⋅    RSS

Director: Noboru Iguchi
Starring: Asami, Kaori, Demo Tanaka, Kentaro Kishi, Risa Mizuki
Genre: Sukeban

Directed by Noboru Iguchi, the wild mind behind this year’s standout, Machine Girl, Sukeban Boy (aka: Oira Sukeban) sees the first screen adaptation of Go Nagai’s lesser known hero/ine. Essentially a repackaging of Panty Mask and Kekko Kamen, Sukeban Boy sees another heroine in a high-school pervert parlor, but with a gender bending twist. Our hero, Sukeban (played by AV star Asami), is an exceedingly effeminate boy with an understandably troubled school career. After getting kicked out of school for fighting those who mocked his delicate face, Sukeban’s father suggests he might have better luck as the opposite sex. His solution: disguise Sukban as a girl and enroll him at the local all-girl’s school. His exposure to mockery would certainly be lessened, and hey, Sukeban’s father kinda wants to know what his young cutie-pie looks like in a dress. Taking his sagely advice, Sukeban ventures off, and immediately finds himself awash in a world of scantily-clad girl gangs (appropriately named “Half Naked”), lusting admirers, and violent martial arts (or should that be farts? [pictured above]) conflict. Indeed, it seems diverting to drag was the best decision he’d ever made. That is, until the evil Naked Witch shows up, and sets the school awash in blood. Will Sukeban Boy make it out alive, undiscovered, and with gender intact?

Most likely, if you are coming to this site, your interest in the film stems more from a love of Machine Girl. And, that being the case, you might want to lower your expectations slightly. Made for a fraction of Machine Girl’s budget, with only three days of DV-filming, Sukeban Boy at best merely hints at the cult-greatness of Iguchi’s later picture. That’s not to say the picture isn’t fun – it had me laughing uncontrollably in many places – but the pacing and farcical thrust just isn’t as tight. Even allowing for the lower level of polish, Sukeban Boy’s rhythm is a little off, with many sequences and jokes well overstaying their welcome. Case in point: those scenes parodying schoolgirl fetish films. Everything is depicted in a tongue in cheek manner, so the fetishized bits are never quite sexy, but after the sixth or seventh panty-shot high-kick in a row, you kind of start wondering if Iguchi was hoping they somehow would be. Even at just 60 minutes long, it felt as if the picture could have been trimmed by a good 15 minutes.

That all said, there’s still a lot to like about Sukeban Boy. Straight off, the previously mentioned 3-day shoot is nothing short of amazing. Back in my film school days I couldn’t hope for 10 minutes of usable footage in a single day, much less 20. The filmmakers admit to working insane hours (I’d estimate 20+), and despite such an arduous shoot, every sequence maintains a sort of happy-go-lucky feel to it – in large part due to the awesome performance of lead actress Asami. I’d not thought much of her in Machine Girl, aside from noticing that she could throw a rather convincing punch. But here she more than stands out, demonstrating skilled comedic timing, extreme physical prowess, and a willingness to go above and beyond the base requirements for such a silly role –that, and she’s a good deal cuter here than her role in Machine Girl.

Second, despite my problems with the pacing, there are a lot of cool things to be seen. Director Iguchi initially set out with the intent of aping old 70’s action films, and the tone is pretty much on target. There are plenty of gonzo antics to be observed, whether it be sequences of nylon clad martial artists, nipple-clamp slinging female-monks (they attack dudes with said clamps), bullet spitting guerrilla gang-leaders, or the occasional machine gunning appendage. Yup, you heard that right. In Sukeban Boy, cult favorite makeup artist Yoshihiro Nishimura (Tokyo Gore Police), drops another set of bloody metamorphoses of body parts to high-caliber cannons. I won’t tell you exactly what you’ll see, but here’s a hint: gattling guns.

In closing, Sukeban Girl is not a great film, even on low budget cult terms. However, it is fun. Noboru Iguchi fans will want to check it out regardless of this review, as will fans of star Asami. For you Go Nagai fans, Sukeban Boy stands head and shoulders above Kekko Kamen, but miles below Cutie Honey the movie (maybe not the TV show). Check it out with some like-minded friends, and you might just have a good time.

The DVD
Whoa. I guess Discotek has spawned a sub-label, Eastern Star. And for a debut disc, Eastern Star’s presentation of Sukeban Girl is of a surprisingly good quality. Despite a non-anamorphic transfer, the video is top-notch for DV fare. The audio is crisp, and the subtitles quite nice – completely free from the random grammatical errors of previous Discotek releases.

In terms of extras, Sukeban Girl contains a rather entertaining commentary featuring director Iguchi and a few of the cast members (no Asami though), a very strange demo reel called Sukeban WTF Remix, a photo gallery containing promo shots of Asami and Kaori in their roles in the film, and the usual Discotek Trailer Gallery, featuring trailers of upcoming releases The Happiness of the Katakuris (review next week), Oh My Zombie Mermaid (looks amazing), Sars Wars, and Killer Pussy (possible review for Halloween).

All in all, a decent release from Eastern Star. This is certainly a niche picture, but if any of the above discussion spikes your interest, you’ll probably want to pick it up.

About the Author

Chris Nelson has been a film fanatic for as long as he can remember. A former film and English major, he is now a Software Engineer and contract Technical Writer living in the Silicon Valley.

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