Scary Movie 3 (2003)

I seen Meet the Spartans not so long ago... was one of the worst, unfunny parodies I've seen since Scary Movie 4.

The Eminem parody is funny, I found it funny, didn't find the rest funny. Didn't find the previous Scary Movie movies funny apart from the parts where they rip-on jocs.

These movies are made to the masses in America, who are often brain dead, or brain-fried. They're designed for watching with your brain switched off. Sit a basket of veg. in front of the TV and put this on, it ought to love it~!

My overal rating: 2.5/10 ...Rated NVF-15 (Not Very Funny)

King Of Fighters '99 (1999, SNK, PS1)

I've heard Neo Geo cartridge games are still avaitable, but cost like $400...

First time I played King Of Fighters was at my Japanese host family's house. Their kid had King Of Fighters 98 for the PS1, and his cousin had the actual Neo-Geo cartridges. That was like 9 years ago nearly, and that was my reason for buying this game.

I'm not sure what makes King Of Fighters soo popular... I think maybe it is SNK's distinctive artwork style, but can't see what's so special about the gameplay.

You get a shitload of characters to chose from. There is no story mode... you fight your way through a dozen of so characters, before you battle with genetically enhanced boss Krizalid.

The graphics look like they could have been from 1994 or 1996, but look dissapointing for a game released in 1999 or 2000. I think Capcom is the king of the 2D fighting genre.

There's this one character, a Chinese midget with a metal claw glove called Chun, who's pretty funny, and there's a character in one of the backgrounds who looks like my friend Frank. That's what I'll remember this game for.

My rating: 3.3/10

Gundam Z (1997, PS1)

Released in 1997 for the playstation, Japan only. Not an entirely bad looking 3D action game for 1997. Some PS1 3D graphics are shaky and terrible looking, but this one doesn't look too bad.

Not a fan of Gundam. Seen clips of the Gundam animes, but based on the story and the fact that Bandai have tried to milk it for like 50 years put me right off watching it. I used to own Gundam F-91 for the Super Famicom/SNES 10 years ago, but only bought it cuz it was an anime game, and back then I thought it was awesome to own any anime game.

There's 2 discs- one is the hero's story mode, the second is the enemys. I completed disc 1 within 2 days, maybe less, and the enemy's within 40 minutes. Anyone can complete this game within this time frame, even a monkey ONG ONG!

I wouldn't recomend this to you especially, not unless you wanna pay $25 for an import game that can be completed in under 24 hours!

My rating in terms of graphics: 7.8/10

My rating in terms of gameplay, etc: 3.4/10

Ghost In The Shell (1997, PS1)

Released in 1997 for the playstation, the game is more in sync with the manga than the anime movie by Mamoru Oshi. The US and European releases were a year after the Japanese release, in 1998.

You play as robot spider-thingy, Fuchikoma (known as Tachikoma in the dull Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex TV series). You can scale walls like Spiderman, hang upside down, shoot grenades and destroy huge cyborg-mechas, lotsa fun! ^^

There's 12 levels to play. I got through the entire thing with one week.

My one quarm about this game is that alot of the mecha don't look very 'Shirow-ish.' In alot of Shirow's anime and what not, you can tell if it's a Shirow designed mecha or not, and alot of the mechas you battle here don't have that distinctive Shirow style, but no matter; one of the bets anime games for the PS1-

My rating: 8.8/10

Macross VFX-2 (PS1, 1999)

Sequel to Macross Digital Mission VFX, released 3 years before this one (which I haven't played... yet).

I had Macross: Do You Remember Love? for the Sega Saturn ten years ago. If you've played Gundam Z for the Sega, it basically looks the same as that- 2D 32-bit graphics with minimal 3D elements. VFX-2 is fully 3D rendered world of Macross though. My only quarm about this game, or some 3D PS1 games in general is that from a distance it looks awesome, but upclose, everything looks like one big pixel.

I think there's about 12 or 14 missions to play. I always play these games in hard mode, and I think I completed the game in 3 weeks. The bosses are very unusual looking, and the gameplay varries from level to level. Along the way you get the option of poileting different mecha also.

One of the best anime games made for the PS1,

My rating: 8.1/10

Devilman (2000, PS1)

Who would have believed they would have released a Devilman video game? Well, they did. Released by Bandai in 2000. *I had to buy a Japanese PS1 to play 10 anime games I bought dirt cheap off yahoo Japan. You can buy a used PS1 from gameshops for like $50 now, but for this NTSC-J PS1, with shipping, I payed close to $210!

Probably what you're wondering is, what Siren/Silene/The Demon Bird will look like in the game... what will the fight-in-flight between her and Akira look like? Well, Silene in the manga and 1990 anime is naked-you can see her jugs, and white pussy hair, right? In the past there has been numerous attempts to 'censor' Silene. On the Manga Video release of Devilman VOL.2, Silene is covered in white feathers/fur from head to toe. There's also one Go Nagai acrylic Devilman paintin in which her entire body is covered in white feathers also. So what does the fight scene look like? Well it doesn't look like anything, because you don't get to fight Silene. The final boss is an amalgamation of Agwell, Ghelmar, and Jinmen... with, I think Jinmen as the dominant consiousness. After that boss is defeated, the creidts roll, and you get to play the game from the start again, only difference is, you play as the 'TV version' of Akira, and not the manga one again. I've heard that if you follow the game through to the end, you get to battle with the TV version of Silene. But why heck would I wanna replay the game just for that? Unless the game was so great I wanted to go at it again (like Metal Gear Solid), but it's not! The once is enough is always enough for me with average games. Especially average PS1 games- there ain;t alot of people who like retro games, especially shakey retro 32 bit games, but so long as they're great games, I don't mind playing em- Die Hard Trilodgy, Resident Evil 2 & 3, etc.

Devilman is a very average game, with very average gameplay involved. I actually think some of he 3D backgrounds look better than the ones from Silent Hill (that looked awful for a 1999 game... the graphics from Silent Hill looked more like 1996 graphics). The character models in Devilman look bad for a game released in 2000 also- I imagine the game would have been under developent for a few years- judging from the aesthetics of the character models, it may have been as early as late 1997.

For me the hardest part of the game was tapping the buttons fast enough to transform into Devilman for the first time- your ceased by a badly sculpted demon, and to stop yourself becoming demon chow (and turnin into Devilman for the first time), you have to slam down triangle, circle, square, and X buttons as fast as humanely possible. It took me 2 or 3 weeks to pass this point. After then, the game was pretty much a walkthrough, and I think I completed it in 8 days or whatever.

My rating: 6.2/10

Golgo 13: Queen Bee (1998)

Directed by Osamu Dezaki, who directed the first Golgo 13 anime.

This time Golgo is hired to assasinate a female revolutionary known as Queen Bee. Why is called Queen Bee? -well, she gives birth to all her men's children. I won't rant on about the story so as not to spoil.

I seen the first Golgo 13 anime, Golgo 13: The Professional on the sci-fi channel on cable 8 years ago. I liked it because of it's realism, and the complexity of the story. It felt like adult GI Joe or something from the 80s. Alot of people bitch about the animation and music in Queen Bee, yet seem to forget that the first Golgo 13 anime was produced on a 'theatrical budget,' whereas Queen Bee was a straight to video release. What I can't understand is, if Golgo 13 is so phenomenal, and sold so many manga throughout the world, etc etc, then why couldn't they have made more OVAs through the years?

Anyway, Golgo 13 doesn't feature in this one as much- he's more of a background character, which will be pretty dissapointing for fans. There's this one scene where Golgo boards a ship Queen Bee is on, and attempts to take her life- when he runs, he's like out within 3 seconds, he literally moves like the devil!

So umm, you're gonna watch this anyway if you liked the first one. It's just not as good as the frist anime, and the gratuitous sex & violence don't seem to quite fit in places, etc. Soundtrack seems less jazzy than the other one in which Toshiyuki Kimori was the composer, and the Queen Bee sex scene at the end is really cheesy...

My rating: 6.5/10

The Matrix: Path Of Neo (2005, PS2, X-Box)

Better looking than 'Enter The Matrix,' released to tie in with the Matrix Reloaded.

Not a big fan of the Matrix, or even a fan for that matter. I basically see it as Hollywood ripping off famous anime. There's one way that influence can lead to a totally new fresh creation, and then there's being influenced by something/s and blatantly ripping them off.

There's not alot of origional games out there- there's probably a handful, 14 or 15 that are in themselves origional and worth playing- then there's the other 3,000 PS2 games out there, that basically have identical gameplay to those 15 or so origional games, just with different graphics. I'd say Enter The Matrix was one of those games you should play if you've bought a PS2 or whatever. Enter the Matrix was the first game to utilise the bullet time technqiue. There was a Japanese game released in 2004, called '10,000' bullets, that used a slow-time technique identical to bullet time.

Anyways, Path Of Neo looks far better than Enter The Matrix- the graphics are very realistic, and the game remains faithful to the Matrix trilodgy. There's alot of new levels and stories written into the game by the Wachowski Brothers, as well as being able to engage in every major fight scene from the 3 Matrix movies. My fave scenario is the battle with the agents and the helicopter on the rooftop. Instead of the game ending after Smith is destroyed, you have to fight a huge King Kong sized Smith made out of scrap metal and concrete that's pretty lame, and then the credits roll on.

My rating: 7.9/10

Bodyguard Kiba 2: ApOcALYpSe Of cArNaGe (1994)

Straight to video genre martial arts flick directed by Takashi Miike (who directed Ichi The Killer and Audition).

Let me not the subtitle: 'Apocalypse Of Carnage.' This movie is far from ultra-violent. There's more shots of buildings, human traffic, hookers, and food stands than there is ultra-violence, or even violence for that matter.

Well, this was terrible. 64 minutes of mindless crap. Takashi Miike probably directed this with his brain switched off (Miike directs 8 movies in a year btw;). There's a bodyguard called Kiba, who works for this karate dojo. His current mission is to protect this woman.

The only scene I will remember from this movie, is where this Chinese warlord geezer is dancing around in a Tokyo strip bar with these semi-naked Japanese hostesses. Had I been 13, that would have been the highlight of the movie for me, and I would have recorded it for personal purposes. But that ain't even an exucse to buy, or even download this movie...

I'm not even gonna review it, it was so bad, but what I will do is NOT recomend it to you. I wouldn't recomend it to you even if you really like: Japan, martial arts, Chinese culture, Japanese women, the year 1994 (in which this... 'movie' was made). Don't even attempt to download it. It's one of those films that you'll feel you wasted 1 hour and 4 minutes of your life, when you could of been doing something better.


My rating: 1/10 rated RD-13 (Retardedly Dull)

City Of Lost Souls (2000)

Another gangster film from Takashi Miike. This one involving Brazilians and the Chinese mafia.

Not sure what happened to the story with this one. Either I wasn't watching it properly, ot it wasn't enaging enough for me to follow it properly.

This guy called Marco, Brazilian, flies to the Japanese border in a hi-jacked chopper to pick up his Chinese girlfriend. They end up in Japan somehow, and steal a case of hi quality yayo offa this Chinese mafia boss (who has the hots for Marco's girlfriend, bu she doesn't have the hots for him). The cocaine was meant to be dealt to this Yakuza cheif, and he goes on an ultra-violent interogation after he loses his cocaine.

Some unpredicatable twists n turns, some funny moments- there's CGI chicken fight scene that rips off the Matrix, which was moderately funny (actually I thought it was pretty cute how they tried to get laughs off that... the CGI chickens aren't all that great looking, but I can still appreciate the effort). The ending was pretty funny too, but the plot was very disengaging at times.

My rating: 5.8/10

Yakuza Demon (2003)

Yet another Yakuza film from director Takashi Miike. I don't think anyone has documented the Yakuza in terms of fiction more than Miike has. These movies are 'striaght to video/DVD,' and are directed pretty fast and sporty. Riki Takeuchi stars as the main character. Takeuchi is probably 'The King of the Straight to Video Yakuza Bad-ass.' He stared in an American-co-Japanese Yakuza flick called 'The Yakuza Way.' It was terrible and... (woah! I think I'll review that crap in a second! ^^)... mindless, but you could tell amidst all the cheesiness that there was something to the way Takeuchi played a Yakuza...

The film opens up with Yakuza boss Muto flying a kite, guarded by Seiji (Riki Takeuchi), and his aniki (little yakuza brother). The Muto family are part of the 'Date' syndicate. A rival syndicate, the Tendo, attack the Date family, which leads to a meeting in which Boss Muto was required to pay money to help finance the gang war. However, Muto does not have enough so offers an assassination instead. Seiji squeels on his boss to the police where abouts he hides his gun, and Muto gets arrested and sentenced to 2 years. Seiji, and his aniki, Yoshi, then attempt to take out the whole of the Tendo group by themselves, kinda like a 2-man army. I won't rant to more as to not spoil, but the ending, involving Seiji and his sister is pretty ironic.

Usually straight to video movies are the cheesiest of the creme de la crap of film (e.g. Universal Soldier 2), but Japanese straight to video films are different, and made with more of an independant edge. Often quickly made sporty movies like this can be a strain to watch, just so you can say 'I seen it all, and it was douche,' but Miike always seems to do a good job with these Yakuza movies. I'm watching a TV series called MPD Psycho he directed back in the late 90s, and I don't think to much of it at present (alot of the gore n sex is mosiaced out on the DVD release I own)- it's the one work of his besides Young Thugs Inocent Blood I'm not liking on a scale of 6/10.

My rating: 6.7/10

Agitator (2001)

Yet another Yakuza film from director Takashi Miike. This is one long-ass movie- the DVD release is approximately 200 mins long (the cinematic release was 150 mins).

If you like gangster films, anime, manga, and Japanese culture in general (most kids today who like anime have an interest in Japanese culture as well), then you should check this movie out.

I won't give the plot away or anything, as not to spoil the personal discovery one gets from watching a good film for the firts time... the ending is pretty kamikaze though.

My rating: 6.6/10

Full Metal Yakuza (1997)

Another Yakuza flick from Takashi Miike... only difference here is that the main character becomes a cyborg.

Low budget comedy-sci-fi. It's funny in the same way that the Evil Dead II was funny. I never knew Evil Dead II was meant to be funny when I first seen it, then I seen Evil Dead III, and realised Sam Raimi actually WANTS us to laugh.

The end of this movie is hilarious, and screwed up...

Basically a loser Yakuza trying to make ends meet is out on a mission with another Yakuza and gets shot to death by a rival gang. He is then rebuilt by a scientist with cybernetic parts, and the parts of his friend who was shot down at the same time, being reborn as cyborg who eats metal, complete with a massive wang. He then goes about finding out who set them up, etc. I'm not sure why, but Takeshi Miike seems to have a huge obsession with massive wangs... his interest in massive wangs is expressed in another 2 or 3 of his films to my knowledge... check out Dead Or Alive 2 for a big laugh.

Not especially great cinema, but definately worth a watch for a laugh. If you like Japan, anime, and comedy, you should watch this.

Fave Quote: 'we can find the scientist and get him to make another Full Metal Yakuza, a very loyal company roboto.'

My rating: 6.3/10

Urotsukidoji: Legend Of The Overfiend

A classic adult-anime adapted from a 1985 manga by Toshio Maeda.

There are 2 worlds that exist parralel (sP!?) to ours- the demon world, and the man-beast world (those who are half human, and half beast). There is a legend that proficizes the coming of a God called 'the Chojin' (translates as Super being) every 3,000 years, who will unite the 3 worlds of the humans, the demons, and the man-beasts. The legends says that he will appear through the body of a human. Amano Jyaku, sent from the man-beast world, along with his debauched sister, Megumi, having been searching for the Chojin for over 300 years now, reckons he has tracked down the most likely candidate, Ozaki, an A-star basketball wizz, who Amano believes meets all the credentials to be the Chojin. The demon world does not want the unification of the 3 world to take place, and sends out it's hoards to aprehend and destroy the Chojin. Amano has to find the Chojin before the demons do.

You either hate this anime or you love it. I seen it when I was 14, and I love it. It's probably up there in my all time fave anime. I think it's the perfect angst-type horror-our de-force of the imagination for boys aged 15-18. Amano Jyaku is just the coolest anime hero ever, and the sex scenes in Urotsukidoji are tastefully done. The only other hentai anime before this was Cream Lemon. I've never seen it, but it was released a year before Urotsukidoji, in 1986.

When Urotsukidoji was first released in Japan it got negative reception, this is the devil's work, blah blah, etc etc. But by the mid 90s, there was a ton of hentai anime in Japan, and now noone even bats an eye lit at it. Urotsukidoji is one of those anime that was designed for video to appeal to people who just wanted to see sex and violence on video. In the 80s, that's what people went for- Arnold Schwatzenigger tearing the arms off a scientist, and then sticking a pipe through the other's neck was what made great viewing. Now, it's a great plot and script that makes for great entertainment, but back then, the best thing a company could make was a video nasty. The actual manga, released in 1985; I've read it, and it's okay, the artwork is a cross over between American and Japanese comics, but I think the anime created something so much more than what the manga was. The anime stretches the boundaries of imagination, and, it could have either been done great, or badly. Had it stayed 100% faithful to the manga, it may have been crap.

I'm againgst all those people who say that the rape in this is evil also. This anime was aimed at the 18 year old male. Almost all the scenes in which rape occurs, the instigator is a monster/demon, and it would be impossible for a human being to duplicate the act (unless they had tentacles). Also, I watched an interview with creator Toshio Maeda, and Maeda said that back in the 90s there were a ton of girls who came to him asking him to 'do them.' So, you can't exactly say that all women hated seeing girls getting groped by demons and what not right?

Great animation, great characters, great designs, exellent story, my rating:

9.5/10

Cybernetics Guardian (1989)

Anime from the guy who brought us... (err, for those of you who are familiar with anime) M.D. Geist and Genocyber, Koichi Ohta. The only thing I like about this anime is the mecha and monster designs.

It was know wonder why I was able to pick this up for $1.50...

This is probably sometime in the future... there is this company where this guy called John is the poilot for the testing of this new powersuit (the lamest looking design in the anime btw;) againgst a rival cybernetic suit thingy. There is a blonde broad involved who likes John, and is pursued by Adler- the creator/pilot whatever of the rival cybernetic suit thingy. This John guy is kidnapped (I think), and then made into the Cybernetic Guardian by this weird vampire esque cult (who claim he was one of the kids from his home town who was implanted with the seeds of hate when he was a kid...) - this huge scary looking ass thing that is a crossover between mecha, monster, and a wolf. Goes on a rampage, and... nah, I just can't, this anime is soo bad, I can't be bothered to tell you what it's about... in the end the Adler guy is destroyed in his Genocyber contraption, and John is able to operate the Cybernetic Guardian transformation of his own free will, and gets the girl.

I think maybe there wasn't more released because it was a flop in Japan. Actually, sci-fi anime has alot more success outside of Japan, in countries like America and Europe than in it's native Japan. For a long time, manga artist Shirow Masamune was more famous in America than in Japan, as was Guyver creator Yoshiki Takaya. The anime that tends to fair better in Japan is family based anime, and drama anime which documents everyday life... sh't like Doraemon, Anpan-Man, GTO, Future Boy Conan, Dragonball. Sci-fi anime in Japan isn't recieved my a mass audience, unless it gets a cinematic release.

One thing I don't get with this anime is the design for the Genocyber... the anime itself, Genocyber (1993), the main creature, Genocyber, is a biological humanoid weapon, whereas the Genocyber in Cybernetics Guardian is a six legged-cybernetic battle tank.

Anyway this anime is terrible. Character development is practically non existant, and the script is terrible. For sci-fi/horror anime, this one is terribly cliched in what you'd expect to see in it, after having first discovered anime like 14 years ago. You know when you see anime where the hero transforms into a mecha or mecha monster? -there's a ton of them, and they basically all have the same premise... guy who was used as a guiena pig can transform into a combatant creature does battle with evil corporation and theres a girl involved, and if it ain't a corporation, it's a weird ass cult organisation. There's a few of them that are actually great, such as the Guyver, Genocyber, or Devilman. And then there's the rest which are just stoopid. Cybernetics guardian is stoopid. I could slate it more, but it's just stoopid, and thus my rating is...

2.5/10

Female Yakuza Tale (1973)

Toei released a whole bunch of films like this in the early-late 70s.

This film combines a whole lot of sex and violence, and Yakuza. The DVD cover is explanatory of the film itself. I can't remember the plot very clearly, but this Yakuza gang carries white china heroin by shoving small bottles of the stuff up women's pussies.

There's a whole bunch of these types of films that I've yet to watch. I know where Tarantino got his influence for Kill Bill though.

My rating: 6.7/10

Boiling Point (1990)

Japanese Yakuza themed movie directed and staring Takeshi Kitano.

I'm, actually not affected by a film's date, so long as it's not before 1970, but this was released in 1990, and to me, don't ask me why, it just looked really dated. Maybe it was the fashions that affected me, but I just remember back to 1990, I was like 5, and it was a terrifying time for me, cuz I just started school, etc.

Some men tired of being pushed around by a Yakuza gang, travel to Okinawa to by a gun from another Yakuza. This Yakuza is a mentalist played by Takeshi Kitano. You can watch the rest for yourself if it intrigues you. Again, it's one of those films that features alot of drama as opoosed to straight forward violence, etc. Which, in my opinion, makes for better viewing, because as we all know, life is nothing like a Hollywood film.

My rating: 6.3/10

Hostel Part II (2007) Review

Directed by now famous Eli Roth, and produced by Quentin Tarantino.

I seen the first one 1.5 years ago. There were a couple of scenes that were hard to watch. This one is pretty much the same as the first, though part II reveals that there is an actual organisation who sells young blood to old blood- we see that once the young are checked into their hotel, their passports are scanned, and their photos and information broadcasted to the organisation's website, whereby people will place live bids.

While both movies neither make for great cinema, etc, they're somewhat watchable. The kind of person who will enjoy Hostel parts I and II are people who will fast forward through the dialogue just to see the eye candy scenes. There are two of such scenes that make this movie somewhat worth watching just the once- the scene where the girl is strung up like a rabbit, and this woman comes in and butchers her with the same thing the grim reaper uses, bathing in her blood. The other scene is where a man is castrated (both cock n balls) and the meat thrown to a dog.

'we make movies like this so people can have something to relate to the anger they feel in real life.' I'd say this movie is mostly aimed at people aged 18~27 at college. It's not my type of film though, but I still reviewed it.

My rating: 5.7/10

Hana Bi (1997)

Hana Bi is a Japanese Yakuza film directed by Takeshi Kitano (remember Violent Cop??)

Japanese Yakuza themed film, pretty short one I might add, this one features more drama than Yakuza stuff going on. It's not bad, worth watching over many other things, but I wouldn't strongly recomend it as a must see.

My rating: 6.4/10

Audition (1999)

A horror movie by director Takeshi Miike of Ichi The Killer fame.

I think it was probably this film tha got Miike international recognition as an independant director. K, onto the review-

A man's wife dies of cancer or something. His son brings her a castle or something he made himself from card to her bed, then the film cuts to 10 years later or something, where the guy is fishing with his now late teenage son. The guy considers getting remarried. He works with a television company, and his boss proposes an audition for a female lead, and also an attempt to hook his buddy up with a nice girl. The two audition tons of women before we clearly see who the chosen girl will be. She looks as sweet as pie, plays the inocent type of girl to an almost comical extent, basically feeding the guy the white lie that 'all the men I've met have been b'stards, you're not like that right? Your different right?' The information she gives about herself checks out, though what she failed to mention that her last boss no longer exists...

Takeshi Miike's intent behind this film was to show 'how terrifying people are.' There's also lines that are metaphor's for ordinary life 'it's only when you go through extreeme pain that you truely know yourself.

I actually thought it wasn't long enough, and there was probably more distrubing scenes he could have thrown in there, etc.

My rating: 7.2/10

Sonatine (1993)

Sonatine is a Japanese Yakuza film directed by Takeshi Kitano (remember Violent Cop??)

A rival gang attacks Takeshi Kitano's headquarters, and then confronts him and his men in a shoot out in a bar. Takeshi and friends head to a beach house to keep their heads down until the heat cools off. His friends play childish games, get drunk and what not until members of the rival gang begin to track them to the beach. Before they start getting killed, it's basically a domentation of how a bunch of Japanese men kill time.

Takeshi Kitano is a master of adapting the reality everylife into fiction. He's also known more for his... comedy in Japan than he is for his yakuza characters. Which I can't understand since there isn't anything funny about what he does. Sometimes his gangster characters make me laugh though, because he just stands there blank faced and fires a gun, devoid of almost any emotion, much like Golgo 13. Kitano said himself that he was either thinking of becoming a baseball player or a yakuza member when he was a kid. Said he'd look upto them around where he lived.

Takeshi Kitano dies in almost all of his yakuza themed films, whether it's at his own hands, or another's. Watch this movie to find out if he does in this one. I reckon most people who like anime and manga, will eventually watch Yakuza films.

My rating: 6.9/10

Infection (2004)

Japanese horror movie set in a hospital where there is an infection- the bodies come to life, green slime comes out of nurse's mouths...

I know what you're thinking- 'the cover looks really scary~!'

Well... I watched 40, maybe 45 minutes of this, and then had to switch it off. It was just terrible. Mediocre, made on a budget of $100. Don't get me wrong in thinking that I'm slaggin off low budget movies- what tends to happen with alot of low budget movies is that to compensate for the lack of eye candy and explosions due to budget, the writers will compensate this for a more thoughtful script, using brains over looks... with this film, this coudln't be further from the truth though. This movie also reminded me how incredibly robotic Japanese acting can be.

My rating: 1.3/10

Premonition (2004)

A Japanese horror movie. Incredibly low-budget Japanese horror movie I might add. Incredibly low-budget script also. I imagine the writer to have been a college student also...

A school teacher reads a piece of newspaper that says his daughter died in a car accident before she actually does when the car goes up in flames. 6 years or whatever later, the teacher is divorced from his wife, then sees another paper telling him something bad is going happen, namely a death. LAME.

I was bored after 15 minutes, and realised what kind of a viewing experience I was in for. The story, and the look of the entire thing is just sickeningly mediocre and bland. Nothing scary about it also, I watched it through to the end simply so I could slate it. It's for this reason I have avoided watching The Ring or The Grudge.

My rating: 2.0/10

Ghost In The Shell manga (1997, Dark Horse)

Written and drawn by Masamune Shirow (of Appleseed and Dominion fame), the follow-up to Ghost In The Shell.

In the future nearly everyone will be a cyborg. You can link up with fellow cyborgs, and 'dive' into their Ghosts, reading their minds ... -_-

I think it was origionally published between 1989~1991 in a Kodansha magazine.

You have political bust-ups, and dimplomats declaring their diplomatic immunity and what not, pretty much the same yawn seen throughout Appleseed BOOKS 3 & 4. The manga has different stories in it, rather than just the entire thing dedicated to the pursuit of the Puppetmaster (the Puppetmaster case is the last 2 or 3 stories I think :/). Kusanagi is more girly than she is womanly in the movie (which was thanks to the brilliance of the same character designer who worked on Akira). Shirow tries his hand at his Dominion esque comedy, which wasn't used in the anime movie, for better or worse.

GITS is not for everyone though- there's alot of people who'll get bogged down with all the pseudo-scientific banter, but I'd rather recomend this to you than the sequel, GITS2, which, as you'll read in the above blog is ********** ****. Put it this way, if you liked Bladerunner, Robocop, and you read manga anways, you'll enjoy this somewhat.

My rating: 6.5.10

Ghost In The Shell 2 Manga (2005, Dark Horse)

Written and drawn by Masamune Shirow (of Appleseed and Dominion fame), the follow-up to Ghost In The Shell.

While I really liked Appleseed, I have mixed feelings with Ghost In The Shell.

What Shirow created- 'in the future there will be robots,' is an idea that's been done before- Bladerunner, etc. It wasn't anything new. The film by Mamoru Oshii took Shirow's premise of a cyborg female copy and her section 9 buddies in the future, with the idea of an entity called The Puppet Master born from the web of information, and turned it into something far more better. I seen the anime movie before I read the manga btw; in the manga, Kusanagi is more of a girl than the mature woman she appears in the anime movie, pretty much like Deunan Nat of Appleseed.

I read parts of Ghost In The Shell the manga prior to reading GITS2 the manga.

I'm giving this manga 2 seperate ratings, because I feel it is unfair to slate this manga and not acknow ledge the brilliance of Shirow's talent to illustrate.

In a nut shell though, to me it was 350 + pages of softcore porn with no plot...

Sure there is English dialogue in the speech bubbles, but all I was able to understand that happened was that the president was assasinated by a little girl, and there was a pig farm where human organs were grown. Aside from that, there was no plot, just convoluted pseudo-scientific banter that could only appeal to the 3 types of creature that would understand it-

*The creator himself, Shirow

*Aliens

*Robots

And there is no character development- everyone is a robot whether or not they're human, and engaged in throwning around pseudo-scientific terms. If it was the creator's intention to tell us that in the future everyone acts like a robot, and there are no emotions or human characteristics anymore, that would be fine (boring as hell, but fine because that was his intention), but really, there is no story. And, I would gladly defend anyone who called this manga 'stoopid n boring,' if they were attacked by someone who said 'idiot, you didn't read it properly, don't you understand anything you dumb troll!' or whatever, because frankly I can't see how this was meant to find a place into the hearts of millions, or even the small Shirow fanbase of somewhere like South Korea. My rating in terms of story-

1.2/10

The artwork is really dazzling though- I used to want to be better than Shirow, being an illustraitor myself. It was Shirow who forced me into using photoshop and adding CGI to my artwork, and made my mom by me my first computer 9.5 years ago. I don't know where a 48 year old (or however old he is now) finds time to make compositions as exellent as Shirow. Where the artwork in Ghost In The Shell which combines CGI elements in great, Ghost In The Shell 2 takes it to a whole new level. For Shirow to say though that the exposure of female flesh, and the body positions is not meant to be porngraphic, is in itself hypocracey. Shirow must have referenced positions from the karma sutra or a mazagine containing sexual positions. Also, it is clear here that his preference in woman is 'slim hardbodied athletic girls with little titties in their 20s.' This goes on for like every 2 pages or so, and is clearly aimed at male nerds.

Artwork rating: 8.9/10

- Overall would I recomend this to you as a good read? -Hell no! If you like seeing lush Shirow artwork, and hardbodied girls showing their booty n underwear buy it, but certainly not for a good read!

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (2006, PS2, PSP)

Once you've played GTA III and Vice City, you've played em all I guess...

I played this game purely I because I couldn't think of any other origional game series to play.

You play as this guy called Vic or whoever, who's brother is Lance Vance from Vice City. Alot of the previous characters from Vice City feature in this (as they would being a prequel). The Gordon Moorehead radio programme cracked me up like a bitch.

I think I completed in under 3 weeks with the cheats.

Mt rating (after playing GTA III, Vice City & San Andreas): 6.5/10

Resident Evil 4 (2005, PS2, Gamecube)

I've played half of Resident Evil on the Sega Saturn, and then Resident Evil 2 and 3 on the Playstation.

The president's daughter has been kidnapped by a cult in Slovenia or some part of eastern Europe, and Leon Kennedy from Resident Evil 2 has been sent in to rescue her. This time it's not biohazard zombies and bio-weapon experiments run amok, but villagers possesed and mutated by a parasite. The ending was pretty cheesy and cliched btw;

The gameplay in this game is more action-shooter than RP3. Personally I prefered the gameplay of the previous 3 Resident Evil games, but apparently the creators thought that they had lost some of their fanbase, and wanted to revamp it. It actually reminds me more of Duke Nukem than Resident Evil, and is very sporty, etc. The graphics are pretty good for a 128 bit game (as they should be), and this time the story doesn't centre around the Umbrella Corporation (Umbrella send out military dude Krauser to attempt to recieve the sample of the parasite, but aren't the enemy in the game). It is scary, but doesn't frighten the bejesus out of you like the first time you played Resident Evil 2, or limping through a corridor with the Nemesis' booming footsteps in the background. There's a monster you fight in a crane that looks really silly and poorly designed also.

One of the handful of games worth playing on the PS2.

My rating: 8.0/10

Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (2004, PS2) Review

Released 3 years after MGS2, Metal Gear Solid 3, this time is set in the 1960s, in a jungle.

I think I died more in this games than MGS2 or MGS1...

Based on demographic studies, the creators decided to give the player the option of playing as Snake or Raiden from MGS2 depending on whether you select the option I liked MGS1 more than MGS2, etc.

You play as Naked Snake, the father of Solid, Liquid, and Solidus Snake, who will go onto become 'Big Boss.'

The game's plot is more straight forward than the previous game this time to appeal more to the masses, and you get to catch your own food in the jungle. Pick a Fly Agaric mushroom and your poisoned! -as are the bosses who eat it also. Was really fun. Graphics were great also- my only complaint was that car tires are 'hexagonal' just like in the last game, and not circular like they should be. The James Bond espionage introductory song is pretty annoying too- I guess the creators thought it may have been funny :/

My rating: 8.9/10

Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty (2001, PS2) Review

Origionally played Metal Gear Solid last year for the first time. I don't mind playing 32 bit games so long as I know they're decent- Die Hard Trilogy, Resident Evil series, etc. Although I played MGS some 8 years after it's release, I can appreciate it for what it was at the time, excluding everything else release to date, and thinking it terms of video game quality circa. 1999. Were it not for MGS, the narrative in video games, and story telling, plots etc, would still be really minimal.

Metal Gear Solid 2 takes place a few years after the events of the first game. Terrorists have been buying Metal Gears from the blakc market based on the design for the previous Metal Gear (Metal Gear Rex). Snake working together with Dr Emmerich in an anti-Metal Gear organisation, infiltrates the deck of a military ship carrying the new Metal Gear (Metal Gear Ray), in an attempt to photograph the thing and expose the military. The ship is hi-jacked by Russian terrorists though, and Revolver Ocelot, who becomes possesed by the mind of 'Liquid Snake,' through Liquid's translanted arm, and escapes with Metal Gear Ray. 2 years later, an agent supposedly known as 'Snake' infiltrates a Shell Core Rig thing that is supposedly hiding the new Metal Gear Arsenal... I think that was the plot anyway

Good game, I enjoyed it. I understood the philosophy of the plot, but at times it seemed convoluted and a little pretensious in comparison to the origional MGS. Also, the player only has control of Snake for a limited time before your introduced to the new hero, Raiden. You get to play with a wakizashi samurai sword also towards the end which is kinda cool.

My rating 8.9/10

Yakuza (2005, PS2) Review

Played this game based upon the fact that it was a 'Yakuza' game, and that intrigued me.

Good game- you live the legend of a Yakuza man. My quarms about it are-

*the character goes into prison, and comes out a decade later looking exactly the same, and wearing the same clothes as when he went in

*the city is small in comparison to the likes of GTAIII, and the other GTA games released before this game... Sega supposedly spent $21,000,000 on this game... hard to believe at times though...

*while the main characters look very good for playstation 2 graphics, the citizens look appauling. Sega thought just because they're pedestrians you woudln't notice, but up close they look as bad as GTA citizens. Maybe they could have gotten away with it in 2001, but now now!

*there could have been more the player could have done, for example you can actually go into a bar and get drunk, but when you leave the bar, you're able to run as normal even though the drunk meter is telling your your t-total. You could have had limited control over the character once he was drunk, and also you could have been given the ability to assault citizens, and then go to jail for it, etc.

My rating- 7.5/10

Grand Theft Auto San Andreas (2004) Review

I played GTA III and Vice City prior to this, really enjoyed playing them. They're one of the handful of origional games for the PS2 and X-Box that you should play. I really like how GTA parodies America and the silly radio stations, dumb callers-in, etc, found it hysterical actually.

I didn't feel the same about this game though. To put it in a nutshell, there's 3 things you can do in Grand Theft Auto-

* Pick up n deliver missions
* killing people missions
* driving missions

It looks really impressive, driving around and running amok throughout a huge virtual city, but you're tired of it by the end of the 2nd game (i.e. Vice City). It's amazing how the creators have managed to stretch 3 mission types throughout 50~70 missions across the first 2 games, but it worked, and was enjoyable, but with San Andreas it's like been there, done that on the other two games. Only difference is the characters are different, and the city is much bigger than Vice City. The dialogue and what not ain't half as funny as Vice City also- the black 'SuPa NiGgA' ghetto culture being really depressing also. The only reason I had for playing GTA: Liberty City Stories was because I couldn't think of any decent origional game to play, and also because I had bog all else to do at the time... what made me buy it though was primarily because I wanted to hear th new radio dialogue, etc.

My rating for this game- 5.1/10

Devilman (2004) Review

The director of this movie died of cancer a year after this was released... I don't wanna sound like a prick, but... coincidence?

This movie utlizes (sp?!) use of CGI, blue screen etc. Was also possibly made on a budget of $70,000~$100,000. The lowest of low-budget of live action manga. The creator of Devilman, Go Nagai, makes a guest appearance in this as a Shinto priest or something... he must have been offered sex with 16 17 year old virgin girls for him to show his face in this. It's just for the fans, but seeing Go appear was the only elevating point about this movie.

I could slag this movie off in more than one way, but what would be the point, y'know? Seriously there is one thing worse than $70,000,000 Hollywood movies, and that's low budget manga live action adaptations, and, if there is a king of the worse manga live action adaptations of all time, it has to be Devilman. I'd rather watch every 80s horror b-movie in a week, than watch this for a second time.

My rating: 1.8/10

South Park Series 12

South Park the movie was hilarious. A comedy is something that your supposed to laugh out loud at. There are a handful of South Park episode that are like that, probably about 8 or 9. The early eiposdes of South Park rank as stupid- sorta thing not seen on TV before that is really funny if you're stoned or drunk.

Nothing funny about this series- only funny moments are where Britney Spears is on stage after her head being blown apart, with the dancers trying to big her up, and then where the military have the internet cornered and start shooting at it, and the bullet deflects, and then the scene where the youtubers start fighting one another in the waiting room... cause, none of this stuff actually makes you crack up with laughter, but you're brain acknowledges it as 'funny.'

Aside from that, it's been sh't, and I don't South Park is funny anymore.

My rating for series 12: 4.0/10

Golgo 13 TV series (2008)

Based on the longest running manga in history by Takao Saito (I'm sending Takao Saito my Golgo 13 anime cel to autograph btw).

Previous to this there have been 2 Golgo 13 live action movies, and 2 animes- one released cinematically in Japan in 1983, and the other in 1998 on video.

Golgo 13 is the world top hitman- just needs one shot to kill someone- all sorts of people hire him- from priests to politicians, to CIA officials, to salarymen, etc. *You can imagine all sorts of stories that come out of that. Somehow the creator has managed to make this kinda plot last for 40 years of the manga's publication. Golgo 13 is so hard he barely moves or says anything, but also he is virtually untouchable. In the 1983 anime though, he gets damaged and bashed about quite a bit, but in the TV series he doesn't get so much as stratched, which, for the 1st 5 episodes so far, has been quite gay. We all know he'll never die, but just to shoot someone at the end and that's that is just really really boring. There's one episode called pretty woman, where this hot blonde hires Golgo to take out her oldman mafia tyrant boyfriend to free her, and dreams of being screwed by Golgo 13 after the job is done, and ends up getting shot herself when she pulls a gun out on Golgo 13 after he just walks away from the job without acknowledging her.

Most TV anime are pretty bad and TV friendly, there's few that are really great like DBZ or whatever, and since the 2000s, most TV anime has been stagnating crap. Specially since CG anime took place over cel animation- I'm not sure why that effects the story and overall quality of the animation but it just does. Golgo 13 is a very origional creation, that makes for brilliant story telling, but the TV series itself is just lacking substance or anything interesting. A reminde of how depressingly shiny and bland Computer animated anime is.

My rating 4.9/10

Meet The Spartans (2008)

From the 2 writers who brought us Scary Movie 1~4. You can guess how bad this will be right?

There's some films that can be so stupid they are actually laugh out loud funny (e.g. Freddy Got Fingered), then there's movies that are so stupid they're beyond so not funny. There's also ish that you say is funny because everyone else in high school says it is, and your a freak to say otherwise (e.g. Austin Powers)

Parodies Ghost Rider, Shrek, Spiderman 3, and Britney Spears, and some other ish I've probably missed out.

The only thing I liked about Scary movies 1~3 was the Eminem/8-Mile parody from Scary Movie 3, the rest wasn't funny period. The one thing I found funny about this movie was where the Spartan chiefs kiss one another, say they're okay with that kinda thing, then the Persians look around and see what looks like young gay guys in leather straps and what not, so yeah the gay running theme was moderately humorous, but that still doesn't stop me from giving it a rating of- 2.3/10 Rated SNF-13 (So Not Funny)

Spiderman 3 (2007)

You get paid lots to direct Spiderman 4, but have no creative freedom.' -David Cronenberg.

I had the 60s Spiderman on video when I was a kid, rented them and all sorts. My mom wrote down the lyrics from the opening, and I'd sing along etc.

When I was 10 I asked my mom to buy me the Spiderman toys based on the new TV series that came out around the back end of 1995. I have to say though I was only into it because it was popular. Much like Batman forever, and WWF wrestlers, I wanted to the toys based on that douche just because it was popular... June 1995~September 1996... very unhappy days btw; ...

Actualy went to see the 1st Spiderman movie at the cinema 6 years ago. My brain fell asleep after the first 15 minutes. Thought it was douche, still do. I think this is douche, and I'll tel you why-

* typical medicore Hollywood movie, yada yada, just as bad as all Marvel movies

* Venom looks like he's swung out of a gay bar (or a Jerry Haliwell concert), and is like only in it for like 15 minutes or something, whereas he should have featured throughout the entire movie, psycholodgically torturing Peter Parker/Spiderman. Cause Marvel woudln't have the guts to create anything that dark and thoughtful.

* Venom and Sandman team up for about 10 minutes to draw out Spiderman. The script must have been written by a coke addict writer.

* And Venom was just like the gayest thing ever. Best enjoyed drunk or drunker than drunk.

THE END

My rating: 3.4/10 (and that's being genereous based on the Special FX)

Appleseed Ex-Machina (2008)

Set in the future, the world has been devastated by World War III. The remaining governments of the earth have pulled together and constructed cities enclosed from the outside wastelands. Rescue forces from Olympus make regular trips to the outside wastelands to try to recover the remaining humans that are still alive. Deunan Nat is one of those individuals, a feisty sexy blond female soldier. After she is rescued, and brought back to Olympus, she discovers that her ex-parter Briareous (once thought dead), was rescued himself half dead, and rebuilt as a cyborg. Through her introduction to Olmpian society, she discovers that most of the citie's population are bio-droids (look exactly like humans) but are created to operate in Olmpus as shiny happy people from birth.

Not sure what prompted another CGI Appleseed cinematic release, since the 2004 one bombed to bargin bins after maing $350,000 at the Japanese box office.

I think the CGI looks the same as the last one, but don't quote me on that.

This time there's this corporation that has put brain controllers in this ear clip on consumer device that is a phone, internet, MP3 in one type thing. In the end Deunan and Briareous have to destroy the core thing controlling the technolodgy (that is this ridiculeous H.R. Giger looking cyborg black widow diva) to stop it taking over the entire population of Olympus. Mediocre, err... looks great, story and character development is as crap as the previous.

My rating: 4.5/10

Appleseed (1988)

Based on the manga by Masamune Shirow. Released on video in Japan in April 1988, and released cinematically dubbed in English in 1994 by Manga Entertainment.

I first seen the trailer for this anime on the Guyver tapes. Looked awesome, I was 9 years old at the time. I seen it in full on the sci-fi channel in 1997, thought it was great.

Olympus is an enclosed city from the outside-world, now a barron wasteland devastated by the fighting of World War III. Deunan Nat, and parter Briareous (half cyborg) are two humans in the Olympus ESWAT (Extra Special Weapons and Tactics) unit, having been recovered from the outside world. Most of the people in Olmypus are bio-droids (humans genetically manufactured by Olympus to be happy shiny citizens from birth), and the remainder are humans rehabilitated from the effects of the oustide wastelands. AJ Sebastian is a terrorist intent on destroying Olympus, seeing it as a controller of humans, soon to be ruled by the bio-droids. Sebastian's plan is to take control of the Prototype Multipede Cannon and destroy Olympus. There is more to the story than this, so I won't give too much away.

The animation is adedquate for it's time- not limited, not crappy, but what you'd expect of an OVA from the late 80s. The artwork and charcter designs are based made to look exactly like Masamune Shirow's manga, much like Akira, Dragonball, or Ranma 1/2. Alot of people complain about the animation, but personally I think it's fine. Alot of terrorists go for money, drugs, sex, power, etc, but very few go for freedom, and actually they have a point to what they are fighting for, and from one perspective (other than the fact that they do kill) aren't totally evil. Not alot of anime have a plot to it that is heavier than heaven also.

FAVE QUOTE!: 'In a cage your protected from the outside world, but that's not living, sooner or later you have to escape.'

My rating 8.8/10

Appleseed (2004)

Appleseed is a CGI-live action movie based on the manga by Masamune Shirow.

Set in the future, the world has been devastated by World War III. The remaining governments of the earth have pulled together and constructed cities enclosed from the outside wastelands. Rescue forces from Olympus make regular trips to the outside wastelands to try to recover the remaining humans that are still alive. Deunan Nat is one of those individuals, a feisty sexy blond female soldier. After she is rescued, and brought back to Olympus, she discovers that her ex-parter Briareous (once thought dead), was rescued himself half dead, and rebuilt as a cyborg. Through her introduction to Olmpian society, she discovers that most of the citie's population are bio-droids (look exactly like humans) but are created to operate in Olmpus as shiny happy people from birth.

The origional anime was released in 1988, is cel animated, and in terms of story and artwork (CGI may look more wow and eye candy than cel, but I always prefer cel over CGI animation) is wayy better than this.

The story and character development was so bland and robotic that I missed whatever plot existed, but this Japanese CGI sci-fi plays out exactly like a mediocre Hollywood movie. The character development is so thin and robotic that all the characters could have been clones of the same person. In the end I watch movies this bland to the end just so I can rip on it.

This was released at the Japanese box office in 2004, and made around $350,000 before it bombed to DVD bargin bins, figures. Fight Club bombed at the box office, but went onto be one of the most popular cult films of the 90s.

My rating: 3.9/10

Ichi The Killer Episode-0 (ANIME)

Based on the manga by Hideo Yamamoto, and created due to the popularity and success of the movie adaptation.

'We're not like Hollywood, we don't care about how much we sell, we just like to create things we like and enjoy'-- Mamoru Oshii (director of Ghost In The Shell and Patlabor The Movie 1 & 2).

Often is the case that the live action adaptations of manga are appauling, and the anime are superior. However, with Ichi The Killer episode 0, this couldn't be further from duh truth.

The anime starts off with Ichi chasing after sadist Kakihara, and then cuts to Ichi's genesis when he was a high school student.

The animation and character designs remind me of Korean anime from the mid 90s- this looks alot like a Korean anime called Red hawk. The animation is really limited and even though this is not the 1980's, alot of cuts are reused. The only scene in this... anime (was gonna say crap) that got me was when a cat was hit by a car, and Ichi goes to help it, but the cat attacks him instead, and he stops it to death. Though I don't think this has an interesting world view like say Akira, Ghost In The Shell, or any anime like that, anime like this reminds me of how much of a increasingly horrible the world is becoming to live in.

Anyway, this looks rubbish, and is cheaply made quickly drawn, can't be half-assed anime. I dunno if there's more of these, and personally I'm not in a hurry to fnd out.

My rating: 4.1/10

Ichi The Killer (2001) Review

K, I just reviewed the prequel in the previous post...

It's not a good idea to watch the prequel though before this movie, as the prequel doesn't even compare in terms of creative quality to this movie.

Ichi The Killer is based on a Japanese comic of the same name by Hideo Yamaoto. There is also an anime which I will slate with pleasure in the next post. If you want a genre for this film, I'd say it was Yakuza, thriller-horror.

Director Takashi Miike has directed a hell of alot of Yakuza (Japanese mafia films), and I personally don't think anyone has documented the Yakuza in terms of fictional film better than Miike (I've almost seen all Miike's Yakuza films now).

The boss of a Yakuza gang (who's main characteristic is his beating of people btw;) is assasinated by a Killer, called Ichi (Ichi tranlating as the number '1' in Japanese). The 'manager' of Ichi, Jiji, steps in when the now-supposedly assasinated/disapeared/vanished yakuza boss' main man, sadist Kakihara starts looking for his boss' killer, and feeds him a little white lie that it may have been a rival gang. I won't rant too much about this film, as it's best to discover a good film for yourself based on the fact you've heard it's worth watching, without hearing too much about it.

Ichi wears a this black body suits that has cutting blades that come out of the bottom of his boots. Was a little dissapointing, cuz I thought he could have had them in the gloves also. The graphic violence is probably the best I've seen in any Japanese live action movie, and I don't think I've seen a low-budget movie where the special FX haven't looked ultra-crappy. There's this one scene where a character (the actor being a skinny 40 something year old man) strips off and reveals himself as a muscley-hulk, and the actor's face is super imposed over the body builder's face- thing is, I would never have guessed they did this were it not for the behind the scenes DVD feature. The final fight could have been better, and there was a few other things I thought could have been done with the material, but I'm not a director/screen writer, and I don't know the pressures these people are under when making it.

My overall rating 7.5/10.

FAVE QUOTES!: 'Now he's dead I'll beat you instead.'

Ichi-1 (Ichi The Killer Prequel)

The prequel to Ichi The Killer, Ichi-1, is only avaitable in America at the moment, subtitled.

I won't talk so much about the story as not to spoil, but it's set in the High School where the main character grew up at. Basically this high school is the opposite of every Japanese high school in the country. The pupils run amok, and there doesn't appear to be any real control in the school, which is what Japanese high schools are NOT like (I attended a Japanese high school for a year, and it was really militant, conservative, etc). All that really happens is the pupils kick the shit out of each other for the ditzy pussy- there are no A-star brainiacs at this school, and Ichi (if you've seen the first movie) is pretty much how you envisaged him as being in his youth after watching Ichi The Killer.

Just because I know how much people liked Ichi The Killer, and I'm not gonna slate this movie like I was going to, and let you have your own opinions about it for yourself, but, overall, I give it 5.4/10. I think one can only enjoy this movie if they've seen Ichi The Killer.