Sêrâ-fuku to kikanjû

Based on a novel by Jiro Akagawa that was published by Kadokawa publishing company, "Sera fuku to kikanjyu" (sailor uniform and machine gun) was also Kadokawa's (and then president Haruki Kadokawa's) first attempt at movie targeted for teens and young adults featuring also a teenager in the starring role.

Izumi Hoshi (Hiroko Yakushimaru) is a normal high school student, until one day a horde of yazuka shows up at the gate of her school. Unbeknownst to her, her father was the head of a "Medaka Gumi" yakuza clan. His passing away prompted the soldiers to fetch her to become the next "kumicho" or the head of the clan. Pror to passing away, her father smuggled a heroin, and that becomes the focus of rivaling yakuza clans to take possession. When one of her soldiers gets killed, Izumi reluctantly takes charge and starts to lead her troops to face the opposing yakuza clan - the only problem is Madaka Gumi only has four yakuza soldiers where the other clans have many more.

Hiroko Yakushimaru shows her brilliant intelligence to lead the group of adults much older than her. The story seem to lack focus as different characters comes and goes, but the real focus is where's the heroin, and who hid it ? Everyone is running after the heroin and much killing goes on to find it. This all sound's serious, but it's all done in light hearted fashion (how a killing can be light, you have to see this film) to appeal to the target audiences. Towards the end, Izumi while wearing her sailor suit school uniform takes a machine gun and goes into Futoccho's (Rentaro Mikuni) office to settle the score and fires the machine gun in his office, exclaiming "Kaikan" (Feel's good) which was one of the defining moments in Japanese cinema at the time.

Hiroko Yakushimaru goes on to becoming a successful movie and TV actor and is still active today.

A great title and a great poster, and a movie that's overall pretty good. Sailor Suit and Machine Gun is definitely a strange and flawed film, but there's a lot to like, and watching the 132-minute cut, I feel like there were only a small number of places where it dragged a little.

This movie's about a teenage girl who gets made the head of a yakuza gang. Tonally, it's a little quirky in parts, but I don't knowing I could call it a comedy (you'd expect a movie with this premise to be one), and there are certainly some disturbing sequences in here, too, which make things feel very serious at times.

The abundance of long takes is also interesting. One near the end breaks the reality/logic of the film in a way that confused me, but most of them work well and are overall impressive to see play out.

Humorous satire of Japanese yakuza flicks in which Hiroko Yakushimaru plays the daughter of a yakuza oyabun (boss) who dies and leaves the clan to her. Unfortunately, the clan is not exactly top flight, as they drive around in old, backfiring cars, one member is, well, a little effeminate, and veteran actor Ken Takakura (Black Rain, Mr. Baseball are his two most recent American flicks) tries his best to keep Hiroko out of trouble. The scene with Hiroko when she sprays a room with machine gun fire and then exclaims "Kaikan"!! (roughly translated as "exciting" but perhaps in a physical sense) became somewhat famous in Japan at the time with people using the phrase in the same tone of voice as Hiroko. A funny and entertaining movie that I would definitely recommend to anyone who can understand Japanese (alas, there is no subtitled version).

With a title like Sailor uniform and machine gun I thought this would be a cheesy but funny action flick from 80s Japan. Instead this movie is really boring and the pacing isn't very good. The only good thing I enjoyed was seeing the 80s Japan scenery.

I finished feeling disappointed.

Okay piece, on the surface, this film resembles a standard yakuza or idol film. The film lacks the enticing violence of the yakuza genre and the self-absorbed camerawork of idol films, making it more like a teen coming of age tale.

It places a strong emphasis on a compelling story and a visually delectable range in cinematography. The story was very progressive for 1980s Japan, and the gang treated a woman like their Oyabun. At the forefront of the film is the incredible acting by pop idol Hiroko Yakushimaru, her performance throughout brings the film together.

Accompanying the illustrious score is impeccably expressive and technical cinematography, focusing on a beautiful mix of static, wide angle shots as well as long take aesthetic

Those who are expecting an adrenaline-fuelled action adventure may be disappointed. The film, as previously mentioned, is a teen coming-of-age tale with a bizarre underwater setting, rather than an urban crime drama, leaving the final product somewhat confusing for those who are unaware of its intentions.

It could receive a remake with another perspective of the work and would probably be successful with the public and the current zeitgeist.