Gosurori shokeinin

If you are looking for a film that has a lot of plot development, develops characters really well and has a story that makes you think then please skip this film. It does none of these things, what it does do is move by quickly from one fight to the next with a bit of back story here and there to fill in the blanks a bit. Not entirely as I was still clueless about a couple of things at the end of this one. The story is simple, a girl whose mother was killed by a strange quintet of people clad in black robes is out for revenge against said individuals. The thing that sets her apart from the normal revenge seeking girl is her choice of attire and weapon. She dresses in a Gothic Lolita outfit and uses various parasols as her weaponry. You get to see her do her thing right off the bat as she raids a gambling den and proceeds to really decimate all of those within seeking the strange mistress of the place. I was thinking at this point that we would get this scene then have a whole lot of flashbacks detailing her change to this psycho goth, but we only get a small picture and then she is off to a school to take care of her next target. Good action, I enjoyed the fight scenes better in this one than in other films of this type such as Vampire Girl versus Frankenstein Girl, Machine Girl and Tokyo Gore Police. The gore is about the same as those films, I still give the edge to this one cause it moved by so quickly was not crammed with a bunch of back story on her transformation and it did not have those strange bits of humor such as wrist cutting. While it does poke fun at things, the odd humor does not get placed front and center. My main complaints is that you really do not get enough of an idea why the girl's mother was killed in the first place. Also, while her outfit was cute I was hoping to see more outfits than just the one. Overall, I found it to be a nice bloody and fast moving revenge action/horror film.

Her beloved mother murdered by a vicious gang of assassins, young Yuki (2007 Best Buttocks Award-winner Akiyama) transforms herself into a Gothic lolita killing machine, wielding a lethal umbrella that can blast, slice, and chop her enemies into oblivion.

I have no idea what the "Best Buttocks Award" is, but Last Chance Lance of Rue Morgue sums up the film as "the perfect combo of glam and gore that'll please perverts and gorehounds alike." That is pretty close to the truth. Not sure about the "glam" (though the fashions are a nice throwback to the best of the 1990s). The gore is there, and with a weapon that puts the Penguin to shame.

And the filming style. Maybe I just have not seen enough Japanese films, but this felt like all the best parts of "Kill Bill" rolled up into a fun little package.

What can I tell about this flick. It's a typical Japanese flick but in the new way. This one do has a story but there isn't that much going on except a few flash backs and a lot of fighting scenes. The credits on the sleeve did mention the new attraction Asami but she's maybe for 2 minutes in this flick. On the other hand they tease you with Rina Akiyama who has won the Best Buttocks Award 2007. Guess she asks to much to show it.

I found it an average flick with the last fight having something special. Suddenly the flick moves into some kind of possessed flick with devils and monsters. Still, it's full of sputtering wounds, Japanese style. No nudity whatsoever. I have seen so many of those kind of flicks the last months with humour and gore that I can't tell which one was different from the other one. Only for the lovers of the new Japanese horror but for me, old school was much better.

Gore 3/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 2/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5

Fun, but not mindblowing. The only really noteworthy villain of all is Elle, very tongue-in-cheek parody of anime girls/J-Pop idol culture which will make you laugh a lot. The ending is interesting too, with an unexpected twist with potentials in regards to its development. Other than that, the gore is very restricted and the fight scenes are at 50% of capacity of what you would expect from the aforementioned directors, especially Iguchi. That said, I don't get those that made connections with Kill Bill in the reviews. Only because of the Eyepatch of Elle? Really? Complete and utter nonsense. This has nothing to do with Kill Bill in the slightest. This is your typical revenge manga/anime thing with the protagonist fighting her way through different bosses, there's not an inch of Kill Bill here. Without mentioning Kill Bill was "inspired" by Japanese revenge flicks in the first place...

This movie is not logical. This movie is not challenging your intellect. This movie does not want you to think too much about it. This movie gives you exactly what the title offers, nothing more.

I think it "borrowed" a lot from Kill Bill, for example certain fighting moves or villain character traits. (Actually, my first thought was Tarantino had seen this movie and decided to make a western, a little more serious version. Then I noticed this was the more recent production.) The story seems a little similar too. I'm not saying that there IS much of a story here. In fact, I expected the story to be nonsense, but not to be that incomplete. Still, it was fun to watch, and had me constantly ask myself whether is was entertaining because it was so creative or just because of its plain stupidity.

It is one of those movies I'm not able to judge by the standards of "good" or "bad". If you like goth style and anime-like over-the-top action sequences, you will be entertained. (I was.) Just don't expect anything else.