Yo-Yo Girl Cop

Yo-Yo Girl Cop starts with the incarceration and attempted escape of a juvenile delinquent (Aya Matsuura) deported from America. A mysterious group known simply as "K" believe she has the necessary skills and motivations to infiltrate a terrorist cell within a local high school. Do they train her? No. Do they give her a gun to protect herself? No. Do they give her information on possible suspects? No. They do give her a sexy school girl outfit and a yo- yo...so there's that.

For as ludicrous a title as Yo-Yo Girl Cop you'd think that it'd at least live up to its premise. There is a girl and she is a cop of sorts but the yo-yo is largely absent until the inevitable final showdown. The first time she brings it out she hits herself in the face which made me convulse in laughter. In fact, the film's only saving grace is the inclusion of so many sporadically and unintentionally funny moments. Characters get thrown around like rag dolls by semi-decent martial arts while bombs explode with all the might of Microsoft Movie Maker. In one spectacularly perfect slapstick moment, the main character outright face-plants into a pile of gravel and rubble leaving me and the friend I saw it with to laugh until we couldn't breathe.

Overall, Yo-Yo Cop Girl is about what you would expect from a movie called Yo-Yo Cop Girl. It's silly, it's insipid, it's lazily brought to life, it's exploitative but not demonstratively so. Overall not recommended unless you're really that curious.

Only in Japan...

"Yo Yo Girl Cop" was actually really cheesy, but it worked on a great level. The action was nice, over-the-top and outrageous as you'd find only in Japanese movies.

The storyline was equally cheesy and silly. A young girl is recruited by some odd police force to infiltrate a school, and she is given a yo-yo as a weapon. A yo-yo! Yeah, cool... So it is no secret that it is not the story that drives the movie, but the action keeps the engine running.

Despite it being a non-plausible story and cheesy movie, then "Yo Yo Girl Cop" was actually great entertainment. It is a total no-brainer with lots of adrenaline and action. The fighting scenes were actually well choreographed and were nice to look at.

"Yo Yo Girl Cop" is actually worth sitting down to watch if you have an hour and a half to spare. When I saw that it was starring J-Pop sensation Aya Matsuura, I was a bit skeptical, as I am not much fan of singers turning to the movies, but she actually pulled off her role quite well.

Live action Film and TV adaptations of the Sukeban Deka graphic novel series go all the way back to the early 70s, plus there is an anime version as well. The gimmick here is that a girl delinquent is coerced into working undercover for the cops at a high school. But she has no gun, only a high tech combat yo-yo. No really. Okay. the main story premise is frankly absurd, but the fans of the manga series are familiar with it and by this point don't care. Anyway, what sets this version apart from its predecessors is the greater use of cutting edge special effects to go along with much more elaborate fight choreography. The camera tracks with the yo-yo during fights, creating great point of view action, for one thing, and often switches to the weapon or fists of her opponent during cross-cuts. The shot-making here was clearly influenced by first person shooter games, and the action has a video game fluidity and sense of fun. The violence is pretty PG stuff for Japan, I suppose so as not to dismay the series largely female following, but the pace is fast and the bad girl showdowns are played just straight enough to keep things from getting silly.

Japanese comic-book craziness abounds in this manga-based movie from director Kenta 'BR2' Fukasaku, and whilst it might not be the greatest action flick ever made, it does feature a yo-yo duel between two sexy babes sporting leather and PVC outfits. That in itself is a reason to watch as far as I'm concerned!

Aya Matsuura stars as Saki, a (hot) rebellious teenager who is recruited by a special law-enforcement agency to work undercover in a school where students are being being turned to anarchy by a mysterious website that is counting down to an unknown event. With only 72 hours to go, Saki must try and find out who is behind the site (named Enola Gay, after the plane that dropped the H-bomb on Hiroshima), and what is due to happen when the counter reaches zero.

Saki befriends Tae, a (hot) nerd (Yui Okada), who she defends from a group of (hot) school bullies, led by (the very hot) Reika (Rika Ishikawa). And it is Tae who helps Saki discover what exactly is going on, who is responsible, and why.

Yo-Yo Girl Cop is an incredibly stylised movie: it begins with some impressive opening credits (in which the silhouetted title character flings her spinning weapon across the screen) and the 'artistic flourishes' continue right up to the finalé. Sometimes the trendy editing gets a bit annoying (particularly with irritating sound effects accompanying every cut or zoom), but it generally suits the subject matter, so I'm willing to be a little more forgiving about this particular bugbear of mine in this instance.

Unfortunately, the film doesn't really get going until towards the very end, when Saki gets seriously miffed and dons her sexy getup. Up until that point, she only dabbles in a bit of generally unimpressive yo-yo flinging and gets involved in a couple of brief dust-ups—nothing too spectacular. Much of the time prior to this is spent on developing a plot line about bullying in the school—a commendable bit of social commentary which is vital to the plot, but not exactly riveting stuff.

For many western viewers, Yo-Yo Girl Cop, with its OTT action and convoluted plot, might be too much to handle. But for those who have learnt to appreciate the manic style of eastern fantasy cinema, it is passable entertainment.

It's also recommended viewing for those who dig Japanese cuties in PVC hot-pants.

Aya Matsuura plays a secret agent who infiltrates a school in order to ascertain why a website called Enola Gay is starting a countdown. A countdown to what? Her job is to try to stop terrorists. Her weapon is a steel yo-yo (hence the title). The story unfolds by days, day one being 48 hours or so left. So, this is an agent posing as a high school student, schoolgirl uniform and all. Hot? Absolutely. She befriends a suicidal high school student and this helps her cause. The story is convoluted in its storytelling, but the action is good. Ms. Matsuura is very sexy, a major plus for this kind of film. I'm sure the filmmaker never set out to make Best Picture, but the story has some entertainment value. It probably should have had more action, but that is a judgment call. If you like this genre, by all means go to see it.