The Machine Girl (2008)

Maimed while seeking revenge, a girl becomes stronger than ever.

Director:

Noboru Iguchi

Writer:

Noboru Iguchi

Stars:

Minase Yashiro, Asami, Nobuhiro Nishihara

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Minase Yashiro	...	Ami Hyuga
Asami	...	Miki
Nobuhiro Nishihara	...	Sho Kimura
Kentarô Shimazu	...	Ryûji Kimura / Kimura gang boss (as Kentaro Shimazu)
Ryôsuke Kawamura	...	Yu Hyuga (as Ryousuke Kawamura)
Yûya Ishikawa	...	Suguru Sugihara (as Yuya Ishikawa)
Noriko Kijima	...	Yoshie
Tsutomu Uchigasaki
Hiroko Yashiki
Tarô Suwa	...	Kimura gang member (as Taro Suwa)
Hiroyuki Yoshida
Demo Tanaka	...	Kaneko / Kimura gang member
Naohiro Kawamoto
Masaki Inatome
Hitoshi Fukushima

Storyline

Ami is a typical college girl. She's bright, friendly, popular and athletic, with nothing to set her apart from other girls her age other than the fact that she is an orphan, left to care for her younger brother after her father committed suicide after being falsely accused of murder. But while there is tragedy in their past, the siblings' future looks good, except for one thing. Ami's brother has racked up a considerable debt to another boy at school, and that boy just happens to be the heir to a clan of vicious ninja-yakuza. Ami's brother can't pay, violence breaks out and in the course of trying to avenge her brother, Ami is captured by the clan. They torture her and hack her arm right off. Ami escapes, barely alive, and is taken in by the owners of a machine shop who build her a customized, bullet-spewing arm. From that point, the quest for revenge is on in earnest.

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Plot Keywords:

upskirt | short skirt | miniskirt | white panties | girl wearing a miniskirt | 

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Taglines:

The Machine Girl - One Armed Ballistic Assault Heroine

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Genres:

Action | Comedy | Horror | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

The voice cast for the English language dubbed version, uncredited in the film, but credited on the DVD is: Brina Palencia (as Ami), Robby Sharpe (as Hiroshi), Brandon Potter (as Kaneko), Wayne Grayson (as .Kitamura), Bella Hudson (as.Masako), Evelyn Lanto (as.Miki), Jason Griffith (as Ryota / Various), Charles Bunting (as Ryuji), Tom Wayland (as Shinsuke / Teppei / Yakuza), Christopher Kromer (as Sho), David Wills (as Suguano), Kevin Collins (as Suguru), Dara Seitzman (as Sumire), Herb Lawrence (as Sushi Chef), Drew Aaron (as Takeshi / Teppei), Stephanie Sheh (as Yoshie), Michael Sinterniklaas (as Yu), Christina Shipp (as Yumiko / Old Lady), Dan Green (as Yusume).

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Goofs

It is clearly visible in several scenes throughout the movie that several of the weapons are simply soft, plastic props. For example often when Ami swings her Gatling gun arm, the barrels flex from the motion.

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Connections

References Planet Terror (2007)

User Reviews

Superb

I have always thought of Japonesse comedy as being like Shakespeare comedy; funny to the people of the time and/or place but not to the rest of us. This is the first Asian film to not only make me laugh more than just a chuckle, but to make me cry with laughter and literally smack my knee. The reason that this is so good is because it seems as if writer director Noboru Iguchi took a step or two back too get a view of the Asian film market as a whole and even seems to have looked at it with a non-Asian eye to see how the rest of us see the market.

The deliberate over-the-top cheese and "happy family beginnings" were great fun, but its the wonderfully gory scenes that you'll remember. I don't want to go into too much detail so as to avoid spoiling the fun for those who haven't seen it, except to say that the scene with the main bad guy making his son drink his blood as a right of passage to the yakuzza is the main culprit for my man tears.

The only real problem of note is that the fun starts to dry a little as time goes on, the gore occurs less and less and the deliberate cheesy acting and dialogue almost gets tiresome (though it never actually is). It seems as if Iguchi used up all his best ideas too quickly in the first half and had to run with an empty tank for the last third.

Despite this its still always superb fun, and even though it is definitely gory, I recommend most people to see it, just cover your eyes if it gets too much at times!

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Japan]

Country:

Japan USA

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

23 May 2008 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Machine Girl

Filming Locations:

Japan

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fever Dreams, Nikkatsu

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1