Tag Archives: Go Nagai

Devilman (Review)

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Devilman

aka Debiruman

2004
Starring
Hisato Izaki as Akira Fudou/Devilman
Yusuke Izaki as Ryo Asuka
Ayana Sakai as Miki Makimura
Asuka Shibuya as Miko
Ai Tominaga as Silene
Bob Sapp as World Newscaster

Take a Japanese Manga with a storyline that spanned years, throw in a big budget, a bunch of J-Pop stars and models, remove any element of a plot, but it all in a blender, then bake the results at 450 for two hours and you get Devilman, a mess of Biblical proportions. What’s left of the plot involves demons invading the world and taking over people’s bodies, as a kid named Akira becomes the Devilman, who is a demon with a human heart, who must fight them to save all of humanity. This movie is just plain awful. I am in no way a fan of the Manga (by Go Nagai, creator of Cutie Honey, a Manga film done right) nor had even heard of it until I watched this, but the film is reported to ignore huge chunks of it to try to contain a long, sweeping story into two hours of running time. Just imagine the entire first season of 24 in just two hours, where they keep odd sideplots but ignore big things like introducing Senator Palmer, and Jack Bauer is now played by Justin Timberlake. People would riot in the streets. Devilman is on the same par, there are probably still people looting sections of Tokyo in response to seeing this travesty.



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Cutie Honey (Review)

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Cutie Honey

aka Kyuutii Hanii

2004
Starring
Eriko Sato as Honey Kisaragi/Cutie Honey
Jun Murakami as Seiji Hayami
Mikako Ichikawa as Natsuko Aki


Based on some Anime I’ve never read or seen, Cutie Honey explodes on the screen with outlandish costumes, outlandish overacting, an overly complicated plot, and female characters who can’t seem to keep clothes on. The film tones down the exploding clothes and keeps Cutie Honey running around in her underwear, which is different from what I’ve heard about the ink-drawn source, but confirming that would make me feel far too creepy, so it shall remain a mystery for now. Cutie Honey tries to keep it’s source in mind, as many scenes and dialogue have the look and sound of just jumping off of a cartoon into reality. Some of the situations make little sense in the realm of the reality presented her, or in the real world, but one just goes with the flow. The film itself if entertaining, and does it’s job of being a mindless popcorn flick full of flashy colors, exploding things, fighting, and pretty girls.

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