Travelers: Jigen Keisatsu (トラベラーズ 次元警察) comes from Japan to fight
Travelers: Jigen Keisatsu (トラベラーズ 次元警察) was released April 13th in Japan, but the sizzle reel from their website is now making rounds in the US. Because it’s very long and filled with all sorts of crazy action and girls in shorts beating each other up.
Ai is a Dimensional Police officer who jumps into “Retro World” to hunt down the criminal organization “Doubt”. There, she faces off against her former partner Yui, who now works for Doubt.
Both the stars and the director have extensive background in tokusatsu series. Nao Nagasawa(長澤 奈央) plays Ai, while Ayumi Kinoshita(木下 あゆ美) is Yui. You can also see Yuko Takayama running around in a gothic-lolita outfit, which is standard uniform for Dimensional Police officers, don’t you know?
Director Koichi Sakamoto is probably best known for his work in choreographing many seasons of Power Rangers. He has directed numerous other films, all either Ultraman or Kamen Rider related.
Travelers: Jigen Keisatsu looks ridiculous enough it should score a US import from someone. But hopefully not years and years later.
Categories: Movie News Tags: Ayumi Kinoshita, Japan, Koichi Sakamoto, Nao Nagasawa, Travelers: Jigen Keisatsu, Yuko Takayama
Neko Ramen Taisho (Review)
Neko Ramen Taisho
aka Pussy Soup
2008
Directed by Minoru Kawasaki
Written by Minoru Kawasaki and Masakazu Migita
Minoru Kawasaki makes some of the weirdest films to come out of Japan since the last weird film to come out of Japan, which was like last week or something. Okay, Japan has a LOT of weird films, but at least Minoru Kawasaki’s are entertaining. And usually not insane enough that you can talk about them with strangers and they won’t think you are insane. If you disagree with this, try explaining the plot of Tokyo Gore Police to the person sitting next to you on the bus and see if they start looking disturbed. Minoru Kawasaki specializes in films where animals do people’s jobs. Usually, the animals are human sized, but in this film the cats are cat sized, even if they are played by puppets. Besides the animal films, Minoru Kawasaki also directed The Monster X Strikes Back: Attack the G8 Summit.
Neko Ramen Taisho started life as a Flash anime series. Then it became a movie with puppets, thus being superior because puppets>anime any day of the week. The English subtitlers decided to call it Pussy Soup, which is clever, but as I learned all about it and eagerly awaited it as Neko Ramen Taisho, that’s what I call it and that means I will ignore the Pussy Soup jokes.
There are some famous Japanese cats in this film, so if you enjoy famous Japanese cats, this is a sure bet winner!
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Categories: Movie Reviews, Ugly Tags: Japan, Kazuki Kato, Masakazu Migita, Minoru Kawasaki, Nao Nagasawa, puppet time, Seizo Kato, Toru Furuya, Toshio Kurosawa
Geisha vs Ninjas (Review)
Geisha vs Ninjas
aka Geisha Assassin
2008
Directed by Go Ohara
Having read Memoirs of a Geisha years before it became a terrible film, I am an expert on the Geisha and their generational war with the ninja, and am glad a film finally sheds some light on this dark mark on Japanese culture. The geisha has been underrepresented in movie culture because of the firm grip of ninja clans in the film producing world. Ninja master Godfrey Ho has spammed countless video rental businesses with ninja propaganda, to the point where the geisha are all but forgotten. Only in recent years have they made a move on mass culture, and now the Geisha/Ninja war gets it due on the big screen. And by big screen I mean your DVD player.
Do you like ninjas fighting geishas? Then you will like the first twenty minutes or so. after that, the ninjas are no more and the film becomes Geisha vs. _______, with “_______” being each new opponent she faces. Instead of one big film, just view it as a bunch of fighting shorts tied together by a loose narrative. That does mean the Geisha vs. Ninja title is misleading, thus probably why it was changed by the American distributor. The film looks like it should be a cheaply produced junkpile with terrible fights, but the action sequences have a lot of work put into them and are entertaining. I was impressed. Geisha vs. Ninja certainly wasn’t highly financed, but they wisely threw all their money into the action choreography, and that saves the film.
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Categories: Movie Reviews, Ugly Tags: geishas, Go Ohara, Japan, Kaori Sakai, Minami Tsukui, Nao Nagasawa, Pocahontas
Nao Nagasawa
Nao Nagasaw is a Japanese actress, singer and model. She is member of the pop groups girl’sBOX and Kingyo
She also plays Nanami Nono/Hurricane Blue of the Hurricangers, which was another of the long running Super Sentai groups (known in America as the Power Rangers). She was born in 1984 in Tokyo and her hobbies include bowling, digital photography, making sweets, table tennis, and watching movies. You can see her rocking out at a ninja in Geisha vs. Ninja.
Click on the images for huge!!!~
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Categories: Gallery Tags: Nao Nagasawa
