Rina Takeda kicks more evil dudes in Danger Dolls (少女は異世界で戦った)

Deadly Dolls 少女は異世界で戦った Rina Takeda
[adrotate banner=”1″]Rina Takeda has been pumping out films far faster than I can keep up, and Danger Dolls (少女は異世界で戦ったShôjo wa isekai de tatakatta) has slipped through the cracks. The title translates to Young Girls Battle in the Parallel World, which is why we’re getting the far more marketable (but dumb) Danger Dolls title for international release.

Four young women are super-heroines who disguise themselves as pop idols and battle evil businessmen from a parallel dimension that want to unleash guns and nuclear weapons unto their world. So basically it’s a simplified version of They Live, except parallel Republican Earth instead of Republican aliens.

Rina Takeda stars alongside Rumi Hanai, Nana Seino, and Kayano as the fearsome foursome. Shusuke Kaneko (Gamera Trilogy, Death Note, Azumi, Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack) directs, I’ve seen more of his films than I’ve thought, but he’s still creating several more each year. That means I might never catch up!

Unfortunately the film doesn’t appear to be very good. KungFuCinema forum member Takuma, who says “The climax is so cliched and illogical that it pretty much hurts brains.” They’ve not even put up a trailer yet, despite the film having a festival premiere, so someone in marketing needs to be fired… Heck, there is more information about Deadly Dolls in this post than their is on the official site!

Until Deadly Dolls gets a release in the US, remember to kick evil wherever you find it!

via KungFuCinema
via

Second trailer for Nuigulumar Z (ヌイグルマーZ) !


[adrotate banner=”1″]A second trailer for Nuigulumar Z (ヌイグルマーZ aka Gothic Lolita Battle Bear) has hit the net. It’s Noboru Iguchi’s latest, and stars a Teddy Bear that combines with it’s gothic lolita owner to transform into Rina Takeda to kick evil people in the face. Luckily, there are lots of evil people, and also zombies. The official release is January 25th, 2014!

Nuigulumar Z is based on an novel Hōsei Ningen Nuigurumā by Kenji Ohtsuki, which is based on a song by his band Tokusatsu called “Tatakae! Nuigulumar”.

Shoko Nakagawa will play Yumeko Ayukawa, nicknamed Dameko, a lolita-wearing girl who merges with her teddy bear Buusuke to form Nuigulumar. Rina Takeda will play the merged Nuigulumar, complete with pink bear costume. In addition, Takeda also will play a villain character named Kill Billy. Which means we might see Takeda battle herself! Who will win…

Official site

Nuigulumar Z

Nuigulumar Z

Nuigulumar Z

Nuigulumar Z

Nuigulumar Z

Nuigulumar Z

Nuigulumar Z

Rina Takeda update: The Tale of Iya

The Tale of Iya
[adrotate banner=”1″]We haven’t updated on what Rina Takeda has been doing lately, much to our shame. Her latest feature is The Tale of Iya (祖谷(イヤ)物語 -おくのひと-), a dreamlike drama that takes place as an isolated village in Japan is being connected to the modern world. As the village rests on the cusp between the Japan of the past and the Japan of the future, drama unfolds. Rina Takeda plays Haruan, a child found abandoned on a frozen lake and raised by the elderly Grandpa, who she now takes care of.

A tunnel to be built in Iya, Japan’s last untouched region, threatens to disrupt the natural order. An elderly man (Min Tanaka) and his granddaughter Haruna (Rina Takeda) living there meet a young man from Tokyo (Shima Onishi), and their primitive and secluded lifestyle slowly heals his heart and fosters a certain emotion within him… This ambitious film that depicts the nobility of co-existing with nature was shot on 35mm film in the mountains of Tokushima, and records the changing seasons over the course of a year. It is a dreamlike visual poem that offers viewers a truly cinematic experience.

The director spoke of trying to find an area of Japan that still existed like the one he depicted, but ultimately failed, realizing that there is only memories of the path left. There will probably be minimal kicking of people in the head, but becoming a serious actress will only enhance the drama in Rina Takeda’s future action films.

The Tale of Iya premiered at the Tokyo International Film Festival and has garnered lots of acclaim from attendees, each making sure to point out how good the film is. The Tale of Iya looks like one of those foreign films that will fly under the radar for a little while, and then be suddenly championed and gain fame it deserves. (at least hopefully deserves, as I’ve not seen it!) Regardless of the acclaim or lack of it, I’m still excited to see The Tale of Iya, and hope it makes a stateside appearance sooner than later.

A trailer is up at AsianWiki
Official site
Telegraph review
The Independent was also there

The Tale of Iya Rina Takeda

The Tale of Iya Rina Takeda

The Tale of Iya Rina Takeda

Dead Sushi

Dead Sushi

aka デッド寿司 aka Deddo Sushi
Dead Sushi
2012
Written by Noboru Iguchi, Makiko Iguchi, and Jun Tsugita
Directed by Noboru Iguchi

Dead Sushi

Summing up Dead Sushi in one picture!


Dead Sushi combines two of my favorite things from low budget Japanese cinema – Rina Takeda and Noboru Iguchi! While I wish these two combined to make something amazing, Dead Sushi turns out to just be above average. While certainly a lot better than either of the prior Iguchi and Takeda films I have seen (Zombie Ass and Kunoichi), Dead Sushi suffers from trying to be too many things. Sure, it’s got zombies, killer sushi, and face kicking, but there is also a big lecture on the proper way to make, eat, and appreciate sushi. Dead Sushi takes as much from Jiro Dreams of Sushi as it does from Machine Girl or High-Kick Girl! Unfortunately, they drag the movie down to a more average range.
Dead Sushi

Finally a movie that isn’t afraid to spit the truth!


The two main attractions to Dead Sushi are the gore effects and the choreography. First – the gore effects are okay, but not so different from what we’ve seen before. The humor comes from the instigators of this gore, living sushi pieces that talk gibberish and fly through the air, skeletonizing people. After the gimmick wears off, Dead Sushi gives us zombies to allow for some actual fighting against something other than CGI and puppets. While zombies are overused and boring (despite these zombies spitting up rice!), the occasional fights against CGI sushi have their fun, and remind me of Birdemic.
Dead Sushi

Why you should never eat cheap take-out rice!


The choreography is less disappointing, and is what you should seek out Dead Sushi for. Rina Takeda’s Keiko is a sushi apprentice to her father, the sushi chef skills giving her karate skills because that’s just how it works. There is some kicking and punching of sushi pieces out of the air, and later some battles against ineffectual zombies. Dead Sushi then shakes things up with Kentaro Shimazu running around with a giant fish head and a gianter axe to battle Rina Takeda, while the one good piece of sushi – Eggy – does battle with a giant CGI sushi battleship. The fights keep you entertained, whoever the stunt guy for Kentaro Shimazu is matches well with Rina Takeda’s moves, giving us nice fighting to entertain the people. Bread and circuses. Or Sushi and Zombies.
Dead Sushi

Shaming the shameless


Keiko (Rina Takeda) – Daughter of a great sushi master, who is angry that she was a girl and thus inferior at making sushi. She runs away in anger, taking a job as a hostess at a hotel. The years of practice at making sushi has honed her skills at fighting, and also given her admirable sushi skills that are recognized by Mr. Sawada. Keiko is also known to lecture on proper sushi etiquette, showing she was paying attention to all her father’s teachings.
Yamada (Kentaro Shimazu) – What seems to be just a homeless guy is actually the former head of new medicine development at Komatsu Pharmaceutical, the company that comes to dine at the hotel for their famous sushi. His project on bringing dead sea life back to life was cancelled, but not without the side effects of turning him into a zombie lord, and he unleashes the infection at the hotel. Evolves into a fishhead form.
Nosaka (Takamasa Suga) – A good guy who isn’t that good, secretly knows what’s going on as the whole outbreak is part of his own sick experiments for Komatsu Pharmaceutical. But the worm will turn…
Yumi Hanamaki (Asami Sugiura) – Hostess at the hotel who worked hard to gain her position, and also married the new owner. Is cheating on her husband Mr. Hanamaki (Takashi Nishina) with arrogant sushi chef Tsuchida.
Mr. Sawada (???) – Nice guy at work, was an arrogant sushi chef at the inn until he accidentally stabbed his wife and became knifephobic.
Eggy (himself) – an egg sushi that is spurned by all the seafood-based sushi, Eggy turns good and uses his acid egg juice squirting ability to aid Keiko and Mr. Sawada.

Dead Sushi

Better than the movie Battleship!


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Nuigulumar Z (ヌイグルマーZ) with Rina Takeda as a fighting pink teddy bear hits trailer!


[adrotate banner=”1″]Gothic Lolita Battle Bear is the subtitle for Noboru Iguchi’s latest flick, Nuigulumar Z (ヌイグルマーZ), and that is accurate as the day is long. For that pink bear becomes Rina Takeda and faces will be kicked! Plus, it looks like the bear comes to life as a puppet, which means this could easily have been directed by Minoru Kawasaki!

Nuigulumar Z is based on an novel Hōsei Ningen Nuigurumā by Kenji Ohtsuki, which is based on a song by his band Tokusatsu called “Tatakae! Nuigulumar”.

Shoko Nakagawa will play Yumeko Ayukawa, nicknamed Dameko, a lolita-wearing girl who merges with her teddy bear Buusuke to form Nuigulumar. Rina Takeda will play the merged Nuigulumar, complete with pink bear costume. In addition, Takeda also will play a villain character named Kill Billy. Which means we might see Takeda battle herself! Who will win…

Official site
Nuigulumar Z

Rina Takeda is a Battling Pink Teddy Bear in Nuigulumar Z (ヌイグルマーZ)!

[adrotate banner=”1″]Next up from the world of Noboru Iguchi is Nuigulumar Z (ヌイグルマーZ), about a girl who has the power to merge with her pink teddy bear to become a super hero to defeat zombies. Obviously. It’s based on an novel Hōsei Ningen Nuigurumā by Kenji Ohtsuki, which is based on a song by his band Tokusatsu called “Tatakae! Nuigulumar”.

Shoko Nakagawa will play Yumeko Ayukawa, nicknamed Dameko, a lolita-wearing girl who merges with her teddy bear Buusuke to form Nuigulumar. Rina Takeda will play the merged Nuigulumar, complete with pink bear costume. In addition, Takeda also will play a villain character named Kill Billy. Which means we might see Takeda battle herself! Who will win…

As usual, the combination of Rina Takeda and Noboru Iguchi makes this a must-watch in my book!

via NipponCinema and Rina Takeda

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