The Machine Girl Review

Check out my updated review here! http://thevagrantrises.blogspot.com/2016/06/updated-review-13-machine-girl.html

Disclaimer: Contains spoilers!

Plot Summary: A young woman seeks revenge on the son of a Yakuza leader, and anyone else that gets in her way, for the death of her brother.

Review: Let me begin by saying this film is definitely not for everyone as it's an over the top splatterfest that often revels in its cheap effects. The plot is simplistic but as equally over the top as the violence. The opening scene takes place after the events of the film as we get a cool intro to our beloved "machine girl," Ami, who is played by the yummy and super sexy Minase Yashiro! Half the reason to watch this film is to see Ms. Yashiro running around in the classic Japanese schoolgirl outfit for 90 minutes. I would say within the first three to five minutes as Ami rips some bullies to shreds with her machine gun arm, you should have a sense of whether this kind of cheesy violence is going to do it for you. From here we are told the events that led up to Ami's transformation as we learn she was taking care of her brother, Yu, after the suicide of their parents. Yu and his friend are being bullied by some douchebag, named Sho, who just happens to be the only son of a ninja-Yakuza clan leader. One day, Yu tries to defend himself from Sho and his cronies, and Sho decides to kill Yu and his friend. As Ami attempts to get justice, she is faced with overwhelming odds as she runs into the crazy family of one of the cronies and the Yakuza gang. It's at this point that Ami goes a little nuts and starts to kill whoever gets in her way until she is cornered by the Yakuza. To punish Ami, Sho's father, Ryuji, starts to torture her by cutting off her fingers; Sho's mom, Violet, annoyed by the "mercy" of Ryuji cuts off Ami's entire arm. Somehow Ami is able to escape and coincidentally is rescued by the parents of Yu's friend who was also killed by Sho. After Ami convinces the parents, Suguru and Miki, that their son was killed by Sho, they nurse Ami back to health, teach her to fight, and construct her precious machine gun arm. Eventually the Yakuza catch up to them and send a horde of ninjas which Ami and Miki dispatch of in many ridiculous ways, but Suguru is killed in the fight. With nothing left to live for but revenge, Ami and Miki decide to attack the Yakuza's headquarters. The Yakuza have assembled more cronies in the form of Sho's friend's parents (that's a mouthful). While fighting these "Mad Max" rejects, Miki is killed by Ryuji, Ami loses her machine gun arm and replaces it with a chainsaw arm, and Ami kills Ryuji. Finally, Ami is able to take on Sho who is cowering behind a bunch of bullied kids and guarded by Violet and her (now legendary) drill bra! Yes, a drill bra! Ami is luckily able to get Violet electrocuted on the bullied kids' piss, and then (finally!) kills that bitch Sho. The movie does kind of end abruptly as Ami plans to kill herself, but then hears a noise and poises to fight; obviously the opening scene implies Ami lived on as a makeshift superhero. Overall, it is a fun ride that never takes itself that seriously, and that makes it all the more enjoyable for me. The action is good and the pacing is smooth. The girls are all hot with obvious special attention to Ms. Yashiro. I really thought it was going to be dumb considering many of the kinds of films in this comedic splatterfest sub-genre, but this one was different and significantly better. I have a dubbed version, but I've seen a subtitled version as well, so it should be easy to track down. If any of this sounded entertaining, you need to check this bad boy out!

Notable Moment: Of course when Ami is fighting Violet and Violet reveals her secret weapon: the drill bra!

Final Rating: 7.5/10

So hard to find a photo of Ms. Yashiro fully clothed...