This is a movie that I saw kicking off the second day of Nightmares Film Festival. What I knew coming in was that this was an Asian movie. I didn't know much more about it except that I liked the title. Before the screening, one of the selection committee members said this is a bit different type of movie from co-writer/director Ken'ichi Ugana. I don't believe I've seen his work before and it looks like he steers more toward violent anime. That intrigues me.
Synopsis: Wakaba (Sayu Kubota) is many things: one of the most kawaii grade-schoolers ever and someone with a particularly strong sense of righteousness. So, when she witnesses bullying, she steps up to help classmate Koki. This decision affects the rest of her life and those around her.
This begins when Wakaba is in grade school. I thought this did a solid job of establishing her home life. Her mother is nice and encourages her daughter. The father though is a drunk. He is verbally abusive and doesn't respect what his wife does. Wakaba is best friends with Kanna. On their way to school, they see a boy getting bullied. His name is Koki. This continues in the classroom. Their teacher doesn't do a lot to step in, which is heartbreaking.
Things all change when Koki doesn't stand up for himself. Wakaba can't sit by so she helps. The problem is that the bullies then turn their attention toward her. They ruin things in her desk and the teacher asks her to clean up her mess. We see that this cuts deep to the poor, little girl. She does befriend Koki despite what the bullies say about them being a couple. I should say that Wakaba also has a deep love for a singer, Kouhei.
The movie then shifts 7 years into the future. Wakaba and Kanna are going to a cabin with a band. One member of this group is Moeka. There is someone in the band who is interested in Wakaba. There is mumblings amongst the group in jest about him being a bit of a 'player'. I should also include there is a bass player, Kouhei, who doesn't know how to play bass.
Now it is during this trip that the crux of what happens here goes down. There is a masked man in a jumpsuit. The mask is cool in that it is a respirator and steampunk goggles with little spikes. This masked killer attacks and comes face to face with Wakaba. He doesn't kill her though. He disappears. Another year goes by and Wakaba goes to Tokyo. She is wooed by a guy she just met, Yuki. He becomes the next target of the killer. Wakaba also won't sit back and let whoever is following her do this. She trains with a master for two years. The truth of what happens here comes to a head when the father of Moeka shows up, seeking vengeance.
That is where I'm going to leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Where I want to start is that this is an oddball of a film. My wife, Jaime, and I were texting to which she asked me about this movie. Now I'm not an expert on Japanese horror cinema. I've seen a good number of heavy hitters. I've also taken a dip into deeper cuts. I know that for them, injecting humor and over the top gore is a bit of the norm. What I will say then to close out these opening thoughts, this is a slasher of sorts as well.
Where I'll go then is that I love the story behind this. We have Wakaba who is trying to do the right thing. She has a rough home life. Her mother does what she can, but her father is a mean drunk. It seems like he is drinking all the time as well. I felt bad seeing that. This has driven Wakaba to want to do the right thing though, which is a positive. That goes into her standing up for Koki. She tells him that she is upset that he wouldn't do it for himself. There is that fine line that if you stand up to bullies, they might stop. It can also make it worse. In the case here, her stepping in causes them to also turn their attention to her. I thought that Kubota was good as this lead and the little girl they selected to play her was solid as well. They feel like they are the same character at different times in her life.
Sticking with the idea of bullying and slasher films is where I want to go then. There is good commentary here. Bullying is something that needs to be stopped. This is commentary that we see quite a bit of and even more so today. The main suspect here is Koki, but he was supposed to have died years ago. I like that the movie is pushing that he would be the likely person to be the killer. Did he die though and if so, who is he in the present? Another thing is that with slasher films, bullying is a common thread even back to the start of the subgenre with things like Terror Train. I did want to say that whoever the killer is, I love the look. The mask that they pieced together is great.
I'm going to then go over to what I like to do when covering slasher films. That would be the criteria they need to have for me to be on board. I'll start with the characters and the acting. I don't have a good cast list so I can't name them specifically. I like Kubota as Wakaba. She's the focus here and for good reason. I liked Kanna, Moeka, Yuki and the rest of the characters. What I like is that we see them, get to know them and yet, things aren't necessarily what they seem. These are a great cast of characters since I don't hate any of them. We get enough for a slasher film. I also like the killer and how he moves. There is a bit of comedy there, but I expect that being that this is from Japan.
The other bit would be filmmaking. There was a stretch where I didn't think we would see the kills. We do go back to see them, so that took away my issue there. The killer uses a few different weapons for their kills. My favorite is an after effect with sushi. That was a bit cheesy, but it fit the character. I can't give high marks for the deaths. I'm also not going to mark this down either. The cinematography was solid. No issues there and I think things were framed well. There was CGI with blood spray that I'm not a fan of. I get why it was used though. There is also something at the climax that takes this rather grounded movie and goes into comedy a bit. I didn't care for that. I will say that the soundtrack also fits this for what it needed, so credit there.
In conclusion, this is an interesting little slasher film of sorts from Japan. I thought that it had good commentary on bullying. It isn't groundbreaking or doing anything new there though either. This is an enjoyable slasher film. That does come with its pacing issues. I think deaths are creative and we have solid enough characters. The concept of why they're killing is again, not new, but no issues with it either. I'd say that this is made well enough. If you like Japanese movies, especially their take on slashers give this a watch. I'm not sure if slasher purists will love this though, so just keep in mind what you enjoy before seeing this.
My Rating: 6.5 out of 10.
