Our film today is really comprised of two storylines that eventually mingle together to become the movie. The first story revolves around Yoji (Issei Takahashi), a loner who works in some industrial warehouse. He is harboring a secret attraction for Sachiko (Aoba Kawai), another lonely girl who lives near his place of employment. After being beaten up by a transvestite whose advances he turned down in a porn theatre, Yoji finds what can only be described as a golden turtle shell, that secretes what can only be described as golden turtle shell semen. Curious boy that he is, he takes it home and puts it in his closet. Shortly afterwards he stumbles across a co-worker attempting to rape Sachiko. After being beaten by a man in drag, I don't know if I'd be trying to take on a full grown man, even if he was by himself. Failing miserably but still causing the man to leave, Yoji is taken to his home by Sachiko, who tends to his wounds. To his horror, the semen-secreting golden turtle shell attacks Sachiko and turns her into a kind of cyborg battle machine. The other storyline involves these parasitic creatures. There appears to be two separate groups, each side taking a number of hosts who are then forced to battle each other to the death. Not the most original idea, but when combined with the first story, it gives the film a bit of heart, and you find yourself torn between wanting more action and more gore, and also rooting for Yoji to save the woman he loves.

I think it's safe to say that this is one of the best cyberpunk movies I've seen. I've probably only watched 15 or so, but this was the most fun of the bunch. Even though Issei Takahashi and Aoba Kawai were the two "leads" in this film, they really didn't play as big a part as you'd think. They did an incredible job at portraying the pain, sadness and despair you would feel in a situation like this, but their roles were considerably smaller than a typical film. Part of this is because of the time spent as the creatures. The suits they had to wear were massive, and didn't allow for much acting to take place. It must have been pretty physically demanding, mind you, especially during the fight scenes. The majority of the gore was in said fight scenes, and to my delight there was almost no CGI used whatsoever. I can't tell you how much this pleases me, to see filmmakers actually creating movie magic, rather than let some geek in a chair take care of it. I've seen some gory movies in my day, but this ranks up there as one of the better ones. There's just something about it that makes it graceful; almost playful. That sounds strange for a movie with head splitting, dismemberment, and an eyeball gouging scene that is almost on par with Fulci's "Zombi 2". There is enough of the red stuff in here to satisfy the cravings of even the most fiendish gorehound, myself included.

If I were to look for flaws in this one, I'd only come up with one: the bizarre way in which the fight scenes were cut into the beginning of the movie. It was interesting to see the battles mixed in with the crowded and bustling city, but I think it could have been better if they saved them for later in the picture. I think they tipped their hand a little early, and didn't focus as much on the story as they did on the extreme gore and special effects. Don't get me wrong, I loved that part of it to no end, but I also love a good story and some character development. While a bit lacking in this department, it was still a fantastic movie. In case you haven't figured it out, I loved it to bits and would recommend it to fans of splatter films, Japanese cinema, cyberpunk, or just movie lovers in general. If this had been released this year, it would have made my top-10 list for sure.

9/10.