High school student Ami Hyuga (Minase Yashiro) lives with her younger brother Yu (Ryôsuke Kawamura) after their parents killed themselves. Seems they were accused of murder accusations that weren't true, and rather than live with the shame they ended their lives. The remaining Hyuga family vowed to never resort to violence, for fear of losing more loved ones. Unfortunately Yu and his friend Takeshi become the targets of a local Yakuza's son and his gang. The incessant bullying ultimately leads to Yu and Takeshi's deaths, which are written off as a suicide. After finding Yu's diary however, Ami realizes that the Yakuza gang was responsible for bullying him. She sets out to speak with the kids' parents, only to be attacked. This is the last straw for Ami, who loses all respect for humanity and becomes a killing machine bent on revenge. This turns out to be harder than she thought however, as the Yakuza gang are members of the Hattori Hanzo ninjas. These encounters result in Ami losing her arm, and being nursed back to health by the parents of Takeshi. Conveniently, they also own a garage and fix Ami up with a brand new arm: an eight-barreled chain gun. What does she have in store for the Yakuza gang and its Hattori Hanzo ninjas? I'm sure you can piece together that little mystery on your own.

First things first, I absolutely loved this film. As soon as the opening credits started, it had that exploitation/Grindhouse feel to it, and quite honestly reminded me of "Planet Terror". It had that excessive and campy violence I so love, and director Iguchi wasted no time getting into the red stuff. They must have used more buckets of blood in this than Peter Jackson's "Braindead". For the final hour of the film, there was blood on everything and everyone. This movie knew not to take itself too seriously, and because of it it was a great little comedy full of violence and carnage. This movie was nothing more than an excuse to come up with the most ridiculous and inventive ways of firing blood all over everyone involved. There were some truly tasteless moments in this, but due to the light tone of the film, they couldn't possibly be taken seriously. Even some of the more brutal scenes were so silly you couldn't help but laugh at it. I mean honestly people, a drill bra? Tell me that isn't something every kid thinks of, but never gets to see in a movie.

With a film like this, it's hard to comment on acting. You're not required to give an Oscar-worthy performance, nor are you expected to work on character development. In a movie like this, it's all about exaggerated emotions and actions--hamming it up, if you'd like. There certainly wasn't any problem here, as Minase Yashiro did a great job playing the vengeance-seeking Ami. Not for a second did you doubt her determination to see her brother's murderers brought to justice. The same can be said for Honoka's actions: while cruel and inhumane, they were justified and downright funny when coupled with Minase's vicious antics.

So was this one of my most anticipated films of the year? You can bet your boots it was. I highly doubt if many films this year will be more fun to watch. Maybe "Tokyo Gore Police", which looks as though it will have the same overall feel to it, but I doubt if that will see a DVD release this year. While this film wasn't exactly a masterpiece, it was exactly what it set out to be: an outrageous bloodfest of cartoonish proportions, and I couldn't have asked for a better way to spend ninety minutes. This really is one of the best experiences I've had watching a movie.

10/10

Okay, at its core it's a gore-soaked, high octane thrill ride.

The comic-booky action was a total blast, and the gore was top-notch and surprisingly creative. If you're looking for realism, however, we'd suggest you look somewhere other than a film about a pretty young woman with a machine gun for an arm out for bloody vengeance any way she can get it.

The characters, for the most part, are an absolute parody of themselves; but that plays perfectly well with the theme of the film as a whole. Sure, this is a revenge flick, but it's played with enough humor and over-the-top gory action that it all makes sense in and of itself. It never takes itself too seriously (if at all), yet never seems to intentionally relegate itself to pure schlockiness either. If you're looking to turn your brain completely off and just go with a film deep into its own weird world of gory, action-filled absurdity, then this is the flick for you.

But the best part is even though the visual spectacle of it all would be enough to carry this film, there is an actual storyline involved here that is not only believable (in its own reality) but draws you in to the film's world. Of course you can also just shut your brain off and go along on a chaotic ride of vengeance. Either, way you will be greatly rewarded.

If more films were like this, fewer films would suck.