Moon Over Tao (1997)

Moon Over Tao (1997)
Aka: Moon Over Tao: Makaraga
Japanese Title: Tao no Tsuki
Translation: Tao’s Moon

Starring: Hiroshi Abe, Toshiyuki Nagashima, Sayaka Yoshino, Yuko Moriyama, Takaaki Enoki, Kei Tani, Yukijiro Hotaru
Director: Keita Amemiya
Special FX: Tomo Hyakutake, Hajime Matsumoto
Action Director: Akira Ohashi

A few years after making Mechanical Violator Hakaider and the two Zeiram movies, writer-director-monster artist Keita Amemiya’s next project was a rather ambitious one. It was basically a Zeiram film set in period, albeit with lower-tech weapons and no “Zone” for our heroes to run around in—I guess filming in the forests of Japan is requires less extras than trying to set a believable action film in an urban setting. The film features alien babes (once more played by the pretty Yuko Moriyama), an indestructible alien monster, and earthlings caught in the middle. But it also features samurai sword fights, magical duels, and a more ambitious human story.

The film is set some time in the Sengoku Period (or some time before), opening at the fortress belonging to a daimyo named Tadaoki (Kei Tani, of Red Shadow and Samurai Fiction). Tadaoki’s men have recently come across a powerful sword while slaying bandits. The lord gives the sword to his trusted retainer, Hayate (Hiroshi Abe, of Godzilla 2000 and Chocolate), and asks him to find the source of the sword. Accompanying him is a warrior monk/magician named Suikyou (Toshiyuki Nagashima, of Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla and Gamera 2: Attack of Legion), who had previously served Tadaoki as a military advisor (though he tends to just up and disappear at times, much to his lord’s chagrin).

The two men decide to start their search in the bandit-infested (and sinister-looking) mountain not far from the fortress. The first person they meet there, however, is not a bandit, but a young peasant named Renge (Sayaka Yoshino, of Ninpuu Sentai Hurricanger Shushûto the Movie). Renge is out collecting honey from the local beehives and trying to steer clear of the bandits. Later that evening, Renge is awakened by the strange light in her window. She witnesses a trio of spacemen descending from what looks like a portal of light. The three spacemen get into an argument—they communicate telepathically, so we don’t hear it—and one of them strikes down their compadre with a sword. The other two depart to take their conflict elsewhere.

The fallen spaceman is actually a space woman named Kuzto (Yuko Moriyama) who has her mechanical support insect inject something into Renge so that they can communicate telepathically. Kuzto gives Renge a space gizmo called “the Tao” and tells her to either give it to one of her sisters, or to use it against “Makaraga”, should the entity appear. Kuzto gives Renge a special space tattoo that will allow her to use the Tao…and then expires.

The next day, Renge fulls around with the Tao and activates it, alerting the other two space woman—Marien and Abira (both of whom are also played by Yuko Moriayama, albeit in different wigs and make-up)—and the bandits. You see, the bandits in the vicinity are armed with the same sword that was given to Hayate and the loud sound produced by the gizmo causes the swords to shake violently. Renge turns off the Tao before anything else can happen, but the bandits are alerted to her location. They try to kidnap her, but she is rescued at the last moment by Hayate and Suikyou.

The three decide to follow the bandits back to their lair, where they discover that the brigands are led by a powerful magician named Kakugyou (Takaaki Enoki, of Heaven and Earth and Sailor Suit and Machine Gun: Graduation). We learn that Kakugyou and his men discovered a meteorite some time ago made of a powerful iron they’d never seen before. The iron of the meteorite was used to forge the special katana blades. What is more interesting is that at the core of the meteorite was a little white ball that kind of looks like a human brain.

What is that object? Well, that would be the Makaraga. We learn that the Makaraga is a biological weapon (see Zeiram) and is immortal (see also Zeiram). The Spacewomen got in a fight over it because Marien and Kuzto wanted to send it into the darkest reaches of space, while Abira wanted to use it in whatever revolution her clan was involved in on their home planet. There is a big fight between the good guys (including Marien) and Kakugyou’s bandit army, which inevitably results in the Makaraga being splashed with blood (see Zeiram 2). This awakens the creature and causes it to mutate, first into some worm-like parasites and then into a dinosaur-sized kaiju monstrosity. Will Suikyou, Hayate, Renge, and Marien be able to defeat the creature with their limited Earth weapons?

So, is Moon Over Tao any good? In my opinion, it’s pretty good…I guess. It has a lot going on: from sword fights to magical duels (similar to Big Trouble in Little China), cute space girls to giant ugly monsters, from buckets of blood to even a(n) (extremely) random gratuitous breast shot! There is no reason for people—i.e. people like me, fans of B-movie goodness—to NOT like this film.

That is, unless the execution of the cool concept(s) is less than the concepts themselves.

To me, the big problem is that Japanese fight direction in the 1990s was often (most of the time) rather dire. I personally like the fight scenes in the Zeiram movies, but I won’t ever compare them to even the most mediocre Hong Kong action flick from the same period. A few movies tried mimic their HK counterparts, most notably in Kunoichi: Lady Ninja, but I don’t think Japanese fight choreography was truly revitalized from its older Sonny Chiba days until Ryuhei Kitamura and Yuji Shimomura revolutionized the industry with Versus.

What I mean by all this is that the action direction is severely lacking in Moon Over Tao. I guess it’s not terrible, but it should have been a lot better. Hiroshi Abe showed us in Chocolate that he can swing a sword convincingly. And I personally enjoy watching Yuko Moriyama fake it. But I thought the martial arts in this film was rather weak. The showstopper was supposed to be a big three-vs-an-army sequence, but the choreography just didn’t grab me, especially on Yuko’s end. Akira Ohashi, who is credited with the stunts, has done both monster suitmation and fight choreography, but I guess he was too early in his game to do much with this.

The special effects are also questionable. Well, mainly the CGI used to animated the Makaraga monster from a distance. The design is certainly unique: the beast as a quadrupedal “base” with four crab-like legs, a large neck, and an even larger head with two horns protruding from its forehead and another from below its chin. But this is 90s CGI in a low-budget Japanese films. Even the most expensive Japanese movies at the time cost a small fraction of what a Hollywood blockbuster would have cost; a low-budget Japanese movie was fighting an impossible battle if it wants to use CGI.

I can see people watching this and enjoying its combination of science fiction, fantasy, and chambara elements, but it didn’t really grab me. And Yuko Moriyama looked a lot cuter as a female ninja or as Iria than she does in any of the three space women she plays here.

Kunoichi: Deadly Mirage (1997)

Kunoichi: Deadly Mirage (1997)
Japanese Title: Genma Sappōchō: Shinsengumi Hisho
Translation: Genma Demonic Murder Arts Chronicle: Secret Writings of the Shinsengumi

Starring: Miho Kiuchi, Hitomi Shiraishi, Michie Tomizawa, Mayu Ohara, Yumiko Mori, Motoko Nagino, Ryûshi Mizukami, Hiroyuki Watanabe, Takahiko Tatsuke
Director: Yutaka Akiyama
Action Director: Hideo Saito

Despite its title and the (strange) decision by Media Blasters/Tokyo Shock to package this in a double feature with Kunoichi: Lady Ninja, this movie is not part of the popular (for its niche) Kunoichi Ninpô-chô series. This was actually a low-budget, shot-on-video V-cinema release from Daiei from the same time period. Although it shares the same luridness as its more well-known contemporaries, it lacks the head-scratching outlandishness that made the Female Ninja Magic Chronicles films so unforgettable among B-movie enthusiasts.

The film is set around 1867, at a time that Japan was entering a certain civil conflict as the Imperialists, who wanted to modernize Japan and strengthen the emperor, fought against the Isolationists, who wanted to maintain the then-ruling Tokugawa Shogunate. An opening info dump informs us that the shogun set up the Shinsen-Gumi, a group of Ronin loyal to the shogun, to defend its interests. On the other hand, a number of powerful clans, including the Satsuma Clan (which is referenced by name throughout the film) have pooled together resources to support the Imperialists.

The Satsuma Clan hires the Hiryu Ninja Clan, led by Kegorou (failed Idol Miho Kiuchi, of Scorpion: Double Venom), to retrieve a secret letter in the hands of the Shinsen-Gumi, which … something … historical … I guess. Kegorou and her team of kunoichi—Kikyou, Ayame, Koyuki (Motoko Nagino, who did stunt double work for two incarnations of Super Sentai), and Kurenai (prolific voice actress Michie Tomizawa)—sneak into the Shinsen-Gumi headquarters, but don’t manage to find the letter. A fight breaks out between the lady ninjas and the Ronin, and Kegorou is only able to escape because Kikyou stays behind and lets herself get captured.

While the head of the Shinsen-Gumi, Toshi (Hiroyuki Watanabe, of Everly and Reborn from Hell: Samurai Armageddon), and his men are busy torturing and raping Kikyou, we learn that the secret letter is the hands of Senshiro and his lover, Saya (Hitomo Shiraishi, of The Bondage Master and Tokyo Decameron). Senshiro and Saya flee the Shinsen-Gumi after a random visit from a monk while the two are enjoying some sexy time.

The two are hunted by their fellow Shinsen-Gumi ronin and Senshiro is decapitated in the ensuing battle. Kegorou and her remaining ninja girls step in to fight the bad guys while Saya runs off with her lover’s severed head and goes crazy. The monk decides to try to resurrect Senshiro, only for his body to possessed by a demon and not Senshiro’s spirit. The demon seduces Saya with some purple goo and possesses her. Ayame, who had followed Saya into the woods, tries to steal the letter, but Saya beats her and allows her to get raped by the purple demon goo. At that point, the demon sends samurai monsters after the remaining Hiryu girls. Only two of them escape.

Kegorou and Koyuki go to the village where the monk had taken Senshiro’s body. There, they make an uneasy alliance with Soji (Takahiko Tatsuke), a member of the Shinsen-Gumi, to defeat the demon and its monster minions.

Running at a scant 72 minutes, Kunoichi: Deadly Mirage is a little more than cheap excuse for some female nudity and bad 90s CGI. Three of the six main actresses doff the duds and show their boobies to the camera. You get torture boobs, consensual sex boobs, and (unfortunately) some rape boobs. And the CGI used to depict the demon’s slime is pretty dire.

The fight choreography was provided by Hideo Saito, whose credits include stunt coordinator on the two Hollywood Grudge movies. As those movies are not known for their stuntwork, I don’t know what to make of that. The fighting feels more like your traditional jidai-geki sword choreography rather than Kunoichi: Lady Ninja’s more ambitious attempt to ape early 1990s wuxia pian. The problem is that as these young women were probably chosen more on their sex appeal (and willingness to get naked) than their martial skills, the fight scenes are pretty bland and forgettable. And the absence of over-the-top ninja magic just compounds that problem.

So, unless you have a penchant for naughty naked ninja movies—and there were a lot made between 1991 and 2010—there isn’t much of a reason to watch Kunoichi: Deadly Mirage.

Kunoichi: Lady Ninja (1998)

Kunoichi: Lady Ninja (1998)
Japanese Title: Kunoichi Ninpô-chô Yagyû Gaiden
Translation: Female Ninja Magic Chronicles: Yagyu Side Story

Starring: Yûko Moriyama, Kazuki Takeda, Momoka Saeki, NON, Kaoru Ukawa, Fuyu Ooba, Akiko Sugawara, Hitoshi Ozawa, Ryûshi Mizukami, Ryuji Katagiri, Akaji Maro
Director: Hitoshi Ozawa
Action Director: Yuta Morokaji

Released stateside as Kunoichi: Lady Ninja—which is essentially a Japanese word and its English translation—the 1998 film Kunoichi Ninpô-chô: Yagyû Gaiden is actually an adaptation of a novel written by famed Japanese author Futaro Yamada. Yamada’s books often dealt mixed Japanese history with fantasy themes and have oft been adapted to film, manga, anime and television. For example, The Kouga Ninja Scrolls were adapted into the manga and anime “Basilisk” and the film Shinobi: Heart Under Blade. Or Iga Ninja Scrolls was adapted into Ninja Wars in 1982.

A lot of his novels were adapted into sexy female ninja movies in the 1990s within the Kunoichi Ninpô-chô franchises. Some of them had already been adapted as early as 1964. Kunoichi: Lady Ninja is actually the seventh entry in the franchise, the first of which to star Zeiram alumni Yuko Moriyama. The movie, and its immediate sequel, are both based on the novel Yagyû Ninpô-chô, or “Yagyu Ninja Chronicles,” as they feature the famous samurai, Jubei Yagyu, in the narrative.

At some point during the Edo Period, there is a powerful Daimaiyo ruling over the Aizu prefecture. His name is Akinari Katoh (Ryûshi Mizukami) and he is a one lecherous son of a gun. He has amassed dozens, if not hundreds, of concubines from around the land. The movie opens with his bodyguards, known as the Seven Beasts, storming a convent and slaughtering its inhabitants. The reason is a bit fuzzy, although I figured that the seven nuns who survive, formerly members of the Hori Ninja Clan, had been chosen by Akinari for his lustful pursuits and they took vows in order to escape his clutches. Since the Shogun would never let a Daimyo, no matter how powerful he is, get away with seducing nuns, it’s easier to kill them than to rape them. The seven ninja-turned-nuns are saved at the last second by the arrival of Princess Sen, the former wife (or mother) of the current shogun.

She resolves to train the seven nuns in the arts of ninja magic in order to avenge the murders committed at the convent and punish Akinari for his misdeeds. After their training has ended, they receive some help from outside. That would be the prestigious Buddhist monk Takuwan (Ryuji Katagiri) and the famed one-eyed samurai, Jubei Yagyu (Hitoshi Ozawa)—his father is currently serving the Shogun as the official court instructor. The seven kunoichi are led by Ochie (Yuko Moriyama) and their goal is to wipe out the Seven Beasts one by one before eliminating Akinari Katoh himself.

Now, the problem with the Seven Beasts is that most of them are either expert swordsmen, magicians, or ninja with magical powers. The first one manages to infect one of the kunoichi, Ofue (Momoko Saeki), with a magical curse that will rot her from the inside. There is another one who can remove his eyes and cause them to grow into cycloptic samurai warriors. There is a monkey-like ninja warrior, a pretty boy swordsman, an albino samurai, a hulking fighter who can shoot fireballs, and sadistic, whip-wielding eunuch.

The film’s plot goes back and forth between the ninja girls targeting one of the Seven Beasts, a fight breaking out, one of the girls discovering her ninja powers, and sometimes a tragic death. This goes on for about 100 minutes before the ends. The film does up the stakes—kind of—as it goes into the third act with the introduction of Akinari’s personal priest, Dohaku. Dohaku is not only a powerful magician, but he is virtually indestructible thanks to his sharing a lifeline with his twin brother Tenkai, who is the Head Priest of the entire shogun’s court. His daughter, Oyura, appears to be Akinari’s number one wife, or at least she acts that way…initially.

So, most people who sit down to watch this will note the outlandish “ninja magic” being performed by the female protagonists. Now, when my generation was young, we became accustomed to the idea of ninja magic through Sega’s “Shinobi” games. This movie has stuff like that, albeit frequently with a “sexy twist” to it. In one sequence, the kunoichi Sakura (Akiko Sugawara), goes undercover as a bride—while in Edo, Akinari has his minions kidnap brides so he can [seduce] them—with Yagyu, going undercover as a blind man, as her groom. They both get captured and left inside of a deep pit. Sakura has the idea to let Yagyu deflower her so that she can let her hymen blood charge up Yagyu’s sword and make it shoot fiery phoenix animations(!).

Even more memorable are the ninjas Otori (Fuyu Ôba) and Okei (NON). The first one discovers that she can go into ninja magic mode, miraculously lose her clothing, and shoot concussive bolts of lightning out of her chest. This magic is referred to as the “Nipple Wave.” Okei’s is even weirder, in which she can absorb energy blasts through her “ladyparts” and then spit them back out at whomever she wishes. The movie refers to that move as the “Reverse Echo.” As of today, you can see videos of that one posted all over YouTube.

The rest of the action was staged by first-timer Yuta Morokaji. Morokaji would go on to choreograph a number of video games and some other films, most notably the first Azumi film by Ryuhei Kitamura and the two Battle Royale movies. What is interesting is that Morokaji honestly tries to stage the fight scenes as if he were making an early 1990s wuxia in Hong Kong. There are lots of wire-assisted jumps and moves, quick cuts, and “Qi blasts.” Unlike Chinese cinema, the qi blasts are more than the stuntman extending his hand and causing explosions: the Japanese filmmakers have state-of-the-art optical printers so they can animate the lightning and energy bolts. They also use some composite shots and matte work for some of the people flying, which is very noticeable. If you have seen early 90s wuxia films like The Three Swordsmen and Kung Fu Cult Master, you’ll know what I’m talking about. The action scenes are along the lines of those films, even if the actual martial artistry on display is limited in both quantity and quality. The wuxia works of Tony Ching Siu-Tung were full of wirework and “qi blasts,” but they still had some beautiful moments of balletic martial artistry. That last part is largely missing from here. On the other hand, there are A LOT of blood geysers in the fights here, so that may count for something.

Much like its predecessors, this movie features more than its fair share of female flesh on display. The character of Akinari Katoh is often seen with multiple women in varying states of undress draped over him. At one point, we get to see a prison room full of kidnapped women who appear to have been brainwashed: when Yagyu is thrown in inside, all the women fawn over and paw him…Best. Prison. Sentence. Ever. And there are other moments where women strut around wearing…well…not much of anything. But for fans of Yuko Moriyama—of which I am one—know that she stays modest the entire time.

Kunoichi: Lady Ninja is far from perfect. I’ve seen the Japanese-language version, which features some insane overacting from all the villains. The English dub on the Tokyo Shock DVD is largely considered inferior, not too unlike the Tri-Star dubs of the Heisei Godzilla movies. The pacing is solid, but the story structure can sometimes be repetitive. And things happen that are not always explained, or require a second viewing to make sense of. Like the scene with Oyura being “summoned” by her father in his inner sanctum, which looks like he’s invoking her from hell, sending her back, and then calling her back again. It’s such an odd scene that I had the slightest idea what was actually going on. Although, I suppose that’s the point, given that the entire film is almost one big head-scratcher.