Batoru gâru: Tokyo crisis wars (1991) (V)

Director:

Kazuo 'Gaira' Komizu

Writer:

Hitoshi Matsuyama (screenplay)

Release Date:

8 November 1991 (Japan)

Genre:

Action | Horror

Plot:

When a meteor crashes into Tokyo Bay, a toxic cloud covers the city and a new, alien virus causes the dead to walk and feast on the living...

Cast

  (Credited cast)

Katsuhiro Fukuda
Toshiya Ito		(as Binpachi Itô)
Shinobu Kandori
Dynamite Kansai		(as Miss A)
Kera
Devil Masami
Kenji Otsuki	...	General Hugioka
Megumi Sakita		(as Keiko Hayase)
Eagle Sawai
Shirô Shimomoto
Cutey Suzuki	...	Keiko Kirihara (as Cutei Suzuki)

Also Known As:

Battle Girl (Japan) (literal English title)
Battle Girl: The Living Dead in Tokyo Bay (USA) (DVD box title)
Battle Girl: Tokyo Crisis Wars (Japan: English title) (video box title)
Living Dead in Tokyo Bay (Japan: English title)

Runtime:

73 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Company:

Daiei Motion Picture Company

Wow...that was ridiculously confusing

Okay, so there's this meteor, right? Then it crashes into Tokyo Bay, right. This causes green gas to be released into the atmosphere. So far, so good, right? And the authorities want to cover it up. That makes the sense, right? Now, after the first three minutes, it makes no sense.

From there, we transition to what is apparently a few weeks or a few months later (there is no indication that time has passed, we can only guess) as we are now in a poorly lit, post-Apocalyptic Tokyo with a largely zombified population (from the green gas). There are a few humans, like the heroine (as played by female wrestler Cutie Suzuki) left fighting the zombie menace. Or driving around. Or walking about in a daze. Yeah, that's what they do. Eventually, the heroine gets a leather suit from her father that is apparently imbued with special powers (that's never addressed and very poorly implied). She starts fighting these zombies and some random government agents that are inexplicably turning people into super half man, half zombie combos that perform...very...slow...martial arts.

There are some cool scenes in this movie. However, most of the film will result in much yelling of "What the heck is going on?" There is much that is unclear and just never explained. The few explanations there are are fairly stupid and the climax is non-existant. It can be entertaining, but for the most part this movie is rather useless. I can only recommend it for completists.

On a side note, I was surprised, pleasantly, that they didn't have Suzuki do a lot of wrestling. In fact, I can only seem to recall two or three wrestling moves. She mostly uses a one shot Uzi (?) or lifts people in impossible manners thanks to wires.