Asian Film Review: "Kunoichi: Ninja Girl" (女忍　ＫＵＮＯＩＣＨＩ)

I bought the DVD for this film in Shenzhen because I saw that Mitsuki Koga was in it. Unfortunately it didn't have English subtitles and actually the Chinese subs were absent a large portion of the film too.... but do you think it matters with a film like this? :-P

I knew going into this that it was going to be about the same quality as Alien VS Ninja... e.g. equivalent of a low budget US direct to DVD film... And I got what I expected.  

In fact this film is the same director (and some of the same cast) as Alien Vs Ninja.  Apparently Chiba Seiji has a bigtime hard-on for Ninja movies... he's made at least 7 movies with 'Ninja' in the title in the past 6 years!

Since there are no aliens, just ninjas, the budget on this one was much much lower than Aliens vs Ninja I'm guessing.Given how much overlap there is in locations,  I'm wondering if Chiba just films 2 or 3 movies all at once and then edits them into separate films. Actually this film, Alien VS ninja and even Sato Hiroko's crime film ' A Night in Nude' all seem to be shot in the same stretch of woods... And all have their finale take place in the same underground quarry... (even another trailer for another ninja flick by the same director included on the DVD was shot in there too...)  I'm wondering if cheap shooting locations are so hard to find in Japan that every 2nd movie uses the same 2 or 3 spots.  (like how all those Power Ranger/Monster shows always film in that same quarry too). Let me back up and first mention what a Kunichi is... It's a term for a female ninja. The full English title for the film is 'Kunichi: Ninja Girl'...    The inclusion of 'Ninja Girl'  is to tie in the fact that the lead actress Takeda Rina (武田 梨奈)... who made a name for herself in other low-budget Japanese action films such as 'High Kick Girl' and 'Karate Girl'.  (what's next after 'Ninja Girl'?   maybe 'Bowling Girl' or 'College Entrance Exam Girl'?) :-P

In this case Mitsuki and the guy from AVN play members of one ninja village who are kidnapping women from another ninja village...  of course they picked the wrong woman to kidnap when they get Takeda the Kunoichi.  Queue action packed fight scene in rock quarry.

Actually for most of this short film (~70 minutes) it is just creepy ninja guys abusing their kidnap victims,   the real action is well towards the end.     That said,  what limited action there is is not that bad relative to the rest of the movie.   Takeda Rina's skill is quite decent.  They don't use wires and CG for her action scenes.   I imagine she could do quite good in a Chinese or Thai martial arts film with a decent budget.

Here's the trailer:

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lIZuOlYGTY

I won't give this one a rating since I didn't watch it with the subs.  :-P

(ps - be careful if you try to google 'Kunoichi'... apparently its its own genre or p0rn!)