YO-YO GIRL COP (2006)

Yo-Yo Girl Cop (2006)
 

Actors: Riki Takeuchi
Director: Kenta Fukasaku
Format: Color, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Language: English
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Number of discs: 1
Run Time: 99 minutes
 

Movie:
Disc:
 

In this live action version of the anime title of the same name, Aya Matsuura is Yo-Yo Cop Girl, a special Japanese undercover government operative who has to infiltrate a school to uncover a terrorist group responsible for suicide bombings amongst the students.

As you might have guessed, Yo-Yo Cop Girl's gimmick is that she uses a yo-yo as a deadly weapon, unfortunately not as often as one would have liked in the movie though. There is some action payoff in the film's climactic end, but Yo-Yo Cop Girl doesn't get that much opportunity to do her stuff and the plot is too talky for its own good.

Not a lot in the movie makes much sense either. For starters, if this movie is to be believed then Japanese high schools are even more hellish than their counterparts in the West.

Apparently they are hotbeds of bullying by cliques producing depressed and suicidal students ready to strap explosives to their waists at a moment's notice. But plot and character logic isn't what a movie titled Yo-Yo Girl Cop is supposed to be about, which makes it even more disappointing that the action quotient is a bit on the low side. The movie could have been a whole lot more fun that it ultimately is, and one can imagine this material working much better as an animated movie instead.

THE DISC: Don't be confused by the English dialogue and Japanese subtitles at the beginning of the movie: your subtitles and audio are indeed set to Japanese audio and English subtitles (the best way to view the movie, unless you're Japanese of course). There is a ?making of? feature, but it unfortunately never tracks the origins of the character and we never get to see what the original anime title looked like. Some trailers for other Magnolia Home Entertainment titles are included of which a horror/comedy called Severance looks the best despite the thick British accents in it.

WORTH IT? Yo-Yo Girl Cop is okay viewing even though it represents a bit of a wasted opportunity really.

RECOMMENDATION: Worth a look-see for undemanding action fans.