Hot Picks
|
|
|
Sukeban Deka II - The Girl in the Iron Mask: Conclusion - Farewell, Saki the Second
episode 2.42
Japan 1986
produced by Kazuya Maeda, Chiharu Nakasone, Osamu Tezuka for Toei/Fuji Television
directed by Hideo Tanaka
starring Yoko Minamino, Keizo Kanie, Satoshi Morizuka, Hiroyuki Nagato, Masatomo Nakabayashi, Joe Onodera, Norihiko Naitou, Hiroshi Yokoyama, Akie Yoshizawa, Haruko Sagara
screenplay by Izo Hashimoto, based on the manga by Shinji Wada, music by Ichiro Nitta
TV series Sukeban Deka, Sukeban Deka (Yoko Minamino)
review by Mike Haberfelner
|
Saki (Yoko Minamino) and Nishiwaki (Keizo Kanie) have made it onto the
grounds of the old man of Kamakura (Satoshi Morizuka), megalomaniac
villain of the series, before he can drink from the Kidora grail during
the lunar eclipse and become immortal, but they're quickly spotted and
shot at by Kamakura's guards. In a quiet moment during their raid,
Nishiwaki can finally confess to Saki how it was his feeling of guilt over
her destroyed youth that led him to mentor her later on - but that
heart-to-heart is cut short by the arrival of the old man's foster son
Ranmaru (Masatomo Nakabayashi), who was supposed to destroy them as a
human bomb but gives them clues to the whereabouts of the old man before
blowing up. On their way to the old man, Saki is wounded and Nishiwaki is
shot dead, but Saki ultimately arrives at the old man's just before he can
drink from the grail, shooting out of waster wearing her iron mask, and
after he destroys the mask she shatters the grail into thousand pieces,
destroying his hopes to ever become immortal. Ultimately though it's up to
Saki's employer director Shirei Kurayami (Hiroyuki Nagato) to execute the
villain, taking revenge for having him treated as a pawn in his games for
a bit too long ...
In the post finale sequence it's revealed that Nishiwaki as well as
Saki's sidekicks Okyo (Haruko Sagara) and Yukino (Akie Yoshizawa) haven't
been killed in the good fight after all ...
... and really this tagged on happy ending to a degree spoils
the drama of the things having gone on so far, robbing all the action of
its consequences and making things meaningless to a degree. But apart from
that, this episode is a fitting finale for season two of the series, and a
pretty bloody one with a high bodycount indeed. Sure, it's not the most
refined entry storywise, but as a final battle it does the series proud as
- especially for a series aimed at a teenaged crowd - it's pretty much no
holds barred action, and at least the scene in which Saki defeats the
villain leaping out of a pond is fittingly high camp.
|
|
|
review © by Mike Haberfelner
|
Feeling lucky? Want to search any of my partnershops yourself for more, better results? (commissions earned) |
The links below will take you just there!!!
|
|
|
Thanks for watching !!!
|
|
|
Robots and rats,
demons and potholes, cuddly toys and shopping mall Santas,
love and death and everything in between,
Tales to Chill Your Bones to is all of that.
Tales to Chill Your Bones to -
a collection of short stories and mini-plays ranging from the horrific to the darkly humourous,
from the post-apocalyptic to the weirdly romantic,
tales that will give you a chill and maybe a chuckle,
all thought up by the twisted mind of screenwriter and film reviewer Michael Haberfelner.
Tales to Chill Your Bones to
the new anthology by Michael Haberfelner
Out now from Amazon!!! |
|