Red x Pink (Girl's Blood) (Japan, 2014)

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HungFist
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Red x Pink (Girl's Blood) (Japan, 2014)

Post by HungFist »

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Kamen Rider director / stunt coordinator Koichi Sakamoto helms girl action in what looks like an odd combination of girl melodrama, cage fights, and boobs. Unlikely to be a good film, but unusually for a project like this, he’s got financing from a big studio (Kadokawa). Stars Yuria Haga (whose role is already being advertised with "full nude" scenes), Ayame Misaki, and Asami Tada. The Japanese title is Red x Pink (赤xピンク). IMDb also lists Girl's Blood as English title. Open in Japan this month.

The trailer actually looks a bit better than you'd expect:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rqz0rolI_pQ

Special trailer (theme song):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emsV5ELXMwM

Site:
http://aka-pink.jp/

Slight potential for campy fun ala Wong Jing? Worried about the girls' fighting ability, though.
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Re: Red x Pink (Girl's Blood) (Japan, 2014)

Post by HungFist »

DVDs and BD July 2, 2014

Standard Edition DVD
- Disc 1: Theatrical Version (118 min)

DVD Box
- Disc 1: Director's Version (128 min) (DVD)
- Disc 2: Theatrical Version (118 min) (DVD)
- Disc 3: Extras (DVD)

BD Box
- Disc 1: Director's Version (128 min) (BD)
- Disc 2: Theatrical Version (118 min) (DVD)
- Disc 3: Extras (DVD)

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And yes, there's no mention of Standard Edition BD anywhere. Looks like the Theatrical Version will not be available on standard edition BD at all, as the only BD is the expensive box set...
- http://v.ponycanyon.co.jp/aka_pink/
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Re: Red x Pink (Girl's Blood) (Japan, 2014)

Post by HungFist »

Twitch review:
http://twitchfilm.com/2014/04/udine-201 ... -mann.html

Now I kinda regret I didn't see it in cinema... Oh well, rental has to do...
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Re: Red x Pink (Girl's Blood) (Japan, 2014)

Post by Tenchu1998 »

HungFist wrote:Ayame Misaki
Ayame is a wonderful name, and I very rarely hear of Japanese girls with that name. I gotta admit, I think this movie looks pretty cool, based on the trailer. And I find Ayame Misaki super hot here. I will probably end up seeing this, at some point.
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Re: Red x Pink (Girl's Blood) (Japan, 2014)

Post by HungFist »

It appears that the 128 min version is rated R18 (the theatrical version is R15 at 118 min).

I'm a little irritated with the release strategy. Only R15 version in Cinemas (from February). Only R18 version on VoD (from April). Only R15 version for rental (from June). Retail DVDs and BD with both versions available (from July), but while on DVD stardard (R15) and special editions (both versions) are available, on BD only the special edition (both versions) is available and costs a fortune...

Oh, and the R18 VoD costs three times more than R15 rental DVD in most rental shops...

Complicated, isn't it?
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Re: Red x Pink (Girl's Blood) (Japan, 2014)

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I watched the R18 version on VoD yesterday.

It’s like 1990 Michael Bay directing all girls' lesbian cage fighting movie with Japanese drama in it! Full of trendy and corny girl melodrama straight out of a women’s hit TV show. And every single one of the main characters is a lesbian!

It’s also full of absolutely ferocious fighting that resembles Takashi Miike’s Crows Zero films. Despite the unnecessarily fast editing, this is surprisingly physical and brutal stuff. The sound effects in the fight scenes are almost like borrowed from Game of Death, meaning they fucking rock. Every punch sounds like it’s breaking the opponent’s skull.

And then we have topless mud wrestling and 6 minute lesbian sex scenes with full frontal nudity and the best boobs in the history of cinema, both courtesy of Yuria Hada. Other actresses protect their strategic parts, though (expect for asses). Oh, and one of the main characters is super Lolita Mayu 14 Forever, who has trauma from her mom pouring pudding on her head when she was a kid.

You just gotta love it! I didn’t know modern producers, maybe Wong Jing aside, would dare to bring something like this into cinemas anymore. Indeed, this what Wong Jing movies should be like! And the best thing is they don’t ruin it with pathetic ”look, we’re just joking” self irony, but leave you wondering are they really serious?

It’s not the greatest film ever made – some dumbass might even argue it’s a bad one – but a lot of time this film is simply rocks!

It's got our man, Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi!
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It's got pretty awesome cage fighting
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It's got girl drama
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It's got 6 min lesbian sex scenes
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It's got awesomely ridiculous stuff
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It's got mud wresting (yeah, they'll be topless in a moment)
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And it's got more intense fighting
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Re: Red x Pink (Girl's Blood) (Japan, 2014)

Post by Tenchu1998 »

OMG! Ayame Misaki looks so unbelievably hot in that fighting outfit she is wearing here! This review has intrigued me - I have to see this movie!
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Re: Red x Pink (Girl's Blood) (Japan, 2014)

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I really need to emphasize that the trailers do no justice at all to the fight scenes. They included all the worst bits, and with the teaser without the sound effects...

I basically spent the entire weekend re-watching the fights until my (VoD) rental expired. Even made a favorite fighter: Killer Pussy. She's just so adorable despite getting her ass kicked every time :tongue:

She's played by Haruka Oshima (大島遥), a 21 year old girl who is listed as professional stunt-woman in Wiki.

Here she is (on the right) with another super cute girl getting really excited about cage fighting.
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And here she is getting her ass kicked
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The JP BD costs a fortune, but what the hell. I'll just eat cup noodles for the rest of the month. Ordered!
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Re: Red x Pink (Girl's Blood) (Japan, 2014)

Post by Tenchu1998 »

HungFist wrote:The JP BD costs a fortune, but what the hell. I'll just eat cup noodles for the rest of the month. Ordered!
Priorities... Priorities... Is there vegetables in the cup of the noodles? You would need to get nutritious stuff in your cup of noodles.
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Re: Red x Pink (Girl's Blood) (Japan, 2014)

Post by HungFist »

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Re: Red x Pink (Girl's Blood) (Japan, 2014)

Post by Tenchu1998 »

Ah, instant cup noodles... The food of the future! Instagram, instaeat and instalive. :)

That's a nice Zatoichi box there, too. I know they sell big boxes like that in Japan, including collectors items inside of them. The Japanese always get exclusive stuff...
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Re: Red x Pink (Girl's Blood) (Japan, 2014)

Post by HungFist »

Tenchu1998 wrote: That's a nice Zatoichi box there, too. I know they sell big boxes like that in Japan, including collectors items inside of them. The Japanese always get exclusive stuff...

Except that's the Criterion set there :lol:
- http://www.criterion.com/boxsets/1012-z ... -swordsman
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Re: Red x Pink (Girl's Blood) (Japan, 2014)

Post by Tenchu1998 »

Damn, that's one gorgeous Criterion Collection box-set! I am totally not following Criterion releases. It does looked like something that would be released in Japan.
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Re: Red x Pink (Girl's Blood) (Japan, 2014)

Post by Tenchu1998 »

So, I just watched this movie. And I loved it. It has some seriously awesome action, in my opinion. Damn, the girls are too beautiful - especially Ayame Misaki! Maaan, Ayame Misaki is so good looking in this movie, especially in that gorgeous S&M outfit she's wearing later on in the movie when that evil woman kisses her and knocks her out. Oh, my... And Yuria Haga actually pulled off a pretty convincing performance as this girl with a sexual identity crisis, in my opinion. Yeah, so it's this silly melodramatic story... But it's a B movie, after all. But, the action is good and the sex scene is quite romantic, in my opinion. Actually, I like that they didn't go too over the top with the mud wrestling, and apart from that Shanghai China Doll girl being abused by that evil guy, be too cruel on the girls where it wasn't necessary. I think this is a movie more for Otaku girls, than the guys, actually.

I like how the movie deals with themes of humiliation, painful romantic feelings and such things. This movie is like a comic-book fantasy, with gorgeous girls dressing up in gorgeous outfits and kick and punch each other 30 times until knockout. All this stylized action is quite suiting - it needs that edge to remind the audience that it's a fantasy of reality. It's a B movie.

This is a guilty pleasure, for sure - but it's a solid guilty pleasure, in my opinion.
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Re: Red x Pink (Girl's Blood) (Japan, 2014)

Post by HungFist »

Glad you liked it.

I had to cancel my pre-order because damn Shin-Bungeiza announced a Norifumi Suzuki retrospective in Tokyo so I had to free some money for it :lol:

I'm still planning to get the BD set at some point, though.
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Re: Red x Pink (Girl's Blood) (Japan, 2014)

Post by Guro Taku »

Apparently the film is only now starting to get some festival play:

http://www.fareastfilm.com/EasyNe2/LYT. ... mento=4331
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Re: Red x Pink (Girl's Blood) (Japan, 2014)

Post by HungFist »

HK DVD coming April 14.

Unfortunately it seems to be the R15 theatrical cut, which is missing about 10 min of footage (including action and sex according to the Japanese website) compared to the R18 Director's Cut.
- http://www.yesasia.com/global/girls-blo ... /info.html
- http://www.dddhouse.com/v3/product_deta ... ctID=14745

I still haven't managed to buy the Japanese BD... Gotta eat more noodles.
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Re: Red x Pink (Girl's Blood) (Japan, 2014)

Post by Tenchu1998 »

This market sucks. It's a modern Japanese Pink movie - of course there will be violence and some sex in it. And the sex is a central part of the story, as well , so taking it out undermines the movie. They should just have made the R18 cut to be the only cut, but I guess that would have made it harder to market the movie, or something.

But, eh... It's a Japanese action movie.
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Re: Red x Pink (Girl's Blood) (Japan, 2014)

Post by Guro Taku »

Makes totoal sense from the production company's point of view. People watch the R-15 cut in theaters, then feel compelled to buy the expensive box set for the R-18 cut. Of course they will only allow the shorter, less explicit cut to be licensed for foreign releases and festival play this early in the game because they sure as hell don't want to give Japanese customers a cheap alternative to above mentioned expensive box set. It's capitalism!
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Re: Red x Pink (Girl's Blood) (Japan, 2014)

Post by Tenchu1998 »

Good thinking. Makes sense, now that you mention it. Japanese are smart businessmen. ¥ ¥ ¥
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