I'm too damn lazy to translate my entire
Finnish language review so I'll just post my film mini-review, some notes, and dvd screencaps
Perfect Education 7: Maid, for you 3D (2010)
Moe Moe Special Beam! Japan’s maid cafes are an otaku culture offspring fighting for its share of the mainstream kawaii cake enjoyed not just by male nerds but ordinary citizens and normal girls alike. Always two steps behind the trends master filmmaker Kenta Fukasaku provides his essay on the subject, enhanced with 3D sex scenes. It’s a ridiculous entertaining affair, accurately missing almost every intellectual point, and most likely not on purpose. Of course, in reality, maid cafes are silly let loose entertainment for most customers, and employ a very much entirely sane staff. This would not go well with Fukasaku’s nerd-maid kidnap romance but nor does it have to. The reality is out there, this is a movie. Grab a beer and enjoy the ride, filled with cinematic wft-moments, cute maids, occasionally beautiful digital cinematography, and gravure idol gone nude Ayano’s 3D assets that home technology does no justice.
Notes
Perfect Education
- A series of 7 movies (so far).
- The premise is always the same: a man kidnaps a woman and tries to educate her into a loving partner.
- The series is highly uneven, with entries varying from Masaki Kobayashi's art house drama (the 5th film) to the more serious minded kidnap film (the 2nd film), and post-modern semi-parody (the 1st film).
- The third film is a Hong Kong co-production, shot in HK, and starring a multinational cast.
- Naoto Takenaka stars in the first film, and plays a supporting role in all others, except the 6th entry.
- Other notable supporting stars and guests include Shinya Tsukamoto (1st film), Lam Suet (3rd film), and Ken'ichi Matsuyama (4th film).
- The female stars are as follows: Hijiri Kojima (1st film), Rie Fukami (2nd film), Kana Ito (3rd film), Hisako Shirata (4th fim), Keiko Oginome (5th film), Mika Ito (6th film), and Ayano (7th film). All of them appear topless in the films.
- Hisako Shirata (the female star of the 4th film, released in 2003) was Japan's selection for the 2006 Miss International Contest. It caused a small scandal when it was afterwards discovered she had starred in a movie where se does nude and sex scenes. The judges were completely unaware of her past career.
Maid, for you
3D
- There are only 4 or 5 scenes in 3D. These include 2 sex scenes, 1 dance scene, and possibly something else (I watched the film in July or August so I can't remember so well).
- The Japanese DVD release comes with two pairs of blue&red 3D glasses. With casual TV set at least, you can hardly get any 3D effect, just distorted colors.
Ayano
- Ayano is a former gravure idol. Her current "gravure status" is arguable, as she has topless scenes in the film, and has appeared in nude photos before. Gravure idols are typically swimsuit etc. models who tease but never show real skin.
- Ayano's full name is Ayano Oami, although I don't know if it's her real name.
Maid cafe
- Cute Japanese girls dressed as French maids, serving over-priced coffee and chocolate cake, and occasionally singing and dancing a bit (depends of the cafe). Photographs for premium price.
- Customer is referred as goshujin (master)
- Has its roots in Japanese otaku (geek) culture, but is effectively making its way to mainstream as silly and harmless "let loose entertainment.
- The phenomena is not sexual in nature, but instead a part of Japanese kawaii (cuteness culture). Innocence is the key word. Still, a maid cafe secretly offering sexual favors (probably run by the yakuza) was discovered by the police in Akihabara.
- Originating from Tokyo's Akiba (Akihabara) district - the official geek block full of Anime and IT shops - but spreading to other cities (saw one in Sapporo, too) and even foreign countries. In Akiba you can find them easily - just grab a map from a street maid.
- Some maid cafe's have Engrish speaking maids.
- Increasingly popular among female customers, especially university age girls.
- Variations exists, most notoriously, zombie cafe!
Fukasaku's film
- Exploitation is the purest form. See an innocent maid brutally kidnapped! Witness a forbidden romance between an otaku and maid! Watch a pure girl turn into a sexy beast!
- Uses every otaku-cliche found in the book.
- Was not a big release in Japan. It only played in a couple of major cities, skipping many cities like Sapporo (population: 1.9 million).
Availability
- R2J, no subs. 2D and 3D versions.
- HK DVD, English subs, specs unknown to me
R2J DVD
The unsubbed Japanese dvd comes with both 2D and 3D versions. It should be noted that the "3D scenes" display notable ghosting even in the 2D version. Extras feature brief making of, stage event & interviews, and original trailer. The maid scene in the extras menu is basically just the opening scene from the film.
R2J screencaps
The film opens with a maid dance
With the big 3D effect being letters "3D" thrown into your face
The film's protagonist, played by Kotaro Yanagi, looking a lot like bargain version of Tatsuya Fujiwara
Nice outdoor Akiba cinematography
Inside the cafe visuals become dream-like...
...and the customers are strange
...even psychotic
It doesn't take long for one of them to kidnap the lovely Ayano
Nor does it take Ayano long to develop the Stockholm Syndrome
Naoto Takenaka makes his brief and embarrassing appearance
Some of the cinematography is good
And some is really good
Will there be a happy ending?
DVD extras
Master kantoku Kenta Fukasaku
Ayano in the sets
Stage event
Maids giving a very brief performance in the stage event
Conclusion
Off the wall otaku nerds, ridiculously catchy and dubious love story, total wtf-moments, and cute maids. Fukasaku's charmingly dumb maid thriller comes slightly recommended for otakus and maid fans even at R2J prices. With a cheap HK alternative available you've got no excuse, unless you were expecting an intelligent analysis on maid-moe. That you're not getting.
