Search - Kekko Kamen: The MGF Strikes Back on DVD

For Go Nagai Fans Only

Manuel Figueroa | Wilmington, CA | 04/10/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"First off let me say that I am a Go Nagai freak. I mean I watch and buy anything with his name on it. I love all his animes (Iron Virgin Jun, Cutey Honey, Devil Man, Mazinger Z, etc.) and his live action movies (Cutie Honey, The Nija Dragon, etc.) Too bad most of his good stuff isn't officially available in the US. Anyway, that said keep in mind that I might be a little biased.

I really liked the Kekko Kamen OVAs (I wish that there were more episodes tough) and when i learned that there were live action movies, I was shocked. I mean this is a show about a school full of perverted and sadistic teachers and a heroine who wears nothing, but a mask. Needless to say curiousity forced me to buy the ones I could find. Now as you may know there are four live acion Kekko Kamen movies (the first was a theatrical film and the following three were direct-to-DVD films) This is the first in those direct-to-DVD films (the second overall) and first off as one might expect, the production values aren't as high as in the first film. Sets are re-used often, and the extras seem to be there as little as possible.

As for the plot that's an interesting point. The movies take a departure from the OVA and manga. Gone is the overly-strict co-ed prep school and the strangely costumed, Big Toenail of Satan. What we have here is a school fot girls that trains them to be celebrities (or better yet the wives of celebrities and politicians) The characters of the manga are still here somewhat Big Toenail is now just "Mysterious School Master" and there's a few new additions. The plot (Like the manga and OVA) centers around Mayumi, a young girl who is pretty stupid and seems to be the main object for the teacher's punishments. Her friends also go about breaking the many rules of the school (no leaving, no boys, no cell phones, etc.) and end up bringing the attention of the teachers on them. They find help in two people, the new teacher Keiko and the hero Kekko Kamen (who sadly doen't come out as much as you'd think.) One might think they are one and the same (the faculty does) but that's never fully revealed (in the manga Kekko Kamen was actually the sister of the obvious suspect). After Mayumi's friend Chiriko gets discoved bringing a boy into the school the plot picks up. The girls devise a plan to help the boyfriend win a contest in which he can pick whichever girl he wants. He does and... Well let's not give it all away.

There's not much to this movie, at only a little over 70 minutes (and that's including a music video) there's note musch substance. Kekko Kamen makes few appearances, and those she does make aren't as good as the first movie's. That said don't expect too much nuditiy here, just partial nudity here and there (if you're looking for softcore look elsewhere). On another note the subtitles provided are horrible. I know a lot of Japanese and I noticed that there were a lot of mistranslations and some dialogue isn't even translated at all! It's as if the translators didn't know what some phrases meant, or didn't think they were appropiate (most of the untranslated stuff are vulgar jokes) But the movie does have some funny perks, Golden Batman and Oppaidaman provide a few chuckles, and there are some intentional and unintentional funny bits throughout the movie. Overall I would say that unless you're a Go Nagai fan, liked the first movie,liked the original Kekko Kamen anime or if you just like B-movies Japanese or otherwise buy this one. If not, I would suggest picking up the anime, or the first live action movie. If you liked this one try tracking down the Devil Man live action movie, or better yet the Cutie Honey live action movie (my favorite of Go Nagai's movies)"