Dokuritsu shôjo gurentai

Four talented female dancers, Aki (Ayano Tachibana), Saki (Tomomi Miyashita), Yuki (Megumi Shôji) and Mickey (the very yummy Chiaki Ôta), are recruited and trained as spies by revolutionaries determined to gain independence for their island (which is referred to here as The Kingdom, but is clearly intended to represent Okinawa, whose Ryūkyū independence movement has fought for decades for a fully independent Ryūkyūan state).

After passing their training in record time, the girls are sent on assignment to Tokyo, where they receive messages via coded dance steps in the music videos of pop sensation Cocoe; but with Japanese government agents hot on their tail, will they be able to complete their mission before being apprehended?

It's a sad day when a Japanese film bearing such a promising monicker as Samurai Chicks fails to be an entertaining watch? The formula is simple enough—get some good looking young women, stick them in sexy outfits, and have them kick butt, whilst throwing in the occasional spot of random bizarreness along the way—but although the ingredients are all present and correct, director Mari Asato seems more focused on her political agenda, and neglects to load the film with outrageous action and gratuitous titillation—which I imagine is what most viewers will really be looking for.

3.5 out of 10, rounded up to 4 for the inclusion of a boob-shaped gas grenade.