At one point in Hai Kikku Enjerusu one of the girls cries, "I am not Bruce Lee!" and next "I am not Jackie Chan!" It is easy to be indignant or sarcastic when hearing these words from the mouth of a 11th grade Japanese girl in school uniform. By then though, it would not be an exaggeration to say that what one assumes would be an artificially sweetened exercise in Japanese teen romp has actually begun to convince the viewer with its martial arts action.
Picture a Japanese high school and its film club. Half a dozen cute girls have their teacher's permission to use the unused facility for their one-camera action-fantasy featuring the heroine Dragon May. The teacher, who also plays something resembling a zombie, has other ideas, the students are getting in character and the director is looking too earnest when trouble befalls and a band of underworld thugs swarms in looking for cash that has been stashed on the premise. The confrontation that ensues should by all rights be cheesy and candy-coated - what with two dozen yankis with metal bars and batons against high school otakus - but gradually the action sequences in general, and the high kicks and punches in particular, begin to come across as convincing. How is that possible in a film with more pantie shots than three Sion Sono films put together? Someone once said, "talk about beauty and the beast, she's both." Kanon Miyohara (the heroine 'Sakura' - more recently in Sion Sono's high school girls' science fiction film, Tag) is a karate champion and has been practicing martial arts since the second grade. Japanese-American actress Mayu Kawamoto (Asuka) is a karate black belt with a championship trophy from a Russian competition to her name. Hyogo-born Kaede Aono (Maki), again, is a black belt and also a model in Japan. She started training in karate in the first grade and subsequently obtained her black belt at age 12. This explains why the action seems as realistic and pain inflicting as it does. Less successful is model and singer Nana Shirai's facial and presentation approximation of Chiaki Kuriyama as Gogo Yubari in Kill Bill. There are several behind-the-scene clips as the end credits roll if anyone needs more convincing of the girls' martial arts.
The premise is hard to believe, but with Highkick Zombie on Vine and 2009's High Kick Girl (or 'Hai Kikku Gâru') enjoying some success the convincing blows, punches and kicks could only add further legitimacy to the collection.
