Part of a growing trend in martial arts cinema, ‘High-Kick Girl’ appeared at the tail end of the 2000s when a series of films emerged to put more emphasis back on the hard-hitting female protagonists. Designed as a vehicle to showcase the skill-set of the teenage karate extraordinaire Rina Takeda, Fuyuhiko Nishi’s take on the genre is certainly loaded with its own positives, even with a few flaws.
Living in Tokyo, feisty teenager Kei Tsuchiya (Rina Takeda) is anxious and desires her black belt in martial arts, much to the disagreement of her sensei Yoshiaki Matsumura (Tatsuya Naka) who offers to teach her more disciplined tactics instead. This patience only serves to motivate her further, branching out to pick fights with other black belts to prove her skills, set up by her friend Ryosuke (Ryuki Takahashi) to help out in her studies. Eventually, this brings her...
Living in Tokyo, feisty teenager Kei Tsuchiya (Rina Takeda) is anxious and desires her black belt in martial arts, much to the disagreement of her sensei Yoshiaki Matsumura (Tatsuya Naka) who offers to teach her more disciplined tactics instead. This patience only serves to motivate her further, branching out to pick fights with other black belts to prove her skills, set up by her friend Ryosuke (Ryuki Takahashi) to help out in her studies. Eventually, this brings her...
- 3/20/2020
- by Don Anelli
- AsianMoviePulse
Black Belt
Stars: Akihito Yagi, Tatsuya Naka, Yuji Suzuki | Written by George Iida | Directed by Shunichi Nagasaki
“The year is 1932 and in Japanese occupied Manchuria corrupt military forces have begun taking over the karate dojos for their own future benefit. Amidst this chaos, the master of one such dojo dies before passing on the “Kuro-obi” to a worthy successor, instead leaving it the hands of one of his apprentices, who must decide who deserves it most. After burying their master, the three most likely candidates are forced from their dojo and into the employment of the military to serve as martial arts instructors. Their individual responses to their fates lead each man on a vastly different and very personal path, at times pitting the former colleagues against each other as they seek the true understanding of their master’s teachings.
The deep-rooted values of honour, loyalty and friendship are all...
Stars: Akihito Yagi, Tatsuya Naka, Yuji Suzuki | Written by George Iida | Directed by Shunichi Nagasaki
“The year is 1932 and in Japanese occupied Manchuria corrupt military forces have begun taking over the karate dojos for their own future benefit. Amidst this chaos, the master of one such dojo dies before passing on the “Kuro-obi” to a worthy successor, instead leaving it the hands of one of his apprentices, who must decide who deserves it most. After burying their master, the three most likely candidates are forced from their dojo and into the employment of the military to serve as martial arts instructors. Their individual responses to their fates lead each man on a vastly different and very personal path, at times pitting the former colleagues against each other as they seek the true understanding of their master’s teachings.
The deep-rooted values of honour, loyalty and friendship are all...
- 7/3/2011
- by Baron Fornightly
- Nerdly
An English-subtitled trailer for Kg has been uploaded to the film’s official YouTube channel. This is essentially the same trailer I posted back on December 12th without subtitles, so in lieu of cluttering up the site with a new post, I’m just updating and bumping the original.
The film stars Rina Takeda and Hina Tobimatsu as sisters Ayaka and Natsuki Kurenai, the youngest descendants of a legendary Okinawan karate master named Shoujirou Kurenai. As children, they live a happy life with their father (Tatsuya Naka) who teaches them karate. One day, a mysterious group kills their father, kidnaps Natsuki, and steals the legendary black belt which has been passed down in their family for over 200 years.
Years later, Ayaka has moved to Yokohama to live the life of an ordinary teenager under a different name. Meanwhile, Natsuki’s captors have turned her into a killing machine. Eventually, they...
The film stars Rina Takeda and Hina Tobimatsu as sisters Ayaka and Natsuki Kurenai, the youngest descendants of a legendary Okinawan karate master named Shoujirou Kurenai. As children, they live a happy life with their father (Tatsuya Naka) who teaches them karate. One day, a mysterious group kills their father, kidnaps Natsuki, and steals the legendary black belt which has been passed down in their family for over 200 years.
Years later, Ayaka has moved to Yokohama to live the life of an ordinary teenager under a different name. Meanwhile, Natsuki’s captors have turned her into a killing machine. Eventually, they...
- 1/18/2011
- Nippon Cinema
MovieWalker has released a 43-second teaser for Kg via YouTube. I’ve fixed the aspect ratio a bit to be closer to 16:9 because the original version is a little wonky.
Not all that much has detailed information is available on this one yet other than a few vague promotional blurbs and tweets reiterating the mantra “No wires, no CG, no stunts!” and the tagline which translates roughly to “A girl’s revenge, born in Yokohama”.
It doesn’t seem like this is an actual sequel to High Kick Girl, and no one with the production seems to be suggesting that it is. It looks more like a spiritual successor with a bit more emphasis on Takeda, who was at the center of all the promotion and publicity surrounding that film only to have Tatsuya Naka showcased in the climactic battle scenes.
The only plot info available thus far has...
Not all that much has detailed information is available on this one yet other than a few vague promotional blurbs and tweets reiterating the mantra “No wires, no CG, no stunts!” and the tagline which translates roughly to “A girl’s revenge, born in Yokohama”.
It doesn’t seem like this is an actual sequel to High Kick Girl, and no one with the production seems to be suggesting that it is. It looks more like a spiritual successor with a bit more emphasis on Takeda, who was at the center of all the promotion and publicity surrounding that film only to have Tatsuya Naka showcased in the climactic battle scenes.
The only plot info available thus far has...
- 11/2/2010
- Nippon Cinema
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