Tag: Keita Amemiya

Flower Power Tower | Mechanical Violator Hakaider (1995) Review

January 15, 2024

Over the years, I’ve attempted to watch Mechanical Violator Hakaider three or four times, and only on the third or fourth attempt did I make it to the credits – not intact. I’d fallen asleep every time, so it was just a matter of picking up where I’d left off or deciding it had been too long and starting over. And I’d think, “How is this happening?” One of the strands running through this (strand-type) blog is the film’s director Keita Amemiya, whose career serves the hyper-specific, me-shaped niche of “non-kaiju tokusatsu and also R-rated violence,” with the bonus of an appreciation for action heroines (usually played by one actress, Yuko Moriyama). Hakaider could be the result of the slightest deviation from that formula, but I think its sleep-inducing powers speak to fundamental problems, and ironically may speak to Amemiya’s craft. … More Flower Power Tower | Mechanical Violator Hakaider (1995) Review

Farewell, Goddess | Moon Over Tao: Makaraga (1997) Review

October 20, 2021

This is it. After the Zeiram duology and Mechanical Violator Hakaider, director Keita Amemiya turns in his final live-action feature. Three years later, Yuko Moriyama would retire from film without a word. The end of an era, and it’s bittersweet but satisfying that Moon Over Tao is the swan song. Unlike the adaptations Hakaider and Amemiya’s debut Mirai Ninja, and even the Zeirams which incited a franchise — however modest — Moon Over Tao stands alone. It is purer, and landing at the end of a directing career, it possibly commands a larger budget. Very likely, this will be our most vivid glimpse into an auteur’s mind, to which “purity” is surely the theme. Still, my favorite aspect of the Amemiya mythos is the ship between director and actress. Where usually the director’s relationship or obsession with the lead is uncomfortable (Underworld, Planet Terror, Final Fantasy XIII), Amemiya continues to lens Moriyama with the same low-angled awe as he does the giant animatronic monster. I believe she’s a wholesome muse, and the ship culminates here with three times as many Yuko Moriyamas as usual. … More Farewell, Goddess | Moon Over Tao: Makaraga (1997) Review

Back in the Zone | Zeiram 2 (1994) Review

April 19, 2020

With genre storytelling especially, there’s a useful distinction between episodes of a film series and those of a television show. The production gap is certainly greater in film, even over television seasons, but with it comes a broader sense of returning. When tuned right, this feeling can be profound, even melancholy or nostalgic: a reflection of life itself, ever churning forward in episodes of our own. So it is, too — profound — with Zeiram 2, a movie where sometimes characters teleport, and sometimes they don’t. This 1994 follow-up to our first Terminator-style alien mash captures the joy of sequels, being as excited in its presentation as I am watching it. It’s been three years since Iria, Teppei, Kamiya, and Bob escaped the Zone, and our reacclimation to their lives brings gentle revelations. Ever the aliens themselves, Teppei and Kamiya have not been ranting and raving about outer dimensions, discredited as quacks like Dr. Ian Malcolm between Jurassic Park and The Lost World. However, their friendship is feeling the slight strain of age, and this is first among the subtle departures Zeiram 2 takes from the original. I suppose what they have is indeed a friendship, and that also extends to Iria. With so much of their character left undefined as a result of their habitual strangeness, I never thought to apply a term like that. As soon as it materializes, it’s at stake. … More Back in the Zone | Zeiram 2 (1994) Review