review
Angel Guts
The Nikkatsu Series
Review By: Anime Boy
Cinema: Japanese
Company: ArtsMagic DVD
Running Time: 5 Movies 536 Minutes
Region: 1
Rating: NC-17 (Violence, nudity, rape, adult situations)
THE FOLLOWING REVIEW IS ONE OF AN ADULT NATURE. PARENTAL DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
SHORT VIEW
From ArtsMagic DVD comes one of the most influential, shocking,
and erotic series of films ever to come from Japan, Angel Guts.
From the razor sharp pen of manga creator and director Takashi Ishii, Angel Guts is a series of five films that center on one of the most disturbing aspects of human society, rape. Each story is a nihilistic look at the dregs of humanity. Full of anti-heroes, psychopaths, and misogynistic views, this series will invariably offend people of all persuasions.
Extremely raw, always thought provoking, this series is a must for any fan of Japanese Cinema. Enter if you dare the horrible, intense, and fascinating world of Nami and "Angel Guts".
THE LONG VIEW
VIDEO: On every single disc is a great looking transfer. The
colors are perfect, there are no pixels, no wrinkles, no crap. Just a crisp and
clean presentation to shock you even worse! While none of the films
have been retouched, the quality compared to the VHS release is infinitely
better.
AUDIO: I was quite surprised how good the Japanese 2.0 track sounded. The audio was crisp and clean, with no mono hiss. The Japanese 5.1 was mixed well, but it was a little on the quiet side.
On the 2.0 audio commentary, the voice of Tom Mes is loud and clear. The sound from the movie is in the background, but you can barely hear it.
EDITS: Nothing has been touched. It's 100% unedited. That also means that any blurring out of the southern region remains.
EXTRAS: Each disc contains an interview with the director, back ground information on the main cast and director, original art work, and audio commentary by Midnight Eye editor Tom Mes.
STORY: While dated by today's standards, this film is not for the faint of heart. Based off the violent manga by Takahashi Iishi, each story is a nihilistic look at the dregs of humanity. Full of anti-heroes, psychopaths, and misogynistic views, these scripts will invariably offend someone.
ACTING: Each movie has a different actor and actress playing the roles of Muraki and Nami. Please read each of the individual reviews to get an impression of the acting.
Sex Scenes: As you can guess, rape makes up the majority of the sex scenes. There are other, less violent, depictions of sexual activity that run the gambit from erotic to just plain weird. If you are looking for straight porn, you will be disappointed.
THE 2 VIEW
The Angel Guts series has long been considered one of the finest examples of
the Roman Porno genre in the world. From its in your face depictions of
rape and degradation, to its sometimes erotic content, this series of five films
truly pushed the boundaries of conventional and adult film making. While
some may find the production values a bit dated, the themes to be found in this
film are still current.
Originally, ArtsMagic sent out screener copies of the series individually, and not necessarily in the order the films were released. Consequently, the individual reviews will not be in the order of production, rather the order I saw the movies. As it turns out, this was a good thing, as the third movie in the series, Nami, was in many ways, the perfect finally for the Angel Guts movies, although Red Vertigo was the true end of the series.
Here are the five films that make of the "Angel Guts" Nikkatsu Series Collectors Edition in the order of being watched. Please click on the link to read each individual review. Please read on to get the 2 view on the boxset itself.
Muraki
leads two lives. During the day, he is a protective older
brother to his sister Megu, and hard worker at the local
factory. When he is not on the job, he spends his days
terrorizing and raping women with his biker punk friends Sada and
Kajima.
Very protective of his sister, Megu has no idea what her brother does on his off time. While taking Megu to dinner, he spots Kajima trying to rape a young woman named Nami. Desperate to keep their dirty little secret, he fights with Kajima, and helps Nami to escape.
To atone for his fighting with Kajima, and so that he won't tell Megu the truth, Muraki agrees to make amends by raping Nami in front of his friends. Yet something happens inside him, and he again prevents Kajima from raping the young woman, marking the end of their friendship.
Now, Muraki's life is starting to unravel, and his sister is about to get caught up in the middle.
Murkai
is a photographer for a pornographic magazine. Always on the
look out for something new or interesting, he spends his off time
looking at underground or "blue" films. One day,
while watching a blue film about the rape of a high school student,
Murkai notices something different about the model. She
doesn't seem to be the type to appear in these kind of films.
Her reactions more realistic than anyone he has worked with.
Enraptured with her, he sets out to find this mysterious beauty.
While setting up a photo shoot at a local love hotel, he discovers that the receptionist is the very woman he is looking for. When she attempts to "convince" him to forget about her, he comes to the realization that the movie wasn't staged, she actually was raped. Shocked at what happened, he decides to quit the biz, and "save" the woman, who' calls herself Nami.
Yet, when fate intervenes in both their lives, Murkai begins a downwards spiral in to despair and self loathing. Can he find Nami again, or is he doomed to look for her forever?
For Nami, life is going pretty good. Her job as a nurse is
very fulfilling, and her boyfriend Kenji is doing well as a photographer of
nude women.
Life for Muraki isn't so hot. Implicated in an embezzlement scandal, he has been fired from his job, and is now on the run from the investors who lost money to him. He decides to leave Tokyo and start a new life.
When Nami is nearly raped by patients at the hospital, she runs off to find solace with Kenji. When she discovers Kenji is doing more than photography with his models, she takes off again, only to be hit by Muraki's car. At first he tries to help her, then he decides to take advantage of the unconscious woman.
For these two people, their accidental meeting will mark the start of a bizarre relationship that will either bring them to the heights of ecstasy, or plunge them deeper into despair.
Tricked by one of her friends, Nami is photographed for an
S&M magazine. Because of the explicit nature of the
photos, not only does she have to
worry about being discovered by her bosses, she has to fend
off guys who think that she is into that kind of stuff. She
also is having an affair with the manager of her section, adding
even more stress on her life.
Murkai is a lonely bachelor who has become one of Nami's "fans". When not dealing with suspicious neighbors who think he's a pervert, he attempts to track down the woman of his sexual fantasies.
Nami is now caught in the middle of what people perceive her to be, and who she really is. What she learns about herself will affect her, and everyone she knows, forever.
Nami is a reporter for "The Woman", a the second largest women's
magazine in Japan. She is working on a series of articles profiling rape
victims and what happens to them after the event. While her articles are
very popular with the public, her interview subjects are not always as grateful.
As far as Nami is concerned, her articles are going to help women, even though
she shows no real sympathy to the victims.
While she is doing research on one of her subjects, Nami runs into Muraki, a reporter for an underground magazine. He warns her that if she goes in too deep, she may find herself too far gone. She thinks he is trying to scoop her story, and initially blows him off. However, as she looks into his past, she discovers a dark truth about Muraki.
Can someone who constantly exposed to such vile and deprave acts not be affected by what they see? Can one who has been raped ever truly find happiness? Nami is about to find out.
As you can see, each of the films covers the gambit from sexy to disturbing,
many times in the same film. While each one stands on it's own, how is the
boxset as a whole?
ArtsMagic has done an excellent job on the presentation of this series. The video is fantastic. Every single detail, from the rain on Nami's skin, to the hair on a mans ass, is crystal clear. The transfer is mostly free of blemishes, although I have seen some spicing markers on some of the scenes.
The audio isn't going to blow you away, but it won't annoy the crap out of you either. There is no mono hiss usually associated with films from the 1970's. Mind you, if you want your sex noises hitting you from all sides, you may not be as excited as you hoped.
The audio commentary is very informative, and puts a lot of the events that occur in the movies in context. As always, Tom Mes is a wealth of information, so all you film buffs will gain insight into the method to the madness of the Angle Guts series.
On the other hand, the director interviews were a little on the dull side. Sure there was a lot of information, and knowing the "vision" of the directors does give the film critic in all of us some understanding, but the interviews themselves were pretty static, with nothing but the question cards to break up the monotony. I started to fast-forward on most of them about half way in.
The rest of the extras were not that interesting. Text info and original artwork are pretty standard these days, although the unique way of translating the text on the video covers was kind of cool.
Overall, I was quite pleased with the presentation of the Angel Guts series. While I may not have been supremely impressed with the extras, the entire package is quite well done, with the video being the biggest positive.
As far as the series itself, "Angel Guts" is exciting, disturbing,
thought provoking, and weird all at the same time. While it won't appeal
to most, it is still a series that is worth a look. No true fan of cinema,
Japanese or otherwise, should miss out a chance to watch "Angel Guts".