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I've been teasing this one for awhile. The clues that I gave out were that it was a Tokusatsu movie with the word "Star" in the title (specifically "Star ______") and that it was two words. I also gave out little clues that the soundtrack featured a song by a legendary singer. There were a few more clues that I could have given such as the same legendary singer also had a role in the movie...or that the film had it's own video game adaptation for the MSX2. I really wanted to keep this one a secret until it posted.
So here it is.....Star Virgin. Where the hell do I begin on this one?
Star Virgin is a 1988 direct-to-video Tokusatsu film produced by Pony Canyon of all companies. It largely capitalizes on the Bikini Armor genre, which I'm really not familiar with.....nor do I intend to become familiar with. Clocking in at just under an hour it features a fairly basic plot wrapped around special effects of varying skill. It's most notable achievement is casting anisong megastar Isao Sasaki. Yes, THAT Isao Sasaki. He was in this film!
The film begins with our heroine, Eiko, having been tied to a cross (classic Tokusatsu). The monster who trapped her begins acting somewhat inappropriate with her while she is trapped. This causes her bracelet to activate which transforms her into Star Virgin. She makes short work of the monster and turns back to normal.
It is then explained that she is embarking on a vacation to Earth and that it was her father who fit her with the transformation bracelet that would activate whenever a man would act lecherous toward her directly (or in her vicinity). On Earth, she runs into a young man named Ko who is the sudden target of a tank following a dental implant surgery. In order to transform and fight the tank, she tricks a foreign tourist into being inappropriate with her. She manages to transform, destroy the tank, and escape with Ko.
You'll see that statue alright...
Ko is kidnapped by Colonel Arashiyama, who has been after Ko's mysterious tooth implant to restart the nuclear reactor on his island and dominate the world. Eiko manages to break into Arashiyama's layer and free Ko. Arashiyama deploys his robot, Tsutenkaku 1, to follow the pair.
Arashiyama
Tsutenkaku 1
As Tsutenkaku 1 is too powerful for Eiko, he is defeated several times purely by accident. Ultimately he manages to recapture the two. When Ko awakens, he is trapped inside a lightening rod. Eiko awakens in a wedding dress in Arashiyama's office. As he intends to wed her, he drinks a revitalizing potion which gives him a much more youthful appearance. He then attempts to make a move on Eiko...
Does your youth shine?
Naturally Eiko becomes Star Virgin thanks to Arashiyama's advances. Arashiyama deploys Tanegashima shi-shiki Robot, which is a giant robot formed from a large white copy of the Statue of Liberty. The robot shoots flames at Ko and then manages to get Star Virgin in it's grasp. After shocking Star Virgin for some time, Ko manages to get into Arashiyama's fighter jet and blast the robot until it frees it's grip on Star Virgin. Meanwhile, Arashiyama is successful in restarting his reactor with Ko's tooth implant.
Star Virgin uses her grappling hook to join Ko in the jet. They then fly into the entrance to the core of the island. They launch an all-out attack using the plane's machine guns as well as a handheld bazooka. Ko's tooth is freed from the reactor which then begins to explode.
They manage to escape the island as it explodes. En route back to land, the fighter jet begins to fail, which forces them to abandon the plane and jump into the water. Somehow they managed to find a canoe, which they use to make their way back to land. Tsutenkaku 1 reaches up from underwater and knocks both of them out of the boat, forcing both of them to swim to land. Tsutenkaku 1 also swims to land, but is greeted by a group of children playing on the beach. He starts to malfunction and becomes friendly with the children and their families.
Arashiyama, his henchmen, and Tanegashima shi-shiki are all shown to have survived the blast. As the credits roll, Eiko and Ko enjoy the rest of the day at the beach.
Just as the credits end and "The End" splashes on screen we hear Eiko and Ko getting attacked once again after hearing some metallic footsteps.
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Wow. OK, so if I'm going to start somewhere, it's going to be the Star Virgin powers. We have a woman (yes, you can feel less skeevy--actress Eiko Kuroki was 18 at the time) whose powers come from men being outwardly perverted toward her. I...wish I was making this up. She had to trick a white dude into making a move on her so that she could transform. Her father probably owes that dude an apology. Like, It's one of the more bizarre superhero premises ever...but at the same time it makes sense. Her father didn't intend for her to be a heroine of any kind. He just fitted her with the bracelet (which is kinda like an inverted Ultraman timer) to protect her from creeps while she was on her trip to Earth. She kinda fell backwards into this whole situation as much as Ko did.
Star Virgin's unwitting victim
Isao Sasaki being cast as the villain of the movie was a solid casting choice. He wore the heavy make-up they plastered on him well. It was a pretty rediculous get-up, but it just kinda worked BECAUSE it was Sasaki. His voice sealed the deal on the whole thing. From there, the acting kinda went downward. To their credit, everyone looked like they were having fun--and they likely knew this was going to be a video release. Sasaki is just acting his heart out, though.
The effects of the movie were, like the acting, all over the place. Some of the effects were borderline impressive, while others were pretty silly. I enjoy model work, and this film is full of it, but they could have either lowered their aspirations or tried a little bit harder to get some effect shots peppered into the shots using models. BUT.....if I had a Statue of Liberty mecha I would probably put it in my movie as much as possible as well.
If you'll excuse me, I'm late for Ghostbusters II
I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy this film. I might be a sucker for the bizarre, but I'm sure anyone will enjoy watching this one. It's entertaining and short enough that you won't feel robbed if you're not totally sold on it. I should say that even with the perverted source of Star Virgin's powers, the movie itself is very tame. Once you get past that and the fact that she spends a good portion of the movie in a bikini'd chastity belt, it's a fairly vanilla movie.
Give it a shot. It might be a little bit all over the place and not have much of a plot or character development, but it's definitely entertaining.
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Star Virgin Ongakushuu
D30G0077
1988.06.21
The Star Virgin original soundtrack is probably how I first learned about this movie. In my normal rounds I managed to find this CD for sale some time ago. Just from the photos I knew that this movie was probably worth checking out. I mean Isao Sasaki was dressed up as an old clownish looking dude! How could I go wrong? Well, I ended up buying the CD for my collection and checking out the movie not too long afterward.
This soundtrack, while short, is probably too good for this movie. As I mentioned before, there is a song by Isao Sasaki as well as two songs by Reiko Iwama and a lone song by Star Virgin herself Eiko Kuroki. The music was composed by Kenji Kawai who is an insanely prolific composer. I know him primarily for his work on Ranma 1/2 and Kyatto Ninden Teyandee (I'll probably get to this one someday). My readers will probably know his work from Ultraman Nexus and both series of Akibaranger. I recommend taking a look at the list of work he's done over the years--it's staggering.
I suppose the best way to break this CD down is by songs and then by music collection.
Of the fourteen total tracks, four are vocal songs. The theme song, Star Virgin is by Reiko Iwama as well as an image song called Namida no kokoro. I loooooooove the theme song. It's insanely catchy--easily my favorite of the four. It has a nice energy and features some really good singing. Namida no kokoro doesn't get used in the film. It's not a bad song, I just don't think there was any room for it. Isao Sasaki's song, NONSTOP DREAMER, does make it into the film toward the end. It has the sound of an 80s anime bad guy's theme song. While a little on the cartoonish side, it is a great song as you would imagine. Has Isao Sasaki ever disappointed? Ever? The last vocal song, and I saved this one for last for one reason, is the character song by Eiko Kuroki. The title? H ga watashi no Energy or H is my energy. Now THAT is a song title right there. I'm sure you can figure out what the "H" stands for. The song itself is kinda upbeat and cheesy. Not bad, but certainly not great.
The music collection is quite solid. I meant it when I said it was too good for this movie. It sounds like it could be from the mid 90s most of the time. I'm actually quite impressed that this movie had such a great music collection and managed to under-utilize it the way it did. As this disc is only 32 minutes long, it only contains about 17 minutes of music. It's all great, though. There was a full band involved when it could have easily just been a guy with a synthesizer.
As this is an early CD it comes in a very thick plastic case. It's hard to describe unless you've dealt with an old CD case, but they have quite a bit of heft to them...and don't crack nearly as easy. To save costs, the booklet wasn't printed into the jacket. Since this was getting a simultaneous LP release it just has the fold-out wedged inside the jacket. The upside is that I now have a bitchin' Star Virgin poster. The downside.....there is none! Did you hear me? I have a Star Virgin poster!
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As this film nears it's 30th anniversary it's hard to say if it left any kind of lasting impression on Tokusatsu fans. I've been giving my hints on Twitter for some time, but nobody managed to guess it correctly. It's kind of a shame that nobody seems to know this one...but at the same time it can only be appreciated by a goofball like me. I can't imagine someone finishing an episode of Kamen Motorist Drive and being like "Hmmm Star Virgin? Let's give it a watch!". It's certainly worth a viewing if you happen to have a copy on VHS, Beta, or Laserdisc (no DVD......surprised????). It's also on Youtube, but you'll have a good time trying to cobble together the entire movie over a couple of accounts. Hahaa.
An interesting movie with a very good soundtrack. It certainly has a lot of room for improvement, but who knows! Maybe they'll get it right for the sequel...
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Thank you for reading my blog on this forgotten movie and for supporting my blog for the past five years. This is the final post for my five-year anniversary month. While it was a ton of work for me to double my output, it was all worth it. I mean it. Thank you for reading. Thank you for spreading the word. Thank you thank you!
-CC
5 Year Anniversary Month
Previous:
The Complete Guide To Collecting Japanese CDs
Top 7 BEST Mecha Designs
CD Collection--Carranger 8cm CD Singles
Just watched the movie; such a weird tokusatsu movie of the 80s.
ReplyDeleteDon’t know about the game nor played it, so I can’t say anything about it.
Regarding the movie, I really enjoyed it for cheesiness and campiness.
While some elements are dated, it was an interesting experience.
Such a shame it’s not on DVD/ BD, though I highly doubt that cult movie like this would ever come out in that formats anytime soon if not ever.
The concept of virgin power was so bizarre and original.
It sounds like fan fiction idea by porn nerd/geek, but surprisingly worked very well.
Personally, this could have passed as one of Toei’s Fushigi Comedy Series (1981~1993); it did felt like pilot episode too.
The movie came out year before Bishoujo Series (1989~1993), so it could have been forerunner to that; though, I don’t think the name “Virgin” would have worked for kids show even back in 80s. I would have loved to see TV series of this (written by Yoshio Urasawa of Carranger!); even if it aired on midnight like Akibaranger.
Bit surprised it was produced by Pony Canyon instead of Toei.
It’s so weird to see Sasaki in this movie; probably his best role as villain. lol
He practically stole the show! Nice job with make-up for old guy.
Such a shame he didn’t played more villain in later toku shows/movies.
I don’t know much about the actress who played Eiko, but I thought she did decent job.
Such a shame she didn’t get any role in toku shows (Sentai and Metal Hero) of 80s and 90s.
For sentai, I personally think she could have been Mei/Ptera (Zyuranger) or Momo/OhPink (Ohranger). As for Metal Hero, she could have been better Mai/Reddle II for B-Fighter.
Had there been Kamen Rider shows in 90’s, she could have been decent Female Rider as well; better than Kirishima/Femme (Ryuki) IMO.
Despite being very obnoxious and annoying, I liked Ko as well; he did a decent job as nerdy comedic relief character. lol
At the least, he had his moments (sort of).
I also think he could have got good role in toku shows of 80s and 90s; maybe Kameo for Dairanger.
The actor who played Ko, Fujio Takumi (太組不二雄), has his own blog, which he discuss on horse racing. Insect/Bug Nerd to Horse Racing. lol
http://takumiuma.exblog.jp/
Samurai Robot (Tsutenkaku 1), Giant Spider, and Statue of Liberty (Tanegashima shi-shiki Robot); what a bizarre combo for insane movie. I really like the design of Tsutenkaku 1, which could have used as Metal Hero (probably for Metalder). Speaking of Statue of Liberty, this came out year before Ghostbusters II (1989); I guess Ivan Reitman (director) got inspiration from this movie. lol
I’m bit bummed that there’s no sequel, but I’m personally fine with it.
Cult movie like this doesn’t need follow ups IMO. It’s an underrated toku gems.
Though it would have been interesting to see “Star Virgin 2: Search for Virginity”. lol
Regardless, it was a very enjoyable flick.
I might pick up VHS or LD (bit expensive) someday.
It’s also nice that you shared your thought on CD as well.
Sasaki and Kuroki is such an awesome combination.
It’s interesting that it came with the poster, since not lot of CD these days come with that.
Good luck finding rest of the singles.
Thanks for sharing your thought on movie.
It certainly has a few good ideas, but the execution is pretty half-assed. If they put in some more time and money (especially) it would probably have a life today. As-is I would say that it pretty much deserves the life it has had. Hahaa
DeleteIt does help that Isao Sasaki has a song on the soundtrack on this one. How weird is it that his most memorable Tokusatsu role is Kamen Rider ZO and he didn't even get a song in that? He doesn't even have Rider songs outside of two songs in Skyrider.