Shusuke Kaneko has made quite a name for himself in Japan. After his 1989 adaptation of Summer Vacation 1999 he received plenty attention from the industry. Eventually he broke into the kaiju genre with the masterful Gamera Trilogy. He later moved on to direct Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack and episodes of Ultraman Max. Following his monster career was Azumi 2 and the live action Death Note films.
Kaneko is nothing if not versatile. Aimed at younger audiences and abandoning weighty drama for kinetic action, Danger Dolls looks to parody super team tropes, ala Super Sentai, Sailor Moon...etc... while also being an engaging action film.
Ten years after an earthquake unleashes an alternate universe of aliens upon our world, a group of female assassins join forces to hunt them down. Teen idols by day and elite warriors by moonlight, the girls must fight the invaders who masquerade as a political party led by Gotukoji, played by Noburu Kaneko. (No relation to Shusuke Kaneko. He was the Red Ranger from Gaoranger -adapted as Power Rangers Wild Force in North America- and mechanic Yoshito Chujo from Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S.)
The story sounds insane enough to fall in love with, but the question is how fun will it be? Admittedly, the official english language trailer does little for my excitement. Danger Dolls will be the first of many martial arts pictures birthed from the partnership of four companies: Birch Tree Entertainment, Soft on Demand, Torin and Moob. You would think an adequate budget would be amongst them, but it doesn't look like Kaneko is working with much.
On the other hand many of these English language trailers do little justice for the final film. It may be a case of poorly cut footage. I know the dubbing doesn't do it any favors.
The trailer may be underwhelming, but Shusuke Kaneko rarely has a miss. Even his weaker films have poignant themes and visuals. I remain optimistic with his name attached, but reserve excitement for Japanese advertising.
Danger Dolls will premiere at the Cannes Film Festival and tour other festivals in Europe and North America this summer. It's expected to be released in the United States/Japan this September. You can meanwhile enjoy the english dubbed trailer... if you dare:
