Lightning Bolt and Thunder Girl might be super-siblings, but they are also like The
Boys of Japan. They take care of the Mayor’s dirty business, like their super-father
did for his. However, Lightning would prefer to fight super-villains. He might
just get his wish when three suicidal teens discover they all have minor powers
(that can be formidable under the right circumstances) in EVOL, based on
Atsushi Kaneko’s manga, the first three episodes of which screened at the 2024 Fantasia International Film Festival.
Niiyama
Sakura, Akari Tsuchiya, Nozomi Kodama were all students at the same school, but
like The Breakfast Club, they only met each other once they were
remanded to a mental hospital. Coincidentally, all three attempted suicides at
the very same time. Subsequently, they each manifested odd new secret powers.
Sakura
can hover no more than a few inches off the floor. It might not sound like
much, but it is sufficient for her to jump off buildings “landing” unscathed. As
a cheerleader, you would think she would be popular, but instead, she is
despised as the daughter of “Y National” immigrants, as they are didactically
known.
Kodama
has the ability to bore holes roughly half an inch in diameter with his index
finger. That is not sufficient for mass-destruction, but it can be deadly
one-on-one and it makes breaking-and-entering a snap. Tsuchiya is a fire-starter—not
on the level of the Stephen King movies, but she is still quite dangerous when
surrounded by enough kindling. Awkwardly, she is also the police chief’s
daughter.
In
contrast, Lightning and Thunder are the full Homelanders. They can fly and
generate arcs of electric energy. Thunder never talks, but exhibits sociopathic
tendencies and a fanatical loyalty to the Mayor. Lightning makes all the
inspirational speeches, but he may or may not have doubts regarding some of the
Mayor’s dubious assignments. Perhaps the trio will be the rivals he is waiting
for. However, the kids (who dub themselves EVOL) warm up with graffiti and
explosive vandalism.
Misaki
Hattori is terrific as Sakura, while Yuzu Aoki and Himena Irei are convincingly
moody and damaged as Koadama and Tsuchiya, but the two really should have had
more opportunities to break their characters out of their reserved shells by
this point. Regardless, Ken Yasuda truly oozes smarmy evil as the slimy,
sinister Mayor. He definitely needs a super-powered beatdown.
If agents of the Public Security Intelligence Agency’s secret Global
Operations Service (GOS) fail, they will be disavowed. If that sounds familiar,
wait till you hear the theme music. However, their impossible mission unfolds in
a much more sophisticated and realistic geopolitical context. Yes, the main
terrorist group hoping to destroy Tokyo is entirely fictional, but guess who is
trying to exploit the situation for their own gain? Why that would be our
friends in the CCP. Therefore, the scruffy band of GOS agents must always watch
their backs in the first season of the Japanese series Game of Spy,
which premieres today on Prime.
Takeru
Hashiba is a bit absent-minded, but he fights like a bulldog. Masaharu Katsuki
is the conservative family man, who is getting too old for this kind of
service. They have both transferred from the general PSIA, but glamorous Rei Hiyama
is a freelancer attached to their team. They meet in the secret basement of Shigenobu
Kugayama’s fancy-dress costume store, where ex-hacker Atsuhiko Natsume provides
the online support for their mission. They thought they had just finished their
most recent assignment by foiling an attack on the Tokyo Skytree.
Unfortunately, it was just a feint in a larger terrorist operation dubbed “Deus
Gate.”
Technically,
the attack will be carried out by Mundo, a radical terror cult headed by the
messianic “Vince.” In two days, the plan to release a kaiju-sized strain of
smallpox that would devastate Tokyo. However, the Chinese might have some
relevant intel. They would be happy to trade it to the dirtbag Prime Minister,
in exchange for all he knows about American embassy personnel in Japan and the
scheduled movements of our Naval vessels. Yet, everything they dangle in front
of the politicians, the GOS team can sleuth out on its own. Acting on it will
be a different question, because of suspected betrayals from within.
Initially,
the conflicting personalities of Hashiba and Katsuki make GOS look like
it will be much more comedic than it turns out to be. They might grouse at each
other, but their fights with the terrorists get decidedly brutal and bloody.
Also, the portrayals of the politicians and senior government bureaucrats are
cuttingly cynical. In addition to the sleazy PM, viewers will have reason at
various times to question the loyalties of some top security personnel.
Asako Adachi is a mother worthy of Greek tragedy. When her daughter is murdered,
she offers a grim choice to the girl’s four friends who saw, but could not
identify her killer. Either spend their lives hunting for the murderer, or
eventually accept a karmic retribution that she approves of. That is pretty heavy
for elementary school students, so it is hardly shocking they all turn out to
be emotionally damaged fifteen years later in Japanese auteur Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s
five-episode Penance, which premieres today on OVID.tv.
For
some reason, the killer deliberately chose Emili from her group of friends,
when he approached them on a pretext. They all had a perfect view of him, yet they
all insist they cannot remember his face. Fifteen years later, their bill of
penance starts to come due, but it is not necessarily Adachi who will collect.
Somehow fate, karma, circumstances, and their own bad choices and character
flaws will precipitate crises for all four survivors. Although they each have
very different personalities and perspectives on that fateful day, they all
contact Adachi as they find themselves facing personal disaster.
In
some ways, shy Sae Kikuchi never fully matured, so she married a profoundly
flawed control-freak husband. Maki Shinohara became a strict martinet high
school teacher, who feels compelled to enforce rules without exception. Akiko
Takano is a borderline hikikomori with family issues that are about to get much
worse. Likewise, Yuka Ogawa has an extreme case of sibling rivalry, as well as a
weird cop fetish, born out of that horrific experience.
What
really makes Penance so intriguing is Kyoko Koizumi’s haunting
performance as Adachi. Instead of a ruthless Medea-like vengeful mother, she is
not without sympathy for the four young women. In fact, she even offers them
help, at times. Yet, her eyes are always obsessively on the prize of just
payback. As a result, Koizumi’s work as Adachi is cool and detached, but
weirdly easy to identify with and root for.
Yu
Aoi, Eiko Koike, Sakura Ando and Chizuru Ikewaki all create radically different
personas as the four grown women, but they are all fully developed, with no
shortage of flaws and weaknesses. Together, they demonstrate the perverse and
lingering effects of trauma. Shinohara’s story is possibly the richest, because
it clearly offers extensive commentaries on the compulsive face-saving and CYA-ing
of the Japanese educational system, which in turn is a proxy for society at
large. Takano’s is probably the weakest, because it is pretty easy to predict
where it goes.
