From the abundant and imaginative pages of artist Go Nagai we find today’s film, Lion-Girl. Written and directed by cult favorite Japanese director Mitsutake Kurando, this piece faced many unique challenges while telling a unique story. Filmed entirely in Los Angeles at the height of the pandemic, the film found collaboration with Toei Video and was able to have a specialty festival run amid its production challenges. While I couldn’t find much to illuminate me on Lion-Girl as a newcomer to the story and to Nagai’s manga, I was still made perfectly comfortable and never overwhelmed by the sheer amount of story and lore carefully laid out to brief the uninitiated. Telling the story of our masked, tattooed and supercharged Lion-Girl, Kurando brings a colorful comic book world to life with stunning makeup, silly but satisfying fights, and the hallmarks of old monster movies and manga mixed into live action.
Starting in a bath house, many nude onlookers stare with hostile expressions at a young woman (Tori Griffith). A bather stands and cranks the steam level high, asking the young woman if she’d like to boil and die, or give up her life force. Unbothered, the girl says she chooses neither, sending the group that once looked human into a frenzy. Sprouting horns, fangs and donning demonic faces, the group shows their true appearance. Their target begins to glow, turning to face them, before a quick cut takes us away from the action to come.
We are given some backstory here—the year is 2045 and a tsunami of meteorites has collided with earth, killing most lifeforms. Approximately seven million survivors weathered this event, and the small group fought its way towards Tokyo, Japan, the only livable island remaining on earth. This influx of people caused thirty years of civil war until finally, a man by the name of Fuginaga and his clan snuffed out the war, making him the ruler of all that remained. Modelling his regime after a samurai totalitarian government, he establishes a new country: Neo-Nippon. But the world is not fighting against the government, for there is an enemy that threatens all humanity, the shogunate’s designated infectious disease: Anoroc Syndrome. Within the meteorites there were rays, usually causing death to humans, but those exposed who survive are turned into monstrous beasts deemed Anoroc. These beings hunt and kill humans for their lifeforce.
We shift scenes from our history lesson to an Anoroc hunting down an elderly couple, when a glowing girl jumps from behind a car, cutting off the monster. She declares herself Lion-Girl to the creature, “Stand with the weak, fight the strong.” Lion-Girl engages in a psychic duel called “Scanning” where two beings are locked in psychic connection. After winning her battle (and exploding an Anoroc head), Lion-Girl heads back to a rundown hideout in Shinjuku. A man finds her laying outside, and brings her in, putting her into a chamber to help her rehabilitate as the tattoos on her back return to blue from a dangerous red. Away from this, in a lab somewhere, a group of gothic looking samurai arrive to inspect an Anorac body, led by a hulking man referred to as “My Lord” by the coroners; this is Kaisei Kishi (Derek Mears), a dark and powerful figure with presence from the start. They determine the Anorac they’re inspecting died from a battle with the “lion masked woman,” and Kishi says he very much looks forward to meeting her, as she is now a marked fugitive due to her controversial public status, according to a later news broadcast.
Reminding me of the fantastic Shin Kamen Rider, this film, led by another charismatic masked hero, has old school effects, an evolving retro soundtrack, dramatized battles and makeup that are a tribute to the colorful pages of manga, as well as the monster movies present and past. Costumes abound and monstrous faces of the intergalactically infected shine with practical and cosmetic effects, bringing a very comic feel, especially when combined with the shining, campy special effects used to liven battles and infuse superhero energy. Lion-Girl is a feminine force to be reckoned with, but while some aspects like nudity felt overdone, the tone of the film still held on with nude shower jousting scenes and bare magic breast fire (I’m not exaggerating). Perhaps a tongue in cheek feminist way of saying women can display their bodies how they please, as we see people look down on Lion-Girl for her gender and appearance; it can sometimes be distracting, even if it’s meant to be liberating, and at a stretch, perhaps speaking to how we sexualize the women of comics and animation to a fault.
A brutal and sometimes hilarious dystopia is presented here, with just as many satirical punchlines brought in about the government, disease and crime as there are actual punches thrown. Battles are fun, sometimes a comic book like experience with powers being detailed out on the side of the screen, blood spurting like a fountain from every bullet wound, or over the top sword sounds sheathing away. Other times things feel more realistic as heads roll. Performances from the main cast are solid, with Griffith the pensive but spirited Lion-Girl and the star of the show, Derek Mears, a menacing, dark shadow cast over the story, making it all the more interesting to watch.
An epic journey, lighting, shooting and color palettes all pop to give a more vivid experience comparable to manga, with washed barren desert shots contrasted with intimate moments between characters bathed in purple. This comic book tale encapsulates a very compassionate story and moments that range from the touching and profound to the bizarre, covering all bases whilst creating a compelling watch outside of the ordinary comic book offerings. If you’re looking for an unconventional champion, a set of entertaining villains and monsters, and a peek at what Kurando has made of Nagai’s iconic illustrations, take a look at the visually stunning rise of a spectacular female hero, and take a trip with a cast of characters through a look at a bleak but fascinating future.
Lion-Girl (2023) will receive a digital/Blu-ray release on November 7th 2023.