is a 2008 Japanese horror

action comedy The action comedy is a film genre that applies to action films where humor plays a much more central role. While early films feature stuntwork and humor, academic Cynthia King wrote that the genre only came into its own as a mainstay of the America ...

film written and directed by

Noboru Iguchi (born June 28, 1969) is a Japanese film director, screenwriter and actor. He has worked as a director in adult video (AV) as well as in the horror and gore genres. Life and career Iguchi was born on June 28, 1969. In an interview he said he w ...

, and starring Minase Yashiro, Asami, Kentarō Shimazu and

Honoka is a Japanese TV personality, actress, writer and former adult video (AV) performer who retired from the AV industry in 2008. Life and career Honoka was born in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. She is a licensed practical nurse and has appeared a ...

. The plot follows an orphaned Japanese schoolgirl whose life is destroyed when her brother is killed by a son of a

Ninja A , or was a spy and infiltrator in pre-modern Japan. The functions of a ninja included siege and infiltration, ambush, reconnaissance, espionage, deception, and later bodyguarding.Kawakami, pp. 21–22 Antecedents may have existed as ear ...

Yakuza , also known as , are members of transnational organized crime syndicates originating in Japan. The Japanese police and media (by request of the police) call them , while the yakuza call themselves . The English equivalent for the term ''yak ...

clan. When her hand is cut off, she replaces it with a makeshift machine gun and seeks revenge. Special effects were completed by Yoshihiro Nishimura, who went on to direct '' Tokyo Gore Police''. It was initially released in the United States on May 23, 2008 before premiering in Japan on August 2, 2008.

Plot

Ami Hyūga is an average high school girl whose world comes crashing down when her brother Yu and his friend Takeshi Sugihara are killed by bullies, led by Sho Kimura. As Ami tracks down Sho, she discovers that the bullies are associated with a ninja-yakuza family. She goes after the clan for revenge, but they brutally overpower her, cutting off her left arm. Ami escapes and seeks shelter with Takeshi's parents, Suguru and Miki Sugihara, two kindly mechanics who fit her with a multi-barrelled machine gun prosthetic. Ami and Miki (who uses a

chainsaw A chainsaw (or chain saw) is a portable handheld power saw, power saw that cuts with a set of teeth attached to a rotating chain driven along a guide bar. Modern chainsaws are typically gasoline or electric and are used in activities such as t ...

) pursue the clan, massacring them one by one. Their victims' families, meanwhile, band together to get revenge. Eventually, they reach the Yakuza's hiding place. As the fight continues, Miki loses her right foot and eventually dies. Ami loses her machine gun during her fight with Sho's father Ryūgi Kimura, but gets Miki's chainsaw. Finding Sho with hostages to keep Ami at bay, his mother Violet Kimura manages to disarm Ami while attempting to kill her with her drill bra. Noticing one of the hostages wet himself, Ami takes advantage and trips Violet onto the urine, electrocuting her. She then beheads Sho and Violet. Feeling she has nothing left to live for, she attempts to commit

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

. At that moment, Ami hears noise behind her and turns, sword at the ready.

Production

According to writer and director Iguchi, the idea for ''The Machine Girl'' went back to a simple idea he had about a one-armed girl in a bikini looking for revenge. The idea for the machine gun arm came later.

Cast

* Minase Yashiro – Ami Hyuga * Asami Miyajima – Miki Sugihara * Noriko Kijima – Yoshie *

– Sumire Kimura * Yūya Ishikawa – Suguru Sugihara * Kentarō Shimazu – Ryūji Kimura * Ryosuke Kawamura – Yu Hyuga * Nobuhiro Nishihara – Sho Kimura * Taro Suwa – Kimura gang member

English dub Version

The English dubbed version was dubbed at

NYAV Post NYAV Post is an American recording studio located in New York City. It was founded by Michael Sinterniklaas in 2000, with a West Coast branch located in Los Angeles, California. The studio is prolific in recording anime dubs, original anima ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. *

Brina Palencia Brina Palencia (born February 13, 1984) is an American voice and television actress. She has voiced a number of English-language versions of characters featured in anime. Palencia provides the dubbed voices of Tony Tony Chopper in '' One Pie ...

– Ami Hyuga *

Carrie Keranen Carrie Keranen is an American voice actress. Her roles include Misato Katsuragi in the Netflix dub of Neon Genesis Evangelion, Satsuki Kiryuin in '' Kill la Kill'', Casca in '' Berserk'', and Alya Césaire in '' Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug ...

– Miki Sugihara *Kevin T. Collins – Suguru Sugihara *Charles Bunting – Ryūji Kimura *

Stephanie Sheh Stephanie Sheh (born April 10, 1977) is an American voice actress, ADR director, writer, and producer who has worked for several major companies. She is often involved with work in English dubs of anime, cartoons, video games, and films. Her not ...

– Yoshie * Michael Sinterniklaas – Yu Hyuga *

Christopher Kromer Christopher Edward "Chris" Kromer (born August 1, 1973) is an American actor and television host. He is co-host of the reality series '' Beat the House'' on HGTV. Early life Kromer was born in Queens, New York and was raised in New Jersey ...

– Sho Kimura * Drew Aaron – Takeshi Sugihara, Teppei * Wayne Grayson – Kitamura * Dan Green – Yusume *

Jason Griffith Jason Adam Griffith is an American actor. Best known for his voice acting work, he portrayed Sonic the Hedgehog and Shadow the Hedgehog for the 4Kids Entertainment English dub of the anime ''Sonic X'', and reprised both roles for ''Sonic the Hedg ...

– Ryota, various * Erica Schroeder – Masako * Mike Pollock – Sushi Chef *

Brandon Potter Charles Brandon Potter (born July 28, 1982) is an American voice and television actor. He is known for his voice work, directing, and screenplay writing for anime as well as for playing the role of Quintus in the streaming series, ''The Chosen ...

– Kaneko *Dara Seitzman – Sumire *Robby Sharpe – Hiroshi *Christine Shipp – Yumiko, Old Lady * Tom Wayland – Shinsuke * David Wills – Suguano

Release

The movie premiered at the

Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival The , also sometimes called YIFFF, is held in a resort-like environment in the small town of Yūbari on the northernmost Japanese island of Hokkaidō. From 1990 to 1999, the festival was known as the Yubari International Fantastic Adventure Fil ...

in March 2008. It was released theatrically in the United States on May 23, 2008 and on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

June 3, 2008, and in Japan on August 2, 2008. The Japanese DVD from Nikkatsu came out January 23, 2009 as a 2 disc set including the short . Tokyo Shock, the Media Blaster label which released the original US DVD, announced that they were bringing out a two-disc special titled ''The Machine Girl Remix'' on August 4, 2009. The set includes the ''Shyness Machine Girl'' short, renamed ''Machine Girlite''.

Reception

The film's reception has been mixed to positive. It currently holds a 63% "fresh" rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

from eight reviews.

Rating

The film was rated 18 in countries such as

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

, and

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

because of nonstop gore, bloody action sequences and a

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...

scene with suggested

necrophilia Necrophilia, also known as necrophilism, necrolagnia, necrocoitus, necrochlesis, and thanatophilia, is sexual attraction or acts involving corpses. It is classified as a paraphilia by the World Health Organization (WHO) in its ''International ...

c overtones.

Legacy

direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, television series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strat ...

sequel called was released on January 23, 2009 along with the Japanese DVD of ''The Machine Girl''. The American

electronic music Electronic music broadly is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments, circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers) in its creation. It includes both music ...

project Machine Girl was named after the film, as well as their song Mg1 sampling several pieces of dialogue from the film.

References

External links

*
MachineGirl.net
* *
Internal Bleeding

Nippon Cinema
{{DEFAULTSORT:Machine Girl, The 2008 action comedy films 2008 action films 2008 comedy films 2008 films 2008 horror films 2000s exploitation films 2000s Japanese films 2000s Japanese-language films Films directed by Noboru Iguchi Girls with guns films Japanese action comedy films Japanese action horror films Japanese comedy horror films Japanese films about revenge Japanese splatter films Japanese vigilante films Tokyo Shock Yakuza films