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Kamikaze Girls
Toho Company Ltd.

Kamikaze Girls reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 56 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
10.0 out of 10
based on 14 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 7 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: Not Rated

Starring Kyôko Fukada, Anna Tsuchiya, Hiroyuki Miyasako, Ryoko Shinohara, Sadao Abe, Yoshinori Okada, Eiko Koike, and Shin Yazawa

Welcome to the weird and wonderful world of Kamikaze Girls, where two girls from utterly different fashion universes -- one a "Lolita," the other a "Yankee" -- cross paths and discover they have far more in common than at first sight. Kamikaze Girls is the latest pop-culture phenomenon to take Japan by storm. It began as a best-selling novel, by cult writer Novala Takemoto, whose empathy with social outsiders and decadent fashion sense has helped cultivate a devoted following among young women. Takemoto’s book was adapted into a comic and then into this film. (Viz Media)


GENRE(S): Comedy  |  Foreign  
WRITTEN BY: Tetsuya Nakashima
Nobara Takemoto (comics)
 
DIRECTED BY: Tetsuya Nakashima  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: January 10, 2006 
Theatrical: September 9, 2005 
RUNNING TIME: 102 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: Japan 
LANGUAGE(S): Japanese (with English subtitles) 

Original title "Shimotsuma Monogatari"

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

90
Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano
A glorious blend of kitsch, grit, humor and uplift.
Read Full Review
75
Seattle Post-Intelligencer Bill White
Fukada captures the stubborn individualism of a girl who embraces an unpopular lifestyle.
Read Full Review
75
San Francisco Chronicle G. Allen Johnson
A silly, freewheeling, candy-colored lollapalooza, but also heartfelt.
Read Full Review
75
New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
A charmingly loony tale of two young loners who form an unlikely bond, this droll Japanese import puts the predictable banality of most Hollywood teen flicks to shame.
Read Full Review
70
The New York Times Manohla Dargis
The yummy Japanese confection Kamikaze Girls deserves both a better title and an audience to go with it.
Read Full Review
67
Entertainment Weekly Scott Brown
For the Western viewer, the cultural divide acts as a saccharine filter, and Kamikaze, a cult hit in Japan, becomes a mesmerizing lesson in otherness.
Read Full Review
60
The Hollywood Reporter Andrew Sun
It's the kind of rollicking rebel-chick flick that should score well in venues that appreciate Quentin Tarantino films.
Read Full Review
50
Variety Derek Elley
Wears out its welcome at 100 minutes, but could find an audience in the West as a latenight attraction at gay fests.
Read Full Review
50
Film Threat Greg Bellavia
Fluff. The cinematic equivalent of too much cotton candy Tetsuya Nanashima's Kamikaze Girls is a hyperkinetic fun house ride that is about forty five minutes too long.
Read Full Review
50
New York Post V.A. Musetto
What Kamikaze Girls doesn't have is a plot. As nice as the film looks, it soon grows tiresome -- though I could listen to the Johann Strauss II soundtrack forever.
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50
TV Guide Ken Fox
But it's all done with such high style and whizzes along at such an exhausting pace that you probably won't have enough time to notice how little you care.
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50
LA Weekly Chuck Wilson
For this viewer, the climactic scooter-gang rumble, heavy on plot twists and empowerment speeches, felt eternal, but for many, the happy silliness of the film's first half should carry the day.
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50
The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias
Nakashima does his best to keep the flimsy enterprise afloat, mostly through whooshing camera movements and headlong dives into the grotesque extremes of Japanese kitsch. By the end, the effect is like eating a bellyache's worth of cotton candy.
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30
Village Voice Matt Singer
If you value plausibility in movies, skip Kamikaze Girls; this is the sort of picture where getting run over by a truck gives a character gorgeous hair instead of a broken hip.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 10.0 (out of 10) based on 7 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Cindy W. gave it a10:
Some critics just don't know a good movie when they see one. *shakes head* This movie is definately worth the watch!

Dennis L. gave it a10:
This movie is awesome! Some critics really have no idea how to review movies. The only people who shares their taste in movies are other movie critics!

Lindsey P. gave it a10:
I absolutly LOVED this movie and I know you will too!!!!

Clyde M. gave it a10:
Highly imaginative movie that pays gracious homage to Akria Kurosawa. It's so refreshing to experience a comedy about adolesence where the core humor comes from the strength of it's characters rather than clumsy attempts at crude bathroom jokes.

Andreas S. gave it a10:
This is a fascinating story about friendship, and about being outside "normal" culture. It gives a deep, but twisted look into how western culture is being absorbed by japaneese youth. This is NOT a documantary, this is a _FariyTale_ !!! Or more actually, an anime done by real actors. Thus, anything is possible, like crashing a scooter into a 3-wheel-truck while wearing a frilled rokoko dress, and not only walk away but actually ride off to fight a gang of biker-girls. Kamikaze girls is a must if you : a. have ever been bullied. b. have ever been an outsider. c. have ever had a true friend. d. have never had a true friend. e. like strange movies.

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