Knowing nothing about the Yatterman anime from the 70’s I only watched this as I knew the actress Kyoko Fukada was in it and she is stunningly sexy in this movie as the main villain Doronjo.
The plot has the Yatterman team (toy shop owner and mecha creator Gan with his girlfriend Ai) trying to outwit the Doronbow gang in trying to locate pieces of the Dokuro Stone which is said to grant any wish with their dog shaped mecha Yatterwoof. The Doronbow gang is led by SkullObey who orders Doronjo and her henchmen (mecha creator, rat-faced and pervert) Boyacky and (thuggish pig faced) Tonzra to find pieces of the stone before Yatterman. Also tagging along with Yatterman is a young teenage girl Shoko whose father went missing looking for the Dokuro Stone. This creates a bit of a love triangle as she starts to fall for Gan with Doronjo also coming into the mix. So Gan has 3 girls after him (lucky git!!!).
As it’s a Takashi Miike movie it’s very imaginative and looks amazing. The special effects are fantastic. For a kids movie though it’s very risque with a couple of scenes surprising me such as Gan sucking poison from Shoko’s upper thigh, a mecha which looks like a female with 2 breasts that has machine guns, a ‘love scene’ between Yatterwoof and the female mecha plus you’ve got Doronjo’s henchmen constantly looking at her heaving bosom (well I don’t blame then for doing that!!!!). For me, Kyoko Fukada makes this movie, she just lights up any scene she’s involved in. I can imagine Japanese fathers taking their sons to watch this with the firm intention of ogling Doronjo. Of course for girls watching Yatterman their attention will fall firmly on J-pop idol group Arashi’s rapper Sho Sakurai. The theme of this movie is about love, growing up, friendship, teamwork and family
Yatterman is a fun comedic camp movie which even has a musical interlude but it does turn a little bit dark near the end. I really liked this movie. It was enjoyable and very entertaining, full of bright and colorful scenes. Recommended.
Sadako’s Rating: 4 out of 5
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