In the continuing series of Japanese ninja girls, we find Ninja Vixens: Devilish Angels from Neon-g. Third in an ongoing-yet-unrelated series, Anju earns the title of “Ninja Vixen” with a vengeance. Having defected from her clan, she takes up jobs for money and hustles the stupid theives in the Japanese countryside. It is this latter tendency which creates a chance meeting with Yuki, a homeless soul looking for a friend and teacher to make her more than a shell of a woman. Ninja Vixens: Devilish Angels brings back the humor found in Flame of Seduction along with the arousing talents of actresses Miki Shigeyashu, Minako Tsuge, and Japanese AV idol Chika Kawamura to present a light-hearted story with action.
Stats
DVD: Ninja Vixens: Devilish Angels
Release Date: 10/24/2006
Release Studio: Geneon Entertainment / Neon-g
MSRP: $19.98
Audio: Japanese 2.0 DD
Subtitles: English
Episodes: 1
Runtime: 70mins
Extras: Preview description for Ninja Vixens: Flames of Seduction, Ninja Vixens: Crimson Blades, and Ninja Vixens: Vixen Dropouts
Notes: Review is based on a Screener copy of the final product. The video is letterbox (non-anamorphic widescreen), the screencaps have been cropped to reduce the amount of black bars shown.
A trio of idiot thieves harass a beautiful, wandering woman in a silk red and black kimono. They disarm the helpless woman of her useless sword and kidnap her for their own perverse pleasures back home. Yet, watching from the bushes is a dirty, homeless girl named Yuki (Minako Tsuge of Mini-Suka Police notoriety) who becomes concerned for the innocent woman’s fate. She follows the band of morons back to their hut. There she watches the father and his two sons argue about who gets to rape the woman’s body first when she transforms before them into the skilled ninja vixen Anju (Miki Shigeyasu). Quickly disposing of the buffoons, the ninja notices Yuki watching. Disgusted, Anju insults her and leaves about her business of robbing the thieves of their stolen money.
Yuki desires to be something more in life and decides to follow Anju. Somewhat curious as to why she’s being followed, Anju toys with Yuki in a series of tests of her resolve in this pursuit. When these fail to stop the stalking, Yuki is confronted with what she wants from the ninja vixen as Anju holds a blade to her throat. Yuki breaks down and explains her hard and aimless life. She desires to become strong like her new “Sis,” but Anju warns that attempting to escape one hell may only lead to another hell. Yuki is a tad confused at the obtuse description of Anju’s way of life.
Back at the hut we find the family of thieves tied up and being interrogated by another sexy ninja and her muscle. Orchid (Chika Kawamura) has been hunting the defecting ninja vixen for the bounty on her head from their clan. Kojiro, the Asian version of Texas Chainsaw Massacre’s Leatherface, has the band of idiots broken easily into confessing that Anju beat them up. A comical dumb ox, he stomps around knowing that the guys are afraid of him and forces them to also confess which of the two ninja vixens is prettier. Orchid wins over the thieves, but Kojiro’s answer of Anju angers Orchid into punishing him with her snake-charm power.
Anju sets up her next job with her dealer Kisuke while Yuki watches and then they go off to eat lunch. Anju explains to Yuki about the importance that even a small rock can have if it tries to do something. Yuki takes these words to heart when Orchid and Kojiro appear suddenly. The ninja vixens battle as Yuki attempts to make herself useful. A lucky rock lets them escape, but Yuki still isn’t convinced she is worth something when they talk by the campfire that night. Anju decides to reveal the dark side of living as a ninja vixen and her own reasons for escape. Not wanting to lead Yuki down that same path, Anju abandons her that night to complete the next mission and move on in life.
Devilish Angels is a lighter story that is filled with moments of laughter, silliness, and a decent ending. The acting can get cheesy at times with the minor characters like the trio of thieves and Kojiro’s scenes. Anju and Orchid sadly only battle twice in the film, but it’s fun to watch over and over again. The story is open-ended for a possible sequel, yet I can’t see any of the Ninja Vixens titles having one. Instead, we will just have to suffer watching the two hot girls battle here and wish a prequel of the revealed backstory between the two could be made. Nudity sticks with breast shots mainly appearing during the rape and seduction scenes provided by Anju and Orchid as the story moves along. While buxom, Minako Tsuge’s Yuki doesn’t reveal anything more than some nice cleavage, and even that is rare.
Ninja Vixens: Devilish Angels is a worthy addition to the B-movie series and highly recommended for a fun romp of comedy and action. Miki Shigeyasu and Chika Kawamura look great in their short ninja outfits and Minako Tsuge cleans up fairly well despite wearing tattered clothing through most of the film. The usual video artifacting from its original DV camcorder filming is present, but the subtitles appear at a good pace now for reading. One could still MST3K this with some buddies, though the “trials” Anju puts Yuki through towards the beginning probably need to be fast-forwarded through as it gets boring short of some “pwned” moments. Kojiro’s antics as Japan’s answer to Leatherface really come out as the movie continues towards the climax, so a viewing of the original classic could add to the laughter of his performance. The “ninja powers” have indeed returned with this third installment, so get ready to cheer on the newest sensual weapons in the ninja vixen arsenal, including making a man’s “second head” talk in ways you didn’t know were possible. Men are doomed if more women figure out how to get this particular power.