introduction

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.

In Japan, there is a saying, “The nail that sticks up gets hammered down.” In Kamikaze Girls, “Lolita” Momoko and “Yankee” Ichigo are the nails that stick up. This is their story.

phenomenon

Kamikaze Girls is the latest pop-culture phenomenon to take Japan by storm. It began as a best-selling novel, “Shimotsuma Story” (English Title, “Kamikaze Girls”), by cult writer Novala Takemoto, whose empathy with social outsiders and decadent fashion sense has helped cultivate a devoted following among young women, particularly those in the “Lolita” fashion scene.

Takemoto’s book was adapted into a comic and then into a film, written and directed by Tetsuya Nakashima, best known for his work in TV drama and advertisting. In Kamikaze Girls, Nakashima creates a world as colorful as Momoko’s sweets-filled lunchbox, informed in equal parts by slick television commercials and sentimental Japanese girls’ comic books.

story

Momoko (pop idol Kyoko Fukada, pictured above) yearns to live in 18-century Versailles than in her back-country hometown of Shimotsuma, heartland of the yakuza. To escape, she loses herself in the dreamy, doll-like fashions of the "Lolita” scene. Her idol is Akinori Isobe, chief designer of Baby, the Stars Shine Bright—her favorite Lolita design hose. She travels all the way to Tokyo to shop at their store.

One languid summer, to help fund her expensive hobby, Momoko runs a
classified ad of brand-name knock-off clothes (produced by her dad) for
sale. She encounters a buyer named Ichiko (the real name is Ichigo), who
happens to live in her neighborhood.

Super-rebel Ichiko (model and J-rock icon Anna Tsuchiya, pictured below), is a “Yankee”-style member of the Ponytails motorbike gang, one of Ibaraki's "Wild speed tribes,” whose teeth-rattling customized bikes are decked out with fiberglass shields and bannered backrests.

Somewhat against Momoko’s will, she and Ichigo slowly develop a strong friendship as they share their feelings on the odd goings-ons around them.

(35mm/color/1:1.85/103min./English Subtitle)