Baby Assassins (2021) / Baby Assassins 2 (2023) / Baby Assassins 3 (2024)

[whitesnake]

Well Go USA gives Baby Assassins a U.S. Blu-ray release on August 16, 2022.  

https://www.rightstufanime.com/Baby-Assassins-Blu-ray 

 

 

[laagi]

On 7/6/2022 at 6:15 AM, whitesnake said:

Well Go USA gives Baby Assassins a U.S. Blu-ray release on August 16, 2022.  

https://www.rightstufanime.com/Baby-Assassins-Blu-ray 

 

 

I thought the action looked awfully familiar. Thanks for the heads up! I'll check this out asap.

[Takuma]

I caught Baby Assassins on TV a few months ago. Really, really, really hated it. Typical modern Japanese action for modern Japanese audiences who think action cinema is lowly and embarrassing, hence you need to make it quirky and ironic and somehow tie it to the normal everyday life to make it acceptable… and do all the blood and gun effect with 5 yen CGI budget of course. Supremely annoying.

edit: if you happen to love Baby Assassins, please don't take my comments personally. My hatred for modern Japanese cinema is just so great I find it hard to be civil

Edited July 11, 2022 by Takuma

[laagi]

On 7/11/2022 at 3:27 PM, Takuma said:

I caught Baby Assassins on TV a few months ago. Really, really, really hated it. Typical modern Japanese action for modern Japanese audiences who think action cinema is lowly and embarrassing, hence you need to make it quirky and ironic and somehow tie it to the normal everyday life to make it acceptable… and do all the blood and gun effect with 5 yen CGI budget of course. Supremely annoying.

edit: if you happen to love Baby Assassins, please don't take my comments personally. My hatred for modern Japanese cinema is just so great I find it hard to be civil

I think you should really watch Bad City! It's pretty much the opposite of what you just described and delivers some excellent and violent action. If I'm not mistaken it already had a theatrical release in Japan.

[Takuma]

On 7/13/2022 at 5:08 AM, laagi said:

I think you should really watch Bad City! It's pretty much the opposite of what you just described and delivers some excellent and violent action. If I'm not mistaken it already had a theatrical release in Japan.

Actually it doesn't premiere in Japan until Dec. 2022, with wider release in Jan. 2023. But I'll keep the title in mind.

[Yihetuan]

On 7/11/2022 at 6:27 AM, Takuma said:

I caught Baby Assassins on TV a few months ago. Really, really, really hated it. Typical modern Japanese action for modern Japanese audiences who think action cinema is lowly and embarrassing, hence you need to make it quirky and ironic and somehow tie it to the normal everyday life to make it acceptable… and do all the blood and gun effect with 5 yen CGI budget of course. Supremely annoying.

edit: if you happen to love Baby Assassins, please don't take my comments personally. My hatred for modern Japanese cinema is just so great I find it hard to be civil

I caught this the other day from Hi-Yah and have to agree with you. The forced quirkiness and the fact none of the characters were likeable & were rather annoying were a big turn off for me. In fact, I think I would've enjoyed this much more if they skipped the entire "assassin" premise and just made it about two semi-autistic, socially inept NEET girls rooming together & trying to survive in modern Japanese society. That would've been a much more interesting and entertaining film especially if directed by someone like Yôsuke Fujita.

Edited July 25, 2022 by Yihetuan

[Drunken Monk]

I'm going to go against the grain here. I loved Baby Assassins. In fact, it's one of my favourite watches of 2022. Be forewarned though; this is NOT an action film. At all. Not even remotely. It's a quirky comedy that's bookended by two action sequences. That's it. Two is all you get.

The action is wonderful though. I don't know how but it feels even more modern than John Wick. It's largely grapple based but it's super complex and there are some moves I just never would have thought of. Think along the lines of Hydra. It really did feel like a breath of fresh air. I loved it.
The action scenes aren't very long either. The first one is about three minutes long and the finale is about seven minutes long. Like I said, not exactly a fight fest.

Some people won't like the comedy either. These aren't laugh out loud jokes. These are based in performance and situations. But I laughed out loud a handful of times.

So does Baby Assassins have the best modern Japanese action? The best I've seen, yes.

[One Armed Boxer]

I caught this one recently as well, and find myself falling more into @Takuma and @Yihetuan's camp (but hey, the world would be a dull place if we all liked and disliked the same stuff). I gave it the full review treatment over at COF - 

https://cityonfire.com/baby-assassins-2021-review/

[D1 Ma]

Aside from loving the movie and considering it "one of my favorite watches of 2022", I'll second Drunken Monk's take on Baby Assassins.

I didn't care for the characters that much and was watching it mostly for the action, whatever little was there, and I liked it. The long fight at the end was similar in style to the fights in Hydra, some really interesting moves. Pretty sure that scene will appear on Youtube. Gunplay was OK, again, some interesting touches, like hiding behind the bodies on the floor. Liked the borrowed from Wick idea of organization of assassins being run like a corporation... Really liked the scene where two Yakuza guys went to that cutesy  place and how it ended

Overall, while not crazy about the movie, I still liked it much more than, let's say Hydra. At least here I chuckled a couple of times

 

Still, of all Japanese movies I've seen , The Fable 2 had the best action, IMHO

[One Armed Boxer]

The sequel will be out later this year - 

[D1 Ma]

While waiting for Baby Assassins 2, I looked at Sakamoto's filmography and decided to check out his movie A Janitor. To my great surprise, that movie featured the same killing duo from Baby Assassins with girls playing the same characters.

Again, Saori Izawa's fight was the highlight of the movie

[PandaPawPaw]

On 1/23/2023 at 11:30 PM, One Armed Boxer said:

The sequel will be out later this year - 

I was thinking about watching this but seeing this thread I'm not too sure and that trailer both interested me and put me off. WTF is that gun fight about!?

It's only 95mins so I could maybe give it a go but I'm worried the two MC will get irritating.

I've seen some right old J-shit recently so I'm picking my J-movies even more carefully now.

[PandaPawPaw]

I watched it and ummmmm hmmmmmmmmmm,

Started off good with the fight in the convenience store and the blonde girl slipping in and out of the guys legs was cool. Some nice moves in it.

So I was thinking this might not be so bad but it just became a mess of a movie. Chisato becomes pretty annoying and not that likeable where as Mahiro is pretty damn good in the fight scenes and kind of cute. I love the punching thing she would do where she does a combo but the opponent dodges them while looking so tight.

The Yakuza crew where not that great especially the stupid crazy daughter though I did find the maid cafe scene with the son and father doing the moe moe thing funny.

Probably have to watch the sequel now.....................

[Drunken Monk]

Managed to watch an unsubtitled version of Baby Assassin 2 last night. Obviously, a lot of what was going on was lost on me (though I was able to get the general gist).

Sad news for those that wanted the second one to be an action-fest. Expect more of the same. The film is sandwiched by fight scenes and has maybe two other short ones sprinkled throughout its run time. So don't expect a lot of action.
The good news is that the final action scene is pretty long and, in my opinion, really enjoyable. Some truly unique and refreshing fight choreography.

Can't wait for Well Go to drop the subtitled version. I really want to watch this one again.

[whitesnake]

Baby Assassins 2 gets a Blu-ray release by Well Go USA on April 2, 2024. So far I've only found the Blu-ray release info at

https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Baby-Assassins-2-Blu-ray/353442/ 

IMDB info under the title Baby Assassins 2 Babies - 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt26920120/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_2_nm_0_q_baby%20assassins%202

[One Armed Boxer]

On 11/3/2023 at 12:28 AM, Drunken Monk said:

Can't wait for Well Go to drop the subtitled version. I really want to watch this one again.

Only 10 days to go! I recently got through watching the sequel as well, and much preferred it to the original (which, like @Takuma, I hated). Full review treatment over at COF - 

https://cityonfire.com/baby-assassins-2-babies-2023-review/

 

[Drunken Monk]

10 hours ago, One Armed Boxer said:

Only 10 days to go! I recently got through watching the sequel as well, and much preferred it to the original (which, like @Takuma, I hated). Full review treatment over at COF - 

https://cityonfire.com/baby-assassins-2-babies-2023-review/

 

I'm glad to hear you enhoyed the second outing. I'll be popping it in the Blu Ray player as soon as it arrives.

[Yihetuan]

Looks like this is turning into a trilogy with Part 3 already announced.

[PandaPawPaw]

Even though I didn't find the first movie amazing, it did leave a mark on me and I am kind of looking forward to the sequel.

I just loved the fighting style in this. That thing Saori Izawa does where she slips out of moves is so cool!

[D1 Ma]

the second outing was a letdown for me. It was more of a pure comedy with action being really inferior, less bloody and more lighthearted and comedic. None of the fights presented any danger for the characters, I wasn't impressed with the choreo and honestly, none of the action bits deserves a repeated viewing, IMO. I liked the characters more this time and chuckled more, but as far as action goes I was really disappointed.

[One Armed Boxer]

On 3/27/2024 at 11:10 AM, D1 Ma said:

I liked the characters more this time and chuckled more

This is the main reason why I found the 2nd one to be more entertaining than the first. I'd say the fights (well - fight - applicable to both entries!) are probably on the same level, but again before of the improved characterisation I found myself more invested in the action when it did happen. 

On 3/26/2024 at 1:14 PM, Yihetuan said:

Looks like this is turning into a trilogy with Part 3 already announced.

Let's get that multiverse going!

[Drunken Monk]

So I finally watched a subtitled version of the film this morning (I bought the Blu Ray). Nuch like thye first, I had a lot of fun. I do think it's inferior to the first one as Baby Assassins 2 seems a little too random. It maintains its quirkiness but at times, the two leads will sit and have conversations seemingly out of nowhere and they'll last a little too long.
The plot is super simple and very lighthearted. There zero darkness in this film. It's all very light and fluffy. But it is a lot of fun and it's a joy to spend some more time with the two ladies.

The action is very infrequent. There's about three full-length fight scenes. They're really enjoyable but it's the final sequence that stands out. In my opinion, the fight between one of the male assassins and Saori Izawa is one of the best I've seen in the last few years. It blew my mind. It's incredible will designed, has a slew of great, original moves and it has one of te funniest moment of the entire film, which I won't spoil.

Action fans won't get a lot from this one, though. Beside the ending, the other fight scenes are pretty short. Though I do love the one where they're dressed in mascot costumes. But don't go in expecting wall to wall fight scenes. It follows the same path as the first film.
I liked it a lot. Not as much as the first film just because the leads outstay their welcome at times. But there's a still a lot to be enjoyed. Can't wait to watch it again.

[Drunken Monk]

First teaser for Baby Assassins 3. It seems they're going darker with this one... 

 

[One Armed Boxer]

On 4/25/2024 at 11:22 PM, Drunken Monk said:

First teaser for Baby Assassins 3. It seems they're going darker with this one... 

Those who know me will know I avoid trailers for any movies I'm keen to see, but judging from these posters it would certainly seem that way in regards to the 3rd instalment going darker! Due to be released on 27th September.

[Daxtreme]

The first one is a banger of a movie, I utterly loved it. Vibed with it so much.

The second one was still good, but not nearly as great.

Gonna be checking out the third one for sure!