So I had this DVD for a while ( I know, DVDs are such old technology. I’m as embarrassed as you are) and I’ve never really thought it was the right time to watch a manga with a title as mental as that. I was wrong. EVERY time is the right time to watch a manga that makes your brain spin. Specifically this one.
This film manages to cram in such a ludicrous amount of crazy that its hard to remember it all. Here is an example of such crazy-ness – at one point one of the characters becomes a bloated green zombie and does a slow death spiral, while simultaneously burping and farting a sentient smell. Then turns into a sort of robot spider thing and chases someone.
re-read that. That’s not the sort of thing that you get in normal films. Its the sort of thing that you get in awesome films. FACT.
I’m getting ahead of myself. GYO: Tokyo Fish Attack is a film about what happens when fish and sharks grow legs and attack Japan. Its sort of like revenge of the sushi. The film concentrates on a few friends and their struggle to get back to Japan to see if their loved ones are alive. Once they get there, it turns out that it’s worse than they thought. A lot worse. Giant mutant land octopus with robot legs worse. Things escalate.
Japan has a thing about death, and the fish, accordingly, smell of dead people. They also chase the shit out of people, move like cockroaches, and oh yeah, if one of them gets you you go zombie. puffy fart zombie. This is the worst kind of zombie – it would be like if you REALLY liked pop music and fast food. (Hang on a second, I think I might have just worked out what’s going on. The zombies are Americans, and the whole thing is about Pearl harbour and Globalisation. Yeah, that made more sense when I was thinking it than when I was typing it.)
Anyway. This film takes in: Mutants, genetic experimentation, robots powered with gas, biotechnology, SHARKS WITH MOTHERFUCKING LEGS, evil scientists, evolution, teen angst drama, conspiracies, the media, ghosts, and much more. This is all in the space of 71 glorious, and confusing, minutes.
This film re-affirmed to me that manga is amazing. It can take a genre like the disaster flick and then happily add bits in and play about and have a fun old time without worrying about boring things like genre conventions, or what you think. It is its own playground, and it wants you come and play in it. (In an entirely non-sexual way. Unless you get off on mutant shark zombie fart robots, in which case you’ll love it more than you thought you could).
You should watch GYO: Tokyo Fish Attack! I give it at least 4 slowly decomposing fart zombies out of 5.
Seid42Films 