Minami Sengoku: "Ada Senritsu hen" movie review and more part one

 Release Date: July 13, 2013     Running Time: 72 minutes    Director: Koji Shiraishi

 Main Cast:

 Minami Sengoku as Miho Ichikawa

Ayano Sato as Yuko Watanabe

 Those were the two main characters in the film as only one other person had somewhat of a major role but there were many cameos from members of the J-Pop groups Up Up Girls, LinQ, Vanilla Beans and Caramel ✰ Ribbon.

 Took many screenshots but this won't be too long of a review. One reason is that is was only 72 minutes long but the major reason is that it wasn't subbed. Was able to pick up most of what happened though did miss too much in the conversations but for the most part it was easy enough to follow. One other reason is that this was the first of the two films which were released on the same day. This movie focused more on Yuko and what she went through but we did see plenty of Minami who is the main focus of the second film and haven't been able to find it. Will keep looking though and was a bit lucky in locating this, was a solid film which will be viewed again.

 Always noticed that pair were quite close in Up Up Girls, they even graduated on the same day which was September 15, 2017. Ayano had the main role in this first movie but Minami's character definitely made more of an impact and didn't think she could play such a brutal part.
 The setting to start the film off is the Senkou Academy which is an elite cram school. So elite and well known that a company wants to shoot a CM at the school and have a class be in the video. The class chosen was Yuko's who appeared to be the school's 'Queen' and also a very smart student. Kumi was the third major character in the film though her role wasn't nearly as big as the other two, she was the director and camera operator for the CM.
 The time is 7:30 pm and the students are rehearsing for the CM in their classroom. Unknown to them outside the school two students are about to enter, when the pair are stopped by a security guard they pummel him and enter. The pair who are Miho(Minami) and Sakura quickly head to the classroom, before entering they lock one of the two exit doors to the room. They certainly startled everyone as they strode into the room, without any warning Miho used her trusty hammer and smashed the teacher who was an actor across her head, she's down and out forever.

  Didn't catch a lot of what happened for a few minutes after that as it was mainly Miho yelling at the class and especially Yuko, my Japanese still isn't proficient enough to follow a fast talker. One boy had enough of Miho's vicious talk which was his mistake, as he stood up she went over to him and clobbered her third person with her hammer, now at least two are dead and unsure if the guard was killed. The students are in such a panic but Miho does them a favor by telling them they can leave the room, all except for Yuko and her two close friends.
 There's some huge rift between the two which I couldn't figure out what it was, actually think the main reasons for Miho's hatred are explained in the second movie and how I wish I could have found it. Miho is certainly ruthless and so isn't her mate Sakura who never utters a word. She never took her mouth mask off but think it's Saki from Up Up Girls. The pair threaten one of Yuko's friends who was Aki telling her she'll be savagely beaten unless she kills.... the other girl who was Tomoko!
 Naturally the girl rebelled but the pressure was so much she ended strangling her friend to death. As Sakura came over to check if the girl was really dead, Aki couldn't take it any more and ended up clobbering Sakura over the head with a chair. She continued to pummel her and even began on Miho but two on one was too much for Aki who was taken down then brutally kicked and then beaten over the head by Miho with her hammer, the total dead is now up to at least three.

 During the commotion Yuko managed to flee the room along with the director of the CM Kumi. This is when the film turns into a semi-documentary for a while as Kumi tries to interview many people who knew both Yuko and Miho such as a teacher and one of their friends. That classroom massacre brought Yuko and Kumi together to become somewhat friends and for the rest of the movie Kumi follows Yuko around with her camera taping everything.
 Yuko is naturally shook up with her two friends being dead, for now it seemed as she wasn't going to school. There's also a police manhunt out for Miho and Sakura which proved fruitless and that failure will effect Yuko greatly. Shortly after the school killings it's Yuko's birthday, she's too sad to have a party but agrees to make her mother happy. And on the night of the small party Yuko is wondering where her mother is when she heard her computer beep with a message.
 Of all people it's Miho who is sending Yuko a message and it's a live video one. Miho isn't alone in the video as tied to a chair is Yuko's mother Yuri. Also watching the video was Kumi, both sat in fear and dismay but there was nothing they could do for the mother. Miho began screaming for Yuko to confess but to what we don't know as that's revealed in the second film. When Yuko fails to answer her questions Miho becomes even more raged and of course took it out on Yuri, first beating her and then eventually stabbing her to death live on the video for Yuko to witness.

 Oh I wish this film was subbed! Getting close to the end, remember this is only a 70+ minute film. Yuko's emotions have now turned from grief to revengeful and she wants nothing more then to kill Miho. Kumi manages to purchase a black market gun and the pair contact Miho for a showdown at the school. Yuko is all prepared as she practiced with the gun which is high powered one, she's also hidden a knife in her sock.
 It's time for the showdown, in Yuko's old classroom she's waiting with Kumi who is still filming everything when they hear footsteps. Silently Yuko creeps to the door, she noticed the pair coming down the hall via a mirror and jumps out firing! She managed to take down Sakura though it wasn't enough to kill her as the shot hit her in the leg. Miho hid away and when Yuko started creeping down the hall to find her Miho was in waiting about to pounce on her.

 As you can see Miho was successful but had forgotten about Kumi who was about to come storming out of the classroom. Her aim was to severely hurt Miho but before she could attack Sakura appeared from around the corner, hurt from the gunshot but she could still move around okay. Sakura was able to get subdue Kumi before she could cause Miho any harm and managed to stab her to death, the fifth time a stabbing death has occurred but it won't be the final death. Though Kumi is now dead her camera manged is still taping, it was thrown in the hallway where the final scene takes place.
 Miho is having her way with Yuko would still won't confess to Miho, think she was in the dark about why Miho hated her just like us. Miho eventually was able to slam Yuko hard to the ground where she couldn't move and that would prove fatal. Miho picked up the dropped gun and asked one last time for Yuko to confess her sins against Miho. When there was no answer from Yuko Miho pointed the gun at her and fired!!!! From only a foot away it's almost impossible to miss and Miho didn't as the somewhat star of the film Yuko lay dead on the ground which ended the movie.

 Wouldn't call this a horror film, perhaps more of a suspenseful thriller. Whatever you want to call it I ended up enjoying it even without subs and would give it a rating of 8/10, it would be close to nine if there were subs. Usually end off with a mega amount of screenshots but that won't be the case for this post.
 The next one will have all 79 screenshots I took which are in order of the events along with the film's trailer, perhaps viewing all of the pics in a row will help you understand the action better. Did cover all of the major events but may have left a few details out plus thanks to no subs didn't know all of those details. But don't go away as there are a few other things here about the film.
 As mentioned both parts opened up on the same day which was July 13th, 2013 and you could see both movies on the same bill. While Ayano had more screen time this film  Minami does in part two which is why I really need to locate it. Both movies were a low budget affair so there was no huge premiere but do have a few pics here from it.

 Two weeks after the film was released Minami and Ayano did an interview for the film and DVD with the Jisin website.

 The DVD came out at the end of August but there wasn't an event for it until October 6th, on that date Up Up Girls performed a mini concert at the Tower Records Cutup Studio to promote it.