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In my continuing quest for movies where women kick ass, I recently discovered Zeiram and its sequels.
Zeiram (1991) is a low-budget Japanese live action SF film, in which Iria, an extra-terrestrial (but human-looking) woman bounty hunter, comes to Earth to capture an unkillable interstellar monster (the Zeiram of the title). She is hindered more than assisted in her quest by two male Japanese electricians who stumble upon her temporary base in a warehouse and spend most of the film screaming in terror when the monster goes after them, and she is assisted by a computer named Bob and a very large collection of advanced SF guns, grenades, transporters, and powered armour. Lots of stuff goes boom.
I think the movie sets some kind of record for the number of times the seemingly defeated bad guy gets back up and resumes attacking.
The good news is that Iria is definitely the protagonist and the story remains centred on her. There are bits where the electricians act like sexist males, but they're brief. For the most part, the camera does not objectify Iria and there's none of that hideous fanservice that tarnishes so many anime with heroine protagonists.
Miraculously enough, this movie is not based on a novel or manga or anime - it's entirely original. Naturally, there was a 6 episode anime prequel spin off. There is also a live action sequel, both from 1994.
The sequel (Zeiram II) is basically just more of the same. The two male electicians are not quite as useless as in the first film, but they still need a lot of rescuing. The anime prequel does an origin story for Iria.
The first couple episodes of the anime have a few seconds of mild fanservice, but the rest are entirely clear of that shit. The anime gives a little more time to various male characters than I'd like, but it's still Iria's story - no goat boy hijacking.
I'd recommend both the movies and the anime. A rip of the first movie is up on Archive.org, and the DVDs have literate English subtitles.
Zeiram (1991) is a low-budget Japanese live action SF film, in which Iria, an extra-terrestrial (but human-looking) woman bounty hunter, comes to Earth to capture an unkillable interstellar monster (the Zeiram of the title). She is hindered more than assisted in her quest by two male Japanese electricians who stumble upon her temporary base in a warehouse and spend most of the film screaming in terror when the monster goes after them, and she is assisted by a computer named Bob and a very large collection of advanced SF guns, grenades, transporters, and powered armour. Lots of stuff goes boom.
I think the movie sets some kind of record for the number of times the seemingly defeated bad guy gets back up and resumes attacking.
The good news is that Iria is definitely the protagonist and the story remains centred on her. There are bits where the electricians act like sexist males, but they're brief. For the most part, the camera does not objectify Iria and there's none of that hideous fanservice that tarnishes so many anime with heroine protagonists.
Miraculously enough, this movie is not based on a novel or manga or anime - it's entirely original. Naturally, there was a 6 episode anime prequel spin off. There is also a live action sequel, both from 1994.
The sequel (Zeiram II) is basically just more of the same. The two male electicians are not quite as useless as in the first film, but they still need a lot of rescuing. The anime prequel does an origin story for Iria.
The first couple episodes of the anime have a few seconds of mild fanservice, but the rest are entirely clear of that shit. The anime gives a little more time to various male characters than I'd like, but it's still Iria's story - no goat boy hijacking.
I'd recommend both the movies and the anime. A rip of the first movie is up on Archive.org, and the DVDs have literate English subtitles.
