Yo-Yo Girl Cop

Based on the 1980s Japanese TV series Delinquent Girl Detective, filmmaker Kenta Fukasaku's wacky thriller feels like a live-action anime. The title character is known as “K,” a young lady who is so rough that she's deported from New York back to her native Japan, where she's quickly recruited by the police to infiltrate a high school that appears to be turning female students into suicide bombers. The yo-yo is K's weapon of choice, although some practice is required before she can master it without creating self-inflicted wounds. The film isn't lacking in subtle wit (ex: a bomb-making website is known as “Enola Gay”), but it clearly prefers to revel in the utter outrageousness of nubile young ladies in carefully tailored schoolgirl outfits engaging in highly stylized fight sequences. Yo-Yo Girl Cop also gains mileage with pop princess Aya Matsuura in the starring role as K—who brings style, beauty, and unexpected grit to a memorable performance. Highly recommended. (P. Hall)