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Fujio (Tadanobu Asano) is a bit on the slow side, and thus he has never
amounted to much in his life - until he met his co-worker Mitsuo (Sho
Aikawa), who has taught him to appreciate jiu jitsu and has bcome sort of
a father-figure for him. Thing is, Mitsuo isn't terribly bright either ... I
think at this point it's appropriate to mention Black Fuji, a large
garbage dump in the middle of Tokyo, where people don't only drop their
everyday garbage, but every now and again also some corpses, should they
be in need of some. Problem is, at one point these corpses come back to
life as zombies who want to eat the living, and on their descent from
Black Fuji, the zombies pass Fujio and Mitsuo's place (who have dumped
their boss on Black Fuji). Only just do Mitsuo and Fujio manage to get
away, mainly thanks to Mitsuo's jiu jitsu techniques ... Mitsuo and
Fujio want to go to Russia, because according to Mitsuo, that's where a
martial artist has to go, but then, while emptying a mini mart, Mitsuo
decides to save a woman, Ryoko (Erika Okuda) from a zombie attack, and
gets bitten in the process. He is sure he's infected by the zombie virus
and thus throws himself off a bridge. Immediately after that, Fujio's car
gets stolen and he and Ryoko are cornered by zombies on a bridge - and
they have no choice but to throw themselves into the river below ... 5
years later. Fujio and Ryoko are now married (out of necessity more than
anything else) and have a daughter (Hina Matsuoka). They live in Tokyo
once more, in a zombie-free enclave, where Fujio has become a zombie
wrestler, means he wrestles zombies in an arena for the entertainment of
the enclave's rich folks. However, Fujio now takes Mitsuo's teachings
about jiu jitsu very seriously - and his fights are a bit short and boring
because of that ... which is why the audience always roots for the zombie
when he's in the ring. Of course, eventually Fujio gets to fight the most
dangerous zombie of them all, a zombie that also knows jiu jitsu - which
of course turns out to be Mitsuo. For a zombie, Mitsuo is surprisingly
aware of everything though, and able to talk and all, and even while they
fight, Mitsuo gives Fujio advice about his techniqes, and teases him
enough to get him properly enraged to win the fight - because you know,
unbeknowest to even Mitsuo himself, he is no zombie (told you he wasn't
very bright), back in the day he was bitten by a zombie with dentures,
which only technically counts as a zombie bite but does not pass on the
virus. Because the enclave comes under attack, Fujio doesn't get to end
the fight against Mitsuo and kill him, but just in time before the whole
place goes kaboom, he manages to collect his family and make a getaway, to
Russia. The idea to blend the zombie genre with the
comparatively unexciting martial arts of jiu jitsu sounds inspired, and
for the most part, it also results in a fun film, a bizarre zombie comedy
with plenty of unexpected plot elements and twists, carried by quirky
characters, a light-footed direction and two versatile leads at their
comedic best. Sure, the film also has its flaws, like the relative lack of
atmosphere or a few too moronic jokes, as well as the occasional subplot
that the whole thing could have done without, but if you don't expect a
masterpiece but just good and even original genre entertainment, you will
very probably highly enjoy this!
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find Tokyo Zombie at adultvideouniverse.com
