Rapeman Fudoh: The Next Generation is another in a long line of Yakuza films helmed by Takashi Miike. The big difference here is that the principal Yakuza organisation in the film is made up of adolescents and 5-7 year old boys who are just as deadly as their adult rivals.The reigning Nio Yakuza clan is made up of five different families, one of the five heads is Iwao Fudoh, and his first lieutenant his oldest son, Ryu. When Ryu orders one of the rival Yasha organisations hit men killed, thus triggering a full scale war between the Yasha and Nio clans, Iwao is asked to make up for his sons mistake and he does so by decapitating him and presenting the head as compensation to the Nio clan.Upon hearing a noise Iwao's youngest son Riki, awakes and goes to investigate - he stumbles upon the grisly sight of his father beheading his older brother. Cut to ten years later, Riki is now in high school and running an organisation of his own made up of fellow students and a group of little boys. His anger over the death of his brother has not faded in the least and he has plans to wipe out the other four families in the Nio clan and become boss.Fudoh is really a mindblowing spectacle, we are constantly battered with violent and non-PC imagery, beginning with the sight of two five year-old boys coldly assassinating an elderly Yakuza boss. To see young children effortlessly handling 9mm's is somewhat of a shock to our pre-conditioned minds to start with, but when they continue on to calmly blow an old man's brains out you start to get an idea of what is ahead.The next slaying involves a poisoned cup of coffee and literally bucketloads of blood. Another features Riki's female friend and classmate Mika, who works on the side at a sleazy strip joint performing her unique act which consists of shooting sharpened darts out of a blowpipe inserted in her vagina and bursting balloons on the other side of the room, though this night, in-between balloons, she shoots a dart right through a Nio leaders head - in one ear and out the other - the dart sinks into the wall with a piece of brain tissue still attached.Everything about Fudoh is so over-the-top and insanely exaggerated that you seem not to notice that the likelihood of a group of children being at war with the Yakuza is highly improbable. Midway through the film we are shown the children's training camp where we see the kids merrily playing soccer with their English teachers head, this serves again to reinforce the sense of unreality that's at play here. Although, all hyperbole aside, Fudoh also explores the dysfunctional relationship between father and son, a bond so broken down by betrayal and murder that as the two males sit opposite each other eating dinner in silence, each one is plotting a way to execute the other.All in all, if you dig schoolgirl hermaphrodites, friendly giants, lesbian English teachers, vaginal darts and a large helping of blood and black comedy, this a must-see Miike film.

BA_Harrison Japan's Takashi Miike has made some of the most strange, violent, and compelling movies of the last ten years, and whilst I won't pretend to have understood or even enjoyed all of those that I have seen, I salute Mr. Miike for his ability to consistently turn out innovative work; one simply finds it impossible to predict his next move.Fudoh: The Next Generation takes a standard tale of warring Yakuza and adds so many bizarre elements and madcap characters that it is unmissable for fans of weird Asian cinema. It would definitely appeal to those that have enjoyed the similarly OTT Dead or Alive and the bloodthirsty Ichi the Killer.Two rival gangs, the Nioh and Yasha, are on the brink of gang war. As a peace offering, Iwao Fudoh of the Nioh offers his son's head (literally!). Unbeknownst to Iwao, Riki, his youngest son, witnesses his brother's gruesome death.Ten years later and Riki is the leader of his own gang, whose members are made up from primary-school hit men and deadly schoolgirl assassins. Riki Fudoh and his gang have been busy bumping off the Nioh bosses in order to gain complete control of the area; but his father has other ideas, getting his illegitimate son Gondoh to start slaughtering Riki's gang.Unlike some of Miike's other films, the narrative is fairly simple to follow, meaning that one can relax, kick back and enjoy the crazy antics that pack this terrific movie. With it's killer children, a hermaphrodite who shoots darts from her cooch, a giant of a bloke who gets blown up but returns wearing a cool metal mask, a bad guy with metal rimmed boots, and a sexy leather-mini-skirt wearing teacher, Fudoh boasts an incredible roster of unusual characters. These maniacs slice, chop, shoot and dissolve (there are a couple of juicy acid attacks) each other without hesitation meaning that this film is a dream-come-true for gore-hounds.If you're after a truly unique viewing experience, then you really should check out this extremely outrageous and bloody movie, 'cos it's a winner from start to finish.

oneinfinity After being blown away by Audition I thought I'd better get more acquainted with Miike. After reading reviews and reader comments I decided to go back a little and start with Fudoh. In short, I can't believe this movie was made by the same director as Audition. There's no need to go into details of the film really given all the other reviews, just suffice it to say, if you're expecting Audition quality material, forget it. If you're looking for the Japanese equivalent of a straight to video b-movie action pic, with a script that occasionally flirts with intelligence, you might like it. I didn't.4 of 10

jtourbro How can you not love this movie? If you have any sense of humor you'll love this completely over-the-top far-out yakuza-high school flick. It's about the young Fudoh taking on the established yakuza with a ragtag band of hitmen. They include a school girl with a vaginal blowpipe (has to be seen to be believed!), and two little kids who has to shoot back-to-back because the recoil would otherwise knock them over. The film has a high tempo and constantly surprises and amazes. If you haven't seen any of Miikes films this is a great place to start, and if you have you've got to see this right away!9/10