Rarely will you ever see action this basic rise to such a level of outright astonishment, but Tatsuya Naka is a true pioneer of wowing lovers of action with such a degree of combat minimalism. He takes a few good licks himself from a female Muay Thai fighter, but gets around that threat without being too flashy about it. When Matsumura comes to Kei’s rescue after she’s kidnapped by The Destroyers, she sees his emphasis on kata training play out in front of her in real time, with Matsumura felling one enemy after another with knees, elbows, side kicks, and his personal calling card, a simple reverse punch.
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While Kei’s fighting style doesn’t send her airborne for the most part, the amount of spinning kicks she dishes out looks like something out a Tony Jaa movie compared to the more grounded and straightforward approach her Sensei utilizes, which is exactly the point he wishes to instil to her mind. Tatsuya Naka is out of this world in the role of Matsumura, something that’s that much more impressive with the simplicity of the techniques he relies upon. As amazing as she is when she springs into action, you can’t help but feel sorry for the poor black belts she pummels in other karate dojos early on in the film, and it’s obvious that she needs some serious redirection, which is where Sensei Matsumura comes in. While Kei’s clear determination to be promoted to black belt is admirable, the film goes in the reverse direction of “ The Karate Kid” by pretty clearly portraying her as a bully. By midway, the film has made clear its intent to do the rewind gimmick on virtually every hit, and it’s a card that the film frankly overplays, even if only to make it unquestionably clear just how much pain is being dished out. Unfortunately, that proves to be to the film’s greatest detriment as well. Later on, Kei sidekicks another enemy in the head causing his head to rebound off the wall behind him, with the reality of the hit sold by that ever reliable instant replay. One of Kei’s early brawls largely involves her and her opponent simply pounding one another with one roundhouse kick after another to see who can endure the most punishment. While one has to assume that the actors are theoretically pulling a lot of their strikes, it’s seemingly a matter of micrometers.
Kei is none too fond of this side of training Kyoji Amano assumes the role of The Destroyers’ heaviest-hitter, Kenga, and Yuka Kobayashi and Sayaka Akimoto portray Rin and Rika, a pair of female fighters for The Destroyers who give Kei a run for her money. Masahiro Sudo assumes the role of Ryusoku, leader of a gang known as “The Destroyers” with a vendetta against Matsumura, while Ryuki Takahashi of “Kamen Rider” fame plays Kei’s fellow karateka, Ryousuke Nakama. Rina Takeda steps into the titular lead of Kei Tsuchiya, who implements a naively misguided strategy of impressing her Sensei Yoshiaki Matsumura, played by Tatsuya Naka, in order to be promoted to black belt. Frankly, a more fitting title for the film might have been “Instant Replay”, as it goes out of its way like few martial arts films ever have to make extra sure you see the damage inflicted by every punch, kick, chop, elbow, and knee in stunning, albeit somewhat overdone, detail. If you’re in the mood to see one derrière after another getting kicked in glorious slow-motion, “High Kick Girl!” is right up your alley.