Japanese Reviews Reviews

Film Review: MAI CHAN’s Daily Life: The Movie (2014) by Sado Sato

A genuine splatter film, a movie so difficult to watch, that you have to watch it.

Based on the homonymous ero guro tankobon (one-shot) manga, “Mai Chan's Daily Life” is a definite Japanese , where no punches are pulled, whatsoever.

The script, as usual in similar films, is basic, since its only purpose is to provide a background for the violence. In that fashion, Miyako reads an ad on the internet requesting a maid for a mansion. She finds it interesting and applies, and after she passes a number of tests, including one when she is measured all over while naked, becomes a maid in the house. The other members of the establishment include the Master of the residence, Kaede, the head-maid, and Mai. As Kaede soon discovers, the latter is an immortal that regenerates no matter what injuries Kaede inflicts upon her, in a tendency that both Kaede and the master seem to indulge in. Miyako soon finds herself sharing their onerous sentiments.

directs a truly horrible film, which reveals itself from the introductory scene and never ceases to shock, with its mixture of abnormal eroticism and grotesque torture. Obviously, there is no depth here, just violence combined with lesbian notions and much fanservice.

The film is obviously low budget, a fact exemplified by the stereo sound, but the other departments do a nice job of depicting the distorted atmosphere Sato wanted to present. In that fashion, Zerai Naoi's special effects are great, particularly the depiction of blood, Anzu has done a great job on the costumes, and Yuqwe composed some fitting tracks that move in noise or baroque style. The fact that most of the violent scenes are in black-andpwhite stresses their effect, and the way the various chapters are introduced, in silent movie style, is quite fitting.

Although there is not much acting involved, gorgeous as Miyako, as Mai-chan, as Kaede and as Master do a nice job of portraying the tortures. Particularly An Koshi, who is the main victim of the tortures, is the one who actually steals the show.

“Mai Chan's Daily Life” is a genuine splatter film, a movie so difficult to watch, that you have to watch it.

About the author

Panos Kotzathanasis

My name is Panos Kotzathanasis and I am Greek. Being a fan of Asian cinema and especially of Chinese kung fu and Japanese samurai movies since I was a little kid, I cultivated that love during my adolescence, to extend to the whole of SE Asia.

Starting from my own blog in Greek, I then moved on to write for some of the major publications in Greece, and in a number of websites dealing with (Asian) cinema, such as Taste of Cinema, Hancinema, EasternKicks, Chinese Policy Institute, and of course, Asian Movie Pulse. in which I still continue to contribute.

In the beginning of 2017, I launched my own website, Asian Film Vault, which I merged in 2018 with Asian Movie Pulse, creating the most complete website about the Asian movie industry, as it deals with almost every country from East and South Asia, and definitely all genres.

You can follow me on Facebook and Twitter.

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