Long prescribed to a stagnating society, the status quo had its own rulebook torn at the onset of the age of coronavirus. Rupturing ordinariness at the seams, the question always remained: why go back? Why not stumble into the extraordinary, an imaginative domain of endless possibilities and supernatural intrigue? These ideals of returning to what had been became rife for their own rebellion, to forge a future suited for all. For the adolescent, such drastic change could never come at a more disruptive time, forced to make sense of a world, of a body, of mind and soul, being turned upside down. Though there may be little actual rebellion unfolding within Shinichi Fujita's ‘Mayhem Girls', there is plenty to rebel against the film itself, a disappointing yet oddly charming flurry of escapism that poses more questions than it can bare to answer.
Mayhem Girls is screening at New York Asian Film Festival
Discovering they both possess supernatural powers, Mizuho (Mizuki Yoshida) and Tamaki (Amane Kamiya) form an unlikely bond toward the tail-end of a nationwide lockdown, finding each other as they explore the possibilities and limitations of their newfound abilities. As their friendship deepens, the abrupt arrival of Akane (Manami Igashira) and Kei (Hina Kikuchi) dismantles their social trajectory until the two are welcomed into their bubble, strengthening their gifts to unseen capabilities and promising to keep them hidden from the outside world. When Mizuho negates this rule and shows this off to her middle-school sensei, the down-and-out Yusuke (Taisei Kido), the group become embroiled in a string of bank heists, pushing them towards the fringes of their own morals and threatening a tragic rift amongst themselves.
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Fujita's latest film liberally spends considerable time and momentum developing the four girls' burgeoning relationships that its cataclysmic curveball – the manipulative Yusuke – throws itself into disarray, choking its blithe spirit with an unnecessarily toxic grip it chooses to ignore. Culminating in a showdown putting to use their heightened powers at the apex of corruptible greed, ‘Mayhem Girls' plummets from a coming-of-age exploration of friendship and femininity at a time of great social upheaval down to an arguably silly psychological battle between good and evil faster than the film can possibly build itself up to. The leaps in logic and narrative this requires, including in its own supernatural laws, defy comprehension, choosing to forget issues and questions it had previously raised for a new set, none of which, again, are explored to any great depth.
Despite its overlong origin-story approach ‘Mayhem Girls' set-up pays a touching tribute to all friendships and readjustments made over the last few years: brought together by their powers, the quartet comes together a mismatched set derived from cliques that would have little to do with one another. Testament to the will of youth in order to adapt to the complexities of an ever-changing landscape, the film's treatment of these characters is surprisingly tender and introspective; brought to life by a superb cast of young actors brimming with charm and fervour – especially Igashira's chaotic energy as the zany Akane – the film captures their uncertainty, innocence, and confusion with wide-eyed zeal. As it lingers on its more compassionate and wholesome moments. the movie takes a breath and blanks out its own outside world, losing itself in a gaze here and there in brief flutters of total vulnerability.
Sadly, however, as a whole, it lacks nuance and subtlety, and these treasured moments give way to a forced, nonsensical narrative. Though its journey leaves much to be desired, ‘Mayhem Girls' is not without alluring idiosyncrasies, in part thanks to its youthful humor but also found within Terushige Watanabe's visual effects bringing the girls' superpowers to life. Its low-budget appeal, whilst ropey in moments, embellishes the fantastical realm in which this film calls its domain and no doubt raises its own questions as to whether or not what is seen is not just the imagination of one of the girls in this bubble. There is a childlike grandiosity to this spectacle, further adorned by cinematographer Masayuki Nakazawa's eye, harking back to a time when life was far more frivolous and carefree and it is difficult to not be taken in by it.
Grappling with the insurmountable turmoil coronavirus lockdowns inflicted upon the most human need besides the tumultuous biological changes adolescence threatens, ‘Mayhem Girls' steps up to the fore with not so much a rebellious urge as it does a timid sidestep; so encompassed in its subjects' burgeoning relationships is Fujita's film that its own narrative plays second fiddle until the final innings. But by this time, the deft abandon of all sense and rationality becomes its ultimate undoing, submitting to a cavalcade of deus ex machinae and rendering the laborious team-building it spent its entire first act developing all but null and void. It is a shame for ‘Mayhem Girls' possessed great potential to explore its own heartfelt questions in world bereft of normalcy; though its timely existential dilemma may or may not remain unresolved, its oddly fantastical charm triumphs where its substance falters.
