What do threesomes, walking fish, and secret World War II biological weapons have in common? No it’s not another new History channel special on secret Nazi technology. It’s an animated film titled Gyo: Tokyo Fish Attack. If you haven’t already caught on, that’s a Japanese animated film; Japanese being the keyword and explanation for the aforementioned somewhat ridiculous aspects of the film.
Kaori, Erika and Aki are on vacation in a small beach town to celebrate their upcoming graduation. Kaori has a fiancé back in Tokyo, who is some sort of apprentice of his uncle, a scientist. Erika, for lack of a better way to describe her, is a dirty, dirty whore. Aki is a pretty grotesque looking girl, yes I’m aware she’s animated but still I can see the animators point when they drew her. They are a very unlikely group of friends, each clearly representing a stereotype fairly blatantly. It’s unfortunate as it seems the current lack of creativity in character development has carried over to animation as well. Anyway, after the first walking fish appear it seems this group of friends really aren’t friends at all, as they each seem to have a deep hatred for each other that only a giant shark walking on six legs can bring to the surface. Following the first attack, Kaori leaves her group of friends to travel back to Tokyo to try to find her fiancé. It might not be clear where the threesome or secret World War II biological weapons come into play, but believe me they are in there and not hidden in the least bit.
As someone that has watched a healthy (or unhealthy depending on who you ask) amount of anime, it was easy for me to pick up on the overall deeper message of the film, rather than focus on the giant walking fish, gore, and naked animated ladies. I would recommend this film to anyone that likes anime or has seen some Japanese movies. Without having some background I think you may be lost and wonder what the fuck is wrong with Japanese a
nimators. Although a solid film, there were some plot points that didn’t really make sense because they were contradictory to the entire movie previously.
SPOILER: For example, during the entire film the way the fish are able to walk are old piston driven walking machines built by the Japanese army. In fact one of these walking machines is built by a scientist to show that they are mechanical. Then at the very end of the movie someone says that the walking machines aren’t mechanical and no one knows where they came from. Normally I’d say that’s a twist but since they were shown as machines multiple times previously and one was newly built, it doesn’t quite make sense, but it doesn’t really ruin anything. It’s just the first time I’ve come across that type of pointless contradiction to a major plot point in a Japanese animated film.
Rating: It’s definitely worth picking up if you’re a fan of Japanese animation. (6/10)
Gyo: tokyo Fish Attack is now available on DVD in the UK from Terracotta Entertainment under their new label, Terror Cotta
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