released January 31, 2019

Star Virgin is a 1988 direct-to-video Tokusatsu film produced by Pony Canyon of all companies. It largely capitalizes on the Bikini Armor genre, which I'm really not familiar with.....nor do I intend to become familiar with. Clocking in at just under an hour it features a fairly basic plot wrapped around special effects of varying skill. It's most notable achievement is casting anisong megastar Isao Sasaki. Yes, THAT Isao Sasaki. He was in this film! The film begins with our heroine, Eiko, having been tied to a cross (classic Tokusatsu). The monster who trapped her begins acting somewhat inappropriate with her while she is trapped. This causes her bracelet to activate which transforms her into Star Virgin. She makes short work of the monster and turns back to normal. It is then explained that she is embarking on a vacation to Earth and that it was her father who fit her with the transformation bracelet that would activate whenever a man would act lecherous toward her directly (or in her vicinity). On Earth, she runs into a young man named Ko who is the sudden target of a tank following a dental implant surgery. In order to transform and fight the tank, she tricks a foreign tourist into being inappropriate with her. She manages to transform, destroy the tank, and escape with Ko.Ko is kidnapped by Colonel Arashiyama, who has been after Ko's mysterious tooth implant to restart the nuclear reactor on his island and dominate the world. Eiko manages to break into Arashiyama's layer and free Ko. Arashiyama deploys his robot, Tsutenkaku 1, to follow the pair. As Tsutenkaku 1 is too powerful for Eiko, he is defeated several times purely by accident. Ultimately he manages to recapture the two. When Ko awakens, he is trapped inside a lightening rod. Eiko awakens in a wedding dress in Arashiyama's office. As he intends to wed her, he drinks a revitalizing potion which gives him a much more youthful appearance. He then attempts to make a move on Eiko...
Naturally Eiko becomes Star Virgin thanks to Arashiyama's advances. Arashiyama deploys Tanegashima shi-shiki Robot, which is a giant robot formed from a large white copy of the Statue of Liberty. The robot shoots flames at Ko and then manages to get Star Virgin in it's grasp. After shocking Star Virgin for some time, Ko manages to get into Arashiyama's fighter jet and blast the robot until it frees it's grip on Star Virgin. Meanwhile, Arashiyama is successful in restarting his reactor with Ko's tooth implant.
Star Virgin uses her grappling hook to join Ko in the jet. They then fly into the entrance to the core of the island. They launch an all-out attack using the plane's machine guns as well as a handheld bazooka. Ko's tooth is freed from the reactor which then begins to explode.
They manage to escape the island as it explodes. En route back to land, the fighter jet begins to fail, which forces them to abandon the plane and jump into the water. Somehow they managed to find a canoe, which they use to make their way back to land. Tsutenkaku 1 reaches up from underwater and knocks both of them out of the boat, forcing both of them to swim to land. Tsutenkaku 1 also swims to land, but is greeted by a group of children playing on the beach. He starts to malfunction and becomes friendly with the children and their families.
Arashiyama, his henchmen, and Tanegashima shi-shiki are all shown to have survived the blast. As the credits roll, Eiko and Ko enjoy the rest of the day at the beach.
Just as the credits end and "The End" splashes on screen we hear Eiko and Ko getting attacked once again after hearing some metallic footsteps.
Wow. OK, so if I'm going to start somewhere, it's going to be the Star Virgin powers. We have a woman (yes, you can feel less skeevy--actress Eiko Kuroki was 18 at the time) whose powers come from men being outwardly perverted toward her. I...wish I was making this up. She had to trick a white dude into making a move on her so that she could transform. Her father probably owes that dude an apology. Like, It's one of the more bizarre superhero premises ever...but at the same time it makes sense. Her father didn't intend for her to be a heroine of any kind. He just fitted her with the bracelet (which is kinda like an inverted Ultraman timer) to protect her from creeps while she was on her trip to Earth. She kinda fell backwards into this whole situation as much as Ko did.
Isao Sasaki being cast as the villain of the movie was a solid casting choice. He wore the heavy make-up they plastered on him well. It was a pretty rediculous get-up, but it just kinda worked BECAUSE it was Sasaki. His voice sealed the deal on the whole thing. From there, the acting kinda went downward. To their credit, everyone looked like they were having fun--and they likely knew this was going to be a video release. Sasaki is just acting his heart out, though.
The effects of the movie were, like the acting, all over the place. Some of the effects were borderline impressive, while others were pretty silly. I enjoy model work, and this film is full of it, but they could have either lowered their aspirations or tried a little bit harder to get some effect shots peppered into the shots using models. BUT.....if I had a Statue of Liberty mecha I would probably put it in my movie as much as possible as well.
I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy this film. I might be a sucker for the bizarre, but I'm sure anyone will enjoy watching this one. It's entertaining and short enough that you won't feel robbed if you're not totally sold on it. I should say that even with the perverted source of Star Virgin's powers, the movie itself is very tame. Once you get past that and the fact that she spends a good portion of the movie in a bikini'd chastity belt, it's a fairly vanilla movie.