Movie Digest
Yokai are harmless demons in Japanese folklore that don’t interfere with the human world but do engage with them in certain instances. Onikiri, fiends of Yokai are known to be the agent of chaos in the human world. The film is about Kiri who is a horned Yokai in human form who wanders around the countryside with her one-eyed umbrella. Things go disarray when she senses the malevolent creatures. To her there is nothing better than the essence of oni.
The Feel-Good Part
The film is quite fun and has a light atmosphere to it, which is engaging to watch. It manages to incorporate silliness and horror together without it seeming forced. This combination of tones and two different genres is quite intriguing and really makes the movie feel unique. The contrasting genres make the film quite enjoyable as the audience may not know what they might be getting next from the two vastly different genres. The way the tone switches is quite fascinating to watch as it never gets jarring, which is quite rare to come by. The horror aspect of the film is quite gory and has some great kill sequences for those who enjoy this sort of horror. The film is deeply rooted in Japanese culture, folklore and mythology, which may give many, the chance to take an interest and learn more from this.
The Disappointing Factor
The film often feels like it is a montage that is edited together to make a feature film. It can get confusing for some viewers to follow which is why they may lose interest early on. The film doesn’t feel cohesive and smooth, which is distracting. It is often overly dramatic, which comes off as comical even when there is no intent of comedy. The main character is not fully fleshed out, there are no allusions made to her fears and motivations, which is why the audience may not feel connected to the character and hence care for her.
In-Depth Analysis
The narrative structure could have been changed a bit so that the movie feels more cohesive and less disjointed. The protagonist is not explored in depth, they could have cut down on the actual plot of the story a little so that the character is given an arc that explains her importance. This could have also been done if the run time was a bit longer as it would have been easier to incorporate a complete character arc for her with more time.
Star Power
All the performances were great. Each actor contributed greatly towards the balance that is present between the horror and comedic elements of the film. The shift in tones during the film felt effortless because of the actors’ abilities to be convincing in both vastly different genres.
Overall Opinion
Yokai Girl Kirin will show you a fun time for the most part as it is fast paced and serves goofiness with gory horror. It is quite an intriguing concept and may be very enjoyable for people who don’t know much about Japanese folklore. It’s nothing that can’t be skipped but it has the ability to be fun and entertain you.
